The most common type of low residency MFA program is in creative writing. However, there are low residency MFA programs that include poetry, interdisciplinary, creative nonfiction, and more. These original opportunities are prevalent with respectable motive, as they provide numerous benefits over customary MFA studies.
An Assorted Group of Colleagues
Students can vary in age from twenty to seventy, as well as come from entirely different parts of the country, and a few from different countries. These individuals also come from various different employment backgrounds such as working in fields varying from IT to holding positions as Hollywood screenwriters. Students may also have to weigh the demands of writing, holding full-time employment, and child rearing. All of these eclectic backgrounds give a diverse voice which can bring a more abundant and engrossing experience.
The Capability to Prevent Relocating or Job Loss
By far the most rational and captivating motivation for most students who choose a low-residency program, find that the ability to not have to relocate is an advantage to writers with reputable ties in a home commune, stable occupation that students cannot afford to leave, as well as partners and families they cannot leave behind for extended periods of time.
An Employed Internship in Writing
While customary syllabi engross students in a convenient literary group that is occupied of university facilitated prospects, a low-residency program entails students to express and strategize towards their objectives, account their schedule and dynamisms in the challenge of other responsibilities, and interact in their societies. In short, a low-residency program principally reproduces, with some supplementary organization and assets, the vivacity of an employed writer.
The Chance for Continued Mentorship
In the bulk of low-residency educational developments, students intermingle with their cohorts throughout each term, but the spirit of education lies in the personal correlation amongst student and faculty mentor. This relationship not only helps in preparation for future conversation with managers and editors. It also permits a more comprehensive and appropriate criticism than is frequently presented in customary workshops.
If you are searching for low residency MFA programs, you can contact the School of Art Institute of Chicago or visit their website at http://www.saic.edu/.