My Personal Guide to MFA Programs in Writing
How-to for researching, selecting, and applying to MFA programs in writing from someone who's done it.
The first thing to consider when applying to MFA programs in writing is that MFA's are bad if the bad writer got one but if the good writer got one then they are good but if the good writer didn't get one then they're bad but if the the bad writer says they're bad then they have their place but something else to consider is if your father had only paid more attention or your mother had or if your home had only been full of books or hadn’t or if you had only been allowed to ask “Why?” more or if you’d only been told to shut up more or had the privilege of a happy family or if only your parents had gotten divorced sooner or you’d been born white trash or Black or in the Mongolian steppe or on the Upper West Side or at a different time and place where there was more war or if there had only been less war or if you had only gotten the chance to go to that awesome arts high school downtown or the gritty public school beside the chemical factory or developed the drug addiction or had the sister with the drug addiction or the suicide attempts or the friend with the successful suicide or had gotten into the highly ranked liberal arts college or stayed home for a year to do community college or not fucking done college at all but travelled the world or sat at home doing nothing but playing video games to the point your life no longer felt real or had no home to go home to at all or if you had only made some money or networked properly or taken the humble job at the restaurant with the drunk manager or worked construction or something else honest or been honest ever or lied more or chosen to fall in love or broken up with him sooner or had never moved in with her when she asked or had married them before the car accident or the cancer or these terrible thoughts had begun in your brain and the chemicals had shifted around or the president had been elected then maybe you wouldn’t even think about whether you needed an MFA unless of course you really feel like it would help in which case there are many other things to consider when researching and selecting and applying to MFA programs for example whether you want to go to one or not or if they will work for you or if its what you really want or if the program will be the right fit for your lifestyle and if you’re a good/bad writer, etc.
Very good