From my "View from the Keyboard"

Here’s a not-so-scientific breakdown of just how much a grad degree from Columbia College Chicago will age you!

The MFA in Creative Writing is 45 credits. If you bust ass, that’s a three-year degree, including thesis. But, why bust ass? Are you in such a hurry to get back to the real world?

Didn’t think so.

Most full-time Columbia fiction students take between three and four years to get their MFA. Add a year to that number for part-timers. Full-time enrollment for grad students is nine to twelve credits (three to four classes) a semester, and there are plenty of incentives to be a full-time student. Part-time is generally six credits (two classes).

Here’s an example of a full-time schedule:

First four semesters:

Writing Workshop (Fiction 1, Fiction 2, Proseforms, Advanced)
CRW (Critical reading and Writing: Lit classes based around the question “What can I, a writer, learn from reading certain pieces of literature?”)
Elective (I took electives on nonfiction writing and young adult fiction, then I started using my elective credits to take teaching classes like Tutor Training)

Fifth and sixth semesters:
Writing Workshop
Thesis Hours (You write on your own and meet a couple times a semester with your thesis advisor, a Fiction Writing professor)

A note about thesis hours: You have to take six thesis hours, and you can spread those out however you want. You can even do one credit per semester for three years. If you’re taking thesis credits, you’re considered full-time.

I’m in my fourth year and am just completing thesis hours right now. Like I said before, I don’t have a burning desire to go back to the real world, especially since I have such a great part-time job on campus, which perfectly supplements my income from teaching.

Also, Columbia offers a lot of summer and J-Term (winter break) programs where you can study abroad in places like Italy, Prague and England, or learn to pitch scripts in Los Angeles. They’re a good way to see somewhere new, take care of some credits, and speed up your degree.

WEEK LINKS:

A big part of the writing process is where you perform the filthy, physical act of writing. Fiction Writing professor and “Temple of Air” author Patty McNair has a feature on her website called “”View from the Keyboard,” where writers share a photo of their writing space. Here’s mine, offering proof that my apartment looks like “Sanford and Son” for bookworms.