107 POETS & WRITERS^Jonathan Wlodarski
2018 MFA in Fiction
Northeast Ohio MFAThe Northeast Ohio MFA requires
writers to choose a “gateway,” the
individual university at which the
writer is accepted and enrolled as a
graduate student. The four gateway
universities in the NEOMFA are
the University of Akron, Kent State
University, Cleveland State University,
and Youngstown State University.Established in 2005, the three-year
NEOMFA offers degrees in poetry,
fiction, and creative nonfiction. It offers
partial funding; the majority of students
are funded with teaching and graduate
assistantships. Incoming class size:- Application deadline: January 15,
- Application fee: $40–$45. Core
faculty includes poets Mary Biddinger,
Phil Brady, Caryl Pagel, Steven Reese,
and Catherine Wing; fiction writers
Chris Barzak, Imad Rahman, and Eric
Wasserman; and creative nonfiction
writers Phil Brady and David Giffels.
neomfa.org
special section MFA PROGRAMSTo how many programs did you apply? My undergraduate adviser told me I should
apply to no fewer than twelve programs, but I should really aim for fifteen. That was
financially burdensome advice. I applied to six. What criteria were most important
to you during the application process? Finding programs that offered full funding
and employed faculty whose work was similar to mine—I write fabulist fiction, so I
wanted guidance from a writer who also bent or ignored reality in their writing. To
how many programs were you accepted? Tw o. Why did you choose the program you
attended? Of the two programs that accepted me, one was low-residency, and the
other was full-residency. I wanted the full-residency experience. Did you receive fund-
ing? My program offered me full funding and a teaching stipend for which I taught a
total of three classes per academic year. Did your experience of the program exceed,
match, or fall short of your expectations? My expectations were focused mostly on
the community aspect; the ideas I had were shaped mostly by other people’s horror
stories and were extreme and unrealistic. How would you describe the community of
the program? I noticed communities developing among students of the same genre
and students who started coursework at the same time. However, I attended the
Northeast Ohio MFA, a consortium of four universities, where students choose one
of t he f our c ampus e s a s t heir h o m e i n s t i t u t i o n , s o t here were al s o c ommuni t ie s built
that way. The result was a diversity of group dynamics, several of which might be
operating simultaneously in any given workshop. As a first-year student, this was a
bit overwhelming, but by the end of the program, I grew to appreciate the challenges
of navigating the different levels of comfort and familiarity other students had with
my writing—it ensured fresh perspectives even in my sixth semester. What was the
mos t unex p e c te d a sp e c t of your t ime in an MFA pr o gr am? I was surprised how much I
enjoyed teaching and how much what I did as an instructor informed how I interacted
with my peers in the workshop. What was the greatest benefit of attending your
MFA program? Finding people who could become intimately familiar with my work.
Their insights and understanding of my intentions allowed me to grow by leaps and
bounds. What was the most significant shortcoming of your MFA program? From an
organizational perspective, trying to find a balance between the number of students
admitted and the number of available faculty members. Many classes were full or
overloaded as faculty tried to accommodate student needs. Did you learn more from
your professors, your peers, or others? I think I learned most from my peers. Trying
to parse out the underlying issues in my own work that drove their responses to my
writing in workshop taught me a lot about writing, audience reaction, and how to
more clearly express critique. How did the program change how you read or write?
The program taught me to write with intention and direction. As a reader I’m more
cognizant of craft choices, which means I’m more appreciative of successes and
more critical of failures than I used to be. How did your MFA program prepare you
for post-MFA life? I learned a lot of valuable skills in the MFA that helped me find
employment outside academia, but I don’t think most programs’ curricula do much
to explicitly prepare students to translate those skills into employment prospects.
Any advice for writers applying to MFA programs? Don’t apply unless you’re truly
prepared to put in the work. Be ready to constantly walk the line between questioning
your skill and being confident in your art.Other programs in Ohio
Ashland University (low-residency),
Bowling Green State University
(full-residency), Miami University in Oxford
(full- and low-residency), and Ohio State
re University in Columbus (full-residency).
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