<p>UVa vs Sewanee,
Which one prefer?</p>
<p>this thread is pretty much dead. </p>
<p>But to any lurking Iowans: have any of you gotten a second packet with rooming/FA info? I haven’t received anything yet and I wonder if it’s just me.</p>
<p>Chocobok, I haven’t gotten a second packet yet, and I sent out everything except the travel information pretty much right away. I expect we’ll be getting something soon though. Which Session are you going to?</p>
<p>Session I :D</p>
<p>I just got a FA letter in the mail today, which is sort of a relief because I was worried something got lost in the mail on the way there. Nothing on roommates or workshops yet though.</p>
<p>Ahh, I’m doing Session II. I got my FA letter in the mail this week too!</p>
<p>I haven’t received any additional info yet, but I am attending session II as well!</p>
<p>Awesome! Which seminar did you put as your top choice??</p>
<p>I put creative writing by nick dybek, but right now I am regretting it…
What did you put?<br>
Also, did you request for a roommate from that special middle east/north africa program? I did, but I am also regretting that a little as well; then again, it could be a cool experience so we’ll see!</p>
<p>Even though I applied to the program under Fiction, I put my first choice as Creative Writing with Dan Rosenberg. He seemed like a cool guy.</p>
<p>Yeah, I also chose the roommate from abroad program. It would be quite an experience!</p>
<p>[Kenyon</a> Review Young Writers 2010 | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook Public Group | Facebook”>Facebook Public Group | Facebook) join this group, its for the people who are going to the program this summer :)</p>
<p>I know it’s a bit late b/c you guys have already chosen teachers but I did Iowa last year and honestly every single teacher is amazing there. And if you really don’t like the workshop you’re in/don’t click w/ the teacher, you can probably switch… one girl did that last year.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that you can room w/ the Middle East students now… last year they were all in their own sort of area and we didn’t interact w/ them much.</p>
<p>As far as questions… if anyone wants to know anything I’m more than happy to share about Iowa! PM me or tell me what you’d like to know. : D</p>
<p>Quomodo, at Iowa, do you pretty much stick with your one teacher, or do you attend classes, etc. from the other teachers too?</p>
<p>You spend the majority of your time with the one teacher. But every morning is “morning stretch,” where another teacher leads a writing exercise/activity to get your brains warmed up for the morning.</p>
<p>And I forget how often it was, I think maybe ever other day, you do some fun writing exercises with another teacher and another group of kids. For instance, one teacher had us stalk people and listen in on their conversations! Another teacher had us all sit in this one area and all write about this one person who was sitting there–describing her and making up stories about her.</p>
<p>The majority of your time is with the teacher you’ve chosen, which is good b/c they can get to know you better. But you do have exposure to the other teachers. And your counselors, who live in your halls, are normally teachers during the other sessions, so you can ask them questions, advice on reading materials, etc.</p>
<p>Oh, that sounds great. 
Thanks so much!</p>
<p>@lilmisspipedream which session are you in??</p>
<p>Quomodo, this is a little random, but I am training for cross country in the fall; would I have time (morning or afternoon/evening maybe?) to run at Iowa?</p>
<p>Also, I got the letter my teacher sent, and he seems much more relaxed than other teachers; from what I’ve heard, the others are asking students to read particular books and or/poems, and also having them do various assignments. My teacher’s one “assignment” was: write. maybe I am overreacting, but should I be worried at how lax he is? I just want to feel challenged at the program.</p>
<p>Okay, I didn’t read through all 22 pages of the thread… But I have some insight on a few of the programs listed - and possibly a few that weren’t listed.</p>
<p>The UVA Young Writers’ Workshop is absolutely incredible. It’s three weeks (or two, depending on which session you pick) of really intense and incredible experiences. I will issue a warning, which is that you should not attend this program if you aren’t prepared to work your butt off. We were all out of bed by 6:00 every morning, and we were doing activities, writing, etc. until 10:30 or 11:00 every night. The classes are incredible though. I went for fiction and I learned so much in the three weeks I was there. My teacher (Kenny) was really talented and really knew what he was talking about. He took us through workshops, writing exercises, submitting to literary magazines, etc. He tried to cover every aspect - and we were always invited to ask questions. The way the program works is that in the morning you do your lab, which is run by two of the counselors. You basically work on writing exercises and read some short excerpts of pieces. You do a lot of sharing of very, very rough drafts (as in you write something and then share it). But I got a lot of really, really strong pieces out of some of the exercises we did in lab. Then in the afternoons you do your workshop, which is with your teacher - for the first week you work on writing exercises and learning to share with each other. Our last two weeks we did workshops (two or three people a day) and also continued writing exercises. Our teacher also assigned us a short story and short writing assignment every night - plus the workshop stories we had to read. I will also say that the kids at YWW were really talented. I’ve done several writing programs, and the kids at YWW are the most talented group of kids I have ever had the pleasure of attending a program with. There are cons to YWW, but they have more to do with the fact that you don’t get a lot of free time (so although I was able to START a lot of things, I had to wait until I got home to finish anything), and with the fact that they aren’t really crazy about letting people be independent. We all had to eat breakfast with the girls and counselor from our suites, you could not walk to class without a teacher, etc. Which might be fine for some people, but since I was 17 when I attended last year and used to being able to run around wherever I wanted… It took some adjusting. But YWW is definitely worth it. I would really reccommend going.</p>
<p>On the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio: Although I haven’t attended yet (I leave in a little over a week and I am so excited), I have friends from YWW who attended Iowa and said it was the best program they’ve ever been to. From what they told me, it was even better than YWW. Iowa obviously is a name that has a lot of pull in the cretive writing world. So if you’re looking to go to school for creative writing or looking to impress literary magzines, etc. - from that standpoint, Iowa will be really, really good. I was actually hesitant to apply to Iowa because, from what I’ve heard from several teachers and fellow writers, Iowa may be really well known but it has a bit of a dark cloud over it for creative writers. (Wow, that was an awkward sentence - but I’m too exhausted to try and rephrase…) I’ve heard two major critiques again and again, which is that a.) Iowa focuses more on negative criticism than concrit and b.) that everyone who comes out of an Iowa program writes the same. As I said, I have not yet attended, but I’m willing to let you know what I found later in July (after I’ve attended).</p>
<p>On the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop: I was accepted and desperately wanted to attend, but unfortunately had to withdraw because of a family matter. From what I’ve heard though, it’s the best of the best. When it comes to Kenyon, that small little school on a hill is pretty much the Harvard of creative writing. It’s not well-known to the whole wide United States, etc. but in creative writing circles and editing circles and literary magazines - Kenyon is a name that carries some weigh. To that end, I have heard nothing but high praise for and fantastic reviews on the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop. I know both kids who have attended the workshop and kids who have gone onto college at Kenyon (one or two actually to major in creative writing) and they all say that to attend the workshop is one of the best decisions they have ever made - both from a “professional” and personal standpoint. So I strongly reccommend that one if you’re looking for a name that carries some weight.</p>
<p>As for programs that are not very prestigious, I’ve attended both the CTD creative writing course at Northwestern and the Education Unlimited Emerging Writers’ Institute at UC Berkeley. Both of them are programs that are fun and better when you’re younger. And although I didn’t learn as much at either of those as I learned at YWW, they helped me to get into all of the other (more prestigious) writing programs to which I was accepted. They show that you’re serious about wanting to study and learn about creative writing. So if you applied to a program and didn’t get in (and if you have a couple of years) I would suggest attending either the one at Northwestern or the one at UC Berkeley as a way to kind of bolster your resume.</p>
<p>CTD: This program was good. I did it as a rising high school freshman, so I was pretty young. My biggest problem with the program is that you can’t specify what genre you wish to work in. So everybody does poetry, everybody does mystery, everybody does short story, etc. You spent your entire day in the same class (from 8:00 to noon, and then from 1:00 to 4:30) with the same people and the same teacher. There were a lot of fun exercises and I made a lot of good friends, but it wasn’t really an outstanding program. Again, if you’re looking to show how dedicated you are to a more competitive summer writing program, then I would definitely go to CTD - but if you have a choice between CTD and another one then I would take the other option.</p>
<p>Emerging Writers Institute: I attened for two years (the first two years the program was running) and it was fun. There is a lot of reading in this program - almost more than there is writing. But you get to workshop things with a group that you meet with everyday, and you get to specify which genre you want to work in. You also pick two electives (I did things such as flash fiction, Young Adult writing, college essay writing, etc.) that you have every other day. Those are kind of a fun way to branch out of your little niche. Unlike CTD and even, to a certain extent, YWW - there are no limits on what you can write about. Emerging Writers really truly embraces free expression. There were people who did pieces that had a slight streak of erotica in them that were beautifully written and which were workshopped as seriously and as dilligently as any other piece. So that’s definitely a better one than CTD if you’re looking to use it as a bridge program.</p>
<p>I hope this helps some. I also suggest, if you can swing it, taking a creative writing class at a local community college. I’ve done this a couple of times, and although I always ended up being the youngest person in the class (the last one I took, the next youngest person was still 23 years older than me), I’ve made some really good contacts and now have two really, really good standing workshop groups. If you’re really serious about creative writing then this is definitely something I’d suggest trying - if nothing else, it’ll give you readers who aren’t your friends and parents and who will actually tell you the full truth. (And who also know how to give concrit instead of just telling you something sucks.)</p>
<p>Good luck to anybody looking for a program like this! I’ve had some of the best experiences of my life at the ones I have attended, and I’m sad that this is going to be the last one I can attend at the high school level. (Although there’s a whole different world of programs open to college students…)</p>
<p>Oh, and one more thing! One of the most valuable things about YWW is that it was founded and is run by Margo Figgins. She’s pretty much a god in the creative writing and educational world. So if you’re ever applying to a school for creative writing, make sure to slip her name in there when you talk about YWW - I mentioned her when I was interviewing at Knox and Kenyon and was completely taken aback by the response. So keep that in mind. :)</p>
<p>Johnnys1stMate,
Thank you so much for the great reviews! There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information on some of these writing programs so this is really appreciated.</p>
<p>Some of you seem to have lots of knowledge of strong creative writing programs. My kid is currently at Iowa and trying to decide where to apply next fall for undergrad. Is Iowa’s undergrad program as good as the grad program? Which places have excellent programs? Are any receptive to fantasy genre? East coast is preferred but a good program trumps geography.</p>