MFA is Made for Age

At 51 years old, I told my wife I wanted to do something more in my life than legal administration. There is great anxiety with becoming an older student. Besides the financial commitment, there's the time commitment and much younger competition. I have two boys of my own, and I realized that if there was one thing I wanted to teach them, it would be how beautiful the gift of language is, especially when woven into a compelling story.

With my wife's encouragement, I began applying to schools and stumbled upon Drexel's new MFA program through an advertisement after applying to schools. While it wasn't easy with Drexel being across the country, I found out immediately I was not alone. Our director, Nomi Eve, focused on uniting our cohort through early Zoom calls and emails. Our cohort has many students in my age range, and also at great distance. This eased my entrance into the program and allowed me to push myself to get involved, even from 3,000 miles away.

I have two boys of my own, and I realized that if there was one thing I wanted to teach them, it would be how beautiful the gift of language is, especially when woven into a compelling story.

So far, it has been an incredible experience. We have met successful authors like Jacquelyn Mitchard and Jason Motte and rising stars like J.R. Dawson and Adam Gidwitz. I have joined the Paper Dragon, the publication of the Drexel MFA program, as part of the editorial staff and worked for the first time as a poetry editor. I will be engaging with Writing Through Walls, the MFA's writing exchange program with prisoners come this term, and am part of the social media team. I hope to do a retreat abroad at some point this year with members of my cohort. The experience has been life-changing for sure.