Thursday, June 08, 2006

Hunter's Nonfiction Program

Rootless Cosmopolitan writes...

I just came across your blog, and found it wildly informative. I was wondering if you have any inside information about Hunter College's non-fiction/memoir MFA program. I have not come across much chatter about it, which seems odd, since it has so many good things to recommend it: a great location, affordable tuition, and an enviable collection of visiting writers at a given time. Do you have any insights?

Well RC, I'm glad you think of the blog as wildly informative, because lately I feel like I'm often writing "I don't know the answer to that. Maybe our readers do."

And that's going to have to be my take this time around too. I do know Hunter was spoken of highly on the blog last month, but it wasn't specifically for the nonfiction program. Anyone have a take?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure about the nonfiction program, per se, but I give them points for the website. Talk about colloquial!

Anonymous said...

I applied to Hunter's nonfiction program for 2005. I lived in NYC at the time, so I was excited about Hunter in the same way that you are: close, cheap, new, and tons of resources.

However, I felt very snubbed by the administration whenever I asked for information. During my interview with the administrative director, I felt like she ruled me out before I even applied, and was not very helpful about the details of the program.

I got my rejection letter less than a month after I sent in my application, which leads me to believe that they didn't even read it. So I went to George Mason instead, which was my top choice.

And that's what I know about Hunter's nonfiction program.

Anonymous said...

I guess it's not you but the administrative people at any CUNY colleges. You'll be surprised at the way these people treat prospective students, but it's understandable. They're probably underpaid since all CUNY colleges are sturggling financially...

branbruge said...

I was recently accepted into Hunter's MFA program for Nonfiction/Memoir. When I began the application process for grad school I didn't even consider Hunter. I was concentrating on places like University of Iowa, George Mason, University of Minnesota and St. Mary's College in California. I ran across an announcement for an open house at Hunter; I went with little expectation and was instantly drawn in. Louise DeSalvo, who runs the nonfiction program, is incredibly generous in spirit. My first impression was that I needed to be at this school, in this program. Ego and name dropping were not a dominate factor like at so many other schools--the message here was quite clear: it's the work that matters. Everyone seemed sincere and intent on helping each other create the best work they could. Eva Hoffman teaches here and Kathryn Harrison and Meena Alexander will be teaching in the fall of 2006. Overall I found the program very welcoming and open. True, the administrative side of things can be less than desirable but remember this is a public school in NYC. There is little funding and at times you have to deal with some administrative crap. A small price to pay, in my opinion, for a great program. After my experience at Hunter's Open House for Creative Writing I instictively knew where I wanted to go for my MFA. I ended up applying only to Hunter.

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