umass76
Jul 30, 2008, 6:26 PM
Views: 9644
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Re: [lovemardou] Choosing an MFA Program (2009)
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LM,
It's true that every program has a different emphasis (or, really, balance) in terms of a "studio" versus "academic" atmosphere, which is usually best and most easily revealed by the program's course requirements for graduation. I do think, at a minimum, an MFA should require one workshop per semester; beyond that, I think the best programs allow the student near-complete flexibility in which electives can be taken, so a student can craft the sort of program they want. Two additional things I'll say: one, look at Cornell and Brown, they do seem to have an emphasis on theory (of course, they're also incredibly tough admits); second, keep in mind that your MFA professors will not be "academics," and won't have PhD. degrees, generally speaking. They're working poets, and some of them--to put it bluntly--don't like academics. Which means, if an academic environment is specifically important to you, and you don't want to go anywhere hostile to an academic/theory-oriented approach, I can't stress enough that you need to find a program where the professors (at least one or two) have PhD. degrees, and therefore won't be adverse to that sort of approach to writing. Otherwise, it's a crap-shoot as to your professors' temperaments (with the one caveat that more experimental poets, PhD. or no, tend by nature to be more open to theory and highly-intellectualized analyses of verse, so definitely read the work of prospective professors to gain some insight into their thinking). Be well,
Seth
MFA Rankings and Acceptance Rates at: http://www.sethabramson.blogspot.com/
(This post was edited by umass76 on Jul 30, 2008, 6:27 PM)
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