Untitled
21 months ago
only worthwhile if you want to teach.
How to get my MFA
It made me
Feel accomplished 
"Lots of work, a bit stressful, very rewarding, but not in the way I expected."
How I did it:
- Applied to and was accepted by the Michigan and Syracuse MFA programs.
- Decided on the Syracuse ISDP MFA program.
- Spent two weeks in each of three summers at Syracuse for the residency portion. Worked about 20 out of 24 hours per day.
- Went to a number of weekend meetings in the intervening years with my group and advisor to review progress, make presentations, and meet professionals in our field - visual communications.
- Worked on assigned and contracted projects during the rest of the time, along with working full time. The full time work in my field was a program requirement.
- Wrote my degree thesis.
- Presented my projects and degree thesis to my review committee.
- Defended my thesis. This went well, except for the one person on my review committee who decided to throw her weight around by rejecting it out of hand.
- Waited until my advisor got the unreasonable person on the review committee to sign off on my thesis. This part took about nine months.
- Went to the graduation ceremony, and was awarded my degree.
Lessons & tips: Work hard, stay focused, try not to go crazy, and cultivate your advisor and committee. They can be your best friends or your worst enemies.
Resources: Syracuse University ISDP MFA program
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Entries
Slight problem...
2 years ago
I just can’t decide if I’d rather get an MFA in acting, directing, or some form of writing… Screenwriting? Fiction?
I need some direction in my life.
small start
2 years ago
so last week i moved to the state where i want to get my mfa.
this week i visited the professor in charge of printmaking. she suggested i take community ed classes while establishing my residency… so i don’t have to wait as long as i’d thought i would to actually get into a class. her fall relief printing course is full, but she said she’d make room for me. : ) yay!
one year of community ed,
one year of turning my ba into a bfa,
and three years of earning my mfa
a five year plan (!) but i’ve begun.
I'm an official poet now, I guess!
3 years ago
I graduated from the University of Washington’s MFA program in Poetry last Thursday, June 1, 2006. I gave a reading at the ceremony and ate delicious hors d’oeuvres. My thesis advisor, Rick Kenney, introduced me and said some very nice things about my sonnets. I guess all that remains now is to keep on writing!
bostonian71 is officially Jewish!
Not in the cards, at least right now
3 years ago
Between trying to start a family and looking for a new job, I’m already stretched to the max. To deal with film school on top of that would require more time, energy and money than I can realistically spare at the moment.
I am sad about this decision, but I’m mostly relieved. Now I can concentrate on other priorities. And this doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on my other goal of becoming an editor—either I’ll do it by volunteering on projects and doing my own, or at some point I’ll reapply to school.
afraid to take the leap
4 years ago
I’ve recently decided I want to get my MFA in Creative Writing, but am slightly terrified at the thought of 1)sending out my work in the hopes of being accepted and 2)having to stop teaching for two years, giving up a great job at a great school and having no income while paying large sums of money. The first step is to keep writing so I have something to turn in with my application, I suppose…
