🧵 Thursday Thread: Is an MFA worth it?
It's a question that constantly pops up, so let's discuss
I get asked this question quite a lot—so I’m finally addressing it briefly here—with the disclaimer that I am just one person, and my experience does not reflect anything other than my experience.
And I’m asking all of you, as well, to share if you will your own experience of formal (or informal) writing instruction, including why you made the choices you did, and why you decided for or against certain kinds of writing experiences.
Before I share my perspective, remember that I did address this from a different angle last year, in the post, “Do Writing Teachers Prey on People’s Dreams?”—so today’s conversation is something of a continuation of that same vein of inquiry.
Many of you know I didn’t start an MFA program until my mid-forties, and graduated at forty-seven. By that time, I had already published widely, including books. So, why did I decide to spend the time and money on an MFA?
And before I start answering these questions, I want to clarify and emphasize that I did a low-residency MFA, which means I had to pay full tuition and did not have the wholly immersive experience that can be had in residential MFA programs, which differ greatly from low-res programs. For me, low-res was the only option, because I could not (in any way, shape, or form) afford to quit my full-time University job.
With that caveat, here are some of the reasons I sought an MFA:
I never finished my undergraduate degree and wanted a college degree—symbolically, it meant something to me, not so much for external reasons, but because I felt my adolescence in foster care cheated me of the chance to finish college
I wanted to pivot my life in such a way as to be wholly immersed in the literary life—I wanted my creative writing to be, for the first time, my first priority, and I knew that investing in an MFA program would allow me to do that
I was able to get student loans to cover the tuition (loans that I am still paying off…)
I was able to complete the program without leaving my university writing job, which was essential for our family’s finances
I wanted to finish my book (which ended up being The Part That Burns) and I knew from life experience that if I had deadlines and structure and an investment on the line, I would meet that goal
I wanted to be more connected to other people whose lives revolved around writing
I wanted to publish short work in literary journals, and felt that being in an MFA program would give me more motivation to do so (because of the investment I was making)
I was already teaching writing, but nonetheless felt that an MFA would give me more credibility as a teacher
In the same vein as the point above, I knew that an MFA could open up some teaching opportunities that might otherwise be unavailable to me—but at the same time, I knew even then, almost ten years ago, that tenure-track teaching jobs at the graduate level were rarer and rarer (and even if they’d not been rarer, I was not in a position to move for a job, so that vision was not particularly realistic for me anyway)
And did my MFA experience deliver on these expectations? Yes, it did. When I was finished, I had a degree, was immersed in all things literary, had a completed manuscript, had published several short pieces in literary journals, and felt more connected (by far) to other people whose lives revolved around writing.
What about credibility? That’s hard to say, because I don’t get to decide on my own credibility, but I do feel that indirectly, the MFA increased my opportunities as a writing teacher—not specifically because of the degree, but because of how immersed I had become in literary community.
In a literal sense, I’m not doing anything today that I could not have done without an MFA, and the MFA program was not actually a significant factor in the development of my craft. I also witnessed some unfortunate injuries during workshops, which was unfortunate. It didn’t happen to me, but I had been writing and publishing for more than twenty years, and was confident in my craft and not particularly vulnerable to workshop injury.
Ultimately, investing in an MFA program was absolutely a way through which I raised the stakes on my vision for a writing future. So it’s not that I couldn’t have done what I am doing—it’s that I perhaps wouldn’t have, because without the investment, it was hard to move my creative life to the front burner, so to speak. In other words, I knew—and said from the start, out loud and often, that if I put the time and money into an MFA, I was making a promise to myself that I would make the absolute most of it.
And I did.
Today, my whole professional and. much of my personal life revolves around writing, and I have, for the first time in my life, a genuine writing community, both in the physical world and here in this incredible Writing in the Dark community.
So, yes, it was well, well worth it to me. But I think that is at least in part because my expectations were so realistic.
Did I expect to come out of the MFA with a book deal? No, I did not (it took three years after graduation for that to happen)
Did I expect to leave with an agent? No, and I didn’t.
Did I expect to land a tenure track teaching gig after graduation? No, and I didn’t.
Did I expect. to suddenly have a bunch of powerful literary connections who could open doors for me? No, and I didn’t.
What the MFA gave me was the gift of structure, deadlines, accountability, community, and, above all, a kind of contract with myself that said, “If you make this investment, you can and must use it to complete a book and remodel your life so that the writing comes first and stays first.”
That was my expectation. Everything else was extra.
What about you?
If you have an MFA, why did you decide to get one and was it a good investment in your writing and your life?
If you don’t have an MFA, was it a conscious choice or due to lack of access or otherwise?
And what has been your experience in general with formal writing instruction, inside or outside of MFA programs?
If you haven’t had formal writing instruction, how have you created literary community for yourself, if you have?
These are important conversations, and I look forward to your stories.
Love,
Jeannine
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