Not only could these data scientists not find much difference between literary novels by people with and without an MFA, but they couldn’t find a discernable difference between white and non-white writers, either. And well over 90% of both groups (MFA and non-MFA) had a majority male cast, even though 66% of MFA students are women.

Seems like literary novels are not where we should look for innovation and diversity, then. And, at best, doing an MFA (something that Americans spend $200 million a year on) seems to introduce you to the “in group” rather than making any difference to how you write.

Originally shared by A.H. Pellett

Whether you have an MFA in writing or not, this article may speak to you. Some scientists got together to determine whether the writing of an MFA graduate is different from a non-MFA graduate. Semi-spoiler alert, depending upon which side of the coin you have set yourself on toward this educational track, you may come away from this article a bit disturbed by the study’s conclusions (last two sentences of the article).