Testimonial
Johanna
Keller
IMA Graduate, 1996
Hometown:
New York, NY
One of the most valuable aspects of
my studies at Antioch was the close contact with my instructors. By
working with expert poets one-on-one, I was able to make far more progress
than I would have in the average classroom setting, and the instructors
also became more fully engaged in my work and were able to help me overcome
my limitations to a greater extent.
Designing my own program meant that I was able to concentrate
on my areas of interest and areas of weakness. I began by
asking myself at the outset: what
do I need to know more about in order to become a better poet? As I worked
on the design portion of my program, I found that I wanted seminars in advanced
prosody, the sonnet form, the modern long-poem, experimental forms, French
translation, Latin poetry, Welsh prosody, as well as close readings of Homer.
Of course, everyone’s answer will be different. I researched all the
other MA and MFA programs before applying to Antioch and did not find anything
comparable
to the level of faculty expertise or in-depth study that I felt I could achieve
by designing my own course work and assembling my own faculty.
This program is not for everyone! It demands a lot of organization, self-motivation,
and confidence—as well as seemingly endless amounts of paperwork and self-evaluation
forms (though there’s really no unnecessary paperwork since all of it
has a purpose and you learn a lot from each self-evaluation you write). However,
for the ambitious and motivated writer, the Antioch program is a wonderful
opportunity to learn about your own process of writing and to organize your
learning—learning that is life-long and does not stop after earning a
degree—and at the same time have the chance to work closely with writers
you admire and who are enthusiastic about your work.
