To MFA or not to MFA

A look at the thought process behind my decision to go to grad school

My last post focused on the why of my decision to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at this later stage of my career. Here’s a deeper (and longer) look at how I came to that decision, and how I’ll continue to analyze and re-evaluate it as I move forward.

Cost

The first inspiration to attend graduate school came from the tuition reimbursement benefit offered by my former employer. This was a significant benefit—up to $10,000 per year—and as someone who believes in lifelong learning, I often saw it as leaving money on the table by not taking advantage of it. With my renewed interest in creative writing, such a degree bubbled up as an obvious option.

After researching the company’s benefit and exploring different degree options, I decided to go for it. Because the tuition reimbursement applied to calendar years instead of academic years, I stood to pay out of pocket only $12,000 for a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) or just $1,900 for a Master of Arts (MA). That seemed like a steal, so I applied to a couple of different programs over the winter holidays.

Less than a month later, my job was eliminated—along with the tuition reimbursement. And scant weeks after that, I received my first acceptance letter, which left me with a dilemma I’ve been wrestling with ever since: should I still go to grad school if I’m paying for all of it myself?

Types of programs

When I started exploring creative writing programs, I discovered many differences between them. When evaluating them, I often found myself comparing apples to oranges. But these differences actually helped me narrow down my target schools to only those that fit my specific needs, and Western Colorado University quickly rose to the top of a very short list.

Many universities, especially the marquee ones, offer what I’d describe as a typical creative writing MFA: a strong focus on literary, “serious” fiction and an in-person experience that often involves working as a teaching assistant. Based on widespread opinions, there appears to be a strong bias in such programs against genre fiction (aka popular fiction: science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime, romance, mystery, etc.).

Other institutions offer a low-residency model that seems to be gaining popularity, wherein most of the program takes place online, with one or two weeklong, in-person residencies on campus.

So with my needs and goals dictating (1) a low-residency model because of family and work commitments, and (2) a focus on genre fiction, I was quickly able to decide on Western’s program. I also applied and was accepted to Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program, but their in-person residency was farther to travel to, and Western’s curriculum seemed the better choice.

My goals

A creative writing MFA is not a requirement to become a published author, nor is it a magic key that unlocks the inboxes of agents and publishers. The bestseller lists are full of authors without such degrees, and there are many MFA grads who haven’t been published. So why spend the money? What is the return on the investment? (asks my wife, and any rational person). That was an easier question to answer when my out-of-pocket cost was going to be low. But after the layoff, it became—and remains—a critically important question.

In her book DIY MFA, Gabriela Pereira distills an MFA program down to three core areas: writing, reading, and community. She does so to outline her self-guided (DIY) approach, but those three components can also be used to articulate my goals for a traditional MFA (and the corresponding rebuttals).

Writing

I have decades of writing experience and, if I can say so, I’m already a good writer. So becoming a better writer is not specifically a grad school goal (and besides, that’s a lifelong goal, not limited or exclusive to a degree program). But what I am after is learning about the practical side of an author’s life: pitching and working with agents and publishers, learning about proposals and contracts, and developing a career roadmap.

Another top writing goal is to develop more structure in my writing life, such as forming better work habits and honing my revision skills. Part of this involves the opportunity to see a large project (the master’s thesis novel) through from start to finish with the guidance of a mentor.

• Rebuttal: Like improving my writing skills, none of these things are exclusive to an MFA program. In fact, I recently completed my first novel and am already learning firsthand what the revision process looks like (such as finding beta readers and incorporating their feedback), how to seek out agents and publishers and write query letters, and much more. And developing better work habits is something only I can do for myself, regardless of where and how I learn better techniques.

Reading

It seems obvious that one does a lot of writing in a creative writing MFA program. But what’s also true is that there’s a lot of reading. This genre fiction-focused program in particular includes a lot of reading in genres I’m unfamiliar with—romance, western, and mystery—besides the science fiction and fantasy that I’ve been reading most of my life. So while I’m already an avid reader, this program will push me into new areas, which will hopefully generate some creative, genre-blending plots in my own work. And of course there will be deep dives into craft-focused books like Save the Cat Writes a Novel and Story Genius.

• Rebuttal: Reading is a solitary, independent activity at any time, and one doesn’t need to go to grad school to read or to get a well-curated reading list. In fact, I’ve read (and own) many craft books already. (Most recent one, highly recommended: The Emotional Craft of Fiction.)

Community

Perhaps the most important component of an MFA program, and the hardest thing to replicate outside of one, is the cohort of fellow MFA students with whom you’ll build a community. The value of such cohorts is the built-in critique group of trusted fellow writers that they represent; in fact, many such cohorts stay together long after graduation.

Critique groups—where you share your work with peers in a workshop setting and get valuable feedback to improve your work—can be an important component of a writer’s life. But it can be hard to find a good group; often the talent and experience levels vary so widely that they can be of limited value. It’s my hope that the graduate school screening process results in a strong, experienced cohort that I can learn from (and contribute to).

• Rebuttal: Again, one doesn’t need a graduate program to find and join a writers group. In fact, I formed my own such group (San Diego Screenwriters) in the late 1990s when I focused on screenwriting. And I recently joined Speculative Fiction Writers Association, a group that meets weekly on Zoom to critique each others’ work. There’s no guarantee that the grad school cohort will be stronger than the writing group; only time will tell.

To MFA or not to MFA

After considering all of the above in recent months, I’ve decided to move forward with graduate school, starting just over a month from now. But I’ve resolved to see this as a fluid decision, rather than an irrevocable one—that is, I will allow myself the flexibility to change my mind at any time, whether tomorrow or a year from now, based on new information. Here’s what that might look like for a program that I expect to finish in summer 2026:

• As planned: Go the full two-year distance and graduate with an MFA.

• Longer: Extend the program an extra year to earn an additional concentration in publishing, studying under prolific writer and publisher Kevin J. Anderson.

• Shorter: End next summer (2025) and graduate with an MA.

• Abbreviated: Complete this first summer session, including the first in-person residency, and then decide to go no further.

• Pivot: Decide within the next month (before classes begin) to either postpone the program until I become gainfully employed again, or abandon the idea altogether in favor of a DIY approach.

In full transparency, cost is the biggest driving factor. I was awarded a partial scholarship, but it’s still a lot of money, and the question “is it worth it?” will be a valid consideration throughout the experience. There are certainly a number of DIY approaches that I’ve discovered (which I’ll write about in a future post) that are worth considering and comparing.

And I have personal experience with academic experimentation. In 2003, I completed one semester of law school before deciding not to continue. Then, as now, cost was the biggest factor, though the similarities end there. At that time, I was destitute (literally—I briefly received food stamps), and law school would have put me into six-figure debt. Now, I’m well off, and the cost of grad school will come from savings, not student loans. But money is money, and it’s important to keep asking “is it a good investment?”

So, I have a roadmap for the adventure ahead of me. But as with any adventure, the road may veer off in some unexpected direction at any time. And for an academic pursuit focused on creative fiction, suspense and plot twists are perfectly on brand.