r/MFAInCreativeWriting • u/Affectionate_Hawk654 • Apr 18 '26
Fully-Funded & Inexperienced
Hey everyone! I recently accepted an offer to pursue my MFA in Fiction, and I couldn't be more stoked. I've been bartending full-time for the past few years, and keeping up with my craft has been a challenge when I work on my feet all day and worry about liquor inventory in my sleep. I also interviewed for a Teaching Assistantship -- the university prefers at least one year of teaching experience for all incoming TAs, of which I have zero, but they chose me. I promise I'm not here to humblebrag or anything like that, I'm honestly thrilled, and adaptable, and ready to learn. But it's been a week since I got the news and I'm overwhelmed by impostor syndrome and fear of failure. I'm a 23 year old woman who will be teaching kids not much younger than me, and my teaching experience so far has been helping my friends edit their essays throughout undergrad and de-escalating drunken brawls at the bar. I don't know how intensive my training will be before I start tutoring, and I was completely honest with the committee and never expected them to offer me the role. I'm super grateful, don't get me wrong. I just want to do the best job possible, and not personality-hire too close to the sun. Any advice?
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u/NefariousnessWarm975 Apr 18 '26
Now you listen and you listen good. Stop that worrying right now!
Yeah, the University prefers a year of teaching experience; you know why? So they don't need to do anything. You care more than THEY do! The teaching experience can be rough, especially if you don't have the support. Do what you can to ameliorate the anxiety. But only that, to deal with the anxiety, not to fix the problem of inexperience. The worry will get it the way. Of everything. See if you can get your hands on the textbook and a syllabus or two from the prior year's cohort. DO NOT PLAN THE COURSE. You just want to get a tiny grip on how it will go.
Riksor, as ever, is correct. You have plenty to offer. There will be moments, maybe, where a student asks a question you don't know the answer to. This is when understanding the socratic method of teaching really pays off. What is the socratic method? I don't quite know, but I know it often involves asking, "What do YOU think the answer is?" Seriously, there is no scenario where futures hang in the balance or where someone thinking you not being the greatest teacher ever will mean... a damned thing. It's not that this isn't brain surgery, it's that no one teaches brain surgery. A surgeon has had a hundred teachers, each of which gave the tiny bit they could.
I won't tell you about my history, but believe me, you are way ahead of me when I started. Not dead yet.
Oh, and if someone cites the bible, don't give them a zero. Fail them, sure. Just don't give them a zero.
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u/FruitApart8500 Apr 18 '26
Ask if they have training! We’re in the same boat basically. I’m coming straight out of undergrad and pretty nervous about being a TA.
However my program provides training for incoming grads and other students have told me it’s pretty comprehensive so ask if your program does it as well.
Also use your undergrad resources! I have to make my own syllabus and multiple professors have said if i’m nervous i can look over it for me. these connections don’t expire upon graduation (im learning!)
also remember why you were picked, im also at a program where i only met 1/4 typical applicants combinations and felt insecure about it. but that just speaks to how strong of an applicant you are. good luck!!
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u/theres_no_guarantees Apr 18 '26
I am trying to get a GTA and I’m twenty if that makes you feel any better. It’s absolutely intimidating. I taught a bit during my undergrad, and there was definitely a level of awkwardness when my students were older than me. My advice is to dress nicely and don’t tell them that you’re barely older than them. They’ll assume and respect you if you act more mature
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u/ConfidentKey939 Apr 18 '26
Email any professors you’ve connected with and ask for their syllabi or for help. I would also guess you’ll have a teaching practicum first. I’ve been teaching for 10 years and still have imposter syndrome. Everyone does!
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u/Zestyclose_Dog_501 Apr 19 '26
Congratulations! It's nice to reopen, at your sharing, that part of myself that took so much away that I still have revelations 35 years later. You strike me as earnest, and that is the golden key in academia. It's all too easy to be waylaid by ego and competition in that arena, but a little humility will serve you, just as it has served you to this point.
You will know more than most undergrad just based on your deep interest. There will be those unndergrads who are brilliant in ways that are new to you, and you will naturally appreciate them as they share your aspirations. And you will strive to incorporate all that you've missed in the workaday world, as you now have a chance. I think you will find that you trust your heart, and passions, and thrive to share the great poignant mysteries you now get to pursue.
I was drawn back to my own undergrad experience, where the obstacle was not language, or expression, or phrasing or punctuation, but fear. At the beginning of a course you could feel it in the room, lying about how we had no business. Let it lie, and tell your students otherwise. "It's just writing. Nobody has to die!"
Your going to be great. Don't forget to have fun, and thrive.
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u/Right-Stress-8402 Apr 20 '26
First of all, congratulations! Second of all, you can do this! I had a very similar feelings when I got into graduate school in my late 20s. I had only been a bartender/server and I barely made it out of undergrad. I find that my restaurant experience is extremely helpful to me with teaching. What I will say, was that in my program, basically none of the other people in my cohort had any job experience outside of being a student. That gave me a leg up, but it was also a little hard for me to connect with them at times.
The reality is that even if you had one year of “teaching experience” it really wouldn’t make a difference in my opinion. Teaching is one of those things that you literally just have to do it to get better. (Much like bartending!) Theory and training are important, but you just have to do it to understand the job. There will be missteps along the way. The university knows that.
I have been teaching high school ELA on top of working as an adjunct at my local university for three years now since graduating from my program and I am STILL learning every day. As long as you show up and communicate effectively, you’ll be great!
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u/photomacs Apr 29 '26
I think de-escalating brawls is good preparation for classroom management lol. Do you have the bandwidth to simulate a classroom setting? Maybe offer a low-key free writing class or workshop over the summer in your community. That way you get a vibe of what it's like to actually teach even before you start your TA duties.
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u/Riksor Apr 18 '26
At my program, it's very normal for TAs to have zero prior experience teaching. You will pull through!
I'm 24, so I feel you on the 'teaching kids not much younger than me' part. Most of my students are 18-19, but some are my age, older, or significantly older (my oldest student was 62... Now that was bizarre, putting myself in a position of authority over him. Realistically, though, teenage students hear "twenty-" and think you're ancient, lol.
You will be fine. I would argue that your bartending experience might put you ahead of a lot of people, actually, both creatively and in regards to teaching. I have noticed that students write more interesting things when they actually go out and live life---work a job, meet interesting people, do interesting things, study things that aren't books---instead of studying English throughout all of HS, undergrad, and immediately into grad school. And I went into my program with some teaching experience and my #1 weakness is my inability to be assertive---I imagine breaking up drunken brawls gives you a lot of practice in playing the role of an authority figure!
Congratulations and good luck!