Fully Funded Mfa Creative Writing Programs

I Received a Fully Funded MFA Offer: Here's How You Can Too

A walk-through of the entire application process from start to finish

The MFA application process is overwhelming, and the low acceptance rate, especially for full funding, makes it an especially intimidating process. So much time, planning, communication, money, and studying goes into making applications perfect. Because of all this, the MFA application process is certainly not one to take lightly. But, if you dedicate proper time and energy, and take the tips and tricks I have to offer to heart, I'm confident you'll give yourself the best chance of getting in and receiving the funding you deserve.

In order to fr a me my application, I'll go ahead and give a short synopsis of my background. I completed an undergrad degree in creative writing at Denison University, and then went on to do a Masters of Arts in Writing at Coastal Carolina University. Many applicants do go straight from undergrad to an MFA, but this is not the route I took. I decided to join my MAW program last minute, so I was not even considering an MFA at the time. I learned about MFA programs while in the MAW at Coastal, which is when I made the decision to apply. In retrospect, I know my MAW was crucial to improving my poetry, and I don't believe I would have received any funded offers without the time to grow my work. Plus, my MAW was funded through a TAship (tuition only), so it also gave me teaching experience that I believe gave me an edge when applying for funded MFA programs.

Okay, now to the nitty gritty details!

Create a spreadsheet

I started the beginning of my application prep work about six months before sending out applications. If you want to pace yourself even more, I'd actually recommend starting a year before, especially if you know you have schools that need the GRE. After you're committed to applying, I'd advise you to compile an excel spreadsheet of all schools you want to apply to. The information I suggest including in the excel document is the name of the school, the cost to apply at each school, if the school requires a GRE, the application due date for each school, the length of the critical writing sample, the length of the creative writing sample, the length of the personal statement, and the number of letter of recommendations needed. All this information should be available on the school's MFA site, but it sometimes does require a bit of digging. I've included an image below of my first draft of schools, although I ended up narrowing it down to four schools by the end of the process.

I recommend starting with this step for multiple reasons. For one, it makes you read through each MFA site to make sure the school has your specification of genre. For example, some schools' MFA programs don't have a nonfiction genre. This is less a problem in poetry, my genre, but is important to note for nonfiction writers.

Additionally, it makes you see when your earliest application due date is. This is important because you need to know when to request letters of rec and when to take the GRE (if you need to take it). Also, it allows you to create a timeline of the order of applications. As you can see in mine, the app date for University of Arizona (which I didn't end up applying to) was a full two months before Eastern Washington University's deadline.

It's important to note that your creative writing sample should be worked on from the start to finish of the application process. This could of course begin before then, but the compiling of the list allows you to see how long of a creative writing sample you'll need. This also ensures you'll be putting forth your freshest, most revised work. I'll get to tips on the creative writing sample in a bit.

Personal statements

After you've created your spreadsheet, I'd suggest beginning your personal statements. This is what I'd consider to be the second most important part of your application, behind the creative writing sample. I scoured the internet for advice, and I asked everyone I could on tips for writing a personal statement. Although every person had varied answers, and most reinforced that "the creative writing sample is most important," I wanted to make mine memorable. The advice that stuck with me most, and what I ended up going with for my own personal statements, was "to tell a unique story."

I treated the personal statement as an extension of my creative writing sample, and I wanted the reader to feel invested in my story. I think it's important to look at each school's requirement for a personal statement (as most ask to at least address a few specific questions). I made sure to include what was asked, but used the same "story line" for each personal statement: how working in the fast food industry for four years framed an interest in writing people. I've included a chopped excerpt so you can get a taste for what I went for stylistically and creatively:

I learned to write poetry in between hours spent near the sizzling of patties, overcooked hot dogs, and Diet Coke. Not literally, as no manager at the Sonic Drive-In asked me to bring in poetry when applying for the job, the job I'd spend the next four years at. They never asked for a single line to workshop in between happy hour spurts, where slushies and soft drinks were always half price…Working in fast food was the first place I experienced a variety of people whose lives varied greatly from my own, whose struggles looked much different than mine, and was the catalyst for an interest in writing all different types of people into my poetry. They taught me to write sympathy, joy, disappointment, and a range of other emotions in a way I never could before, instilling in me the importance of listening.

Overall, the personal statement will not get you rejected from a program if the program loves what it sees from your creative writing sample, but it could give you an edge if you and another candidate are close.

The creative writing sample

The creative writing sample is the most important part of your application. I didn't have a single person tell me otherwise during my application process. Since you're applying to be a creative writer, this makes sense. If you're fighting for two spots in the poetry program, the program wants the best poets it can get. If you're a fiction writer, a program wants to accept the next New York Times bestseller. It's just the way MFA programs are, especially when funding is so competitive. Programs want devoted writers that they can invest in.

At the end of the day, having a good creative writing sample can only be accomplished through constant dedication to your craft and revision. This is why I mentioned starting the process early. If possible, do an independent study or workshop directly before the application cycle so you have your freshest, and hopefully best, work. I was lucky enough to have an independent study where I wrote, workshopped, and revised fourteen poems with my professor. I purposely scheduled my semester to make this possible, as I knew those poems would reflect me as a poet best. Although I didn't use every single poem that came out of that workshop, I'd say at least 80% of each creative writing sample contained these poems.

If you're unable to do a workshop or independent study directly before your app cycle, I'd definitely encourage you to have a few people go through your sample. Not only did this help me narrow down which poems people liked least (as I had multiple people look at my finished sample), but it also was encouraging to see a lot of my "favorites" were also theirs. Also, think about your order carefully. It may seem like a small thing in a sample, but treat your sample like a chapbook. Make each poem speak to each other if you're writing poetry, or be intentional if you're ordering short stories. This advice is more a suggestion for poets, as some fiction or nonfiction writers might only have one piece in their sample.

Also, don't be afraid to show off your skill set. I included a mix of free verse and formal verse. I had a sestina, a sonnet, and a ghazal. I played around with indents. The creative writing sample is the only thing the reader of the app has to see what kind of writer you are. Don't cut yourself short by only showing part of what you do as a writer.

The GRE

I ended up only applying to one school that needed the GRE: the University of Washington- Seattle. If it wasn't my second-choice school, I might have just decided to scratch applying there and relieve the stress of studying and taking the GRE.

As far as the GRE, I was told the results do not matter that much. In fact, many schools don't require it at all (which you'll find when researching schools). The information I was given by professors and mentors was that it really only tells schools something if you do exceptionally well or exceptionally bad, and that the scores might come into play if you're really close with another candidate. I'm not sure exactly how every school treats the GRE, but the overall consensus I was given was, don't stress too much.

I barely studied for math (as I was told they don't even look at that for creative writing programs), but I did buy a set of 500 GRE vocab flashcards. I studied these on-and-off from June to November, which is when I took the GRE. I also took some free practice tests online, which I think were very helpful in showing me what to expect from the GRE. There are also an ample amount of free Youtube videos that provide reviews of GRE words, which I'd also watch or listen to while working out or walking.

I'd definitely recommend prepping, as the vocab on the GRE is tough. At the bare minimum, take one practice test and buy a set of flashcards. I took a couple practice tests before I began studying, and I usually did around 150 for verbal. On test day, I received a 161. This means studying helped me get from the 50th percentile to around the 87th percentile.

In short: studying even flashcards helps a lot!

Teaching experience

Most fully funded programs offer their funding through a TAship, where you teach a class each semester (or sometimes more than one depending on the program) in exchange for your funding. The definition of fully funding varies slightly, but I was looking for a program that would include health insurance in addition to the tuition waiver and stipend. Some programs that call themselves "fully funded" just include a tuition waiver and a stipend, so that is something to keep in mind when looking at programs.

As I mentioned in my intro, I completed an MAW that gave me teaching experience. I also worked at a tutoring center, and had the opportunity to adjunct at a community college (I taught a couple P/F "writing labs"). Some schools' apps may give you the opportunity to spotlight any teaching experience you have in a section of their app, or may ask for a resume where teaching experience would be included. If not, you can always tie it into your personal statement.

I was told repeatedly that the teaching experience that I had would make me more competitive for funding. Your creative writing sample is still the most important factor on your app, but teaching experience certainly gives you an edge for funding. I'd suggest playing up any tutoring or opportunities where you've been in a teaching role, even if you don't have the direct experience I had. Think hard about any times in your life you've had to be a teacher/tutor, and make sure to spotlight those as you find able to.

My results

As I've mentioned, I ended up applying to four programs. Most of my mentors advised applying to 10–14 in order to give myself the best chance of getting into a funded program I was excited about. I think this number is a good goal for those who know they want to go to a program, and don't have any specific location they want to be at. I decided to only do four because I realized I was fine with taking a gap year if I didn't get into one of my top choices. Truthfully, my boyfriend and I had been doing long-distance for five years, and I wanted to be in a program that was at least within a driving distance of him.

I narrowed my list down to Western Washington University, University of Washington-Seattle, Eastern Washington, and University of Montana. At first, I was offered full funding at University of Montana, waitlisted at University of Washington-Seattle, waitlisted at Western Washington University, and accepted to Eastern Washington (was offered a partial scholarship, but not full funding). Eastern Washington had originally thought there would be full funding available to me, but their TAships got cut down from four to two spots. It happens, and it ending up all working out without that option. I do think the coronavirus lead to the cutting of two spots.

At University of Montana, I heard through the grapevine that there were two fully funded positions, although I did not ask them directly. There were two fully funded positions at both Western Washington and Eastern Washington. There were five fully funded positions available at University of Washington-Seattle. These numbers were per-genre, meaning these were only the fully funded positions for poetry. This does not mean that more than that weren't accepted into the programs, but just that full funding wasn't available to more than the numbers listed. It's also possible additional funding ended up being available for another student, but this was just the original info I was given.

Western Washington was my top school, and I did end up getting off the waitlist there, and was offered full funding. This lead my final stats to be two funded offers, one acceptance with a partial scholarship, and one waitlist (which I took myself off of after getting into Western). It was stressful from beginning to end, and the coronavirus only complicated that, but it was a worthwhile process.

An important thing to remember is there is a lot of shuffling right up until the end, and this was especially true because of COVID-19 this year. Don't fret if you get waitlisted, or even if you're farther down on the waitlist. I didn't end up accepting/denying until April, because I was waiting for Western Washington, and I know COVID-19 caused shuffling far into the summer. The usual universal deadline for responding to offers from residential MFA programs is sometime in April.

Closing thoughts

The most important part of getting your application process started is staying organized. If you don't begin with mapping out schools and timelines, you're bound to end up rushed and stressed. If you leave yourself six months to a year to prepare your apps, you can pace out studying, writing, and editing. With so many moving pieces in your application, it's crucial to take the time to double check you have everything you need in your personal statements, have saved necessary application funds, and are turning in your best creative work. At the end of the day, you might give it your best shot and still fall short, but there are so many stories out there of people not quite getting the offer they want the first year, and then turning around and getting into their dream school the second year. Don't settle for less than what you deserve.

If you do your research, prepare properly, and stay positive, you're bound to be confident in your work, which will shine through in your application. I know you can do this, and you should know this too.

This is just my personal experience, so I'd love to offer you a couple resources I found helpful:

https://www.thegradcafe.com/
https://www.pw.org/mfa

The first is a forum site where people discuss applications both before and after submitting, and the second is an MFA search tool that contains basic info and links to the MFA sites. There is also an "MFA Draft" group on Facebook that you can ask to join that is full of people discussing all things related to MFA applications. Good luck, and happy writing!