When I first applied to MFA programs, I spent hours spreading my poems out on my living room floor and figuring out what order to place them in. It seems silly now. At any rate, I applied and got into a number of places. When I look back on where I applied, those schools seem odd choices for me. They are good schools — just odd choices for me for various reasons.
I elected to attend a school in the DC area that did not provide funding to everyone. My friend went to that school a year of ahead of me, so I knew there was some animosity between the haves and the “nots.” Even though I did not receive funding to that school, I went ahead and attended for a few days.
What I noticed was that the classes seem disorganized and the classes were huge for grad school. My poetry workshop had 21 people in it.
I left after a few days and never felt bad about it. I won’t say the name of the school — it’ll be hard for you to guess — because they have new faculty and the program is completely different now.
I applied again the following year. In that year, I worked at a theatre and met a rather colorful and dramatic person. He told me about the University of Florida. If I’d not waited and applied a second time to MFA programs, I would not have learned about the one at Florida.
The University of Florida ended up being the perfect place for me. First, the geography is right up my alley. I like to be warm. I like how Florida smells. I like the tropics and green trees year round. I lived only a few hours from my grandmother and got to know her better. I like little interesting creatures such as lizards. Second, the classes were small. My entire year of poets contained only 4-5 people. The entire poetry workshop was only 10-12 people, which seemed much better than 21 to me. One other benefit is that Gainesville is an inexpensive place to live. That’s important when you have to live on very little money.
I moved into a tidy apartment complex with a swimming pool and spent my mornings writing. It was heaven. I taught, had funding and part of my tuition was paid. If I’d known I was allowed to have a part-time job at the time, I would have left with no debt. My second year, I worked part-time as a copywriter and ended up taking no loans. I was able to live on a small amount of money and end up “free” of the loans I took during my first year within a few years.
I met some of my favorite people at UF: Bill Beverly, John Poch, Dale Young, Geri Doran, Sidney Wade and William Logan. With a few of these people, I started 32 Poems.
For a lot of reasons, Florida offers a good program. I can’t say it’s good for you, yet I can say it’s worth researching if you want an MFA in creative writing.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting… I went through that same process of spreading all my poems out and trying to organize them successfully to meet the needs of each individual program I applied to. I applied to 18. 18!!!! It does seem slightly foolish now, but I was anxious and excited and nervous.
I was also accepted at a program in the D.C. area that did not provide funding to everyone. I was informed that I would need to come in for an interview, yada yada… and I weighed my choice among my other acceptances. I ended up attending a smaller program that was not as “high up on the foodchain” so to speak… and honestly, I think I made the right choice. There is no way that I would have been happy in the types of classes that the DC university offered. Besides, I met my husband at the university I chose — and that in and of itself was worth the brain rattling decision.
hello..
I am in the middle of this right now – and I feel silly and nervous about it every day. The papers – it’s like laying out what you’re going to wear on your first day of school. Or rather school orientation, I guess, since there’s no guarantee that you’ll make it to homeroom.
I just removed a DC area school from my list – I wonder if it’s the same one? Although, the bottom 3 on my list keep switching out every week!
Stephanie — I met my husband at the “smaller” place that provided funding to all. =)
Emily — Good luck with your application process!
Just wanted to let you know I’m enjoying browsing through your posts.
You know, I still promote UF’s MFA program. I’ve been out for 4 1/2 years, and I haven’t been back to G’ville since I left (I miss it so much…), and for as imperfect as that program was at times, I really, truly, totally loved it and got more out of it than I ever could have imagined.
And I remember ALL of those years ago, when I was starting to research programs, you had told me on the P&W speakeasies about UF. And I researched. And it became clear to me that there is something AT that program. And then I did the same–telling people about my UF experience and encouraging them to apply. I still do it. There’s so much there.
The funny thing–what I *think* is the larger, DC-area program you mention, is the other one that accepted me back when I applied (fall 2000! So long ago now!). So even if UF hadn’t been my original first choice, I would have chosen between Florida and DC area. Interesting.
Anyways…
this is neither here nor there. I’m just happy to see that you’re still telling people to look into UF. I loved that place. For as much as it was difficult to get into Gainesville (I moved from Boston…I had never lived anyplace, well, WARM…I was used to public transportation in a pretty major way…there were some big culture changes for me…), I grew to love it. Especially once I lived in the Duck Pond. And especially once I felt more comfortable in making friends in my program and in the town. And the program–well, I just got so much support from the get-go. It was something I had never experienecd in my life before, especially with my writing.