Hey, all. As stated in the title, I got my master's. I owe a lot to this site's community to keep me going and safe from being gaslit.

If it would help people, I would love to share my knowledge and experience about graduate school, writing spaces, or anything that might interest you. Here are some details that might invite questions (that won't doxx me):

  • My focus was Prose/Fiction

  • To complete the master's I had to turn in a novel as my thesis.

  • I volunteered in the anti-racist program in my Creative Writing Department and handled some cases of in-class discrimination issues.

  • Some of my peers are boomers and/or libs and I workshopped with them.

  • I took courses on teaching Creative Writing, if you want some general advice.

  • I was only made aware of the CIA's history of influencing writing programs during my final semester.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them or go into more detail.

    • Lucas [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Hey, better late than never to get empathy. Especially when every part of western imperialism is actively trying to suppress it.

      In the US, grad school is considered even more extra/luxury than a four-year degree, so there are fewer opportunities for funding and the loans get steeper in cost. As someone else mentioned, there are fully-funded programs where you get paid tuition, rent, and a stipend without having to do anything. You get paid to get the education and maybe teach classes/act as an assistant. You see it in master's programs and a lot of the times in phd programs. And of course, there are scholarships and grants, though those are pretty competitive too.

      I have a friend who got her master's in sociology and works as a researcher using the dreaded critical race theory! I'd say if you wanted to do a grad program at a research university, you might be able to avoid the conscience-killing work, albeit with less pay.

      I think if I was offered a paid MFA program with teaching part-time, I would do the whole thing again, no question. It would be a hard decision if I was given a time machine and the opportunity to talk to the younger me, but I think I would still do what I did. For your partner though, I would say that you can still engage in writing communities without the heavy financial investment. There are plenty of groups, festivals, organizations, etc. that would be happy to share in the love of writing. The good stuff, like workshopping is basically mutual-aid for writers. You help other people become better writers and they do the same for you. They cover things you might miss, or offer perspectives that you might not have. My advice would be to find a leftist circle and see if they have a writers group. That way, you can filter out chud writers and write for an audience who would appreciate your work.

      And hey, it's not our fault that education became a machine to churn out libs. I'm just glad we got folks like you to round out our skillsets!