Do You Need an MFA? (part 10,273)

People often ask me if they need an MFA to be a successful (defined as you please) writer. There is no one answer, which is why I like this piece by Lisa Hase-Jackson, one of the Converse MFA grads, offering thoughts about her journey to her poetry MFA.

...In the workshops I facilitated, I could perceive that my poems, unlike those of my MFA holding friends, lacked the kind of complexity and iridescence I longed for. The practical knowledge I was gaining, though worthwhile, differed from that which is available through a formal program, and the time I was committing to community involvement, I realized, could be better organized if I had a course of study to follow. Simultaneously, my applications for full-time teaching jobs and writing residencies were consistently passed over for candidates holding terminal degrees.... 

Read on: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/guest-blog-ma-mfa-post-post-graduate-reflections