New Mexico State University, Department of English

Reviewer's Name:

Lindsay Armstrong

Review Date

April 23, 2009

Year of Graduation:

2007

Review Title:

Like summer camp. For writers.

Full Review of the Program:

Overall, my experience with the MFA program at NMSU was very positive. I entered the program young and very inexperienced as a writer. At first, it was intimidating to study with writers I admired and with very smart, articulate classmates. However, there are few pretenses about the program. You are expected to contribute and participate and you will not be let off the hook. If you push yourself, your writing will improve. What you put in, I feel, is returned and then some.

Some of the best things about the program are: the instructors, the community of writers, the opportunities afforded to you as an instructor but also as a member of said writing community, amazing lectures, sometimes painful (humbling) opportunities for growth and reinvention and plenty of time to write.

I wish that I had written more (I always wish that) but overall, I would have visited (I didn't) before moving--if only to meet people ahead of time, and I wish that I would have made friends sooner with people ahead of me (2nd and 3rd years) because before you know it, you're in your final year.

Advice to Prospective Students:

-Visit the campus and attend a workshop (also, read what will be discussed beforehand). I never did this, but it is a lot of fun.
-Talk to current students and ask questions.
-Yes. Learn to play pool. It is required.
-Go out. Have a beer (or Tea) with people. Get out of the house every once in a while.
-Live in Mesilla. Wave at Sunny at least once a day.
-Be ready to rethink a lot of what you thought you knew.
-Be generous. Put your whole self into your writing, into your fellow writer's writing and sit around the fire just a few more minutes, have just one more drink, read one more page...
-Read what everyone else here has written. They know what they're sayin'...