🚀 go-pugleaf

I am currently knee deep in the arduous task of filling out applications
for graduate school, and I have three questions for anyone who has the 
skinny on this subject.

1. How much experimentation will the average writing program tolerate in
a writing sample?  I imagine that different programs are looking for
different things.  When I was a kid I was being groomed to be a concert
pianist, and my teachers always told me to play the music straight
during competition, and not to take too any liberties.  They said that 
when I became Horowitz, then I could do what ever I wanted.  I imagine that
experimentation can only be pulled of if you are very good, or if your
audience already knows that you can write a simple, straight forward story.

2.  How much of a premium is placed on publication?  Some schools ask if 
I have been published, and others don't.  There are a lot of very talented
people out there trying to get published, and the numbers alone make the 
task difficult.  I haven't submitted very much, mainly because I am a 
terrible perfectionist (but that's beside the point).  If I had been
published already, I might question the value of graduate study, considering
the cost.  I realize that it all comes down to the manuscript, but if 
hard decisions are made easier by who has been published and who has not, 
I may have trouble.

3. Do writing programs look for anything specific in a statement of 
purpose?  I imagine a big no no would be to say that all you want is to
get a teaching job after the program is completed.  Fortunately for me, I am
going only to improve my skills as a writer.  Still, is there anything
beyond the obvious that should be addressed in the statement?

Thanks in advacne,

- L

-- 

_____
larryw@lclark.edu | *L.Westdahl is a caring nurturer, a member of several
writer, musician  | twelve step programs, but not a licensed therapist.