SEPT OCT 2019 104Dantiel W. Moniz
2019 MFA in Fiction
University of Wisconsin in Madison
Established in 2002, the two-year MFA
program at University of Wisconsin
in Madison offers degrees in poetry
and fiction. It provides full funding
totaling $25,000 per year in the form of
teaching assistantships in both creative
writing and freshman composition,
complete tuition remission, and
scholarships. Incoming class size: 6.
Application deadline: December 15,- Application fee: $75. Core faculty
includes poets Amy Quan Barry, Sean
Bishop, Amaud Jamaul Johnson, and
Jesse Lee Kercheval and fiction writers
Jesse Lee Kercheval, Ron Kuka, Beth
(Bich Minh) Nguyen, and Porter Shreve.
creativewriting.wisc.edu
The University of Wisconsin’s
Institute for Creative Writing offers
up to six nine-month fellowships
each year. Typically there are three
fiction fellowships and three poetry
fellowships, each carrying with it
a stipend of at least $38,000,
health benefits, and a one-course-
per-semester teaching assignment in
undergraduate creative writing.special section MFA PROGRAMSTo how many programs did you apply? I applied to ten programs. My main
concern was funding, above all else, and I actually didn’t do much research on
faculty and reputation until after I’d been accepted or wait-listed at a program. I
used the Poets & Writers MFA database to narrow it down to ten schools based
on full funding and length of program. I wanted to be able to afford to attend
a program without needing supplemental income in the form of extra jobs, to
give myself the most time and opportunity to focus on my writing. As far as
geography, I also ruled out any programs in New York City or California off the
bat, because of cost of living. Why did you choose the program you attended?
In the last rounds of decisions, I was choosing between UW Madison and the
Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Everyone I spoke to acted as if it was a no-brainer—
obviously you choose Iowa. The prestige and history of that school was difficult
to resist, but ultimately I felt a gut certainty about UW. I felt wanted and cared
for even while on the wait list, and the smaller program size and individual at-
tention from the faculty was very attractive. Did you receive funding? I received
$22,000 a year for the two-year program, plus an additional fellowship that
didn’t come with monetary value but did exempt me from teaching composi-
tion in my second year, thus affording me more time and freedom to focus on
my thesis. Did your experience of the program exceed, match, or fall short of
your expectations? UW Madison greatly exceeded my expectations for what
a writing program could look like, especially after hearing stories from many
friends who had applied the same year I had and chosen different schools. As
the cohort is only six members—alternating genres every year so at any given
time there is one class of poets and one class of prose writers on campus—at
first glance the program seems small. But UW also has a group of six or seven
fellows every year via the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and so it’s
really much larger. In my year the fiction and poetry cohort and the fellows
got together for potlucks and salons regularly. I wasn’t expecting such strong
community, and I’m grateful for it. One of my most-trusted readers came from
this congenial environment that UW absolutely encourages. How would you
describe the community of the program? Everyone was very supportive, from
the faculty to my cohort and the WICW fellows. I felt able to take risks in my
work and be vulnerable, and I knew that I could e-mail my professors if need
be, and they would make time. What was the most unexpected aspect of your
time in an MFA program? How much time it would take to get used to having so
much free time; how long it would take to recover from “imposter syndrome”
and feel as if I belonged. What was the most significant shortcoming of your
MFA program? I would say this shortcoming had more to do with timing than
the running of the program, but my cohort entered the program during a sab-
batical season, so at any given time, each of the three fiction faculty was off
campus, and once, two at the same time, which was a little difficult during
those final thesis days. Still, the faculty tried to make themselves as available
as possible through e-mail and Skype. How did your MFA program prepare you
for post-MFA life? Some of the core ways they make sure their students are
ready to handle the often uncertain terrain of the “professional” writing life: marissa^ pilolli