Poets & Writers Speakeasy: About the Speakeasy: Introductions: Hullo, all the way from Australia...

Subscribe | Give a Gift Subscription

Advanced Search

Main Index » About the Speakeasy » Introductions
Hullo, all the way from Australia...

You are not signed in. Click here to sign in.
If you are not a member, Register here!

123311 registered users

smush.banana
Samantha Dickfos

Apr 11, 2012, 1:43 AM

Post #1 of 5 (188 views)
Shortcut

Hullo, all the way from Australia...	Can't Post

Hi there,

I'm not quite sure I'm doing this right, at all... but thought a brief introduction might be the best way to begin exploring.

My name's Sam, I'm 22, and an Australian uni student. Somewhere along the 'what will I do with my life/degree' line, someone suggested that if I were to do an MFA in America, all my hopes and dreams would come true (I might have added in that last bit... mostly they just stuck the letters MFA on a post-it note for me). Problem is... I have no idea where to start looking to figure out exactly what an MFA entails, let alone how to apply for one, particularly as an Australian rather than American.

If anyone has even the tiniest bit of advice, it would be much appreciated.

Love and peace and rainbows and things,

Sam

I am Sam. Sam I am.

pongo
Real men bake bread.

Apr 11, 2012, 7:20 AM

Post #2 of 5 (184 views)
Shortcut

Re: [smush.banana] Hullo, all the way from Australia... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Welcome, Sam. By now you've probably discovered our whole section on answering questions about MFA programs. You can't start a new thread there, but there's probably already one that has a lot of the information you need.

Poetry: It's not just for sissies any more.

Difficult Listening, Sundays from ten to noon (Central time), at http://www.radiofreenashville.org/.

http://home.comcast.net/~david.m.harris/site/

smush.banana
Samantha Dickfos

Apr 24, 2012, 8:34 PM

Post #3 of 5 (164 views)
Shortcut

Re: [pongo] Hullo, all the way from Australia... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks for the advice and welcome - I have indeed had a bit of a squiz around the MFA section. If anyone out there has any advice specifically regarding applying for an MFA from overseas, I'd be eternally grateful.

I am Sam. Sam I am.

pongo
Real men bake bread.

Apr 24, 2012, 9:26 PM

Post #4 of 5 (160 views)
Shortcut

Re: [smush.banana] Hullo, all the way from Australia... [In reply to]	Can't Post

It's good to have someone who knows, and whom you could ask. I did a summer course at Cambridge (England) once, and asked one of my professors how one went about going there for graduate school. He said that he thought the easiest way would be to get a Rhodes scholarship.

Poetry: It's not just for sissies any more.

Difficult Listening, Sundays from ten to noon (Central time), at http://www.radiofreenashville.org/.

http://home.comcast.net/~david.m.harris/site/

smush.banana
Samantha Dickfos

Apr 25, 2012, 3:17 AM

Post #5 of 5 (156 views)
Shortcut

Re: [pongo] Hullo, all the way from Australia... [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks again, Pongo. I did actually decide to talk to an American friend today, who's well acquainted with some of my writing, purely for some advice about the schools and areas she thought would be good/interesting... I realise now that my issue is that I'm starting from the very basic level of needing an interpreter for US state acronyms, let alone needing advice regarding the various application processes!

What I might do is just compile a list of MFA programs in which I might be interested, purely working from their websites, and then explore the forum from there. Once I know a little better what I'm asking about, I'll try and find someone a little closer to home to have a chat to about the whole thing. It was actually just a colleague that mentioned the course to me, as her daughter is planning on doing a similar thing.

It's funny that you mention the Rhodes scholarship, as I'm in the rather daunting process of considering applying for that, too... I feel like I need to dedicate a whole year of my life purely to research and applications. If only the world had a pause button!

Anyhow, thanks again for the warm welcome... realising it's possible to interact with you lovely helpful types is enough encouragement to get me going for now.

I am Sam. Sam I am.

Main Index » About the Speakeasy » Introductions