5. Reason #5 not to get an MFA: Pride



Full disclosure: I applied to a number of MFA programs in New York City that rejected me and I’m not the kind of person who takes rejection well. In retrospect I genuinely believe it was for the best, but I will always think that it was uncool of those schools not to take a chance on me. I suppose I could have applied to schools outside of New York City, and I did apply to one in London because I was in a long-distance relationship…

4. Reason #4 not to get an MFA: Timeframe



Some people write everyday. I don’t. I can’t. If I had to write everyday I think it would actually hinder my writing. Ideas come to me at very inopportune times. I’ve written on many an airplane air sickness bag, on subscription cards in magazines and on electricity bills. I don’t think I’ve ever opened a blank word doc in the hope that something would just pop into my head. I transcribe almost everything. 

I technically…

3. Reason #3 not to get an MFA: Cost

 

Let’s say that getting an MFA costs around $50,000 (not including housing, books, health insurance, etc). That’s two years and a significant amount of money that you could spend in a myriad of other ways. If you took just a fifth of that money, you could spend it on lectures, workshops, books, week long writing retreats, a personal computer just for your creative writing, or any other number of writing related activities. I did that math…

2. Reason #2 not to get an MFA: Perspective



I don’t know about you, but I would never tell a friend that I thought her work was crap. Writing is personal and it hurts to hear that. There are enough people in all stages of the writing process that will tell you that your work is crap, your friends are supposed to bolster your confidence. But how many times have you torn apart a book or movie written by someone you didn’t know? It’s easier to be brutally honest with…