Apr 01
Our Sweet Sixteen: Help Us Determine the Best Writin’ School in the Land
categories: Cocktail Hour
713 comments
Once again it is time to scientifically determine the best writing school in the country. This year’s seeding is based on last year’s results. Can Vermont defend its title? Stay tuned.
We ask that you leave your vote on the comments page of this post. Only one vote per person per school this round please. But if you like you can vote for two schools, yours and another. This next round of voting will determine the final 2! Because how long can we really keep this up?
LAST YEAR’S RESULT’s
1. Vermont College: 192
2. Bama: 64
3. Ohio State: 51
4. McNeese: 44
5. Goddard: 43 (a spate of late votes would have made G number 3, but…..)
6. George Mason: 35
7. UNCW: 23
8. Ashland: 22
9. SDSU: 21
10. Virginia Tech: 15
11. Arizona State: 13
12. BGSU: 9
13. New School: 7
14. Arizona: 7
15. Iowa: 7
16. Penn State RIP: 5
Vermont College of Fine Arts, of course!
Thank you Virginia–now about those rocks in your pockets!
Vermont College of Fine Arts is the best!
VCFA
VCFA!
Ohio Univ!
VCFA!
VCFA of course. Then maybe Bennington.
Vermont College of Fine Arts!
VCFA all the way!
VERMONT – VCFA ALL THE WAY!!!
Vermont College AND Ohio University
VCFA, Baby!
VCFA!!
VCFA! VCFA!
VCFA…all the way!
Vermont College of Fine Arts!!
Vermont allll the way!
VCFA is the best there is, best faculty, best residency, best results, best friends.
VCFA!!
Wow, it’s gotta be Vermont still !
Another Vote for Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Vermont!
VCFA! All the way!
Vermont College of Fine Arts!
Absolutely, positively, no-doubt-whatsoever Vermont College!
Goddard, ftw.
SDSU!
Vermont College! Yay!
Definitely Vermont College of Fine Arts. Wild glorious, inspiring residencies, ditto faculty, and a sense of personal mentorship through each semester of the MFA. Plus it’s in Vermont, what’s not to love?
I’m going Arizona State and UNCW!
Ohio University! Go Bobcats! (Our writing program is way better than our football program, I promise.)
Another vote for Ohio University.
Vermont College, of course!
Goddard!!
Ohio University. And I didn’t vote twice, there are two of me.
Okay, that’s two for Ohio!
Vermont. Connie May Fowler is the best
Sorry I’m a little late joining in but I had a big writing assignment to finish. Hope you’re still counting because I can honestly say I learned more in less time and have had more success since after I attended a couple of Creative Writing classes at
THE Ohio State University
So I cast one strong and thankful vote for OSU
Vermont College!
Gimme a V! Gimme a C! Gimme an F! Gimme an A! What does that spell? VCFA! Gooooooooo Vermont!
Vermont for sure. We’re all over the Writer’s Chronicle, and we also know how to play.
or Texas or UNC-Wilmington or if they have a cubicle in a publishing office in Manhattan. So if you are really good, and you are smart about it, you will go to a place that can help you by association. You will do good work. You will take the stipend check and say thank you. You will not settle for being exploited.
We’ll take this as a vote for Western Quebec University! And thanks for the absurd careerist claptrap!
Sam,
The joke is on the ones who are so eager to be legitimized by yet another sham way of ranking. It goes like this. If you are at Iowa, no need to wave your arms in the air and say you are important. If you are at Antioch or Ashland or Goddard, you are hoping every day that someone will take you seriously.
Exceptions to this low residency rule for Vermont and Warren Wilson. They are first-rate, although it is a crime to make anybody pay for a degree like the MFA. If the school is not funding you, the school is injuring your future for profit. Unless you are one of those rich people who hang out all summer at conferences and the real writers have to patronize you so they can get their reciprocal patronage. Cash.
Who knows where the best writers will be found? They could be at Goddard or Ashland, but they stand a better chance in the world if they are at Iowa or Michigan or Columbia or Alabama or
Spoiling the big dance for Cinderella. It’s Vermont College of Fine Arts.
VCFA, no doubt about it!
What’s with all this Goddard nonsense? VCFA, obvs.
ALABAMA, y’all.
VCFA! Amazing students, great place to teach, a community atmosphere unlike any other I’ve experienced. And…all those publications and prizes garnered by the alums!
Vermont College. There is no other acceptable answer.
Iowa of course. It is a weird tournament where networks of Internet-organized enthusiasm wins. (Lucky that “Self-Published Authors Unite” won’t get a bracket slot alongside these low residency programs!) If the NCAA Tournament worked this way, the University of Phoenix would win every year, and Liberty University would knock off Duke or Louisville or Michigan in the first round. That is what it will look like when Goddard inevitably beats Iowa in the first round, and Vermont College wins the whole thing.
What the tongue-in-cheek humor of these brackets covers is the sad reality of the haves and have-nots in MFA-land.
Sam J: actually the whole thing started as a parody of the lame P&W ratings of MFA prgrams. Here is the science behind it:
http://billanddavescocktailhour.com/the-mfa-tournament-help-crown-the-best-writing-school-in-the-country-vote-early-and-often/
We’ll take this as a vote for Self-Published Authors Unite! Go SPAU! Wow! Wow! We love Spau!
Truthfully, competition does not make writers better. Community and connection may. –another vote for VCFA
I’m with you, Didi.
Vermont College of Fine Arts
Vermont
Vermont College!