I’m a teacher but want to be a writer. In all my months home this year, I have been continually more frustrated with my writing, and lack of writing. After three months of trying to teach middle school English online and write my novel while completely overwhelmed with the pandemic, I decided to apply to online MFA programs. I mostly wanted to see if I could get in.
I told myself I wouldn’t get in so I did not even have to think about the decision of enrolling or not. Healthy confidence level, right?
I applied to two online MFA programs that seemed flexible and had teacher discounts. I waited and after a day or two, I was accepted by both programs.
I rode a wave of excitement that I was “good enough” so that my judgment was clouded and I signed on to the program with the most interesting classes. You all know where this is going because I already told you. The costs added up and I had to buy books and also rush to finish grading to complete my discussion posts weekly.
The required reading for the class was interesting. My peers were interesting. But the school and professor were making money off us leading all discussions and not asking for anything from the professor in return. There were no lectures, no real feedback, no real push to get better.
I know the workshop model works in person. I took a single writing workshop class in college and absolutely loved it. However, back in college, the professors spoke, taught, and pushed us.
Other online MFA’s might be different, but I hope those out there thinking about an online MFA will read this. Do you need to spend time discussing writing with strangers online? Or do you need to sit at your desk chair with your wifi and phone off and write what you want to write?
