Read This Before Applying for an MA in Creative Writing
It's a degree that would NOT increase your employability
This is part 1 of the MA Creative Writing series.
I used to work in finance. If I see someone with an MA in creative writing on their resume, I would only have one question in mind:
This person has a dream, is this job really what they wanted?
Obviously, if your plan is to become a writer and work in something writing-related, like I did, then doing an MA in creative writing is a wise choice. However, there are still other things to consider. Subscribe to this Substack as I share with you my tips and considerations for an MA in creative writing in the coming weeks.
I am writing as a person who is about to graduate with an MA in creative writing after 10 years of working in London prior to making the switch. Before you throw money into the sink or carry yourself into student debt with a current interest rate of 12% in the UK, think harder.
Not any kind of degree
The biggest indicator of having a degree in creative writing to an employer is that you’re impractical. You’re a dreamer. You have bigger shoes to fill than tying down to a mundane job you’re applying for.
However, there’s a solution to that, multiple, even, to show that you’re more than this degree:
The MA in creative writing is from a prestigious university
Your module includes something practical like publishing or non-fiction writing: i.e. you show your future boss that you can write reports
You have other work experience that shows your skills beyond writing
My undergraduate was in social anthology - yep, another amazing degree with no practical prospect. However, I did go to a prestigious university in the UK (in fact it’s a business school), and I have taken some module that feels more ‘finance-y’, such as the anthology of economics. I did an internship at a tiny accounting firm during the summer and a work placement at a charity. I also have 2 A-levels in Economics and Mathematics, and I did well in both.
Your soft skills matter too
Highlighting all these helped build an image of a person with ‘business acumen’. Coupled with killer interview skills and scoring high on those stupid personality tests, that was how I scored a job in one of the biggest financial services firms without a social anthropology degree.
Whilst you don’t need to hop from writing to finance like me, but whatever job you do, you should showcase you have more skills than creativity and daydreaming.
A master is not an escape route
I finished my undergraduate in 2012, which was at the height of the Lehman Brothers’ economic depression. Many of my friends couldn’t find a job, so they applied for a master’s instead.
If you have unlimited money and resources, that’s not a bad idea.
However, I think it’s illogical to see a master’s as an escape route. Firstly, the jump from bachelor to master is actually pretty steep. Do you really want to study more again, in a more painful way, after you just finished three/four years of exams?
If you’re really going to a master’s straight after your undergraduate, I will avoid an MA in creative writing. It’s better to do a degree that strengthens your employability, HR and people in the working world will read through your mind straightaway.
They will know that you are not a logical person, and you’re an escapist.
So unless you have so much money that you can be an unemployed writer for a while, don’t escape into an MA in creative writing. Also, to say the least, that’s disrespectful to the arts.
The best way to find a job after you graduate
The longer you stay unemployed, the more rejections you receive, and the stronger you have to be mentally. Job-seeking is a time of self-doubt, self-hatred, and escapism. Luckily, there is a simple formula to make it easier, and surprisingly, writing helps with the tough period of unemployment.
When I was looking for a job during one of the toughest periods in economic history, I did three things:
I wrote a blog and interacted with an online community about trying to make it in London as an immigrant and young woman without any skills
I had a manual labour part-time job that motivated me to become rich and get a desk job
I read a lot.
Anyone can write. You don’t need a degree to write well. You need to read and actually put your thoughts down on paper. So see the time after your degree as a great time to explore writing. Writing a blog gives you instant feedback from the world as to whether your content is interesting or not.
My content was so interesting that I kept writing up until a collection of my best articles was published as a paperback in Hong Kong. This was a win.
The part-time job is also key, it has to be pretty lowly. Your part-time job cannot be a comfortable desk job like what Chandler from Friends had. A job like that would make you feel too comfortable and lose your motivation.
Do your MA in creative writing later in life
If being a writer is truly your passion, you should already be writing. Read again. Many people talk about wanting to write a book and they won’t do it. Because they aren’t passionate enough. They aren’t consumed by the story in their head enough.
I’d write even if I had to cut my finger and use blood as ink.
If you have a full-time job, write slowly, do short courses on the weekend on writing, and use a writing sprint video (like the ones I make) to schedule a time to write every day for one hour before work.
That’s what I did back then, and it’s still what I do today.
One day, when the passion explodes and you know you are financially secure and mature, then you can do an MA in creative writing. There’s never ‘too late’ or ‘too old’ for this degree. I went back at the age of 33 and I was considered relatively young. There is a 75-year-old student in my cohort. He writes with such finesse and uniqueness. I love it.
The bottom line
Do not do an MA in Creative Writing if can’t afford to be unemployed after your graduate. Don’t do a master's degree for the sake of escapism. Instead, strengthen your employability with a stronger CV and work experience, work hard on acing the interviews, and write along your job-seeking moment or full-time work moment, until you are emotionally and financially mature enough to go back to uni to get the most out of an MA in creative writing.
An MA in creative writing is a unique investment, but it can be made mediocre with the wrong attitude.
Side note: MFA is a very American concept although many UK universities now also offer MFA in creative writing. You can teach writing in the UK with an MA in creative writing.