The MFA Program-Off for Nonfiction MFA Students

I wanted to draw attention to this contest, open to any existing nonfiction MFA students out there. It's organized by Creative Nonfiction, and their guidelines state:

Win a reading at the 2010 AWP Conference in Denver, publication in the summer 2010 issue of CNF, and bragging rights for your program!

Judge: Barbara Lounsberry
co-author (with Gay Talese) of Writing Creative Nonfiction: The Literature of Reality

Read their full contest submission guidelines here.

NEW MAILBAG! Monday, Dec. 28, 2009

388 comments and counting? Wowzers! You guys have been busy. Somebody noted, around comment number 320, that it was time for a new mailbag and yes, it is. So start afresh with your comments, questions, and mutual support, below.

Mailbag, Friday December 4, 2009

How about a new mailbag for all your last minute, the-deadlines-are-upon-us questions!

I also wanted to draw your attention to this guide to personal-statement writing, drawn from the comments in the last mailbag.

Finally, I had an applicant contact me looking for information on playwriting MFAs - not a topic that seems to get discussed much around these parts. Does anyone know of any resources on this? Leave that info, and your other comments, below.

Click Happy

There's a handy list of MFA related links if you click on "MFA Resource Database" over there: ==>

And I have also just compiled another set of links -- some funny, some scary, some just plain useful -- on the links page of my website.

Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments.

New Mailbag, Friday November 13, 2009

I thought I'd start a new mailbag as it's close to the deadline for the first applications for many of you and I'm sure the questions are piling up.

You can hold off on lists of schools for now as that was part of Seth's research, which is on hiatus.

With Thanks

I appreciate how supportive everyone's been over the past three years. I've decided to end my work on MFA programs. That means a number of things, including removing myself as an administrator (or having any special posting privileges whatsoever) for this blog. It's Tom's blog, in any case, and I know he'll continue to offer this blog as a service to all of you, so there shouldn't be any significant effect to this. I wish all of you the very best in the future. I apologize for the briefness of this message; I imagine anything I would have said I've said elsewhere here, or simply elsewhere, and better. I hope I've helped some of you, at least a little, over the years. And I hope I get to meet some of you in the months and years ahead. Be well everyone.

A Response to AWP

The Suburban Ecstasies responds to the AWP's recent open letter here.

November Mailbag/Where Are You Applying?

Anything goes, below. If you do happen to share your application list, please remember to mention your genre, too. And most importantly: Keep your spirits up! This tends to be a tough time for applicants; know that you're not alone, that things aren't as bad as they seem, and that you have the full support and best wishes of all of us who've already gone through the process. However you might be feeling right now, the reality is that with courage and perseverance you will reach the finish-line! Trite, I know, but I can say from experience that it's true. So screw the haters, hoist the black flag, and (as H.L. Mencken said) start slittin' throats.

Reaction to the Poets & Writers MFA Rankings

Early reports suggest that by and large the rankings have been received extremely well, and seen for the probative starting-point they intend to be--however imperfect they are, and however much (particularly with the unscientific portion of the rankings comprised by the applicant poll) it will take years to continue refining the methodology for the project. As to that part of the rankings that constitute the first-ever hard-data funding ranking, selectivity ranking, and postgraduate ranking (and the handful of data-based assessments published also), there's been no criticism, and the consensus seems to be these will help applicants in the months and years ahead.

I want to thank all of you who've sent along words of support and encouragement to me in the past few days. As the P&W article says (several times), no ranking can or should claim to be a conclusive assessment of program quality, nor be a primary element in any applicant's matriculation determination--but I do hope these rankings can be one tool among many in a field where (for too long) critical admissions and funding information have been systematically withheld from the programs' most important and invested constituents: applicants.

[Poets & Writers rankings #1 to #52 can be found here, and #53 to #142 here; an excerpt from the methodology article is here].

Those interested in getting the programs' (much less circumspect than bloggers') reactions to the rankings can follow these links: Brooklyn College; George Mason University; Rutgers University at Newark; Southern Illinois University (2, 3); University of Wisconsin-Madison (2); University of Virginia (2, 3, 4, 5); University of Minnesota (scroll down); University of Oregon; University of North Carolina at Greensboro; University of North Carolina at Wilmington (2); Vanderbilt University; Indiana University; University of Iowa (2, 3, 4, 5, 6); University of Texas; University of Wyoming (scroll down); University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The rankings have also been covered by The New York Daily News & (among other online media) by Bookfox, The Rumpus (2), and Fiction Writers Review.

Best New American Voices 2010

The VQR blog has a review of the Best New American Voice 2010 anthology, which came out recently. Best New American Voices, for those that don't know it, features work submitted by MFA programs and writing conferences across the country. It's a good way to check out the quality of work being produced by MFA students from various programs (though it's by no means the only indicator, of course).

The VQR blog post also mentions the "rumored demise" of the yearly anthology -- anyone know more about this?

Poets & Writers Releases Creative Writing MFA Rankings

An abbreviated (free) version of the Poets & Writers rankings can be found here, and an abbreviated (free) version of the methodology article can be found here. See the print edition, or the e-book referenced below, for more.

Southern Connecticut State University MFA

We're not sure when SCSU began offering the CW MFA. The first edition of TK's Handbook listed the M.A. and M.S. No MFA available back then. This particular institution now offers an MFA in poetry and fiction. This is good news for Connecticut applicants who don't want to move.

Where Are You Planning to Apply?

Post here to share your application lists! (And don't forget to mention your genre!).

October Mailbag

Fire away. We're a week or so early, but hey, why not.

Announcing a New MFA Blog!

[NB: The following note does not advertise a commercial service].

{For those looking to skip right to the link, you can find the new ALC MFA blog here}.

Chris Leslie-Hynan and I have decided to start up a new MFA blog to answer questions for applicants that are not covered by the for-fee services offered by Abramson Leslie Consulting. The new Abramson Leslie blog (link) is a free service for MFA applicants, and will be staffed by Chris, myself, and, as time goes on, a good portion of ALC's talented roster of poetry and fiction associates.

If you're wondering who Chris and I are, here's his bio and mine. I'm hoping that our particular backgrounds--my own, as one of the co-authors of The Creative Writing MFA Handbook, and author of the comprehensive MFA rankings forthcoming in November from Poets & Writers; and Chris's, as both a published writer, a recipient of the highest honors offered by the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and someone who actually read MFA applications for Iowa for two years(!)--will make this new blog one of the best MFA discussion boards around. We'll also feature polls, many spaces for current students to plug/discuss their programs, lists of MFA resources, news stories about MFAs (including insider looks at Iowa and news on Harvard's on-the-horizon MFA program), and of course regular Q&A posts.

Once again,you can find the Abramson Leslie blog here. And please vote in our first poll! While, as with every MFA discussion board, we'll be relying on you all to help one another out as well as offering advice and guidance ourselves, we're certain you'll find the answers you're looking for one way or another. And if you like the blog, please do spread the word. We feel it's high time someone created another centralized space for MFA discussions (right now there are still only a handful), and hopefully the ALC blog will serve that function and complement this blog nicely. Plus, this gives Chris and I a space in which we can continue to offer the sort of free advice we've been offering applicants privately for years.

September Mailbag

Got milk--I mean, questions? How's your MFA application process going? Hit any road bumps? Get help here!

AWP Conference - Early Registration saves $

This is a friendly reminder that early-bird registration for the AWP's annual conference starts September 1, 2009. Maybe, you're living on a fixed stipend (as an MFAer) or just pinching pennies. Either way, who doesn't want to save a little here and there in today's economic outlook? Happy writing and reading. There's still little time left to get back to the beach before summer ends.

Mailbag for August 18, 2009

I think talking about resources for MFA applicants is important, but like everyone else I also don't want this blog to lose its focus. I know you all have questions for one another, and for moderators, so fire away.