You’re welcome! I think you will enjoy it and also be inspired by it! I thought it was amazing.
Another book in a similar vein is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Also extremely well written and very compelling although her educational path was a little more straightforward than Tara Westover’s.
Sarah Lawrence has an amazing master’s program in writing, but it may be expensive.
I will also then check that one too!! You’re the absolute best, thank you.
I am so open and down for that, but it is the affordability part. I am looking for strictly fully funded programs and ones that I could get into
I understand. I wish you well.
I have a friend who entered one of these programs after a decades-long career as a teacher — so it can always happen later if it has to.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
That is also good to know, because I was worried that it’s been three years now since I’m out of college.
I have a cousin with a regular 9-6 job who teaches writing in a woman’s prison.
She wrote a grant and a foundation which focused on women in the criminal justice system decided to fund her idea. This was years ago.
She meets once a week with her group (the participants are always changing as they get released, transferred, have disciplinary actions, etc) and she functions just like a professor in an MFA program. But she gets paid to do this (not a lot, but it’s not nothing) and she loves the work.
I know you’ll tell me there are no prisons where you live. But there are people all over the country who do this in halfway houses, homeless shelters, group homes for children in foster care, etc.
This can be you. Teaching writing– fiction and non-fiction- to people who lack for outlets for their creativity and a way to share their lived experiences.
I don’t see MFA as being a fit with your dream. I see it as kicking the can down the road. If you don’t like your current job, get a different job. But an MFA doesn’t solve that problem, it just brings you new and different problems (like needing to find a job you won’t dislike).
It seems you aren’t hearing the great advice that blossom and others have given you.
This is exactly the situation playing out in the world of college teaching. Only 32% of professors have tenure or are on a tenure track. 32%! The rest are adjuncts, making an average of $3k per class (with some regional and/or institution specific variability…but suffice it to say writing profs likely aren’t the ones making $7K per class where that’s possible.) Not many schools give adjuncts a full course load, so in markets where there are many colleges people teach at more than one school, just like blossom laid out. Adjuncts typically don’t get any benefits…health insurance, 403b plan, etc.
Don’t let your stubbornness blind you to reality. It’s great to have dreams, but the road you are talking about is so difficult. Then adding in the fact that you are in the US on a Visa, it makes things even more complicated (and even more unlikely to pan out and/or be fully funded.) I’m curious why you didn’t apply to any Canadian MFA programs?
Have you looked on reddit to see if there are MFA threads?
That’s amazing. It’s so inspiring to hear what she does.
There might be prisons near me, so I can look into that. It just makes it much harder to do that when I’m new to the area; I don’t know people or where to ask.
That is also something I’d like to do. I think the disconnection from my dream is that I spoke a lot about the meaning behind what I want to do. I thoroughly enjoy writing creatively and academia. And I realize it’s not picture perfect. I understand it comes with new challenges. I have been through many in my life, and that is why I know despite wherever I go, there will always be something. So I’d rather do my passion while going through it all. For me to do the job I ultimately want to do, it would involve getting a degree.
I appreciate where you are coming from too and your concern, but this is something I’m committed to and I have been trying to achieve for years. I have spent my whole life being told by my parents and other people about what to do and what they think is best for me, based on money or whatnot If I had listened to them, I would still be in the medical field. I broke out and worked so hard all these years so I could one day attend a MFA/PhD program in that field, to have that experience and also see where it takes me. Ideally, being in academia, but if not, that is okay—publishing, higher ed management/admin, etc. To be blunt, I’m not asking about whether my dream is valid; I am looking for advice to apply to these programs, whether those schools are worth my time applying to or other schools I haven’t heard of that I should apply for. But regardless, I still appreciate you being honest and sharing your opinion with me.
I get where they are coming from, but I am not asking about whether or not I should pursue my passion. I decided this years ago. I am okay with the road being so difficult; this has been my life, and I am willing to take on more to achieve my dreams. If not, then what is the purpose of life?
It’s good to know about the adjunct faculty. I am aware of that. I always thought I could teach at several colleges, whatever is nearby where I end up living. I did not apply for Canadian MFA programs because there aren’t any fully funded ones, from my understanding.
You do you. And I (along with everyone else here) wish you well in achieving your dream.
But the caveat- advice I got freshman year of college which may have been the most profound and helpful advice I’ve ever gotten when I flunked a class- “never love anything that won’t love you back”.
If you posted here that you applied to 15 programs, got accepted to 4, couldn’t afford them even with the aid they were offering, I’d be full of suggestions for you.
But you are looking down the barrel of your third application cycle and any advice I can give you about organizing your recommendations, beefing up your portfolio, etc. feels like malpractice.
And behind it all- I’m not even sure that your “dream” delivers what you think it will deliver. If you were asking for advice about getting a degree in counseling to work with survivors of abuse, I’d say your storytelling skills and passion for helping others was appropriately being channeled. But writing- one of the most solitary pursuits out there– seems like an “off-brand” choice. And the process of an MFA– yikes. I know people who have gone from MFA’s straight into some of the most prestigious fellowship programs- Yaddo, Bard, Kresge– places like that, and at some of them, you get your meals left for you at the door of your cabin, that’s how inward focused they are.
But you are young, and if you are hellbent on proving that “third time is a charm” I wish you the best and have my fingers crossed. But it troubles me that you’ve gotten some suggestions here to help you write, write, write (volunteer, writing circles, auditing classes, online seminars, etc.) and you’ve found a way to dismiss them all. I’m not suggesting you don’t have a passion for writing– but if writing were the itch you needed to scratch, you wouldn’t be worried about being too tired to write. And being enrolled in an MFA program is tiring too. You don’t like writing non-fiction essays? Tough. That’s the assignment. You don’t like sonnets? Too bad. Writers need to flex 360 degrees, AND take some pretty harsh criticism at times from their instructors and colleagues.
So if you’ve latched on to getting an MFA as the solution to everything that bugs you about life, you’ll need to trust a bunch of strangers on the internet that it’s not. So if problem number 1 is that you don’t like working in communications for a college focused on business- you know how to fix that. Get a different job. If problem number 2 is that you don’t have enough creative outlets, you know how to fix that. Join an existing writing circle, preferably one with some more seasoned and published members. Etc.
Good luck as you figure this out.
I do think the part with applying for the third time has to do with how those are so competitive. They take like 2-4 students a year. I recommend you check reddit about MFAs in CRWR.
It’s not uncommon to get in after applying several times; that’s usually the norm. And now looking back, I do think I could have done a better job on my application. The first time I applied it was so rushed, as I was still in school, and I was overwhelmed by my workload (my fault; I crunched classes), and there were typos and such. The second time, I also applied when I had something else occur in my life that was traumatic. I was not in the right headspace for those instances. I think now, with the time and better mindset to apply, I can do it. I hope so at least.
Thank you. I get that, and I am not objecting to writing. I still write, and I have been making new pieces, which I feel even stronger about. I am just being realistic about my situation in terms of being a foreigner and someone who has CFS. My job is also writing. All I do is write, and I love it, but I have hit a point where I want to grow and narrow down what I am doing through a career lens. I love writing all of those, and I have done all of those in my undergrad with CRWR classes. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I do think you have misread a lot of what I’ve said too. If I could share my writing, I think it would be clearer. All of my friends in undergrad have always supported me in my passion and my writing because they’ve seen how much I adore it and how driven I am by it. I am willing to take that risk with the fellowships.
In terms of what I’ve said again, I feel like you’ve misread it. #1 I do enjoy it; I was alluding to my work environment and other factors. I could do this for longer, but at the end of the day my goal is to get into academia. #2 I do write myself, in my job and for myself in my spare time. I also have a blog. I have been trying to to get my work published and join those circles in publishing, but I have struggled (hence why in the comments I asked for advice on this). Thank you though still.
I don’t need to check Reddit. I know enough people IRL who are applying, have applied, have successfully completed MFA programs to understand how brutally competitive the programs are. And getting fully funded (with enough of a stipend to eat, etc.) is close to a miracle.
I’m just suggesting that if Academia is the goal, the MFA is the wrong way to get there. And if becoming a professional writer is the goal, a PhD in English is going to frustrate the heck out of you. Do you WANT to spend three years on a dissertation discussing “Gender norms and identity in Chaucer”, only to discover that there are zero jobs for a Chaucer scholar in North America the year you graduate?
I’m just suggesting that you take your stubborn defiance and see if you can apply it somewhere else with MUCH better odds for giving you the life and career you will be happy with. Be stubborn while being your own best friend and advocate!
This really must be a literature genre I am connected with, because I never make so many book suggestions in such a short time. But if this sounds appealing to you, True Notebooks by Mark Salzman is a book about his year teaching writing classes to youthful offenders in LA Juvenile Hall. He also wrote what is one of my favorite books about his year as an English teacher in China in the 1980s (Iron and Silk).
Ahh, gotcha! I figured you didn’t know because of the mentioning of applying and my luck. I want to reiterate I have only applied basically for the ivy leagues. That is also making it slimmer.
I mean, I would be so, so down to do a dissertation, but like my thesis! I wrote about video games and the cycle of violence in relation to intergenerational trauma and how it involves men, etc. If the MFA is not wise, then would it be the PhD? Because I always thought I could do the MFA and then a PhD.
Thank you for your advice! 
Truly! I am the same; with my memory, it can be hard to give recommendations off the top of my head. That also sounds amazing; I will read both as well. Got me a new shopping list, haha!
An MFA is a terminal degree. It is NOT the same as a Master’s degree in English literature, which in some programs is the next step towards a doctorate, and in others is a “one and done, you can leave now” degree.
“I wrote about video games and the cycle of violence in relation to intergenerational trauma and how it involves men, etc”
To me this suggests a Master’s in sociology, psychology, potentially media studies. Or a Master’s in Social Work or Criminal Justice where your focus is on violent (male) offenders . This is not what you would be studying in either an MFA program or a doctorate in English Literature!
I’ve been reading this thread and I’m confused.
You want to be funded for a competitive program that has no stability in future jobs, correct?
You are Canadian citizen, correct?
So I assume you will be returning to Canada to implement your vocational goals?
I don’t know if you’re aware, you need a work visa in order to actually work in the US.
The US Immigration Service typically grants work visas to accommodate the employment needs of the United States. Recently, those needs have been in the STEM industries. There is no lack of employees in the humanities fields. US employers are required to employ US citizens- first and foremost.
If you think finding a graduate program has been difficult, wait until you try to find employment sponsorship, in a saturated market, as a non US citizen.
@blossom, @Mwfan1921 and others have given you realistic and truthful advice about your goals. I feel really sad that you’re not listening to their realistic experiences, but were able to hear a recommendation about a book because it’s something you wanted to hear.
What I am hearing you say is that you want advice about a fully funded program that will sponsor your academic dreams. What everyone else is trying to tell you is:
It is competitive for the few schools that may have that kind of funding. And, they are competitive even without funding. So be prepared to pay for a program if you’re even accepted.
There are so many tenure track positions that have disappeared and are disappearing and won’t be replaced.
A very dear friend of mine is a tenured professor, at a small college, in the Midwest. She’s lamented that they get hundreds of applications for teaching positions, with great resumes and experiences but there are no jobs. The job market isn’t there.
One of her colleagues just passed away and they’re not replacing that position.
My friend, however, received a letter from an applicant indicating that “hearing of the passing of this colleague, might the position be available to her.” My friend expressed how mortified and upset this email shocked her. I think what my friend said in her response was something like this:
“We appreciate your condolences at this time. You must know that we are taking time to grieve a beloved professor and we will pass along your condolences to her family and friends.”
Needless to say, my friend said that she and her staff are definitely making sure that this crass person never gets a position at their college.
I think I understand your stubbornness. That quality however will not reverse a lack of employers.
Even though I am the person who recommended the books (because I thought OP would enjoy them and find some resonance with them) I completely agree with everything you said and am very concerned about the ability of anyone to find a fulfilling career as faculty these days.
And I have heard first hand about how abysmal a career can be as an adjunct faculty who is not paid enough to sustain a living wage even with multiple jobs.
This. @msdz14 please read this again and again. It’s fact. And at most community colleges, the only full time salaried person is the head of the department. Lots of adjuncts fill the teaching slots.