MFA in Creative Writing grad school—need recommendation
I’m looking at getting my MFA in creative writing, and I write speculative fiction, which appears to be undervalued by the academy. Does anyone know of any good schools that have speculative fiction writers on the faculty, or somewhere that it might be appreciated? I know it’s a bit late to be applying, but I’ve already sent out most of the applications I intended to—just wondering if there’s somewhere else I should be looking.
Also, anyone out there gotten this degree and loved/hated their university? I’d like to hear from you as well.
PS—My goal is to teach writing at a university. I’m quite aware that having a degree won’t necessarily make me a better writer (although I expect that the years of dedicated writing will have that effect.)
PPS—I know that Brandon Sanderson teaches at BYU, but it looks like he teaches undergrads, and only one class every so often.
Best of luck to you. I submitted Elantris (about three years before I sold it) as my sample writing to a large number of university MFA programs. Some were top tier: Columbia, NYU, UC Irvine, University of Utah, Iowa, UVA. There was a smattering of second and third tier as well. Twelve to fifteen total, I recall. I got rejected from every single one.
Now, part of this was my fault. I had a chip on my shoulder about fantasy, and still kind of do. I didn’t manifest it in my letter of intent, however, so that wasn’t the problem. However, I ALSO didn’t do some of the things you’re supposed to do for grad programs. (Which is find someone at the university you specifically want to work with, and explain in the application why.)
The problem was, I couldn’t find anyone at any of the programs that admitted to reading sf/f, let alone writing it. So…I’m not sure where that leaves us. I’ve heard stories now and then of an MFA program or two that do have a sf/f writer on staff. (Ursula, Gene Wolfe, and Cory Doctorow have all done guest lecturer stints, I think. Gene might teach full time.) I hear the UK is more friendly toward fantasy and sf among the literary community.
I’m really hoping that someone here can post some better information for you about where to look, but I thought I’d let you know my story.
Could you tell me anything about the program at BYU? I know it’s new, but do you think it’s any good? I’m sort of fond of my beard, but I have to be realistic about where I’m more likely to get in :)
Well, it’s easier to get into—but it’s not terribly high ranked. Universities tend to specialize, particularly regionally, and the University of Utah has an excellent program and tends to draw the best applicants. So BYU, while fair, has a focus in other areas.
I enjoyed my program, and I think it’s kinder to fantasy/sf than others—however, with jobs teaching creative writing being so tight these days, I’d shoot for the top first and work down. The nice thing about BYU is that they did finally bump their degree up to the MFA from an MA. (They only had the MA when I went.) I think with a BYU MFA, though, you’d probably have to go on to get a PhD in creative writing to land a good job. (As opposed to getting one from Utah or Iowa, which alone could be enough.)
The thing is, publications (particularly in top literary journals) trump any schooling when it comes to jobs in creative writing. That and networking.
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