Friday, June 13, 2008

U Washington and Rutgers

Awhile back, Lisa N.R. asked for info on getting into U of Washington...

Does anyone have any advice about UW for fiction? I accidently talked to a current MFA student in a random phone connection. He was pretty chagrined in all kinds of ways over the program, but I don't know if he was just a crank or a voice crying in the wilderness. ... I know the UW MFA is considered a good program (in Tom's book, at least)...does anyone else have experience, applying, getting in, friends, first-hand? Also...I went there as an undergrad (over 15 years ago) does that help or hurt my chances?Thanks and best wishes to you all; this is such a generous group, sharing info and positivity. Lisa

And someone also asked about the new program at Rutgers that began last fall. I think the poster was asking for some specifics on the program and how the first year went.

Does anyone have some specific info on either of these programs for these folks?

6 comments:

Eric said...

I'm actually very interested on what people have to say about either these programs, as they're both on my list.

Particularly -- Rutgers. I know this is a fairly newish program, but that it is spoken highly of and has an excellent faculty (based on what I've heard and read). Can anyone speak to this? This is a bit important to me because I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of living in NJ (I know, negative, unfounded stereotypes).

Joseph D said...

I would love to hear something about the Rutgers program as well. I stumbled upon it a few days ago, and I had the same questions about that program in particular.

Yong said...
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Yong said...
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Yong said...
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anticarnation said...

Newark gets a bad rap. I suppose living in the side of town the city's trying to project as a cultural center (great bars, Portuguese food, general old-worldness) does help but security didn't strike me as much of an issue even in the other parts of town. I will bemoan the lack of organic food in some poorer sections of town but that's just a personal hang-up. Public transit is decent especially if you're a Rutgers student. New York is only fifteen minutes away which must be good.

The reading series has some really good people, Yusef Komunyakaa, Junot Diaz and so forth. The faculty have been fantastic in my experience. Fiction workshops have been great, both in terms of thinking differently about it and line edits. Prison lit class is very interesting, turns out the prof is the foremost authority on that and something of an expert on Vietnam and science fiction. In addition, I've gotten to TA (comes with a full ride, which is nice). The bureaucracy can get red tape-y but that aside, I don't really have any issues.