MFA by the Numbers, on the Eve of AWP
Danielle Steel Doesn't Have an MFA, and Other Shocking Revelations
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
Amy Brady
Amy Brady is the executive director of Orion magazine and coeditor of The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate. Brady has made appearances on the BBC, NPR, and PBS. She holds a PhD in literature and American studies and has won writing and research awards from the National Science Foundation, the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, and the Library of Congress. Her new book Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–a Cool History of a Hot Commodity is available now from Putnam.
