Is An MFA Worth It?

As an aspiring novelist, you may be wrestling with the question of whether or not to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing. Is an MFA in Creative Writing worth it? That depends on your goals and needs.

I’m going to list some questions you should ask yourself to determine what your end goals and needs are and if an MFA in Creative Writing will help you meet them. These questions and answers are ones I find pertinent based on my own experience with an MFA program. I will also discuss some things I wish I’d known before starting an MFA.

I ended up dropping the program. It was a tough choice to make, because I hate not finishing things I start. But after admitting that it was a bigger hindrance to me than a leg up in my career, I thought it wise to cut my losses. Looking back today, four years later, I stand by that decision.

Now, let’s dive into the questions that will help you decide if an MFA is worth it for you.

1. Do You See Yourself Teaching?

There are no author education requirements, so having an MFA isn’t going to increase your chances of getting a publishing deal. However, if you think you’d like to teach college English, then an MFA will satisfy the prerequisite to do so, making the degree far more worth your while. An MFA may also be enough to teach English in some private high schools—meaning without an undergraduate degree in Education.

2. How Much Are You Willing To Sacrifice For School?

When our schedules begin to seem impossible, we always tell ourselves we’ll figure it out. And we usually do, but at a cost.

I was enrolled in an MFA program while working a full-time copywriting job—one that still required me to go into the office—and serving in the Air National Guard. I was also spending about six hours per week at the gym and had other obvious obligations, like house chores and relationships to maintain, and then there was my novel-in-progress to work on.

It never felt like I had the time to really sink into my school work. I was doing just enough to complete my assignments. I know I could’ve gotten more out of the readings and instructional materials if my plate was less full, and that really bothered me.

I was also making slower progress on my novel with the addition of school in my schedule, because, unfortunately, book writing was the most inessential part of my day. This seemed highly counterproductive since the dream of becoming an author was the biggest reason I was following the MFA path.

Unless you can afford to go to school without working full-time or have a really flexible full-time job without many other commitments or priorities, you might also find yourself struggling to keep up the balance between school, work, and the rest of your life. You need to consider what part(s) of your life school is going to hinder and how big of a deal it’ll be to you.

3. How Much Help Do You Need With Your Craft?

If you have a background in writing or are currently a prolific writer, the discussions about craft and the writing process in the program will probably seem like review. Any new nuggets of information you may get from the lessons could just as easily be learned from reading and studying on your own, rather than paying thousands of dollars in tuition and spending hours on assignments that you’ll barely remember doing later on.

If you haven’t done a lot of writing lately and are looking for guidance on developing a writing process and/or finding your style, then you may benefit more from an MFA program. It’s a great place to find a community of writers, which is one of the things I liked most about it. That community can help you cultivate your unique style, and even help you determine what story ideas have book potential.

However, I’ve since found many online writing communities outside of the MFA program that are equally as helpful at providing moral support and inspiration. Some groups even meet in person. I suggest doing a search for writing organizations near you. You might be surprised to find some local ones you haven’t heard of. I never would have guessed so many writing clubs exist in my local area that meet both online and in person.

Now, let me get into some other topics to reflect on before jumping into an MFA program—ones universities don’t seem to want to talk about.

Important Things No One Tells You In The MFA Program

“If you’re feeling like the author life is hard, you’re not alone, and not finding success right away doesn’t mean you should feel down on yourself or give up.”

When I was still pursuing the traditional publishing path for my first novel, I felt like every article I read about how to query agents or on working with publishing houses was absurdly negative, like the writers were all basically telling me not to bother finishing my book, because it would be for nothing. I thought they must just be jaded from working with crooked people, or that perhaps nasty competitiveness was the culture of the writing world.

I decided to ignore all the naysayers. Nothing was going to deter me from finishing my book and sending it out into the world.

I had a professor in the MFA program who was one of these naysayers. She would often leave cynical comments within the class forums, like, “Even good books don’t get published,” and “Making money off books isn’t that easy,” but she’d never elaborate. I thought it was odd that someone who was supposed to be helping us become authors was almost discouraging us from trying.

It wasn’t until after I published a book myself that I realized why veteran authors often have such gloomy attitudes toward publishing. What no one told me in the MFA program is that most books only sell a few thousand copies over their lifetimes, if that. Search “average number of copies a book sells,” and you’ll find mixed results from sources, ranging from around 250-5,000, but based on my experience and conversations with other authors and publishing industry professionals, I’d say an average cap of up to 5,000 is realistic.

Also of note, the number of self-published books has increased by 264% in the last five years, according to the data and analytics group WordsRated. The market saturation makes it continually harder for writers to find their audiences. Not that I disdain self-publishing. Quite the opposite. But that’s a topic for another post.

So it’s very possible that you’ll spend more money on earning an MFA than you’ll make on book sales. I imagine that’s the reason MFA programs don’t advertise publishing statistics. Well, at least they didn’t in 2020 when I was still taking MFA classes. If programs did advertise these stats, I’m sure fewer people would enroll, because they’d know the degree is unlikely to pay for itself in the long run, unless the goal is to become a professor.

Remember—there are no author education requirements. And, as a professional copywriter and editor with a journalism background, I can tell you that most companies hiring writers, either for marketing content or news stories, will unfortunately not be impressed that you have an MFA in Creative Writing, or even that you’ve written books. They’ll be more concerned about your knowledge of SEO and SEO tools, running campaigns, managing social media accounts, competitive analysis, and a myriad of additional skills within the realm of business and marketing.

On the bright side, the majority of the other technical skill sets that employers are looking for writers to have, such as SEO proficiency, are ones that can be learned from your own reading and practice with online tools.

Now, I’m not trying to spread more negativity about the author life. I have absolutely no intention of quitting my book projects, even if they don’t result in the sales I hoped to see. If you’re feeling like the author life is hard, you’re not alone, and not finding success right away doesn’t mean you should feel down on yourself or give up.

When you become an author, you also become an entrepreneur, and the book selling business is no different than any other small business. It’s going to be a slow, steady climb to get where you want to be.

I’m talking years or even decades. I think the more writers start being open and honest about the journey, the more we can actually help one another.

Do you have any other thoughts on whether or not an MFA in Creative Writing is worth it? I’d love to hear them. Send me a message at nightowl1471@gmail.com.

MJ Biggs is the author of the novel A Wonderful Place To Die.