Has anyone done a Creative Writing MA?

It's been a while since you posted but I've done an MA in CW and found it overall to have been the best thing I could have done for my writing. (I'll qualify that by adding that I got the full SUSI grant and am local to the university so I'm coming at it from the perspective of someone whose only cost was my time.) My initial motivation for doing the it was to put myself into a writing headspace and get some accountability to make me write. I didn't really think of writing as something that could be taught but I was wrong. I have honestly never written as well, nor did I think I was capable of writing as well, as I have since doing the MA. I also learned a huge amount about the industry and steps along the way that I didn't know existed, such as novel competitions, bursaries, residencies, etc.

The practical side is that you will usually do two semesters of around three months each if full-time, or four half semesters over two academic years if part-time, during which time you will write a number of pieces and possibly get teaching experience depending on the MA/your elective choice. Then a dissertation semester through the summer where you will write somewhere between 10,000-20,000 words (university requirements vary). Usually you can choose if you want that to be part of a novel, a collection of short stories or maybe creative non-fiction. There may also be a poetry option but that is more lines of poetry, rather than such a large amount of words.

It is quite a lot of work but, ime, very worthwhile if you really commit to it. It is however worth thinking about it as a step on a journey to publication rather than it being something that will lead to publication by itself.