After an intense few weeks and application process, I anxiously awaited a response from both University of Birmingham and Coventry University. To my delight, I recieved offers from both Universities!
University of Birmingham
I recieved a conditional offer on the full-time MA Creative Writing degree and sometime later, after making some enquiries, I was able to get changed from a full-time student on the course to a part-time student. This then led to to an unconditional offer on the MA Creative Writing part time course which made me very enthusiastic.
The course was strong and had a clear objective with four distinct modules to equipped students with the tools for become a professional writer. I also fell in love with the campus, although wide and vast. It was just an all around good vibe.
My reservations however were the aspects of it being a red brick University and I know it shouldn’t matter because I got accepted, but I how to worry that a constant voice would be in my head telling me that the work that I submit won’t be good enough to fit the standards expected by the University.
Another concern I had with about the course, although I would enjoy the models I felt that they were designed and fixed in a certain way that would give depth but not much room for experimentation and exploring different genres and other narratives.
Coventry University
I was obscenely anxious about receiving correspondence from Coventry University but was over the moon and practically bouncing when I received an email confirming that I held an unconditional offer for the part-time MA Professional Creative Writing course.
My reservations about the campus still stood and this was not going to be a factor I could overcome, I could only accept it if I chose to study here. I got a really strong vibe off the people and the facilities are available at the University and there is a really good atmosphere around the campus.
Most importantly I fell in love with the course, it offers to give students the tools and skills for a career in creative writing. I also liked the way there was six modules within the course which would provide me scope for experiment and exploring as well as the valuable time we would spend on the writers retreat to influence my individual writers projects. I think the key thing that grabbed me was the word professional within the course title and it has remained to do so.
Final Decision
Following some careful deliberation on my part, I made the decision to undertake study in MA Professional Creative Writing at Coventry University in September 2020.
The Life of Sophie 