To MFA or to not MFA? That is a good question. If you already have a career, if you are a teacher or work in a related field or somewhat related field, Goddard (or any MFA program) would be a good choice. I would say that Goddard’s program is, or was, one of the best MFA programs around. They say the program is ONLY for self-motivated students. Why? The low-residency format only works for motivated students. However, OBVIOUSLY, if you are not motivated I see absolutely no point in studying writing. In fact, why bother with school if you lack motivation? Seriously! Don’t waste your precious money on college if you don’t give a shit about learning.
You SHOULD be motivated and disciplined in the first place to be a writer. If you ARE a writer you are already driven to write. You already WANT to write. If you hate writing, don’t take up the study of writing! To me, this is obvious. I do not understand why on earth any student would major in writing and then, make the claim that “I can’t seem to get myself to write.” Really?
Anyone who has to force herself to write should take up some other career immediately.
Now that said, looking back, Goddard College admissions office made the claim that Goddard students tended to continue writing after leaving school.
I look back and ask…..Is this trend because of the school? Do I still write because of my Goddard education? Or, do I still write because I am a writer?
For the longest time I gave the school far too much credit.
I am sitting here writing NOT because of my schooling. I don’t know why I praised the school all these years. I write because I am a self-motivated person anyway. I am sitting here writing in spite of the school.
Not one person from Goddard has bothered to contact me in ages. The school withdrew all support of me maybe in 2016 when I tried to take out a discrimination case against them because they treated me like shit after graduation. They DID NOT RESPOND. I was on the phone for maybe an hour with the dean who then promised to get back to me and did not. I know now that a non-response to a discrimination claim is typical when any response will incriminate the defendant.
Since then I have been in touch with one other person (fellow student) who is also furious at the school. My former advisor withdrew her support of me as well, siding with the bullies. Any emails I have sent to other faculty have been unanswered no matter what the content was.
I tried getting back onto the school’s alum Facebook page briefly sometime in 2017 and I was bullied off the page. Those students, whom I did not know, should be ashamed of themselves.
There should be more oversight. There were instances that I know of when faculty, students, staff, or alums behaved extremely irresponsibly. I witnessed things happening there that should not have happened. It all slid under the rug.