Creative Writing is a mixed bag. At least at the postgraduate level, a lot of programs do, at first blush, seem to be revenue hubs first and useful training sec

Creative Writing is a mixed bag. At least at the postgraduate level, a lot of programs do, at first blush, seem to be revenue hubs first and useful training second. Those, of course, you don't want. But there are good ones out there, and I would say the good ones are candid from the start that you're highly unlikely to write a bestseller as a new author (or ever) and they actively disabuse applicants and students of unhelpful ideas like that. I did one recently and I'd say the quasi-apprenticeship model described in the source post is pretty accurate. The overall purpose is professional polishing - the degree acts as your calling card. The program isn't meant to teach you how to write, since admission is essentially premised on being able to write at or very close to a publishable level from the start. My tutors have said bluntly that if you are interested in publishing commercially, editors often greatly prefer submissions from authors who have their Masters. It's a bellwether that the manuscript has a better chance of doing well and that the author has a clue about how the industry works and will be easier to work with.