MFA TIMELINE, INFORMATION, AND FORMS

Welcome to our program, whether you are a new MFA candidate, an ongoing student, or a community member interested in seeing what we do. The following discussion is designed to help explain the process and progress through a Master of Fine Arts degree program in Creative Writing at Arizona State University.

The first thing to remember is that, in all things regarding your academic movement, the ASU Division of Graduate Studies (DGS) is the final authority. The DGS announces important deadlines each semester—for selecting health insurance perhaps, or for graduation application— and such dates are also published in the ASU Graduate Catalog.  Students are individually responsible for discovering and meeting these deadlines.  Check out the DGS web site at http://www.asu.edu/graduate/ for details.

PRIOR TO FIRST YEAR

• Begin your application during the fall of the year before you would like to enter the program. We accept applications only once a year, and the deadline is February 1st. Prepare a writing sample. This will be the most important part of your application.
• Familiarize yourself with the writers on the ASU faculty to see if they will be the inspiration and the mentors you individually need. Review our application procedures on this web site under “Admission,” or request a packet of information from program manager Karla.Elling@asu.edu; if you need a packet, be sure to give her your snail-mail address.
• Apply for admission to ASU graduate study online. Send your transcripts directly to the DGS. Pay the application fee: http://www.asu.edu/graduate/.
• Apply for a Teaching Assistantship, if teaching is something you’d like to do. Most financial aid at ASU accompanies a Teaching or Graduate Assistantship, so download an application for a Graduate Assistantship. Fill it out, and include it with your full application package (including your manuscript and letters of recommendation). Mail this directly to Creative Writing, Department of English, Box 870302, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-0302.
• So, you are in The Program . . .

FIRST YEAR

• If you are not a resident of Arizona, and come into the program without financial assistance, consider establishing Arizona residency. Begin to act on the requirements before the first day of the fall semester. Residency rules are found at: http://www.asu.edu/registrar/residency/.
• Attend CWP orientations at the beginning of the fall semester, and all receptions and parties!  Our graduate program is a welcoming community, and however shy you may feel, these gatherings will help.  Attend meetings and readings and discussions designed especially for you. Go to Camp Tontozona in October with the MFA students!
• Become familiar with the course requirements for your genre: poetry, fiction, or playwriting. Become familiar with the MFA Reading List in your genre.
• Although your program of study (POS) is not due until the first semester of your second year, you will want to start thinking about three faculty members to serve as your advisory committee. You may choose three writers in the Creative Writing Program (CWP) or two writers along with one literature professor. Your chairperson will be the CWP professor who is your ideal mentor, the one who agrees upon the path your future book-length manuscript will take. Remember that later you can change members of your committee, if you must; however, you will need to do this before your third year in the program.
• Attend as many MFA practicum performances (in Theatre called the applied project) as possible. You are the primary audience for your peers, and MFA students like you will ultimately be your audience when you defend: be there for your friends.
• Write.
• Read works from the MFA reading list in your area over the summer.
• So, you’ve made it through the first year . . .

SECOND YEAR

• Complete your program of study. You can compose it online by calling up the form located at the Registrar’s site: http://www.asu.edu/registrar/forms/wordfill/mastrpos.doc . If you need help, contact the program manager, Karla Elling, and she will walk you through filling out the POS.
• Any changes to your faculty committee should be made by the spring semester of your second year. Faculty members will not be insulted if you decide to change your committee, but you need to do it as soon as possible.  On the Division of Graduate Studies web site, you’ll find the “change of committee” form.
• Take your first practicum or Theatre applied project during the spring semester of your second year. These courses may only be taken with committee members. To register, obtain an “independent study” form from the appropriate departmental office, obtain the professor’s signature, and get the suppressed line number for the course from the office. Your last practicum / applied project must be taken with the chairperson of your committee. You might elect to take two or even three of these courses from your chair.
• Attend as many MFA practicum performances and final Theatrical performances as possible.
• Work on your manuscript over the summer. 
  Complete the MFA reading list in your area. Decide when you will take the MFA comprehensive exams.  You might take them in your second year; however, most students wait until the fall of the third year. These exams are a celebration, not a scare.
• So, you’ve made it through your second year . . .

THIRD YEAR

• You’re getting ready to graduate. 
• Download the graduation deadlines and rules from the Division of Graduate Studies site. http://www.asu.edu/graduate/
• Take your second practicum with another committee member in the fall semester of your third year. Follow this with your last practicum in the spring, which must be taken with your committee chairperson.
• This will be a busy year, and thinking about finding a job for the following year will seem like the last thing you’ve got time for, but be wise. Get some pragmatic advice.  Think about taking the “Creative Writing and the Professions” class, which covers such issues as applying for jobs and getting published. Attend departmental professional seminars and workshops, and consider doing these things early.  Fall is the right time—not spring.
• During your last year, you’ll be wise to get three letters of recommendation before you leave ASU, presumably from your committee. Since faculty members are busy, it’s courteous to ask for letters far in advance.  Alberto Ríos suggests, “If you’ve applied for a job and are asking for a specific letter with specific intent, then you should probably ask for it by at least October of your third year in the program. If it is a general letter, then you should put in your request by February if you expect to have the letter by April.” You may want to set up a placement file with the Associated Writing Programs (AWP) or with the ASU Department of English. This file can be mailed from the department whenever it is needed.  Write to Sheila.Luna@asu.edu and ask for help with a dossier.
• Notify the program manager, Karla.Elling@asu.edu about when you plan to take the MFA comprehensive Exams. The fall semester of your third year is a good time.  Don’t put it off.
• Finish up the final revisions to your manuscript. Remember that your last semester is largely an administrative one, with only about one month to finish things up before you have to turn in your practicum project to the Division of Graduate Studies for final review and approval.  Submit the manuscript to each committee member early enough to implement their revision suggestions.
• Apply for graduation. http://www.asu.edu/graduate/current/index.htm. Check exact dates, requirements, graduation fees, format approval rules. Don’t wait till the last minute to format your practicum project or apply for graduation.
• Schedule a room for your practicum performance (oral defense) or play.
• Your oral defense will be performed around April of your last year in the program. You must publicize your defense by way of fliers and emails in the department. The defense normally consists of a 30-minute reading of your poetry or prose. If you are a playwright, we will be attending a performance of your final play. Defenses in poetry and prose are followed by a question and answer session initiated by the members of your committee.  Your friends and family may attend.
• After your practicum performance (defense), you need to walk the signed approval page from your manuscript over to the Division of Graduate Studies.
• You’ll probably want to have a party. “Yes, you’ll definitely want to have a party,” says Ron Carlson, “definitely.”

So, you’ve graduated . . . Congratulations!