University of Southern California Masters in Professional Writing

Reviewer's Name:

LWM

Review Date

March 17, 2009

Year of Graduation:

2008

Review Title:

Not worth it.

Full Review of the Program:

As one of the few poetry "majors" in the program, I felt that I learned nothing during my time at USC. Granted, while I was there, the program was in transition mode but (from what I hear) the program is improving tremendously.

But that doesn't change my experience. It doesn't change the fact that if I could get my money back, I would. In a heart beat. I found that there were very few ACTUALLY talented writers in the program. This made class time extremely boring and pointless, as most students were unable to give constructive criticism. It was a waste of time. It was also quite disheartening to have class with students whose abilities didn't warrant their position in a masters program.

I also found my track to be incredibly easy--I wasn't challenged as other students were. Fiction students were required to do 25 pages per week; screenwriters were required to complete half a script over a semester. In the poetry classes I took, I needed to turn in one poem per week, but if I didn't, it was okay, too. I did more work in undergrad and felt that my past professors put a LOT more time and effort into feedback and teaching. When it came time to write my thesis, my thesis adviser gave me NO feedback whatsoever--simply telling me that it was great the way it was and congratulations.

I learned absolutely nothing from my time at MPW. I know that this sounds incredibly harsh, but it's true. I also had a hard time finding professors to write me recommendation letters. I had the same poetry professor THREE times and the screenwriting professors who knew me didn't know me as a poet, so those rec letters wouldn't have been very beneficial. I don't think anyone should pay so much money to learn nothing and leave with, essentially, no contacts. I also had one professor who, literally, made students cry by belittling them and their work. Awful. The program was just a mess--strings pulled for some students and not for others, lack of quality instruction, lack of quality writers, etc, etc.

Advice to Prospective Students:

Keep in mind--this is a poetry-specific evaluation. My fiction friends at MPW had much better luck; they had excellent courses with Gina Nahai and Janet Fitch. I've heard that those courses were demanding, but extremely satisfying (and that both of those professors are fantastic). I know that the program has been retooling--adding and subtracting classes and instructors--but if the level of competitiveness hasn't changed, you'll become immediately frustrated by all of the bad writing and lack of criticism in class.