MFA by the Numbers, on the Eve of AWP

Each year, thousands of writers, teachers, editors, and others in the publishing world gather for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference, or, AWP. It’s a spirited reunion for some, a nerve-wracking hell for others (most). For a few blessed people, it’s a time and place where magic happens: a writer scores an agent, an editor finds just the writer she’s been looking for, a poet makes his first sale. Whatever your view of AWP, knowledge is power. Or at least good fodder for happy-hour conversation. To that end, here are some numbers to consider:

Number of MFA programs in 2008
156

In 2016
244

Number of creative writing PhD programs in 2008
37

In 2016
50

Estimated number of online MFA programs in 2016
8

Number of open tenure-track creative writing positions in 2015
171

In 2016
119

Estimated total number of applications submitted to MFA programs last year
20,000

Number of applicants the Iowa Writers’ Workshop received last year for fiction
1,041

Number of applicants for poetry
322

Total number of applicants accepted to both programs
50

Estimated number of newly minted MFA graduates each year in the United States
3,000

Estimated two-year cost to attend Columbia University’s MFA program (tuition and fees)
$124,000

Average cost to attend a full-residency MFA program (tuition and fees)
$20,180

To attend a low-residency MFA program (tuition and fees)
$31,184

Average salary of an assistant professor of English at a four-year institution in 2016
$58,242

Average number of tenure-track faculty per creative writing program in 2011
5.1

In 2016
4.9

Estimated number of books sold by Danielle Steel, best-selling author alive
800 million

Number of MFAs held by Ms. Steel
0

Estimated number of AWP attendees each year
12,000

Estimated number of people following AWP on Twitter at time of writing
26,600

Average number of new Twitter followers AWP gains per day
9

AWP’s worldwide Twitter ranking at time of writing
404,392

The writer of this piece’s worldwide Twitter ranking at time of writing
6,053,438

Year that Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American to win a Pulitzer, won her prize
1950

Amount awarded
$500

Prize amount awarded today
$10,000

Median age of among full-time residency MFA students
27.3

Among low-residency MFA students
35.4

Percentage of students across all American creative writing programs who self-identify as white
75

Percentage of full-residency MFA programs that use fellowships for minority recruitment
67

Minimum number of pages a prose thesis must have to satisfy MFA graduation requirements at Columbia University
90

At the University of Minnesota
120

Percentage of fiction writers with books on this week’s New York Times hardcover bestseller list who hold MFAs
7

Percentage of winners of the American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize from the last six years who hold MFAs
100

Total number of literary magazines listed in Poets & Writers
1,152

Number that publish in print
609

Number that publish in print and are looking for “literary fiction”
211

For “commercial fiction”
22

For “micro-poetry”
82

Percentage of women with by-lines in The Paris Review in 2015
34

Percentage of women with by-lines in Pleiades in 2015
50

George R. R. Martin’s total earnings in 2016
$9.5 million

J.K. Rowling’s
$19 million

Number of Stephen King’s sons who have published novels
2

Percentage of those sons who hold MFAs
50

Sources: (1,2,3,4) AWP Career Center · (5) Poets & Writers · (6,7) AWP Career Center · (8) The Atlantic (9,10,11) University of Iowa representative · (12) Inside Higher Ed · (13) Columbia University · (14,15) AWP survey · (16) AWP Career Center · (17,18) AWP survey · (19) Forbes · (20) Wikipedia · (21) AWP Conference · (22) Twitter · (23,24,25) Twitter Counter · (26,27) Pulitzer winners · (28) Pulitzer FAQ · (29,30,31,32) AWP survey · (33) Columbia University · (34) University of Minnesota · (35) New York Times · (36) The Honickman Foundation · (37,38,39,40,41) Poets & Writers · (42,43) Vida  · (44,45) Forbes · (46,47) Owen King & Joe Hill