The literary journal N+1 has an article in the latest issue called “MFA vs. NYC” in which it debates the rising value of MFA programs versus the New York publishing world, an education in itself. If being a writer in NYC means drinking a beer with Gary Shteyngart getting an MFA in NYC is like being a barmaid at Oktoberfest.  Joan Didion once wrote that when she grew out of girlhood the world was no longer full of eyes.  Graduating out of an MFA program can feel like passing beneath a statue and realizing her gaze was never fixed on you but on the horizon.