"Nepotistic and Self-serving"

"Nepotistic and Self-serving"

The MFA Writing program is a cash cow for the institute and most students are poorly served, especially those who don't follow the faculty's personal interests. The faculty are old and irrelevant, and many use their power to promote their friends' books and their own ends. Some instructors seem burnt out because they have taught the same fringe classes for decades. Some instructors are shameless in having favorites. I found myself in the middle of abusive social games that left me feeling shamed and unsupported.

The program attracts some talent...and a lot of smug narcissistic overgrown scenester pseudo-intellectuals trying to use the school's name to climb the ranks to hipster stardom. The CalArts "experimental writing" Kool Aid is passed around liberally, swaying the most impressionable people. Many people in my cohort had deep personal issues and/or were poorly suited for graduate level classes. I don't know who chooses these students. In many workshops, the conversation revolved around subjective feelings, personal grievances, traumas and self-discovery. Faculty were willing to indulge this behavior because they think writing is over and all that remains is self-help. The radical chic politics and theory are superficial at best. I learned more as an undergrad, and regret the high tuition and opportunity costs.