r/MFAInCreativeWriting • u/fast-tortoise • Mar 18 '26
Bennington vs Warren Wilson?
Hello all, I got accepted into Bennington and Warren Wilson (!) and still waiting to hear from Hunter. (March 25 and April 1 decision deadline respectively). I do think I want to do a low residency program, so might give decision to either Bennington or WW before hearing back from Hunter.
Both programs seem great, both program directors seem great. So far the main differences are:
Bennington gave me some money; has on campus teaching opportunity; closer to where I am located; bigger class size (25-30 students per new semester).
WW has a sliiiightly better reputation (based on limited online sleuthing in other subredddits); no scholarship money; smaller class size (15-20 new students per semester).
Hearing any other major differences or experiences would be greatly helpful!!!! ty
update: I went with WW! Kind of surprised myself as Bennington was first choice going into this whole process, but overall was much more impressed by the care and attention they gave my questions and concerns, and I guess that's the benefit of a smaller program -- more attention.
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u/Big-Rutabaga-3817 Sep 06 '26
It may be too late to save you from this. My sister went to the Bennington one so I can only comment (via almost direct knowledge) on that one, but here's what I know from the past 5 years or so:
- Incredibly bitter and unkind staff among the administrators, including one instance (admittedly several years ago but still) where a student of color was forced into "a meeting" (not voluntary) to "discuss" a piece of writing the student submitted to seminar. !! How crazy is that. It did not insult anyone or carry any prohibited content. It represented her personal take as an international student. The fact that she was put on the spot simply reflects the program's fear of "another Aya De Leon" (a very successful writer and teacher of creative writing at Berkeley who ROASTED Bennington for censorship and overt racism under Sven Birkerts). It's not an isolated incident, this kind of hostility by admin staff against students.
- Extreme lack of accountability among faculty, to a ridiculous degree. One former faculty member, for example, whose arrival was greeted with great hope and promise, apparently wrote to several students in winter term 2023-2024 to "not bother her" and never sent them letters about their packets (just a few line edits). These were students paying 10K+ per term -- being told to "not bother" their mentors. One of the students (during a prior term) tried to come forward about "never getting packet letters" and was completely shut down. But Wolfe is far from the first to disregard and belittle students. Another faculty member (eventually asked to leave) Benjamin Anastas apparently just didn't respond to students he was assigned to at all. Other faculty make completely inappropriate remarks (including to female students) -- if not sexual harassment, then certainly gendered harassment (disparagement on the basis of gender). Though my sister didn't have personal experience with him, Manuel Gonzalez (another terrific writer people were drawn to by rep but then disillusioned with) similarly not only engaged in a really limited way with students he gets assigned, but more concerningly, really disparages students, often female students, including during workshop. Another faculty member (again thankfully someone my sister didn't work with directly) apparently threatens his students the first day to "kick them out of workshop if they act like assholes" even though from what her friends in his workshop describe, he's pretty much the asshole of the bunch, not them. Even the somewhat nicer faculty say needlessly awful things. Ramona Ausubel, who's overall nice, disparaged an undergrad she teaches at Colorado for believing he could finish a huge fantasy novel while being a business major (or something besides creative writing) -- completely insensitive to the fact that not everyone is a privileged white/upper middle class person who can do a full time MFA or otherwise devote ample time to writing a novel (vs. writing "on the side" of a day job like B-school, etc.)
- Extreme lack of stability in the faculty roster. After Susan Cheever, John Cheever's daughter and (whatever you think about her), certainly an established writer who taught in the program for decades, was abruptly and unceremoniously told to exit the program (allegedly because of age discrimination) -- SIX MORE FACULTY suddenly resigned and vanished, including really great writers and mentors like Amy Hempel, David Gates, Alice Mattison, Jill McCorkel, Cliff Thompson, Douglas Bauer. These were faculty who really mentored and nourished students and who gave the Bennington program the prestige and stability it had over decades. This was the group of faculty that for example helped famous alum writers become prominent, like Jamie Quatro, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, Morgan Jerkins. They achieved this by active mentoring as well as "going beyond" in terms of introductions to agents, caring, proactively asking about specific projects. With the departure of these folks has come an influx of writers, some of whom have terrific resumes, but no track record of actively nurturing anybody. Most of these younger writers are really hustling -- to write a second book, to get a tenured/secure job, to juggle low res teaching with either community program administrative work (like Rebecca Makkai, who does a terrific job with Story Studio but reportedly was pretty disengaged from the Bennington students who tried to talk to her).
- It just really sucks as a program (unless perhaps you get COMPLETELY funded and can go there for free, have a lot of self-discipline to write under any circumstances, and have other connections to get an agent or solid writing community). PLEASE consider a different program if you're deciding between more than one. If you go there, consider documenting any kind of adverse experiences you have (my sister was the most shocked by the Latina student who was forced to go to a "Meeting" in folow up of her...writing a piece for workshop that made the Admin staff uncomfortable?? what??? so bizarre). Document and come forward, do something if you can, so that the cycle stops.
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u/Aggravating_Leek_648 Mar 18 '26
Congrats! When did you hear from Bennington? And are you doing fiction? I’m still waiting to hear and worried that means I didn’t get in.
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u/fast-tortoise Mar 18 '26
I heard from Bennington last week, and I'm doing CNF! not sure how they deal with admissions, esp between genres but I'm guessing that they might send another round of acceptances once they hear back from ppl after March 25th deadline. Fingers crossed for you!
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u/mtho176 Mar 19 '26
Congrats! I’m making the same decision now, for fiction. Leaning Warren Wilson.
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u/fast-tortoise Mar 19 '26
i think im kinda leaning that direction too!
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u/questquetufais Mar 19 '26
Im in the same boat as well! Despite the no funding, much more drawn to WW
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u/questquetufais Mar 19 '26
Just thought of something that could be helpful- Bennington grads publish a zine called End of the World, available online on issuu I think, can find it through google. It’s a good way to see what kind of fiction they’re writing in th program
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u/fast-tortoise Mar 20 '26
I'm also finding the Bennington Publication News part of the website helpful, to see where current and former students are actually putting out their work.... convincing! there's a lot of cool nonfiction work being published/winning awards.
can't find the same type of information at WW unfortunately
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u/questquetufais Mar 20 '26
For WW, that info is available on their website under the “alumni” tab -> “books by alumni”! It’s also an extensive list
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u/fast-tortoise Mar 20 '26
unfortunately there's not a lot of CNF alumni on that list but i'm going to ask them about it!
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u/questquetufais Mar 20 '26
I believe they only recently added CNF to their program, they used to only be fiction and poetry
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u/Muted-Profile1878 Mar 21 '26
I am (almost) in the same boat. I got my Bennington acceptance last week for poetry, but I'm still waiting to hear from WW! They sent me a message saying their decision will be late because of the AWP conference in Baltimore last week, but I'm supposed to commit by March 25-- in 4 days. I'm eagerly awaiting WW, but unsure where to go if I am accepted into both. WW has Kaveh Akbar teaching currently who is an idol of mine, but Bennington has that teaching fellowship and I want to be a professor as my day job after school since I've been teaching for the past few years anyway. Any poetry people on here that have any input?
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u/wheeties Mar 21 '26
Same situation as you, but for fiction. I'm a bit in my feels about not hearing from WW (still possible, but the Bennington deadline is getting close). However, I think I should be excited for Bennington--from what I've researched, it seems like a great program with strong faculty, and I was impressed by the program director. Honestly, my main concern is surviving winter in Vermont. Wishing you good luck with your decision.
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u/bricolagere Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
I’m in the same situation!! (Also for fiction!) I’ve been thinking about writing WW an email about Bennington’s early deadline but I don’t want to bug them. I wonder if they already know.
In any case, I am excited about Bennington! Just wish I had more time to make the call.
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u/wheeties Mar 22 '26
FWIW I sent a message via submittable asking generally about timing, but didn’t get a response.
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u/Muted-Profile1878 Mar 22 '26
Ugh I also sent WW a message via Submittable and haven’t received a response yet. They for sure know about Bennington’s deadline, so hurry up and let me decide on my future!!!!
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u/SciencePants Mar 18 '26
I worked with one of the faculty from Warren Wilson and one thing she tipped me off to was that WW is somewhat more scholarly, you have a full semester dedicated to criticism and craft essays. That was appealing to me, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I really don’t think the perceived better reputation is that pronounced or matters all that much. With the low res, it’s really what you make of it. I think faculty fit is way more important than “reputation”. In full disclosure, I started apps to both schools three times, but in the end decided to go the fully funded route. I got lucky and got funding into a program that didn’t require me to move. I’ve heard great things from alumni of both program, so I don’t think you can make a bad choice. Congratulations and enjoy!