101 Days To Go

Well, here I am. 

I decided that I need to chronicle my journey across the pond. But what good is writing from there without writing from home first? 

So for the next 3 months you'll be reading my desperate attempts to speed the clock up and see firsthand accounts of how extensive this process is. 

In order to fully immerse you in how this all came about we have to turn back the clocks a bit. 

My original plan for grad school was to get my MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University. I loved that they had a dual program between Screenwriting and Fiction. After applying to three different schools in 2012 I came up empty. Turns out these schools only really accept about 7 or 8 students each. In my limited research I had no clue the competition  was that intense!

So I came home. I had been living in Camarillo for 3 years by this point. I rarely ever came home so I figured it was good that I was back. Me being the balance for these crazy folks. I took a few classes at the local Community College (so I didn't have to begin paying back my loans) and focused on reading and writing whenever I could. 

Before I knew it I was applying again. My list had been started and it contained twelve schools, mostly state schools since they would be cheapest. I was now fully into research mode, both with the MFA Draft groups on Facebook and just reading school websites. 

I sent in my first application in December. That's when I realized it. The CSU system stopped giving application waivers to graduate school applications. I was floored. Funds had been dwindling after 6 months of being home. I couldn't afford to pay $60 per application so I dwindle by list down to the schools I really wanted to go to. 4 schools.

The night I emailed out my last application I was up and looking at the MFA Draft '13 page again. I saw that most people were applying to tons of schools and I got mad at myself for not being able to do more. That's when I realized some schools were international. After a quick, and I mean super quick, Google search I found a lot of great programs. When I clicked the application page I saw that the applications were free. FREE. So I picked out 4 schools and applied to some more. 

Acceptances floated in from Kingston University, a university 10 minutes outside of London that sits on the Thames, Seton Hill, a small private university in Pennsylvania, and Kent, a smallish university 2 hours outside of London in Canterbury. 

As cool as Seton was there was no way that I was going to pay the same amount there that I would in the UK. That left Kent and Kingston. After being warmly received by the staff at Kingston on facebook and via email I decided on them. It's a bigger school and it's only a 20 minute tube ride to get to London just in case, you know, I want to stalk them as they film Doctor Who or Sherlock (did you know they let fans be EXTRAS?).

So I chose Kingston and I've been preparing myself to go for the past 3 months. 

The plan, as of this moment, is to get my MA in Creative Writing. From there I can move to an MFA or straight into a PhD program. 

Hopefully I get one of the scholarships I applied for. Otherwise I'll be working my ass off while accomplishing all of this. 

So that's the story. 

Am I ready? 

The question should really be, are you? Cause this is gonna happen. And you'll be right beside me. :)

-Amanda MJ