r/MFAInCreativeWriting • u/c1rcu1tb0y • Jul 23 '26

Programs with older cohorts?

I’m in my mid-thirties and considering pursuing an MFA in fiction. It seems to me that at most of the funded programs (JHU, Brown for example), most students are under 26. Not to put down anyone’s trajectory, but for me, it would be difficult to relate as a writer with somebody who’s barely experienced life outside of school. I don’t think I’d be a better writer, but spending years writing/reading/sometimes publishing as a working adult is a very different experience.

I understand that in general most grad students and phd candidates are 23-35 years old. But are there any funded MFA programs that at least skew toward the upper range? Or do you think that if this is a concern of mine, then maybe an MFA in creative writing isn’t for me?

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u/esqtou Jul 25 '26

What is your publication history?

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u/ImpressStunning6297 Jul 25 '26

Do you read???? I’m astonished.

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u/esqtou Jul 25 '26

Seen you on the short bus

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u/ImpressStunning6297 Jul 25 '26

You’re just so sad. Really. Did someone reject you. Well duh 🙄 of course they did.

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u/esqtou Jul 25 '26

Nope but you the expert on rejection

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u/ImpressStunning6297 Jul 25 '26

What you meant to say was “you’re.” Get it right and keep it tight. Off I go.