After reading StefanM's comments about his experiences and thoughts with his graduate education courses, it got me to rethinking my situation. I'm now wondering if I too might need a residential program and might benefit more from it than an online one. Additionally, the last three weeks I have had health and family issues, and I have not been able to get much work done on my third graduate print-based English course from Adams State U. If this were to happen after I start taking courses at National, that wouldn't be good. I live about an hour's drive from Ole Miss; they have a highly regarded MFA in creative writing. They offer full funding, which means a $10,000 stipend, a full-tuition scholarship, and the possibility of a John Grisham scholarship in the amount of $14000. So, in essence I could possibly get almost the equivalent of a full-time salary while pursuing my degree. Plus, they accept 12 hours in transfer credit. One drawback is that it's a three-year program, but my transfer hours would cut that down, and the funding would make the time factor less important. Another drawback is that they only accept admission for the Fall semester, so my chance of getting in this Fall is probably gone. So, I might have to let another year go by before i could enroll. Plus, admission criteria is very selective. With National, I could get started in a couple of months, and they will accept 9 hours of transfer credit. One problem is, I would have to stick to a pretty intense schedule -- not too sure how my recent health and family issues would have fit with that. Additionally, I would be in debt about $16000 because only funding option would be student loans. Advantage is that I wouldn't have to wait another year to get started. If you were in my shoes, what do you think you would do? Start at National soon and go into substantial debt, or wait until January and see if you could get full funding to Ole Miss ( their admission deadline is February)? All thoughts and opinions welcomed!!
I do not mean to be snippy, but it seems like a no brainer to me. Go to Ole Miss - you get paid, your education is free and you have a State School B&M degree. Unless you are under a time crunch, wait the year and take the best offer on the table. Good Luck!
I would go for the residential if it is free plus you will make some money, especially if you are able to do it and not have it interfer with your life/lifestyle.
Thanks all for your thoughts. I'm kind of leaning to Ole Miss, too. But cdhale raises a good point -- I'm not sure I would be accepted. And Randell, yes, I would need both the $10000 stipend plus the Grisham scholarship to make this acceptable, since I have family responsibilities. I would hate to wait till February only to find out I couldn't get the Grisham scholarship, or worse, that I couldn't get accepted into the program. If that happened, I would have wasted six months that I could have been studying at National U. So, do you all think it's worth the gamble to wait, and try to get into Ole Miss?
Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, 6 months isn't that long. If you like that program better, than I would wait. But that is me.
I agree, 6 months is nothing. Maybe you can even get the syllabus of some of the courses and start to read up on the material so you do not feel so idle.
You both make good points -- 6 months is not that long. It's just that I'm 56 and have been trying to decide what to do for a long time already. But it might be worth the gamble to try and get the funding, at a B&M state school local to me. I know I would enjoy the on-campus interaction, too. Ole Miss only accepts 6-8 students per Fall admission, but I do believe I would have a pretty good chance.
Michael, I’m in agreement with the advice you’ve been provided. I’m not meaning to relegate National whatsoever; but in my view, there would be no similarity in opting for the University of Mississippi over National. And even if you are not awarded the full scholarship, as a Mississippi resident, your tuition should be less than National along with pursuing your MFA from Ole Miss in residence. BTW, a 6-month wait or 56 years-old isn't ANY big deal…
What you say makes sense. The only problem is that I need to be making a full-time income while I'm working on this degree -- or as close to that as possible. The stipend alone, from Ole Miss, wouldn't give me that. I'm presently looking for a teaching job but haven't found it yet. My wife is working, but I can't let her shoulder that responsibility by herself. Still, the stipend would be better than what I have now -- which is nothing. And it would certainly be far better than having to take out a large loan. I had an online business for four years, but it has tanked along with the economy. The more I look at this, the better Ole Miss looks -- if I can just get in. Of course if I find a full-time teaching job in the meantime, I'll have another decision to make.
Okay, I've been in contact with the lead faculty member for the Ole Miss MFA. While helpful, she hasn't been as responsive as the people at National. Frank, the lead faculty for the MFA at National, was wiling to look at my writing sample before I sent in anything else, and he got back to me fairly quickly, too, accepting it, providing good feedback, and welcoming me into the program! On the other hand, here is the response I got from the Ole Miss person to my request to send a writing sample for her perusal (which I went ahead and sent before I received her reply): "I can't read any writing samples until the submission period--I'm busy welcoming the new students. Hope you understand." I sent it because she didn't answer the first time I asked, and I thought she might not have gotten that email. Even if she couldn't accept it as an "official" submission, I thought she might like to see some of my work -- guess not. Anyway, despite the obvious advantages of an MFA from Ole Miss, as all of you have pointed out, this episode makes me feel better about National than I do about Ole Miss. Or, am I being too sensitive about this?
