Texas Tech University Ph.D. Program Acceptance: Eleventh-Hour Surprise
My graduate school experience began with an MFA application to various American universities. When I received my acceptance letter to the MFA program at Long Island University, Brooklyn campus, I could not believe it at first because I switched my major from Communications to English with a specialization in Creative Writing. Prior to this moment, I only wrote mostly cultural and feature articles, news reports, and interviews for a contract job that I had. And sometimes, I published poems and short stories on my blog site too. I did not think much of my writing but I just knew that I wanted to develop and improve my skills as a creative writer.
Preparing for the Ph.D. Program as an International Student.
As an international student, the admission and acceptance process into any university here in the United States of America is different from that of a citizen. Since I applied to the various programs myself, the first thing I did was familiarize myself with the process for international students. When I got accepted into Texas Tech University, I immediately visited the international students’ page on their website to know what steps I needed to take. Although I am an international student, mine was a little bit different because I had just finished my MFA at another American university when I received my offer letter into the Ph.D. program.
#DIY: Ph.D. Creative Writing Application Process
This blog post is mainly about the steps that I took in finding and applying to various schools to earn a Ph.D. Creative Writing degree, especially since I am in my second year and rounding up my coursework (another topic for another post). I submitted my application during my opt as an international student here in the United States. Another thing to note is that there are not a lot of universities that offer a Ph.D. Creative Writing program here in the United States. They either offer it as a literature or English program. Finding one that suits my interest in balancing scholarly work with creative work, took a lot of research.