How to Prepare to Apply to an MFA Program, Part 1

Okay, so you want to apply for an MFA in Creative Writing, but you don’t know whether you’re good enough or where to start. You want to brush up on your writing and you want to put together the best application you possibly can. But how? In this post, I’ll try to give you some advice and point you to some resources to help you develop your writing. Then we’ll look at resources to help with the application process.

First, write. If you are going to be in an MFA program, you will write like you’ve never written before, so why wait until after you’ve been accepted? Start by writing every day or every time you possibly can. Write new material, try new genres, test your boundaries.

• Looking for inspiration, try Poets & Writers’ Writing Prompts
• I also post some prompts and links to more resources here

Next, rewrite. Don’t be satisfied with that most recent good draft. If your best writing was done in college, you would probably write it better now. Nearly any piece of writing can be improved or polished. Go back and re-read your older work, esp. if you don’t have ideas for new work. Try to find new layers. Do more than just correct errors (though fix anything and everything you can so you have absolutely clean copy). Sometimes this revision leads you to your next good idea. Going to a workshop or being involved in a writer’s group can be helpful, so you get feedback from others. If you don’t have someone nearby who can help, try going to a workshop or conference.

• Search for workshops, etc. at Poets & Writers, AWP, or New Pages

Finally, read. As I’ve said before, every MFA applicant should read widely in literary magazines. You need to know what’s being written today by the writers you admire (or the ones you’ll only admire once you’ve read them). You need to see what other MFA applicants are reading and what their professors are reading and writing. If you know what programs you want to apply to, read their literary journals to see the editorial choices of their current and former students. Our low-residency MFA program publishes two journals Ponder Review and Poetry South.

Go to bookstores and libraries to find the books that are being written that you’d like to emulate. What genre or sub-genre do you think you want to write? What authors are being published in those areas? Buy some books and read them! Or check them out from the library. Find out who those authors’ agents are. Start learning about the publishing industry.

You will have a better writing sample and letter if you’ve prepared yourself for your MFA than if you rely solely on your own talent.

That’s enough for today! I’ll continue soon with some resources that can help you with the application process.