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.