Also ranked No. 4 in the country for selectivity

by Jim Patterson

Four years after its creation and only a year and a half after granting degrees to its first class, the master of fine arts creative writing program at Vanderbilt has been named a top 20 program in the country by Poets & Writers magazine.

“This quick recognition for one of Vanderbilt’s much-in-demand new programs is a tribute to the talented writers and teachers in our legendary English department, to the leadership of department chair Jay Clayton, and to Mark Jarman, who directs the creative writing program,” said Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. “I look forward to reading the work the MFA students produce as time goes by.”

Vanderbilt is ranked No. 18 in the November/December issue of the magazine, which ranked programs in eight categories, including size, duration, cost of living, teaching load and curriculum focus. Vanderbilt – which admits three poetry and three fiction writers to its program each year – was ranked No. 4 in the country for selectivity.

“Last year we had 374 applications for those six slots, and we will expect to receive many more this year. Demand is increasing,” said Jarman, an acclaimed poet. “Our teacher-student ratio is 1-1. If you are accepted into this program, you are going to get attention.”

Each of the six students accepted receives a full scholarship, health insurance and stipends, said Sandy Solomon, associate director of the program and a poet. This support is a significant attraction for incoming students, she said, as is the prospect of acquiring teaching experience at Vanderbilt. All of the MFA students tutor at the Vanderbilt Writing Studio during their first year and teach a workshop in their genre during their second year.

“As soon as I arrived in Nashville, the members of the MFA faculty were calling me to invite me out to coffee, to take me out to lunch, to offer me their furniture, anything,” said Matt Baker, a first-year fiction student. “At any program in the country you can study under talented, published professors, but at Vanderbilt they’re also genuinely interested in the lives of their students. That’s something the Poets & Writers rankings don’t even take into account. Take that into consideration, and I think our program is at least top five.”

Poets & Writers polled more than 500 MFA applicants online between October 2008 and April 2009 through two of their largest online communities, Suburban Ecstasies and the MFA Weblog. The No. 1 program was at the University of Iowa, followed by the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia. For the full list, visit www.pw.org/content/2010_mfa_rankings_top_fifty_0.

Vanderbilt launched its master of fine arts creative writing program in 2006. The faculty includes fiction writers Tony Earley, Lorraine Lopez, Alice Randall and Nancy Reisman; poets Jarman, Solomon, Beth Bachman, Kate Daniels and Rick Hilles; and nonfiction writer Peter Guralnick. For more information on the program, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/english/creative_writing.

Posted 11/01/09