what can i do with a mfa in creative writing

Support the Mount
Meet the Mount
Degrees & Programs
Admission & Aid

Resources for professionals exploring their education options.

WHAT 2 Hour Online Sessions

7 Creative Writing Careers You Can Get With an MFA Degree

Creative minds gift beauty to the world around them. Artists in every field give people the opportunity to appreciate the thoughts, emotions and stories that connect people across the globe. However, the field of fine arts is traditionally regarded as highly competitive, which can be discouraging to some aspiring artists.

But despite the competitive reputation of the field, an MFA in Creative Writing is one of the most versatile fine arts degrees in the field, offering those who are passionate about writing plenty of opportunities in countless industries. Because the world will always need talented writers, an MFA in Creative Writing can be put to use almost anywhere.

Download our guide, The Art of Storytelling: A Guide to Creative Writing Careers with an MFA Degree, to learn more about becoming a professional writer.

Are you a wordsmith searching for where to best use your creative skills? Keep reading to find out more about the various ways you can make a career out of your love for the written word.

Why Think About an MFA in Creative Writing?

Across languages, the history of human experience lives on through words.

Words always have been and always will be one of the most important means of connecting people intellectually and emotionally. The passion to unite people through the written word is a unique one that deserves to be honed.

Writing is everywhere we look.

On billboards, at the store, in our mailboxes, throughout our entertainment mediums — because of the importance of words in everyday life, nearly every job industry imaginable requires passionate, skillful writers.

In other words, the world needs storytellers; if you long to tell stories, whether in the form of a novel or a newspaper, consider joining a community of storytellers in an MFA program. An MFA in Creative Writing will prepare you to use your creative writing abilities for any career you might pursue.

What Can You Do With an MFA in Creative Writing?

So you like writing, and creative writing is needed in a variety of fields. But what can you actually do with an MFA in Creative Writing ? Explore just seven of the many options for a creative writer below.

Ever dreamed of seeing your novel on a shelf at the local bookstore? An advanced creative writing degree can help you fulfill your dreams of becoming a published author . Be a novelist or a poet, of fiction or of nonfiction, and share the words you craft inside your head with the world around you.

2. Screenwrite

Bring your stories to life on screen. Whether you like creating plot, characters or script, you can use your creative writing skills as a screenwriter. Screenwriters create content for shows and movies and imaginatively translate the written word into a visual piece of art.

Is structure your forte? Do you enjoy digging into the details of grammar and style in writing? Help other writers better their writing by being an editor. Editors surround themselves with pieces of writing in all forms, readying them for publication .

Want to help other people accomplish their goals of being a published author? Look into a career as a literary agent . Literary agents help aspiring authors navigate the overwhelming world of publishing.

Some creative minds find their strength in the world of nonfiction. Those with a natural curiosity for the real, current world and a gift for research can go for a career as a journalist. Newspapers, magazines and various online publications need people who want to gather information and report on world events.

6. Speak out

If you like sharing your opinions, providing perspective and having your voice heard, a job as a columnist might suit you. Columnists can write for all kinds of media, specializing in writing articles on a specific topic or interest .

In the age of rapidly advancing technological communication, skills in writing might lead you to be a social media specialist. As a social media specialist, you can help brands build community with the public through creating and managing a brand’s online presence.

A Quick Look at the Job Outlook for Writers

Jobs for writers and authors nationally have a stable market . Across the country, creative writing job openings grow at a steady rate of 4 percent per year with about 142,800 positions available at any time. The job growth rate increases for writers working in marketing ( at 10 percent ), technical writers ( at 6 percent ) and those working in broadcast media ( at 10 percent ).

In the Los Angeles area alone, writers can find careers among thousands of job options . The versatile, secure market for writing jobs gives creative writers space to grow in their talents and passions.

Why Earn a Creative Writing MFA at MSMU?

Los Angeles, California is a hub of creative minds. Home to the film hotspot of Hollywood and nationally famous papers like The Los Angeles Times, writers who find their passion in anything from screenwriting to journalism find themselves in a community of creative writers in Los Angeles.

And, Mount Saint Mary’s University Los Angeles sits right at the heart of it all.

A MFA in Creative Writing gives students a broad education on the craft. The Mount gives students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge in a specific area of study within the creative writing field by offering two certificate options in its MFA in Creative Writing program:

Latin American/Latinx Creative Studies Certificate (LALCS): Dive deep into the heritage of Latin American and Latinx cultures. With an LALCS Certificate, students study the rich artistic traditions of Latin American and Latinx cultures from the Caribbean and Southern, Central and Northern Latin America, especially across different genres of writing. Students will learn from faculty with expertise in a variety of literary and writing backgrounds and be able to immerse themselves in Latinx culture through studying abroad in Cuzco, Peru. This certificate prepares writers to think critically about and be engaged with the world around them

Writing for Media Certificate: Learn about how essential diversity is in all forms of writing. In MSMU’s Writing for Media Certificate program, students take courses in screenwriting, podcasting, cinema studies and more, to gain well-rounded knowledge of the writing field. Students also understand the value of appreciating and representing voices from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds in media. A diverse set of teachers and classes help students produce robust portfolios of work over the course of the program that they can carry with them as they enter their careers.

Pursue Your Creative Writing Career at the Mount!

The world wants to hear your stories.

At Mount Saint Mary’s University, students can pursue their Creative Writing MFA on campus, online or a mixture of both. Over the course of this interdisciplinary program, all candidates will complete fifteen credit hours in writing workshops, several electives in literary theory, the humanities and film and create an original creative writing manuscript in a selected genre. Students will graduate prepared to write in all fields and qualified to teach writing at the college level.

If you want to dedicate your life to telling stories of any kind – fiction or nonfiction, in sentence or verse, in print or online – a Creative Writing MFA could be your next step in sharing your voice with the world.

Write your career story starting at the Mount. If you are interested in MSMU’s Creative Writing MFA, apply now , request more information , or attend an info session .

5 Tips for Paying for Graduate School in 2023

5 industries that offer jobs in data analytics, recommended for you, 6 of the best jobs in los angeles, 7 things to look for in a healthcare administration degree program, mba or healthcare administration: which graduate degree is right for you.

What Jobs Can You Get With an MFA in Creative Writing?

Author: Shannon Bowring Updated: January 31, 2023

Light and airy classroom set up for MFA in Creative Writing

So you took the plunge, endured the emotional upheavals and tough criticism of your writing, and took on student loan debt you’ll be paying off for years. Congratulations! You now have an MFA in Creative Writing. But what jobs can you get with your MFA in Creative Writing ?

How much can you expect to earn?

According to ZipRecruiter , as of December 2021, the average annual pay in the United States for a Creative Writing MFA is $73,613 per year. If this number seems optimistic, even unrealistic, it’s because it is. A deeper plunge into the report shows that annual salaries for writers actually range from $11,500 to $259,000. That’s a hell of a difference. We can only assume that the Big Bestselling Writers have claimed that top spot, while the rest of us aspiring authors are likely hovering far closer to that $11k range.

In other words, and I’m sure this is no surprise to anyone reading this, the majority of writers are grossly underpaid.

But I’m here to tell you not to lose hope. There are many ways, other than selling book s, to leverage that Creative Writing MFA to make a comfortable, if not lucrative, career as a writer .

If you’re a traditionalist

Many writers go into teaching after earning their MFA in Creative Writing, often at the university level. The usual trajectory is to begin as an adjunct and then work one’s way up through the ranks to professor* , which ideally comes with a sweet corner office lined with leatherbound books. Typically, you need to have published at least one book to land the coveted position of teaching others how to write in a college or university.

If you want to teach, but not in a university

There are plenty of other ways to teach the craft of writing. If you’d like to work with writers but not within the world of traditional academia, consider offering your expertise as a writing coach, tutor, or adult education teacher. There are thousands of writers out there looking for someone to share what they’ve learned about the craft of writing and the business side of becoming an author. Seek out (or create) local and/or online venues where you can share what you have learned through your own experience. Having an MFA attached to your name will help writers feel you can be trusted to know what you are talking about.

If you are an online guru

Opportunities for good writers are continually expanding and evolving online. Countless websites and businesses are always on the lookout for talented content writers, copywriters, copyeditors, grant writers, and technical writers. (One good source for these remote jobs is Remote.co .) Having an MFA in Creative Writing can help give you an edge in this competitive market. One advantage of these jobs is that they are often flexible and part-time, which is great for those looking to keep their writing muscles fresh without making a lifelong commitment.

If you are That Person always correcting other people’s grammar

The world will always need quality editors and proofreaders . This career path can take many forms—you could work for a literary magazine , publishing house, or newspaper, or try your hand as a freelancer. Editing others’ work keeps your own writing skills sharp, with the added bonus of potentially bringing in big bucks: Depending on genre and level of editing, a freelance editor can earn anywhere from $36-$70 per hour. Sign me up!

If you are a rebel

You have an MFA in Creative Writing, so think creatively . Get involved with your local writing community and run writing workshops (a quick online search can guide you on how much you should expect to charge, depending on your format and attendance). Have a guest house on a beautiful piece of property you don’t mind renting out? Start a writing retreat or writing residency to give fellow writers a place to disconnect from their busy lives and work on their novels, poems, and essays. For an additional fee, you might also offer these writers one-on-one coaching or editing services.

A Creative Writing MFA isn’t a guarantee—but it is an opportunity

As an aspiring author , you must find a way to apply your skills as a writer and make them work for you . Many authors I know have shaped successful, happy lives for themselves by doing a variety of the jobs listed above, often more than one at the same time. The post-MFA life does not come with a guarantee of monetary wealth—but if you get creative and do the work, it is possible to create a writing life that is spiritually, artistically, and emotionally fulfilling. And isn’t that what real success is all about, anyway?

Though, honestly, I wouldn’t mind earning $259,000 a year.

*With the effects of the pandemic, and the slow but steady shift away from brick-and-mortar classrooms, this route of teaching in a traditional university seems to be getting more difficult. That said, the world needs great writing teachers, so if this is the path you want to take, please be intrepid and find a way to do so. You are the unsung heroes; teach away, teach away.

The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 2) (Writers Helping Writers Series)

what can i do with a mfa in creative writing

Nikengie Brands Ultimate Self-Publishing Guide

Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Writing: Creating Vivid and Colorful Stories that Readers Want to Read

The Elements of Style (4th Edition)

The Associated Press Stylebook: 2022-2024

About the author.

Shannon Bowring

Why You Need an MFA in Creative Writing

How Long Does it Take to Get an MFA in Creative Writing?

A home office overlooking a university to show the best low residency mfa programs

15 Best Low Residency MFA Programs

Why would you pursue an MFA?

A master’s in creative writing provides a foundation of theory and form along with workshops to develop your skills and hone your craft. Whether you are looking to get published or to advance your career, an MFA in Creative Writing will help you develop your voice and become a more proficient writer.

What can you do with an MFA?

An MFA in Creative Writing is preferred or required for a variety of careers. If you want to teach creative writing at any level, from elementary school through higher education, a master’s degree will be required, and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing sets you apart from the competition.

Many other writing opportunities benefit from having an MFA in Creative Writing. Advertising, technical publications, local newspapers and magazines, and other organizations that require skilled writers often require or prefer applicants with an advanced degree in creative writing.

The salary potential for positions requiring or preferring an MFA in Creative Writing ranges from $50,000 to $75,100 per year.

If you want to become a published author, an MFA in Creative Writing provides advanced study in the craft. The earning potential for writers varies widely depending on genre and how long they’ve been published. It takes time to establish yourself as an author or poet, and many creative individuals build their audience while working in another job.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the median pay for writers and authors is $61,820 per year in 2017. This includes a wide range of positions creating written content, including advertising, books, magazines, scripts, and blogs. Technical writers have a median pay of $70,930 annually.

What are the advantages of UTEP’s online MFA in Creative Writing?

UTEP’s fully-online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing lets you earn your graduate degree from anywhere in the world. The curriculum has a strong emphasis on workshops, but there’s no residency requirement, so you can earn your master’s in Creative Writing from Texas without ever leaving home. And our program is the only bilingual MFA in Creative Writing in the U.S. and the world. Classes and discussions are held in English, but creative assignments may be submitted in Spanish, allowing you to write in your native language or expand your ability.

Our students come from a variety of fields, but they all share a common passion – an interest in improving their writing ability. Whether you are interested in establishing yourself as a writer or advancing your teaching career, our online creative writing program lets you gain essential credentials without uprooting your life.

What's Next?

We invite you to explore our online program and see what it will take to make that next step into your profession. If you are interested in learning more about our team and UTEP Connect’s 100% online master’s and graduate certificate programs, reach out. An enrollment counselor will contact you directly.

GET STARTED

Connect With Us

The University of Texas at El Paso Extended University UTEP Connect Online Programs 500 W University Ave. El Paso, Texas 79968

E: [email protected] P: 1-800-684-UTEP

The Best 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2023

April 7, 2023

Whether you studied at a top creative writing university , or are a high school dropout who will one day become a bestselling author , you may be considering an MFA in Creative Writing. But is a writing MFA genuinely worth the time and potential costs? How do you know which program will best nurture your writing? This article walks you through the considerations for an MFA program, as well as the best Creative Writing MFA programs in the United States.

First of all, what is an MFA?

A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is a graduate degree that usually takes from two to three years to complete. Applications require a sample portfolio for entry, usually of 10-20 pages of your best writing.

What actually goes on in a creative writing MFA beyond inspiring award-winning books and internet memes ? You enroll in workshops where you get feedback on your creative writing from your peers and a faculty member. You enroll in seminars where you get a foundation of theory and techniques. Then you finish the degree with a thesis project.

Reasons to Get an MFA in Creative Writing

You don’t need an MFA to be a writer. Just look at Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison or bestselling novelist Emily St. John Mandel.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of reasons you might still want to get a creative writing MFA. The first is, unfortunately, prestige. An MFA from a top program can help you stand out in a notoriously competitive industry to be published.

The second reason: time. Many MFA programs give you protected writing time, deadlines, and maybe even a (dainty) salary.

Third, an MFA in Creative Writing is a terminal degree. This means that this degree allows you to teach writing at the university level, especially after you publish a book.

But above all, the biggest reason to pursue an MFA is the community it brings you. You get to meet other writers, and share feedback, advice, and moral support, in relationships that can last for decades.

Types of Creative Writing MFA Programs

Here are the different types of programs to consider, depending on your needs:

Fully-Funded Full-Time Programs

These programs offer full-tuition scholarships and sweeten the deal by actually paying you to attend them.

Pros: You’re paid to write (and teach).
Cons: Uprooting your entire life to move somewhere possibly very cold.

Full-Time MFA Programs

These programs include attending in-person classes and paying tuition (though many offer need-based and merit scholarships).

Pros: Lots of top-notch programs non-funded programs have more assets to attract world-class faculty and guests.
Cons: It’s an investment that might not pay itself back.

Low-Residency MFA Programs

Low-residency programs usually meet biannually for short sessions. They also offer one-on-one support throughout the year. These MFAs are more independent, preparing you for what the writing life is actually like.

Pros: No major life changes required. Cons: Less time dedicated to writing and less time to build relationships.

Online MFA Programs

Held 100% online. These programs have high acceptance rates and no residency requirement. That means zero travel or moving expenses.

Pros: No major life changes required.
Cons: These MFAs have less name-recognition

The Top 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs Ranked by Category

The following programs are selected for their balance of high funding, impressive return on investment, stellar faculty, major journal publications , and impressive alums.

Fully Funded MFA Programs

1) johns hopkins university, mfa in fiction/poetry (baltimore, md).

This is a two-year program, with $33,000 teaching fellowships per year. This MFA offers the most generous funding package. Not to mention, it offers that sweet, sweet health insurance, mind-boggling faculty, and a guaranteed lecture position after graduation (nice). No nonfiction MFA (boo).

Incoming class size: 8 students
Admissions rate: 11.1%
Alumni: Chimamanda Adiche, Jeffrey Blitz, Wes Craven, Louise Erdrich, Porochista Khakpour, Phillis Levin, ZZ Packer, Tom Sleigh, Elizabeth Spires, Rosanna Warren

2) University of Texas, James Michener Center (Austin, TX)

A fully-funded 3-year program with a generous stipend of $29,500. The program offers fiction, poetry, playwriting and screenwriting. The Michener Center is also unique because you study a primary genre and a secondary genre, and also get $3,000 for the summer.

Incoming class size : 12 students
Acceptance rate: a bone-chilling less-than-1% in fiction; 2-3% in other genres
Alumni: Fiona McFarlane, Brian McGreevy, Karan Mahajan, Alix Ohlin, Kevin Powers, Lara Prescott, Roger Reeves, Maria Reva, Domenica Ruta, Sam Sax, Joseph Skibell, Dominic Smith

3) University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is a 2-year program on a residency model for fiction and poetry. This means there are low requirements, and lots of time to write groundbreaking novels or play pool at the local bar. Most students are funded, with fellowships worth up to $21,000. The Translation MFA, co-founded by Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, is also two years, but with more intensive coursework. The Nonfiction Writing Program is a prestigious three-year MFA program and is also intensive.

Incoming class size: 25 each for poetry and fiction; 10-12 for nonfiction and translation.
Acceptance rate: 3.7%
Fantastic Alumni: Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Sandra Cisneros, Joy Harjo, Garth Greenwell, Kiley Reid, Brandon Taylor, Eula Biss, Yiyun Li, Jennifer Croft

4) University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)

Anne Carson famously lives in Ann Arbor, as do the MFA students U-Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. This is a big university town, which is less damaging to your social life. Plus, there’s lots to do when you have a $23,000 stipend, summer funding, and health care.

This is a 2-3-year program, with an impressive reputation. They also have a demonstrated commitment to “ push back against the darkness of intolerance and injustice ” and have outreach programs in the community.

Incoming class size: 18
Acceptance rate: 4% (which maybe seems high after less-than-1%)
Alumni: Brit Bennett, Vievee Francis, Airea D. Matthews, Celeste Ng, Chigozie Obioma, Jia Tolentino, Jesmyn Ward

5) Brown University (Providence, RI)

Brown offers an edgy, well-funded program in a place that doesn’t dip into arctic temperatures. Students are all fully-funded for 2-3 years with $29,926 in 2021-22. Students also get summer funding and—you guessed it—that sweet, sweet health insurance.

In the Brown Literary Arts MFA, students take only one workshop and one elective per semester. It’s also the only program in the country to feature a Digital/Cross Disciplinary Track.

Incoming class size: 12-13
Acceptance rate: “highly selective”
Alumni: Edwidge Danticat, Jaimy Gordon, Gayl Jones, Ben Lerner, Joanna Scott, Kevin Young, Ottessa Moshfegh

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs (Continued)

6) university of arizona (tucson, az).

This 3-year program has many attractive qualities. It’s in “ the lushest desert in the world ”, and was recently ranked #4 in creative writing programs, and #2 in Nonfiction. You can take classes in multiple genres, and in fact, are encouraged to do so. Plus, Arizona dry heat is good for arthritis.

This notoriously supportive program pays $20,000 a year, and offers the potential to volunteer at multiple literary organizations. You can also do supported research at the US-Mexico Border.

Incoming class size: 9
Acceptance rate: 4.85% (a refreshingly specific number after Brown’s evasiveness)
Alumni: Francisco Cantú, Jos Charles, Tony Hoagland, Nancy Mairs, Richard Russo, Richard Siken, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, David Foster Wallace

7) Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ):

Arizona State is also a three-year funded program in arthritis-friendly dry heat. It offers small class sizes, individual mentorships, and one of the most impressive faculty rosters in the game. Everyone gets a $19,000 stipend, with other opportunities for financial support.

Incoming class size: 8-10
Acceptance rate: 3% (sigh)
Alumni: Tayari Jones, Venita Blackburn, Dorothy Chan, Adrienne Celt, Dana Diehl, Matthew Gavin Frank, Caitlin Horrocks, Allegra Hyde, Hugh Martin, Bonnie Nadzam

FULL-RESIDENCY MFAS (UNFUNDED)

8) new york university (new york, ny).

This two-year program is in New York City, meaning it comes with close access to literary opportunities and hot dogs. NYU is private, and has one of the most accomplished faculty lists anywhere. Students have large cohorts (more potential friends!) and have a penchant for winning top literary prizes.

Incoming class size: 40-60
Acceptance rate: 6%
Alumni: Nick Flynn, Nell Freudenberger, Aracelis Girmay, Mitchell S. Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, John Keene, Raven Leilani, Robin Coste Lewis, Ada Limón, Ocean Vuong

9) Columbia University (New York, NY)

Another 2-3 year private MFA program with drool-worthy permanent and visiting faculty. Columbia offers courses in fiction, poetry, translation, and nonfiction. Beyond the Ivy League education, Columbia offers close access to agents, and its students have a high record of bestsellers.

Incoming class size: 110
Acceptance rate: 21%
Alumni: Alexandra Kleeman, Rachel Kushner, Claudia Rankine, Rick Moody, Sigrid Nunez, Tracy K. Smith, Emma Cline, Adam Wilson, Marie Howe, Mary Jo Bang

10) Sarah Lawrence (Bronxville, NY)

Sarah Lawrence offers speculative fiction beyond the average fiction, poetry, and nonfiction course offerings. With intimate class sizes, this program is unique because it offers biweekly one-on-one conferences with its stunning faculty. It also has a notoriously supportive atmosphere.

Incoming class size: 30-40
Acceptance rate: N/A
Alumni: Cynthia Cruz, Melissa Febos, T Kira Madden, Alex Dimitrov, Moncho Alvarado

LOW RESIDENCY

11 bennington college (bennington, vt).

This two-year program boasts truly stellar faculty, and meets twice a year for ten days in January and June. It’s like a biannual vacation in beautiful Vermont, plus mentorship by a famous writer, and then you get a degree. The tuition is $23,468 per year, with scholarships available.

Acceptance rate: 53%
Incoming class: 40
Alumni: Larissa Pham, Andrew Reiner, Lisa Johnson Mitchell, and others

12) Institute for American Indian Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

This two-year program emphasizes Native American and First Nations writing. With truly amazing faculty and visiting writers, they offer a wide range of genres offered, in screenwriting, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Students attend two eight-day residencies each year, in January and July, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At $12,000 a year, it boasts being “ one of the most affordable MFA programs in the country .”

Incoming class size : 22
Acceptance rate: 100%
Alumni: Tommy Orange, Dara Yen Elerath, Kathryn Wilder

13) Vermont College of Fine Arts

One of few MFAs where you can study the art of the picture book, middle grade and young adult literature, graphic literature, nonfiction, fiction, and poetry for young people. Students meet twice a year for nine days, in January and July, in Vermont. You can also do many travel residencies in exciting (and warm) places like Cozumel.

VCFA boasts amazing faculty and visiting writers, with individualized study options and plenty of one-on-one time. Tuition is $48,604.

Incoming class size: 18-25
Acceptance rate: 63%
Alumnx: Lauren Markham, Mary-Kim Arnold, Cassie Beasley, Kate Beasley, Julie Berry, Bridget Birdsall, Gwenda Bond, Pablo Cartaya

ONLINE MFAS

14) university of texas at el paso (el paso, tx).

The world’s first bilingual and online MFA program in the world. UTEP is considered the best online MFA program, and features award-winning faculty from across the globe. Intensive workshops allow submitting in Spanish and English, and genres include poetry and fiction. This three-year program costs $14,766 a year, with rolling admissions.

Alumni: Watch alumni testimonies here

15) Bay Path University (Long Meadow, MA)

This 2-year online program is dedicated entirely to nonfiction. A supportive, diverse community, Bay Path offers small class sizes, close mentorship, and a potential field trip in Ireland.

There are many tracks, including publishing, Narrative Medicine, and teaching. Core courses include memoir, narrative journalism, and the personal essay. The price is $785/credit, for 39 credits, with scholarships available.

Incoming class size: 20
Acceptance rate: an encouraging 78%
Alumni: Read alumni testimonies here

Prepare for your MFA in advance:

Best English Programs
Best Creative Writing Schools
Writing Summer Programs

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs – References:

https://www.pw.org/mfa
The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students , by Tom Kealey (A&C Black 2005)
Graduate School Admissions

Julia Conrad

With a Bachelor of Arts in English and Italian from Wesleyan University as well as MFAs in both Nonfiction Writing and Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, Julia is an experienced writer, editor, educator, and a former Fulbright Fellow. Julia’s work has been featured in The Millions , Asymptote , and The Massachusetts Review , among other publications. To read more of her work, visit www.juliaconrad.net

2-Year Colleges
Application Strategies
Best Colleges by Major
Big Picture
Career & Personality Assessment
College Essay
College Search/Knowledge
College Success
Costs & Financial Aid
Dental School Admissions
Extracurricular Activities
High School Success
High Schools
Law School Admissions
Medical School Admissions
Navigating the Admissions Process
Online Learning
Private High School Spotlight
Summer Program Spotlight
Summer Programs
Test Prep Provider Spotlight

“Innovative and invaluable…use this book as your college lifeline.”

— Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Nationally Recognized College Expert

College Planning in Your Inbox

Join our information-packed monthly newsletter.

Majors & Careers
Online Grad School
Preparing For Grad School
Student Life

The 10 Best MFA Creative Writing Programs [2024]

Many people have a talent for stories, but not everyone will become a successful author. In many cases, people simply need to hone their skills – and the best MFA creative writing programs are the key.

If you have an undergrad degree and are looking for the next step in your academic adventure, you’re in luck: We’ve scoured MFA creative writing rankings to find you the best programs.

Table of Contents

The 10 Best MFA Creative Writing Programs

1. johns hopkins university – krieger school of arts & sciences.

Master of Fine Arts in Fiction/ Poetry

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Johns Hopkins is a world-renowned private research university. Their Master of Fine Arts in Fiction/Poetry is one of the best MFA creative writing programs anywhere. Students take courses and receive writing practice (in fiction or poetry) at the highest level. This MFA program also offers the opportunity to learn with an internationally renowned faculty.

Duration: 2 years
Financial aid: Full tuition, teaching fellowship (for all students set at $33,000/year)
Acceptance rate: 11.1%
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Founded: 1876

2. University of Michigan – Helen Zell Writers’ Program

Master of Fine Arts

The University of Michigan is a public research university – and the oldest in the state. Its Master of Fine Arts program is one of the best MFA creative writing programs in the country, exposing students to various approaches to the craft. While studying under award-winning poets and writers, students may specialize in either poetry or fiction.

Duration: 2 years
No. of hours: 36
Financial aid: Full funding
Acceptance rate: 26.1%
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Founded: 1817

3. University of Texas at Austin – New Writers Project

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

The University of Texas at Austin is a well-known public research university with around 50,000 students at the graduate and undergraduate levels. It offers one of the best MFA programs for creative writing, aiming to enhance and develop its students’ artistic and intellectual abilities.

Duration: 3 years
Financial aid: Full funding
Acceptance rate: 32%
Location: Austin, Texas
Founded: 1883

4. University of Nebraska – Kearney

Master of Arts

The University of Nebraska strives to provide quality, affordable education, including its online MA English program. Students can focus on four areas, including Creative Writing (which provides experiential learning in either poetry or prose).

Credit hours: 36
Tuition : $315 per credit hour
Financial aid : Grants, Work-study, Student loans, Scholarships, Parent loans
Acceptance rate: 88%
Location: Online
Founded: 1905

5. Bay Path University (Massachusetts)

MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing

Bay Path University is a private university with various programs at undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate levels (including women-only undergraduate programs). This creative non-fiction writing program is one of the first fully online programs in the country. No matter their location, students are able to develop their creative writing skills and knowledge – in a range of literary genres.

Credits: 39
Tuition: $775 per credit
Financial aid : Federal Stafford loan, Student loans
Acceptance rate: 78%
Founded: 1897

6. Brown University (Rhode Island)

MFA in Literary Arts

Brown is a world-famous Ivy League university based in Providence, Rhode Island. Its two-year residency MFA in Literary Arts is designed for students looking to maximize their intellectual and creative exploration. The highly competitive program offers extensive financial support. In fact, over the past 20 years, all incoming MFA students were awarded full funding for their first year of study (and many for the second year).

Tuition: $57,591 (but full funding available)
Financial aid : Fellowship, teaching assistantships, and stipends.
Acceptance rate: 9%
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Founded: 1764

7. University of Iowa (Iowa)

MFA in Creative Writing

The University of Iowa is a public university located in Iowa City. As one of the most celebrated public schools in the Midwest, students learn under established professors and promising writers during their two-year residency program.

Credits: 60
Tuition: $12,065 for in-state students, and $31,012 out-of-state
Financial aid : Scholarships, teaching assistantships, federal aid, and student loans.
Acceptance rate: 84%
Location: Iowa City, Iowa

8. Cornell University (New York State)

Cornell is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. This highly competitive program accepts only eight students annually, and just two from each concentration. Not only do students enjoy a generous financial aid package, but they also have the opportunity to work closely with members of the school’s celebrated faculty.

Tuition: $29,500
Financial aid : All accepted students receive a fellowship covering full tuition, stipend, and insurance.
Acceptance rate: 14%
Location: Ithaca, New York
Founded: 1865

9. Columbia University ( NYC )

MFA in Fiction Writing

Founded in 1754, Columbia University is the oldest tertiary education institution in New York – and one of the oldest in the country. The school offers a Writing MFA in nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and literary translation. The fiction concentration promotes artistic and aesthetic diversity, with a diverse teaching staff and adjunct faculty from a wide range of diverse experience.

Credits: 60 points
Tuition: $34,576
Financial aid : Scholarships, fellowships, federal aid, work-study, and veterans’ grants.
Acceptance rate: 11%
Location: NYC, New York
Founded: 1754

10. New York University (NYC)

New York University (NYU) is known for delivering high-quality, innovative education in various fields. Located in the heart of NYC, the institution’s MFA in Creative Writing boasts celebrated faculty from poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction backgrounds. This dynamic program fosters creativity and excellence through literary outreach programs, public reading series, a literary journal, and special seminars from visiting writers

Credits: 32
Tuition: $53,229
Financial aid : Fellowships, scholarships, and federal aid.
Location: NYC
Founded: 1886

Common Courses for MFAs in Creative Writing

As part of your master’s in creative writing program, you’ll usually need to complete a number of compulsory courses, along with certain electives. Common courses you’ll need to take include:

Literary theory
History of storytelling
Genre conventions
Market trends
Marketing manuscripts to publishers
Thesis or dissertation

Typical Requirements for Applying to an MFA Creative Writing Program

Besides the application form and fee, most MFA in creative writing programs have standard requirements. While the following are the most typical requirements, always check with the specific program first:

Make sure your resume includes all relevant information to showcase your interests, skills, and talent in writing.

2. Writing Sample(s)

MFA creative writing program selection committees look for applicants who are serious about writing. Therefore, they typically ask for at least one 10-20 page writing sample. The best samples showcase talent in your preferred area of writing (e.g., fiction, non-fiction). MFA poetry programs have varied sample requirements.

3. Transcripts

You’ll need to show your undergraduate degree (and possibly high school) transcript.

4. Statement of Purpose

A statement of purpose is usually 1-2 pages and shows your passion for writing and potential to succeed in the program.

5. Recommendation Letters

Most programs require letters of recommendation from academic or professional contacts who know you well.

Related reading: How to Ask a Professor for a Grad School Recommendation

6. GRE Scores

Some MFA programs require GRE scores (though this is not the case for all universities). If you happen to need some assistance while studying for your GRE or GMAT, be sure to check out Magoosh for easy test prep!

What Can Creative Writers Do After Graduation?

As a creative writer with an MFA, you’ll have a variety of career options where your skills are highly valued. Below are a few of the common jobs an MFA creative writing graduate can do, along with the average annual salary for each.

Creative Director ( $90,389 )

A creative director leads a team of creative writers, designers, or artists in various fields, such as media, advertising, or entertainment.

Editor ( $63,350)

An editor helps correct writing errors and improve the style and flow in media, broadcasting, films, advertising, marketing , and entertainment.

Academic Librarian ( $61,190)

An academic librarian manages educational information resources in an academic environment (such as a university).

Copywriter ( $53,800 )

Copywriters typically work to present an idea to a particular audience and capture their attention using as few words as possible.

Technical Writers ($78,060)

Technical writers are tasked with instruction manuals, guides, journal articles, and other documents. These convey complex details and technical information to a wider audience.

Writer ( $69,510 )

A writer usually provides written content for businesses through articles, marketing content, blogs, or product descriptions. They may also write fiction or non-fiction books.

Social Media Manager ( $52,856 )

A social media manager is responsible for creating and scheduling content on social media, and may also track analytics and develop social media strategies.

Journalist ($ 48,370 )

Journalists may work for newspapers, magazines, or online publications, researching and writing stories, as well as conducting interviews and investigations.

Public Relations Officer ( $62,800)

A public relations officer works to promote and improve the public image of a company, government agency, or organization. This is done through work such as: preparing media releases, online content, and dealing with the media.

Lexicographer ( $72,620 )

Lexicographers are the professionals who create dictionaries. They study words’ etymologies and meanings, compiling them into a dictionary.

Can You Get a Creative Writing Degree Online?

Yes, a number of institutions offer online master’s degrees , such as Bay Path University and the University of Nebraska. Online courses offer a high degree of flexibility, allowing you to study from anywhere – and often on your own schedule. Many students can earn their degrees while continuing with their current job or raising a family.

However, students won’t receive the full benefits of a residency program, such as building close connections with peers and working with the faculty in person. Some on-campus programs also offer full funding to cover tuition and education expenses.

Pros and Cons of an MFA in Creative Writing

Like anything, studying an MFA in Creative Writing and pursuing a related career can have its benefits as well as drawbacks.

It’ll motivate you to write.

Many people are talented but struggle sitting down to write. An MFA program will give you the motivation to meet your deadlines.

You’ll have a community.

Writing can be a solitary pursuit. It can be hard to connect with others who are just as passionate about writing. An MFA program provides students with a community of like-minded people.

Graduates have teaching prospects.

An MFA is one option that can help you find a teaching job at the university level. Unlike some majors that require a Ph.D. to enter academia, many post-secondary instructors hold an MFA.

Not always the most marketable job skills

Although an MFA in Creative Writing will provide several useful skills in the job market, these are not as marketable as some other forms of writing. For example, copywriting arguably has a wider range of job prospects.

It could limit your creativity.

There is a risk that your writing could become too technical or formulaic, due to the theories learned during your MFA. It’s important to know the theory, but you don’t want to let it limit your creativity.

How Long Does It Take to Get an MFA Degree in Creative Writing?

A master’s in creative writing typically takes between 2-3 years to complete. Unlike other master’s degrees’ accelerated options, creative writing program requirements require a greater number of workshops and dissertations.

Alternatives to Creative Writing Majors

There are plenty of similar majors that can set you on the path to a career in the creative writing field. Consider alternatives like an MA in English , literature, humanities, media studies, and library sciences.

Related Reading: Master’s in Fine Arts: The Ultimate Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

What can i do with an mfa in creative writing .

An MFA graduate could teach creative writing at a secondary or college level. They may pursue a career in advertising, publishing, media, or the entertainment industry. They could also become an author by publishing fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.

Are MFA Creative Writing Programs Worth It?

Having an MFA opens doors to a range of well-paid careers (more on that above). If you’re skilled in writing – and want to make a decent living with it – an MFA program might be an excellent choice.

How Do I Choose an MFA in Creative Writing?

First, consider whether an on-campus or online MFA program is best for you (depending on your lifestyle and commitments). Another key consideration is a university with renowned authors on their teaching staff who will give you the highest levels of training in creative writing. Also, consider your preferred focus area (e.g., fiction, poetry, nonfiction) .

What Are MFA Writing Programs?

An MFA in writing or creative writing is an advanced program that teaches students the art and practice of writing. During these programs, students hone their writing skills and equip themselves to publish their own work – or pursue a career in media, teaching, or advertising.

Can You Teach with an MFA?

Yes! Teaching is one of the many career options an MFA provides . An MFA in creative writing can qualify you to be a teacher in creative writing (in schools or the higher education sector).

Is It Hard to Be Admitted to MFA Creative Writing Programs?

MFA creative writing programs are relatively competitive. Therefore, not all applicants will get into the program of their choice. However, if you are talented and ambitious that becomes more likely. Having said that, the most prestigious universities with the best MFA creative writing programs accept a small percentage of the applicants.

What Is the Best Creative Writing Program in the World?

A number of creative writing programs are known for their famous faculty and excellent courses, like the Master of Fine Arts in Fiction/ Poetry from Johns Hopkins and the MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University . Outside the US, the most celebrated English program is likely the University of Cambridge’s MSt in Creative Writing.

How Hard Is It to Get an MFA in Creative Writing?

An MFA is an intensive, highly-involved degree that requires a certain amount of dedication. Anyone with a passion for creative writing should find it rewarding and satisfying.

Should I Get an MA or MFA in Creative Writing?

Whether you choose an MA or MFA in creative writing depends on your own interests and career ambitions. An MFA in creative writing is ideal for anyone passionate about pursuing a career in fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction. An MA is a broader degree that equips students for a wider range of career choices (though it will qualify them for many of the same roles as an MFA).

Can I Get Published Without an MFA?

Absolutely. However, studying for an MFA will equip you with a range of skills and knowledge that are extremely helpful in getting your work published, from honing your craft to submitting your manuscript to working with publishers.

What Are the Highest-Paying Jobs with a Master’s in Creative Writing?

An MFA in creative writing can help you land a range of jobs in the creative and literary fields. The highest-paying jobs for graduates with a master’s in creative writing include creative directors ($90,000) and technical writers ($78,000).

Key Takeaways

An MFA in creative writing program will hone your talents and develop the skills you need to become a successful writer. The best MFA creative writing programs will give you incredible knowledge of the field while developing your practical skills in fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.

The acceptance rate for the best MFA writing programs is fairly low, so it’s crucial to understand the requirements well and prepare thoroughly. To help you with your application, check out our guide to applying to grad school .

Top 5 Easiest Master’s Degrees + 10 Easiest Grad Schools to Get Into
Top 10 Cheap Online Master’s Degrees in the US

Lisa Marlin

Lisa is a full-time writer specializing in career advice, further education, and personal development. She works from all over the world, and when not writing you'll find her hiking, practicing yoga, or enjoying a glass of Malbec.

Lisa Marlin https://blog.thegradcafe.com/author/lisa-marlin/ ACBSP Vs AACSB: Which Business Program Accreditations is Better?
Lisa Marlin https://blog.thegradcafe.com/author/lisa-marlin/ BA vs BS: What You Need to Know [2024 Guide]
Lisa Marlin https://blog.thegradcafe.com/author/lisa-marlin/ The 19 Best MBA Scholarships to Apply for [2024-2025]
Lisa Marlin https://blog.thegradcafe.com/author/lisa-marlin/ 25 Best Gifts for Law Students for 2024

Top 13 Highest-Paying MBA Jobs in 2024

Master’s in fine arts: the ultimate guide, related posts.

Fewer employers list education requirements in job postings.

73% of job seekers believe a degree is needed for a well-paying role–but is it?

There are more jobs than talent in these cities.

Tech Talent Crunch: Cities with More Jobs Than Workers

The Most Under-Rated Career Advancement Tip for 2024

Top 5 Best Psychology PhD Programs in 2024

Good News For Early Careers: Skills-Based Hiring is Surging

These Are The Best States To Start Your Tech Career

Master's in Fine Arts: The Ultimate Guide

Career Opportunities with an MFA in Creative Writing

Most poets who receive a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in the United States usually pursue one of two interconnected fields: publishing or academia. While these careers are related, the paths are different in the skills they require. To be a great professor, you need a passion for learning and mentoring students, a desire to create lesson plans, and a comfort with public speaking. To work as an editor, you need a passion for reading and proofreading and a desire to develop professional relationships with writers and poets.

I received my master’s degree from the creative writing program at Florida International University , and I’ve seen the different journeys many of my peers have traveled since graduating. While some returned to fields that aren’t for creatives, many pursued careers in the publishing industry or academia. Below are three common careers for poets interested in receiving a creative writing degree.

UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

Some creative writing programs in the United States are interdisciplinary , which means that you can study the three main genres: poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. My interdisciplinary program required students to develop their creativity and writing skills in both poetry and fiction, but I took classes in all three genres. This was a smart requirement for several reasons: First off, students who want to learn how to teach creative writing should gain knowledge in all three genres; Secondly, by immersing themselves in different genres, students discover their true passion; And thirdly, by requiring poets to take fiction classes, they learn about plot and storytelling (great for novellas in verse), and by requiring fiction writers to take poetry classes, they examine literary devices such as metaphors and similes, and they understand how to compress language.

Many programs also offer students the opportunity to learn how to teach creative writing classes. This enables them to know if they are interested in continuing to teach as an adjunct instructor once they graduate, and it also gives them teaching experience . And if students enter the program with an assistantship or fellowship, they are usually required to teach undergraduate classes, allowing them to discover if teaching is their true vocation.

To become a professor at a university level , graduates of MFA programs usually need to have published at least one book and have plenty of teaching experience. In the world of academia, self-publishing is not recognized as a credible form of publishing, so these books have to be published by either a commercial press or a literary press . After graduating, poets also have to dedicate time to submit their work to literary magazines in order to win prestigious awards and build their curriculum vitae . Becoming a professor is a long-term journey that involves receiving an associate professor position and then teaching for many years until receiving a promotion.

If after spending many years of your life in school, you can’t see yourself taking anymore classes—let alone teaching them—then the world of academia isn’t for you. But if you like reading, writing, and working with poets, then a job as an editor at a publishing house, press, or organization could be the right choice for you. For example, working as a book editor offers you the opportunity to produce a book and learn about the publishing industry, which in turn gives you knowledge about publishing your poetry.

As an editor, opportunities include working at magazines such as Poetry magazine , PEN America , or Poets & Writers . When I worked as editor-in-chief for Gulf Stream Literary Magazine , I learned so much about the editorial process, from selecting literary work, to running a magazine, to handling administrative work and understanding how literary magazines are funded. Most graduates I know received editing jobs at places that aren’t necessarily targeted at an audience of creative writers, but these jobs still involve proofreading and editing. Working as an editor is a job that is needed in many organizations as communication is essential in our world: It’s an in-demand transferrable skill.

BOOK FAIR PUBLICIST

An alternative to these two popular careers is to work as a publicist for a book festival or literary organization. For example, here in Florida, we have the Miami Book Fair International , which is a huge literary festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of readers, writers, and poets. Working as a book fair publicist will enable you to speak to authors you admire, coordinate interviews with journalists, and allow you to network with poets and writers. Not only will this type of work enhance your career, it will also make you aware of many publishing opportunities. This is a busy job for people who are good at multitasking and can handle the pressure and responsibility of coordinating a large event.

There are many book festivals in the country that need creative writing graduates, such as the Association of Writers and Writing Programs , which hosts the AWP Conference & Bookfair . This is the largest literary conference in North America. Look for the nearest book festival or conference in your city and volunteer to see if this is the right career for you.

Creative writing teaches you how to develop your imagination and writing skills, and those are skills that are necessary in almost every job. Receiving a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a unique experience that enables you to finally carve some time to work on your book and receive feedback from a professor. While researching careers is important, the best way of knowing what you naturally enjoy is to gain experience by pursuing an internship. There are so many career opportunities in the publishing industry and in academia that you’re bound to find what you’re looking for if you have patience, perseverance, and persistence.

Good For a Laugh: How to Tap into Your Comedic Side in Your Writing

4 Reasons You Should Write Eco-Poetry

Spring into Writing: Eclectic Spring Poetry Prompts to Inspire You

3 Myths About the MFA in Creative Writing

Today’s guest post is an excerpt from DIY MFA by Gabriela Pereira ( @DIYMFA ), just released from Writer’s Digest Books.

Most writers want an MFA for one of three reasons: They want to teach writing, they want to get published, or they want to make room in their life for writing. It turns out these reasons for doing an MFA are actually based on myths.

Myth 1: You Need an MFA to Teach Writing

Many writers get the MFA because they think it will allow them to teach writing at the college or graduate level. Once upon a time this might have been the case, but these days so many MFA graduates are looking for jobs and so few teaching positions exist, that it’s a challenge to get a teaching job with a PhD, much less with a terminal master’s degree. The writers who do manage to snag a coveted teaching position are often so overwhelmed with their responsibilities that they have to put their own writing on the back burner. While in the past an MFA may have served as a steppingstone to becoming a professor, it’s not the case anymore.

More important, many teachers in MFA programs do not have that degree themselves. Some professors are successful authors with prominent careers, while others are publishing professionals who bring the industry perspective to the courses they teach. This goes to show that the MFA has little impact on a writer’s ability to teach writing. Being a successful author or publishing professional is much more important.

Myth 2: The MFA Is a Shortcut to Getting Published

No agent will sign you and no editor will publish your book based on a credential alone. You have to write something beautiful. If you attend an MFA program and work hard, you will become a better writer. And if you become a better writer, you will eventually write a beautiful book. An MFA might help you on your quest for publication, but it’s certainly not required. After all, many writers perfect their craft and produce great books without ever getting a degree.

Ultimately getting published is a matter of putting your backside in the chair and writing the best book possible. For that, you don’t need an MFA.

Myth 3: An MFA Program Will Force You to Make Writing a Priority

If you can find time to write only by putting your life on hold and plunging into a graduate program, then your writing career isn’t going to last very long. Only a small percentage of writers can support themselves and their loved ones through writing alone. This means you must find a balance between your writing and the rest of your life.

Even within your writing career, you must become a master juggler. Forget that glamorous image of the secluded writer working at his typewriter. These days, writing is only a small piece of the writer’s job. In addition to writing, you must promote your books, manage your online presence, update your social media … and likely schedule these tasks around a day job, a family, and other responsibilities.

The danger with MFA programs is that they train you to write in isolation but don’t always teach you how to fit writing into your real life, or even how to juggle writing with all the other aspects of your writing career. Not only that, but external motivators like class assignments or thesis deadlines don’t teach you to pace yourself and build up the internal motivation you need to succeed in the long-term.

Genre Writing in MFA Programs

Most MFA programs focus on literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. While these are noble areas of literature, they cover only a tiny slice of the wide and diverse world of writing. Heaven forbid a writer in a traditional MFA program produces something commercial—or worse, genre fiction. While a handful of MFA programs allow writers to study genre fiction or children’s literature, the majority still focus on literary work alone. If you want to write genre fiction, commercial nonfiction, or children’s books, you likely will not learn much about them in your MFA courses.

Writers of genre and commercial fiction are among the most dedicated, driven writers I know. They take their craft seriously and work hard to understand the business side of the publishing industry. In addition, a vast number of associations, conferences, and guilds are dedicated to specific genres or commercial writing. Literary writers are not the only ones who crave knowledge and community. Commercial and genre writers want it, too.

This is why I created DIY MFA : to offer an alternative for writers who do not fit the strict literary mold of the traditional MFA system.

Should You Pursue an MFA?

MFA programs are not a bad thing. In fact, they are exceptional at serving a small and very specific group of writers. If you write literary fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry, and if you thrive in a formal academic environment, then the traditional MFA is a great option. If you can afford the tuition without taking out loans, and if you have the time to make the most of the experience, then you are one of those ideal candidates for graduate school.

One reason I am extremely grateful for my own MFA is that it gave me the opportunity to work with several phenomenal teachers. I studied YA and middle-grade literature with the brilliant David Levithan. The legendary Hettie Jones was my first workshop teacher. I worked closely with Abrams publisher Susan Van Metre, who served as my thesis advisor and mentor. These experiences were invaluable, and at the time I didn’t think I could make connections with such literary luminaries any other way. Now I know, however, that you can make connections and find great mentors without attending an MFA program.

The “Do It Yourself” MFA

As an MFA student, I discovered the magic equation that sums up just about every traditional MFA. The Master in Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing is nothing more than a lot of writing, reading, and building community. In the workshops, you exchange critiques with other writers and work toward a manuscript that becomes your thesis project. Most programs also require you to take literature courses both in and outside your chosen area of literature. Finally, you are asked to attend readings or talks by other writers—to build your personal writing community. To create a personalized, do-it-yourself MFA, you have to find a way to combine these three elements.

Write with focus. You have to commit to a project and finish it. In traditional MFA terms, this project is your thesis, and it’s a crucial part of your development as a writer. But you don’t need to complete a thesis to get this experience; you just need to finish and polish a manuscript. While you can feel free to play and explore early on, you must eventually choose a project and see it through from beginning to end. When you write with focus, you write with a goal in mind.

Read with purpose. This means reading with a writer’s eye. If you’re like me, you were a bookworm long before you could hold a pencil in your hand. Writers love books. In fact, many of us become writers so we can create the very books we love to read.

Reading for pleasure is wonderful, and it certainly has its place. Reading with purpose is different: It is reading in a way that serves our writing. It’s not just about finding out what happens in the story; it’s about learning how the author pulls it off. Reading this way isn’t just an intellectual exercise. When we read with purpose, we examine how an author crafts a story so we can emulate those techniques in our own work.

Build your community. In the traditional MFA, building a community happens organically. You meet fellow writers in your workshops and literature courses. You go to readings and conferences to connect with authors. You attend a publishing panel and learn about the industry. The community element is baked into the MFA experience.

To learn more about crafting your own customized MFA experience, sign up for the DIY MFA newsletter , and check out the new book, DIY MFA .

Gabriela Pereira is the Creative Director at DIY MFA , the do-it-yourself alternative to a master’s degree in writing. She develops tools and techniques for the serious writer, to help you get the knowledge without the college. With an MFA in creative writing, Gabriela is also a freelance writing teacher, and has led workshops throughout New York City via writing programs like: 826NYC, East Harlem Tutorial Program and Everybody Wins. When she’s not working on DIY MFA, she loves writing middle grade and teen fiction, with a few short stories for “grown-ups” thrown in for good measure.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

[…] Today’s guest post is an excerpt from DIY MFA by Gabriela Pereira (@DIYMFA), just released from Writer’s Digest Books. Most writers want an MFA for one of three reasons: They want to teach writing, they want to get published, or they want to make room in their life for writing. It turns out these reasons … […]

I find screenwriting programs to be more honest with respect to story telling.

So true, I did a screen writing module in my degree. It was easy, fun and clear to write a script. So weird!

THANK YOU! I needed this. I occasionally doubt myself and my future success possibilities because of my lack of an MFA. I’ve been gradually letting that notion go, and this helps!

Also, I’m not interested in social media with exception of using Twitter as a news aggregator. From my perspective it’s an unwanted hassle. I write fiction and have neither the time nor inclination for blog posts or podcasts, but I do understand the nature of the disadvantage this might impose. And I think reality reliably informs us a social media presence is not necessarily mandatory to find success.

[…] view post at https://janefriedman.com/mfa-creative-writing-3-myths/ […]

[…] 3 Myths About the MFA in Creative Writing (Jane Friedman) Most writers want an MFA for one of three reasons: They want to teach writing, they want to get published, or they want to make room in their life for writing. It turns out these reasons for doing an MFA are actually based on myths. […]

[…] to the rest at Jane Friedman and thanks to Matthew for the […]

[…] the program could help build contacts, at the very least. Here is an article by Jane Friedman with 3 Myths About the MFA in Creative Writing to help answer some of the […]

[…] Jane Friedman […]

[…] Honoree Corder’s Website Removed by S.J. Pajonas How Do You Like Them Apples! MFA: Myths for Authors Write, Camera, Action! DRM Drama Audio on the Go Singles’ Night (1) Singles’ Night (2) Swan […]

Slider Status

By submitting this request for more information, you are giving your express written consent for Lindenwood University and its partners to contact you regarding our educational programs and services using email, telephone or text - including our use of automated technology for calls and periodic texts to the wireless number you provide. Message and data rates may apply. This consent is not required to purchase good or services and you may always email us directly, including to opt out, at [email protected] .

Home Blog What Will YOU Do with an MFA in Creative Writing? The Sky is the Limit!

What Will YOU Do with an MFA in Creative Writing? The Sky is the Limit!

May 24, 2023

Contributing Author: Alley Bardon

8 mins read

For many writers, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing is the right next step for their writing career -- refining their skills, facilitating relationships, and opening professional doors. But what is an MFA in creative writing?

An MFA in creative writing is a graduate-level degree program that focuses on the development and mastery of writing skills in various genres, such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenwriting. Most MFA in creative writing programs include a combination of workshops, seminars, and classes in which students refine their writing skills through critical analysis and feedback from their peers and faculty. Students are also exposed to a variety of literary works and are encouraged to explore different styles and techniques in their own writing.

Why You Should Invest in Yourself with an MFA in Creative Writing

If you're a writer with a passion for literature, an MFA in creative writing can help you take your craft to the next level. An MFA program gives you the opportunity to study with renowned writers, receive feedback on your work, and develop your own skills. In addition, an MFA program can help you build your network of contacts in the literary world and prepare you for your career after graduation.

Some of the benefits of getting an MFA in creative writing include:

The opportunity to improve your  writing skills . An MFA program will give you the opportunity to study with renowned writers and receive feedback on your work. This can help you improve your writing skills and develop your own unique voice.
The chance to build a network in the industry. An MFA program will give you the opportunity to meet other writers and likeminded professionals and build relationships with them. This can be helpful in terms of both personal and professional development.
The resources to prepare for your writing career. An MFA program can help you prepare for a career in writing by giving you the skills and knowledge you need to succeed in the literary world. This includes learning about the publishing industry, marketing your work, and networking with other writers.

How to Choose the Creative Writing Program for You

When choosing a creative writing program, it’s important to research several potential MFA programs to make the most informed decision. As you’re researching, be sure to start early, connect with an admissions counselor to have your questions answered, and trust your gut as you compare programs.

When you look at more than one program, it can be hard to know which factors should have the heaviest influence on your decision. Consider the faculty; are they accomplished writers who are passionate about teaching? Evaluate the curriculum; is it tailored to your interests and goals? Ensure the location of the program is feasible for you, - whether you’ll be commuting, relocating, or completing the program online, and finally, compare the cost of the program to ensure it aligns with your budget.

What Can You Do with an MFA in Creative Writing?

If the question, ‘what can I do with an MFA in creative writing?’ has crossed your mind, this article helps answer that question and others that you’ve pondered.

An MFA in creative writing can open the door for you to work in a wide variety of industries and roles. You might choose to become a novelist, a government grant writer, a creative writing teacher, or a content writer, among many other potential opportunities. Let’s discuss some of the most common MFA in creative writing jobs.

Work in a Creative Industry

While becoming a novelist or published author is probably the most well-known, there are many ways writers can apply their education and craft in a creative industry. Common paths in this industry for those with an MFA in creative writing include becoming an author, technical writer, editor-in-chief, journalist, and copywriter. We’ll discuss a few of those careers here.

Published Author or Novelist

For many students who pursue their MFA in creative writing, getting their books, poems, articles, or essays published is the end goal. Published authors can share their perspectives with people all over the world while making an income. However, it’s important to note that getting published can be challenging due to the competitive nature of the industry. If you aspire to publish your work, prepare for some rejection along the way to success.  Chicken Soup for the Soul  was rejected 144 times before a publisher took it on; Lisa Genova’s  Still Alice  was rejected about 100 times. Both are now best-sellers.

Technical Writer

Technical writers write about complex and prescribed topics, simplifying the information and making it easier to understand. Technical writers draft user manuals, product specifications, training materials, white papers, and other technical documents. They often work in the software, engineering, hardware, manufacturing, or science industries.

Editor-in-Chief at a Publication

An editor-in-chief, or EIC, has ultimate responsibility for the success of a magazine or other publication. They are responsible for determining the editorial direction, overseeing staff, and directing the production of all content. Most EICs start as editors and then advance into the EIC role as they gain experience and build their reputation through their contributions.

Work in the Legal Sector

Many creative writers go on to work in the legal sector as grant writers, editors, copywriters, bloggers, journalists, or technical writers. Legal writers function differently than those in creative industries and must be comfortable aligning with the perspective of the agency they serve and write ambiguously when the circumstances require it.

Government Grant Writer

Government grant writers research and write grant proposals for non-profit organizations, individuals, or for-profit companies who meet specific criteria, helping them access funds to further their programs. Grant writing can be an especially rewarding job as the outcome of a rewarded grant can be as monumental as feeding the hungry, fighting racism, rescuing abandoned animals, or mentoring at-risk youth.

Because grants are competitive, grant writers must be able to convey a program’s tangible and intangible impact and accurately depict how grant funds could change the reach or results of the program. Simply put, a successful grant writer shares why an entity should receive funds over those it's competing with through well-written responses to prescribed questions.

Legal Editor

Legal editors review and edit legal documents like contracts, briefs, and pleadings to ensure they are clear, concise, and accurate. In most cases, legal editors are employed by law firms, government agencies, and corporations, but they can also work independently as consultants, establishing relationships and selling their services directly to the firms that need them.

Legal Copywriter

Legal copywriters draft legal content for law firms, corporations, and government agencies, including website copy, sales letters, marketing materials, email campaigns, social media posts, blog posts, and legal documents. Legal copywriters require a unique skill set: they must have excellent creative writing skills combined with a strong understanding of the law, in order to excel in this role. Legal copywriters can be employed by agencies leveraging their services or they can be self-employed and work on a freelance basis.

Educate the Next Generation of Writers

A career teaching writing to others can be rewarding and fulfilling, allowing you to share your love for writing while helping others to achieve success in this field. There are opportunities to teach students of all ages, from primary school students to adult learners.

Adjunct English Composition/Creative Writing Professor

An MFA in creative writing may qualify you to teach English composition or creative writing at the college level. In order to advance to a professor position, you’ll typically need a ‘terminal’ degree or Ph.D. and published works, but many adjunct professors work on advancing their education while they teach.

Creative Writing Teacher

Creative writing teachers help others refine their craft by teaching the art of writing, helping students develop their imagination and providing transparent feedback. They can teach in a variety of settings

In public or private primary or secondary schools
In adult or alternative learning centers
Independently, by teaching online creative or content writing courses or leading face-to-face writing challenges and classes

Where you choose to work as a creative writing teacher will depend on which age group you’re most passionate about working with and what kind of writing you’d like to teach.

Pursue a Career in Business

While it’s not always top of mind for creative writing students, there is ample opportunity for writers to add value in the business realm. Master’s in creative writing jobs are often characterized by competitive pay and benefits and faster job growth, making them a great choice for new grads and experienced writers alike.

Public Relations Specialist

Public relations specialists (PR specialists), build and manage an organization’s reputation with the public by drafting and implementing communication strategies. PR specialists plan and execute public relations campaigns, manage social media accounts, communicate with the public on behalf of the organization, and respond to media inquiries. When you see a company representative making a statement at a press conference, it’s most likely somebody on their PR team behind the microphone.

Content or Proposal Writer

Content writers create blog posts, website copy, white papers, social media posts, email content, and more. They can work for a single employer and specialize in writing content for that industry or organization. In other cases, content writers work as independent contractors, writing for multiple clients or industries. Most content writers do specialize in specific industries where they build knowledge and expertise.

Proposal writers draft proposals for businesses and are typically tasked with understanding the needs of the client, developing a strategy for the proposal, writing the proposal, and presenting it to the client. Proposal writers are most often employed by a business.

Take the Next Step with Lindenwood Online!

Are you a writer with a passion for storytelling? Do you want to take your writing to the next level, increasing your earning potential and opportunity for advancement? If so, you might be a candidate for an MFA in writing at Lindenwood University Online . The flexible online format, experienced faculty, and supportive community make our program a great option for students from all walks of life. Take the first step by  requesting more information  from Lindenwood University Online today.

re today!

Share this article:

Behind the Seams: Exploring 18 Glamorous Fashion Careers

Is a Bachelor’s Degree in Game Design Right for You?

Blog Articles

Browse Articles by Category

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Throughout each step of your online degree program, you will receive support. From enrollment and tuition planning to staying on the right track, your support team is there to ensure your success.

Request info

Online Students

For All Online Programs

International Students

On Campus, need or have Visa

Campus Students

For All Campus Programs

SNHU graduate, Felicia Ramos-Peters working on her computer. With the text Felicia Ramos-Peters '14

Online MFA in Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts

Earn an MFA in Creative Writing Online

$637/credit (48 credits total)
Transfer up to 12 graduate credits
100% online – no residency required
Four fiction genres to choose from
Career-focused certificate included
No application fee or GRE/GMAT scores required

Online MFA in Creative Writing Program Overview

Share your story with the world and let the power of storytelling take your career to new heights with an online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing . As one of the only programs available that encourages a focus on genre fiction, our online MFA lets you hone your craft in an area specific to your strengths and interests. You'll also learn about the business side of creative writing, preparing you to market your work in the real world.

While most MFA programs require a residency, Southern New Hampshire University's online MFA in Creative Writing can be completed entirely online, with no travel necessary.

“Traditional MFA programs, whether full-time or low residency, are out of reach for many writers,” said Paul Witcover , associate dean of creative writing. “The SNHU online MFA was designed to make the MFA experience accessible to all fiction writers, opening the door to diverse voices excluded for too long from the literary conversation. Our program is dedicated to giving writers the tools to succeed on the page and beyond it.”

Graduates leave the program with a completed and revised novel in one of our four offered genres: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance and Speculative. With the included certificates in either online teaching of writing or professional writing , you'll have the skills to support your writing career, no matter where it takes you.

.st0{fill:#21386D;} What You'll Learn

The business and technical sides of professional writing
How to navigate the publishing ecosystem, identify agents and editors, and market your work to appeal to decision-makers
Using social media to gain a following and build your brand
How to teach writing in a classroom setting

.cls-1 { fill: #21386d; } How You'll Learn

At SNHU, you'll get support from day 1 to graduation and beyond. And with no set class times, 24/7 access to the online classroom and helpful learning resources along the way, you'll have everything you need to reach your goals.

Why Emily Chose Online MFA in Creative Writing

The Value of an Online MFA

Emily Jones ’20 embraced a transformational experience through the online MFA in Creative Writing program, which supported her in taking her writing career to the next level. “I can now say, without even a hint of imposter syndrome, that I am a writer,” said Jones. “And that is because of Southern New Hampshire University.”

Career Outlook

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, writers and authors made a median annual salary of $69,510 in 2021, while editors made $63,350. 1

Paul Witcover with the text Paul Witcover

“Our mission is to give students a degree and associated practical skills they can use to forge successful pathways in academia, business, or by blazing their own career trail,” said Paul Witcover , associate dean of creative writing.

Earning one of the included certificates in online teaching of writing or professional writing will also be an invaluable addition to your resume for part-time, full-time and freelance jobs in a variety of fields, including:

Higher education. Instruct writing courses in higher education settings. In 2021, postsecondary teachers made a median annual wage of $79,640, and you can expect to see a 12% growth in available positions through 2031, according to the BLS. 1
Advertising. Use your storytelling skills in a way that influences consumer action. As a copywriter, you could find yourself doing any number of writing projects from crafting emails and ads to writing entire commercials.
Marketing. If you're more comfortable with long-form prose, many businesses have invested in content writers who create quality content such as blog posts, ebooks and podcasts to attract and retain customers.
Entertainment. Good at building suspense or setting up punchlines? From movies and plays to comedy and podcasts, being a good storyteller and writer is important to finding success in the entertainment industry.
History. Every person's life has a plot, but it takes writers like you to tell their stories in a compelling way. Help readers relive the experiences of historic figures and pop culture icons as a biographer.

Higher Education

Instruct writing courses in higher education at a college or university, either in-person or online.

Advertising

Influence consumer action through copywriting, from print ads to digital advertising and broadcast commercials.

Create written content such as blog posts, ebooks and podcasts to attract and retain customers.

Entertainment

From movies and plays to comedy and podcasts, writers often find success in the entertainment industry.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts favorable job growth in postsecondary education. And while statistics are not available for all job settings mentioned above, the BLS reports the following:

.cls-1 { fill: #21386d; } Job Growth

The BLS predicts an 8% growth in available postsecondary teaching positions through 2032. 1

.cls-1 { fill: #21386d; } Potential Salary

Writers and authors made a median annual salary of $73,150 in 2022, while editors made $73,080 and postsecondary teachers made $80,840. 1

Understanding the Numbers When reviewing job growth and salary information, it’s important to remember that actual numbers can vary due to many different factors — like years of experience in the role, industry of employment, geographic location, worker skill and economic conditions. Cited projections do not guarantee actual salary or job growth.

Start Your Journey Toward an Online MFA in Creative Writing

If you're looking to earn your Master of Fine Arts online, you've found the right program. Even though there are no residency requirements, you'll still interact frequently with other students and faculty members in asynchronous discussions, critique workshops and within our online writer’s community, where students come together to share industry news, extend writing tips and develop critique partnerships.

Jamilla Geter with the text Jamilla Geter

"I liked MFA-514 (Advanced Studies in Genre Literature) best," said student Jamilla Geter . "It was a great look into the different genres. It really helped me narrow down what genre I wanted to write in."

Felicia Warden with the text Felicia Warden

"Though it was not writing exactly, its connection to it – especially in our digital world – was made clear almost immediately," she said. "Writing is not just providing content of value to your readers, but also creating avenues of access so those readers can find your content. This course helped me to understand that and to learn how I can create those avenues."

Besides allowing you to focus on your own creative interests, part of our 48-credit online MFA curriculum requires you to choose from 2 certificate offerings designed to round out your education and better prepare you for a multitude of writing-related careers.

The first choice is a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching of Writing , which is tailored to those who see themselves teaching in an online classroom setting as a supplement to their writing careers. Students practice approaches to editing and coaching, learning how to establish a virtual instructor presence and cultivate methods for supporting and engaging students within online writing communities.

Learn more about the online teaching of writing graduate certificate .

Students can also choose the Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing , which highlights the technical and business opportunities available to writers. Students will develop a range of skills, such as copywriting, social media, marketing principles and/or content generation, learning many of the freelancing skills integral to today’s project-driven economy.

Learn more about the professional writing graduate certificate .

All of our courses are taught by accomplished authors and industry professionals who know both the craft and business of creative writing. They will work closely with you to develop both your creative and professional skill set.

"All instructors within my program were extremely knowledgeable and helpful," Warden said. "I learned a lot about the different career paths my instructors chose. ... The course instruction, along with their anecdotal experiences, helped in offering knowledge in different areas of our field.

MFA Program Thesis

The thesis for the Online MFA in Creative Writing is required to be a novel of at least 50,000 words in one of the four genres the program offers: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance, and Speculative.

Every Southern New Hampshire University online MFA student who graduates from the program will do so with a revised novel manuscript in their chosen genre, which is completed in a three-course thesis series. Throughout your tenure in the program, you can either work on a singular idea that you will develop during the three thesis courses, or you can begin a new project for your thesis. You can also combine elements of the four genres offered in the program for your thesis. For example, your thesis might be a YA Speculative Fiction novel.

Kathleen Harris with the text Kathleen Harris

"My three thesis classes for the MFA degree were the most helpful," said Kathleen Harris '21 . "I was actually writing a book as my thesis, so it was both enjoyable and advantageous for the degree. And it was the end of a very long milestone of accomplishments."

Minimum Hardware Requirements Component Type PC (Windows OS) Apple (Mac OS) Operating System Currently supported operating system from Microsoft. Currently supported operating system from Apple. Memory (RAM) 8GB or higher 8GB or higher Hard Drive 100GB or higher 100GB or higher Antivirus Software Required for campus students. Strongly recommended for online students. Required for campus students. Strongly recommended for online students. SNHU Purchase Programs Visit Dell Visit Apple Internet/ Bandwidth 5 Mbps Download, 1 Mbps Upload and less than 100 ms Latency 5 Mbps Download, 1 Mbps Upload and less than 100 ms Latency Notes: Laptop or desktop?   Whichever you choose depends on your personal preference and work style, though laptops tend to offer more flexibility. Note:   Chromebooks (Chrome OS) and iPads (iOS) do not meet the minimum requirements for coursework at SNHU. These offer limited functionality and do not work with some course technologies. They are not acceptable as the only device you use for coursework. While these devices are convenient and may be used for some course functions, they cannot be your primary device. SNHU does, however, have an affordable laptop option that it recommends: Dell Latitude 3301 with Windows 10. Office 365 Pro Plus  is available free of charge to all SNHU students and faculty. The Office suite will remain free while you are a student at SNHU. Upon graduation you may convert to a paid subscription if you wish. Terms subject to change at Microsoft's discretion. Review system requirements for Microsoft 365 plans for business, education and government. Antivirus software:  Check with your ISP as they may offer antivirus software free of charge to subscribers. if (typeof accordionGroup === "undefined") { window.accordionGroup = new accordion(); } accordionGroup.init(document.getElementById('f756dce5bd874c61855f6f6e92d88470')); University Accreditation

New England Commission of Higher Education

Tuition & Fees

Tuition rates for SNHU's online degree programs are among the lowest in the nation. We offer a 25% tuition discount for U.S. service members, both full and part time, and the spouses of those on active duty.

Tuition rates are subject to change and are reviewed annually. *Note: students receiving this rate are not eligible for additional discounts.

Additional Costs: Course Materials ($ varies by course). Foundational courses may be required based on your undergraduate course history, which may result in additional cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

SNHU associate dean of liberal arts Dr. Robert Denning wearing a dark suit and blue tie.

Associate Dean of Liberal Arts Dr. Robert Denning: A Faculty Q&A

A graphic of a group of people on a set demonstrating a guide for tomorrow’s filmmakers

Must-Watch Movies: A Guide for Tomorrow's Filmmakers

A copywriter writing in a notebook at her desk at a marketing agency.

How to Become a Copywriter

Related programs.

Search form (GSE) 1

What an mfa in creative writing can do for you.

If you've ever contemplated getting your MFA in Creative Writing, this is the episode for you.

Listen to the podcast

Find the full transcript at the end of this page.

Episode notes

We've got a panel on the MFA in Creative Writing experience with three members of the Lesley University community: Boston Poet Laureate and Lesley University MFA in Creative Writing Interim Director Danielle Legros Georges , Associate Director Janet Pocorobba and alumna Heather Hughes , an associate editor at Harvard University Press.

The three authors writers talk about Lesley's low-residency MFA program , diversity in MFA programs, and what an MFA program can and can't do for you. A Q&A with the audience rounds out this episode.

Recorded at the Boston Book Festival by Studio 125. Listen to more recordings from this year’s festival .

Check out all of our episodes on our podcast page or just go ahead and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Stitcher , Google Podcasts or Spotify .

Katie Cotugno black and white author photo

Bestselling YA author & love junkie

Women, History, and The Weight of Ink with Rachel Kadish

Searching for the real Shakespeare

Writing books for kids who don't read books

From the page to the stage

Scott Loring Sanders on Surviving Jersey

Monster trucks and The Truth About Poop

Watch Us Rise author Renée Watson

Poetry for the broken spaces

Recommending kids books

Making hard science easy

Chasing poetry with Jess Rizkallah

Dreaming about Joan of Arc

Risky memoir writing

Black and white photo of Fabiola Decius speaking into a microphone.

Teaching teens to WRITE

Sara Farizan is 'Here to Stay'

Richard Blanco looks at the camera and holds a book.

Poet Richard Blanco on 'How to Love a Country'

A memoir of family and the Holocaust

A digital illustration of three adolescence racing down the sidewalk on bicycles, one with a speak bubble that says, "Go!"

Strange Fruit and forgotten black history

Self-publishing, ghost hunting lesbians, and Dolly Parton

Announcer: This is Why We Write, a podcast from Lesley University. Each week we bring you conversations with authors from the Lesley community to talk about books, writing, and the writing life. Today, we have a special episode recorded at the Boston Book Festival. Three members of our Lesley community participated in a panel called, what an MFA program can do for you. Today, you'll hear from our MFA interim director, Boston Poet Laureate, Danielle Legros George as well as Associate Director Janet Pocorroba and alumna Heather Hughes, who is an associate editor at the Harvard University Press.

Danielle Legros Georges: Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon, everybody. [laughs] Okay. A sign of life, which is really nice. My name is Danielle Legros Georges. I am the interim director of the Lesley MFA program in creative writing and I'm really pleased to welcome you to this afternoon session. Can you hear me, okay?

Audience: Yes.

Danielle: I'm going to be moderating this panel on which I'll be sitting and which includes the lovely Janet Pocorobba, who is the Associate Director of the MFA program in creative writing at Lesley, a memoirist, and essayist and Heather Hughes, who is a graduate of the Lesley MFA program who is a poet and an essayist and an associate editor at the Harvard University Press. I'm really glad that you too have agreed to sit on the panel entitled, what an MFA program can do for you and…

Janet Pocorobba: What it can't.

Danielle: We're really going to just talk about our experiences as folks who have gone through MFA programs and for Janet and me, folks who are currently working at an MFA program. We're thinking about this in broad ways and not especially discussing the Lesley MFA program, although we want to encourage you to think about it too as you're thinking about your MFA journeys. I'm going to ask Janet to speak first.

Janet: Sure. Good. I was going to make that little disclosure that I work in an MFA and I teach in an MFA and I went through an MFA, the Lesley MFA. [laughs] I say that just so that you know and that an MFA program has been a big part of my writing life, my writing development, my experience, my whole identity really as a writer. I did it the MFA way. [chuckles] Not everybody does, you don't have to. You don't have to get an MFA to be a writer.

I remember the first time I was asked, "Why do you want to get into MFA?" I was sitting in- it was the Lesley MFA office with a director at that time, and I'd seen him on a panel at GrubStreet about MFA programs, probably much like this one, talking about the Lesley program and I said, "Hey, I'd like to hear more." He said, "Come on by." I went to his office one day and I sat in the chair next to his desk and he was like, "Why do you want to come here?" I was like, "Oh, no, [laughs] it's like trick question or." I had articulated it to myself, but I wasn't really sure and me being me, I was like, "Well, there must be a right answer. What is it?" I just said, "I want to be a better writer." He's like, "Oh, okay. That's a good reason." [laughs]

We talked for a little bit and I remember he had some documents on his desk and he was talking about the program and talking about these craft annotations, and writing craft, and it was very exciting. He was like, "Get these documents." I remember sitting there and wanting to see those documents so badly. I just I was like, "Show me the key. Show me what this is all about." He didn't but I learned quickly that there is no key to becoming a writer or becoming a better writer. Not at all. There's no silver bullet. I guess the first thing I would say in terms of what an MFA can't do for you is two things. It can't offer any kind of silver bullet in terms of your writing or your writing career.

Great things may happen but there's no guarantee so to come in thinking you're going to solve something about your writing, or writing life with an MFA, I might say, "Be careful." The other thing that I think is, it can't make you a writer. If you don't have that hunger [laughs] to see what those documents are, to get in there and learn all the craft and to know about yourself that you love language, you love playing with it, you've been doing it, you want to study it, you have to have that real appetite and know that that's something that you do, you're a writer. I wouldn't go to an MFA to find out if you are a writer. Can I do this? Because it's not easy? It's not easy to be a writer, it's not easy to graduate from the program, it's quite intensive.

I would say, those are a couple of things that it can't do for you. I'll just mention one thing that I think it can do for you before we move on into the bigger conversation we're going to hear from you too. The one thing that I think you can get from an MFA that is really unusual and really rare and you may never get it again, [chuckles] is really sharp writers reading your work and reading it with a level of seriousness and commitment.

That means your faculty, but it also means your co-writers, your peers, the fellow people in your cohort or your workshop. There's something about being in that community, where everybody is taking it very seriously. Having a lot of fun. It's not dour in any way but it's this I think level of commitment that it can really seal for you and I think when you see that level in other people and then they're mirroring yours, it becomes really powerful in terms of propelling you through the degree and then after the degree which you're going to need to keep propelling yourself somehow.

I think that that is no small thing because I think after you graduate, it can be really hard to find those readers who as invested. I think the only comparison to that would be an editor, an editor who's going to publish your work because there are agents who will sit with you and go through your work and tell you to do a bunch of stuff and then you do it and they say, "Well, we're not going to take it anyway." [laughs] Someone who is invested is what I mean and wants to get in there with you and take responsibility. The level of seriousness and commitment to the work, I think is a great reason to go and that's a good reason you would find it there if you're looking for that. I will stop there.

Heather Hughes: Hi. [chuckles] I'm going to talk only from the student perspective because that's my perspective on the MFA. I want to talk a little bit about how I came to an MFA and how I decided to do an MFA and specifically why I went into a low-residency program. Low-residency programs have really burgeoned in the last 7 to 10 years in a way that they didn't exist as an option before. I'm somebody who comes from a working-class family. I'm the only person in my immediate family who graduated high school. No one in my family, we didn't have a word for first-generation college students when I was an undergrad so I didn't know that that's what I was.

I didn't know how many things I didn't know about how to go to college, because I was such a good student all through my life that I didn't know that college was actually about a whole lot of things that are not academic at all. In fact, those things are I think, even more, ramped up in the graduate study that the academics are one component but all of these other pieces of being in a graduate program are equally important, and in some ways, possibly more important than the academic components, especially for writers. I didn't know any of those things even after graduating from my undergraduate program.

I still didn't know that I didn't know those things because I didn't know I hadn't missed out on those things at all until much much later in life. I was an English and a journalism major. I had been talked out of being a creative writing major by my family because it was not practical and there are no jobs in that, which is a very working-class family attitude to take. I think there are probably people in this room who know what that's like, either personally or from friends. I always thought it wasn't for me and then I eventually got really claustrophobic about not feeding my writing life and not feeding my academic life further.

Because I work in a university, I got a totally separate master's degree. While I was doing that master's degree on the very very cheap, thanks, university, I was feeling even more as I was doing this very serious academic writing and working on a thesis and doing that research. I was feeling even more that gap in my creative life and that I wasn't doing that work anymore, and how important it was to me as a person to be doing that work.

I entered my final year of my master's program where I was writing a bilingual, 100-page thesis in Spanish and English, and decided that if I didn't start doing creative work, I was going to go crazy. Even though I had always said, I was never going to do an MFA, I had done a short workshop course with Steven Cramer, that was the founding director of the Lesley program.

I really respected what he had done there and the structure of it and the professors that he had attracted to the program. I went to an info session, and I just said, "You know what, I'm just going to send in the application and I'm not going to think." If I get in, I'm just going to go even though it's completely insane to work full time and be in two graduate programs at the same time. I just said I'm going to do it and I did [laughs].

I overlapped those two things, which I don't necessarily recommend, but that is a thing that an MFA and particularly a low-residency MFA can do. It can fit around the rest of your life, both in terms of time and money, it's very flexible to do a low-residency MFA. Because it can fit around the rest of your life, I didn't have the struggle that I saw so many of my friends who did full-time MFAs have which was figuring out after graduation, how to go back to work and then also be a writer, because as much as people talk about the preciousness of that bubble of the MFA and doing nothing but writing for that time, that was never a viable option for me.

I could not have ever done that and I would not have felt safe making that choice. Personally or financially, the risk would have been too great for me. The fact that low-residency MFA programs exist, and are robust and have great faculty and great students, allowed me to do something that I would have not imagined possible for myself, then allowed me to keep doing the work, because I had this foundation of, "Well, I'm already juggling everything." [laughs] I'm just going to keep juggling everything, which I think it answers, in some ways is part of what an MFA both can and can't do for you.

The biggest thing that I will say to close out my remarks is also in that overlap of both what MFA can and what MFA can't do for you. I wish I had gone into my MFA program with much more targeted and very specifically articulated goals and ideas about what I wanted out of it, instead of that broad conversation that Janet was talking about, about why do you want an MFA. A lot of us would say, to be a better writer, to meet other writers. They're all true and they're all good answers. They're honest and they're things that we need, but there's a lot of other answers underneath that, that I wish I had dug into more.

An MFA can't do those other things for you unless you articulate them for yourself, but it can get you toward those other goals and those more specific goals, I think if you do.

Danielle: After I speak, we're going to open it up to your questions and comments. I attended an MFA program at NYU. I was 30 years old when I decided to apply to an MFA. I've been writing most of my life actually since I was in second grade and Mrs. O’Brien asked me to write an essay on Harriet Tubman, but I was not somebody who called myself a writer.

When people asked I said, "Yes, I write, but I'm not a writer." But at 30 years old, I decided to take myself seriously as a writer and allow myself the moniker and once that happened, really wonderful things started to come to me, like people who told me about fellowships that I could apply to which I did and got. This is just before I applied to the MFA. Applying to the MFA program was a part of naming myself as a writer and that naming really changed my life. I attended a traditional MFA program. I went to classes once a week, or twice a week. That's the traditional model, there is the low-residency model that Heather mentioned, that the Lesley program is, which I think is also a super model.

The low-residency MFA, for example, can allow you to continue with your life, though you'll have a more intensified one. You won't have to move or take up residence at or near a university. You can continue to have a family and full-time work. Low-res programs tend to appeal to what are called non-traditional students, often older students. They accommodate people's lives and faculty are custom to adult learners, working with adult learners.

What an MFA program can do for you also is give you the critical language with which to speak about literature and the arts, the analytic language. It helps you to develop these analytic skills or hone them. Language to talk about art, culture, cultural trends, global trends, historical trends, and movements as a result of the work, the critical work that you're doing in the MFA program.

Part of why I attended the program was so that I could write but also so that I could develop the critical language with which to defend my work in the world. Here I am a black woman, writing texts that may not have been when I was in my own MFA program 15 years ago. [laughs] May not have been as popular on the critical landscape. I needed to be able to defend my work, I needed the skills, the tools, to be able to know how to talk to people who might not be able to see the work as having a particular value. That for me was an important part of attending, why I attended an MFA program.

Work in an MFA program is not divorced from what's taking place in the world. You're reminded of the challenges in the world because MFA programs are microcosms of the world. The dynamics that play in the world exist in MFA programs, you bring your isms to it and your colleagues and your peers and your faculty members bring their isms to it. You're going to have to like work all of that stuff out and you work it out through the writing and through the discourse, through the critical work that you do.

The MFA program or MFA programs give you an opportunity to, while you're dealing, raffling if you will, with the issues that make their themselves into the program. They also give you the opportunity to make work that can ultimately change the world. It's a large statement but think about your favorite books or works of art, books that have changed your life. Can anybody name one?

Participant 1: Of Mice and Men .

Danielle: Yes. Of Mice and Men , right. Other texts, yes?

Participant 2: [crosstalk]

Danielle: Hold on. There were two people speaking, quick. Yes, up front. Yes. nice and loud, please.

Participant 2: If on a Winter's Night a Travel er

Danielle: Okay. Then back here.

Participant 3: Like in sixth grade [inaudible 00:19:25]

Danielle: Okay, right. Other texts that have changed your life, yes?

Participant 4: The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Danielle: One more time, please.

Danielle: Yes. Junot Diaz. Yes. For me, Toni Morrison's Beloved shifted my life. The other texts we want to throw up there that have changed.

Participant 5: [unintelligible 00:19:52]

Danielle: Yes, absolutely.

Participant 5: [inaudible 00:19:58]

Heather: Yes.

Danielle: Okay. All right.

Participant 5: You read his essays [unintelligible 00:20:02] . We get a lot of that.

Danielle: All right. An MFA program can give you the space and the tools you need to make the books that change the lives of people in the world, that change culture. That's what an MFA can do for you. Janet mentioned the community you can find in MFA. I'll echo, I'll reiterate that. You'll find community among your peers in your areas. Our program at Lesley happens to have six concentrations, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, writing for young people, writing for a stage and screen, and we have this wonderful new concentration called graphic novels and comics. You'll find camaraderie among folks who are working in your concentrations but then across the concentrations as well.

You will find community with your faculty members and also among the writers whose works you read across time and space. Writers who inspire you, blow your mind, piss you off so much that you have to write the response text. You'll learn about the local and broader literary landscapes and communities, you'll learn about residency opportunities to which you can apply and of which you get taken care of if you're admitted for two weeks in the woods of New Hampshire, for example. You'll learn about calls for work, fellowships, literary prizes. You will confront your fears and limitations and overcome them, we hope.

You will find fear, and fire, and water, and air. That's potent me now in MFA program. I'll stop there and we'll take comments and questions.

Janet: Can I just say one thing about community?

Danielle: Yes.

Janet: Do you mind if I just talk a little bit about that because it's so huge? When I was thinking about preparing the panel, I was like, "Wow, when I did my MFA, it was 15 years ago, and the world has changed quite a bit especially the digital world." I was thinking about how many communities there are online and places where people are getting together and workshopping and sharing such information. I think one of the reasons people love MFA is it is this totally analog experience. There's nothing like the feeling of actually being with people and leaving a workshop together after some really interesting craft discussion and just going to lunch and talking craft. You meet people who are speaking your language.

Again, it's a pretty rare thing that you provide for yourself but that person to person experience I found very, very precious. Just the other thing that I was thinking about is just how we all need each other. I find that I have to have people doing this in my life to pull me forward because there are days where I'm just like, "Oh, God, it's going terrible, or it's going great for me and not great for her." We need to pull each other through I find and you find those people sometimes in an MFA program. I also wanted to say you can find your rivals. Rivals? It sounds like, "What's that?" But I think healthy rivalry can be really nice too.

You find people who are doing what you want to do, and they lead the path and you're probably leading the path for somebody else. Again, it's just surviving in the arts I find very difficult. Financially, emotionally, finding the time and the energy to do the work, especially if you have jobs and families, and finding people who- like I have a colleague, and she's really the only person that I can call and talk about sentences. We were just talking about no one can use independent clause well anymore. It's so geeky but that's our language. We're prose writers and I wouldn't have found her probably anywhere else. Finding your people is I think just so valuable. Don't you think?

Janet: We're going to ask you if you have a question to go up to the mic and speak into it.

Participant 6: Just some practical information about maybe what an average low-residency schedule looks like. Like the year how long does it take in a range of cost? Thank you.

Danielle: Typical low-residency programs are the same length as traditional programs so about two years. Some students take three years to go through them. We have two residences during the year at Lesley, one in January and one in June of nine days a piece and so our faculty and students work on or engage in workshops, seminars, panels, and so on during that nine-day boot camp if you will. Then they engage in long-distance learning during the course of the semester. That's what our low-residency program looks like and it's not unusual. Costs are going to depend on the institution, of course, and some institutions have scholarships. We have scholarships. Students apply for financial aid or can apply for financial aid as well. Have I answered all the questions?

Heather: There's also two other kind of financial things that can be folded in or not folded in with low-residencies, which is where you're going. Travel is, I think, almost never included, except possibly there are some low-residency MFA programs now that have an international component and I think some of those are folding the travel in because the whole entire group is traveling. Usually, travel costs are something you have to bear yourself for the residency periods. Where the residency is what the institution is will determine also whether or not you are paying a room and board or what type of room and board.

If you are, for example, out in the woods of New Hampshire, you're essentially staying on campus and you're paying a dorm rate to stay on campus and that's part of your tuition and all of that. Lesley is here in Cambridge. I live in Somerville so I got on a bus and went to class and went home and looked at my dirty dishes at the end of the day and was very sad about that. I also often had other students in the program both while I was there, and after I graduated staying with me so some people were not having to pay a housing cost at all, or took me out to dinner, which is a pretty modest housing fee. That's something to bear in mind with low-residencies that there's another little financial component to them.

Janet: There's definitely a cost involved. I have heard people make arguments like, "Why would you get into debt if you're going to live an artistic life because you're not going to make a lot of money?" That is valid I guess. Most people I know even very accomplished writers are teaching at least or doing something else to make some money. I think it's very hard to make a living just writing unless you're Stephen King or something or Toni Morrison. Everyone has their own level of comfort with that and money but it's a tough one, because you may get into that doing this, but the value of what it could bring you could very well be worth it. I always think money is money. You can always make money but to really find something of value, that might be with you your whole life. That's how I tend to think of it but it does cost.

Danielle: There are a few MFA programs that cover student full tuition. They're extremely competitive.

Janet: Residency, right?

Danielle: Residency, yes.

Janet: Yes, there is that option. Do they require teaching?

Danielle: Some of them do.

Janet: Yes, you're right.

Participant 7: My question was, you talked about things that you didn't know about college life that factor in even more so at the graduate student level that's beyond academics, and I was wondering what kinds of things?

Heather: Well, on academics/other level, I didn't realize how important things like office hours with your professors are. I never went to office hours because, in my head, that was a thing you did if you were like, "I don't understand the material." It wasn't a thing you did just because it's valuable to have that connection with your professor and for them to know you as a person. I just didn't have that model in my brain in any way, shape or form and nobody ever told me. I didn't do it.

I was even older than Danielle, I was 34 when I started my MFA and I still feel like I didn't take advantage of my mentors to the extent that I could have because I never quite- I took more advantage of them, certainly, but I just never learned that language for how to approach people in those ways. It always felt like I'm taking up their time or like they have better things to do and I'm a good student. I think people who go to graduate school are often people who just like the school in some capacity.

In some way, maybe you're good at a niche thing or you feel like you're good at most of it, but you're a good student. I never learned that kind of a thing. I didn't network with other undergrads very much. Partly that was about, I was working full-time even as an undergrad and so actually the bulk of my friends from undergrad are people that I worked with, not very many people in my classes or the dorms I lived in. My friends came from my work life, even if they were in the same university as I was, they were still my friends from work, we didn't overlap really in our study lives.

It really was when I went into an MFA program that I, even though I was not on campus with my fellow students for more than a couple of weeks out of the year, we were constantly in touch. I went in as a poetry concentrator. I know the poets who were in my group very well. I knew all the poets who were in different semesters. They call them cohorts, Lesley cohorts very well. I also knew a lot, there was a lot of what Danielle was talking about cross-genre interplay. I don't know how much of that happens in a residency-based program, because I do think you spend more time in the incubator of your genre when you're on campus with those people all the time, but certainly my experience of a low-residency was a lot of cross-genre pollination which I really wanted and was a valuable thing to me, and that I would not have thought to seek out on my own. I hope that answers your question.

Participant 8: Hi. That's actually part of what my question is about. You talked about the concentrations that exist in your MFA program. Poetry, fiction, screenwriting. What advice would you give to writers who want to work cross genre, cross-medium and is there space in these programs to do that?

Danielle: It's a great question. I'm going to ask Janet to speak a little bit. I think it's doing the work in the critical component of the program allows you to do the cross-genre, yes to do that cross-genre work, and I think many MFAs allow you to take critical courses. Some of them have you remain within literature. Our program has this very wide interdisciplinary studies component, and I think maybe one or two others have that, so I'm going to punt it to Janet.

Janet: As Danielle said, our program at Lesley does have a space built in, so you are actually completing credits for three of your four semesters in something that is not your major, your main concentration. We have a wide variety of opportunities to do cross-genre work and that's exactly what a lot of people do in their interdisciplinary work. You can also do other things like study pedagogy, you can do publishing courses, do internships. There's a wide variety, but we do have a lot of students doing cross-genre and it's a great opportunity to do when you're studying.

Some students will take cross-genre throughout their studies and have a minor almost and just complete a whole second work in another genre, and that is available if you want to do that.

Danielle: One final comment too, is to find faculty members who have a great understanding of the flexibility of the genre that they're working in. I think of a book like Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, which is a genre-bending text, although many would categorize it poetry. Not that Claudia was working on that text while she was an MFA student, but I imagine if she had been, she would have been in poetry, but with the support of faculty who got what she was doing to allow her to do that prose poetry visual work that she was doing. Finding the faculty in programs who can support the kind of work that you want to do.

Participant 8: Thank you.

Janet: Thanks.

Participant 9: Hi. My question relates to networking opportunities that you guys maybe had in a grad program or an MFA program that you might not have had. in-- I've done undergrad creative writing but I didn't really feel like I got a lot of networking opportunities out of that. I was wondering if you could maybe speak to specific experiences and then for Danielle specifically, I was wondering as a fellow non-white writer if you felt like you've got ever pigeonholed into very white spaces in those kinds of instances. I see you.

Danielle: I had to fight my way out of them.

Participant 9: That was just like a follow-up, but generally I'm wondering specific opportunities, but I'm just curious if you could speak to that also specifically.

Heather: Who was the first question?

Janet: Should we start with the small question? [crosstalk] No, it's a good question.

Heather: I guess I would say, when you're in a grad program, the stakes for everybody are a lot higher. Undergrad is very easy to say, even if it's your major, it's not the real thing you're doing. I think that networking is just very different in grad school because everybody is pretty serious about what they're doing. What that seriousness looks like is different for everybody, so I don't want to paint it as if there's like one way to be a serious writer in any way, shape, or form. Everybody who's there is taking it really, really seriously. In that sense, the networking is different. I think grad programs are aware that students need those opportunities and try to actively create them.

Almost any traditional residency or MFA program has things like reading series and often there's internships or students are working on literary journals or something like that where they're interfacing with a lot of different authors. This was unrelated to my MFA, was related to other coursework I did separately, but I interned at Agni for a while, and that put me in touch with a lot of people, and then professors. Even professors that I never studied with.

One of the fiction professors at Lesley two years ago said, "Hey, a friend of mine is starting an online journal and needs poetry readers, do you have some free time? Would you be interested?" Just because we had sat in the dining hall and had a meal together a couple of times, and he was like, "I think you're all right." Those kinds of opportunities come up and professors know that their students are serious and they know how seriously you take your work and they're looking for ways to involve you.

Janet: Cool. We bring agents and editors to campus. Some programs have different views about that and don't want you to think about publishing, but we used to have these big publishing panels at our residencies and they were tough because it was just this far away panel and they'd all be saying how hard it was to get published and everyone would just leave depressed. We started and we changed it up so that now you get to sit in a room with an agent or editor and read some work aloud and get some instant feedback. Just to personalize it and to start a conversation about craft and your writing. Often it comes, like Heather said, through peer opportunities later offering stuff.

Danielle: When I was going through my MFA, I did have the feeling of #MFA is so white.

Danielle: That label sort of emerge much later or more recently but what I did do was network with faculty members. While I was in the MFA program, I was also working with faculty members in Comparative Literature and Africana Studies. People like and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o who wrote, Decolonizing the Mind and Kamau Brathwaite and Paula Marshall, who was in the creative writing program. Well, sometimes I didn't find always understanding among my peers. I could find connections to my teachers and so that was a way of networking.

After I emerged from my MFA program, there have been more people of color going through MFA programs. I think that has cracked things open a bit. There's more of an experience among writers of color- the MFA experience among writers of color. Networking with those folks who are either in MFA programs, in your program or in other programs that you can connect to and people who have gone through the experience to connect to.

Participant 9: Cool. Thank you.

Danielle: Sure.

Participant 10: I also, sorry, have two questions. One is a little bit of a follow-up. I was wondering if you could speak to the critique that some MFA programs have a tendency to produce homogenous writing and then after that is a little different speaking about going through an MFA later in life rather than right after Undergrad. How you think that experience differs as a writer and for your growth?

Danielle: Critique of MFAs making homogenous writing.

Heather: I've had a lot of fields.

Danielle: Okay. Alright.

Janet: You've had a lot of what?

Heather: I have a lot of fields.

Danielle: All right. Go for it.

Heather: I'm going to say something that I think is a controversial statement to make as somebody who's deeply in this ecosystem. Because I'm not only a writer, I work in publishing. Although I don't work in fiction or poetry publishing and I'm in a literary journal world. I'm in a lot of different writing hats. Maybe it was true 20 years ago when MFA programs were really blowing up a little bit in like the '80s, the '90s, from what they had been which was a handful of programs and very small ones that they were producing a lot of samey, same writing. I think that speaks more to at that moment historically, who the populations as both students and teachers of those programs were. Which is very samey-samey. I think we all know who the samey-samey is. [laughs] As Danielle just said, that's changed really dramatically and it's constantly changing.

There are demographics that are tied to that. Here's a component that's tied to both parts of your question. Low-residency MFAs, I think are awesome because there's a lot of people in them who are not coming-- There are people who are coming right out of undergrad but there's also a lot of people who are not. I was at Lesley with people who were 22 and people who were in their late ’70s at the same time and all across the spectrum in between.

That said, the people who were on the older end of that spectrum for very clear material reasons in the US are basically white people. The people who are of younger age groups, not so much. It's a much, much broader group of people in that sense so I don't think MFAs are really churning out homogenous writing and I think a lot of that is because MFAs are not homogenous in the ways they used to be. They're simply not. There are more women. There are more black, brown, indigenous. Lesley has a lot of international students. People fly from all over the world actually to come into Lesley.

Someone in my cohort was coming from Mali, so it was not homogenous in those senses. What I do think is still very homogenous is publishing. When we talk about the products of MFA programs, we're often not talking about the things that people are writing who have just received an MFA. We're talking about books that have been published by people who are known to have obtained an MFA somewhere and the people choosing those books actually are often the same people who were choosing books in the '90s.

Those jobs have not turned over that much and there's not that many of them. The people who are as selling and marketing those books are a very homogenous group of people by and large so that's not an answer you're going to hear a lot of people give to that question but I think it's a big factor.

Danielle: Well, I think yes. This is very interesting and there's a lot of ways to look at the question. Like the same kind of writing, like churning out the same kind of story or the same kind of writing. Even craft wise, so speaking of it even craft wise, workshop is the model, is the MFA model of pedagogy. It's not the only model there is but it's the one that's dominant here in this culture.

It's a group of people getting together and that can be really great when you come up with ideas that are like better than one person could come up with and you figure out somebody's story but it's a lot of voices in your work and it really does force you to be more clear about your work and what you want to say and what is your vision. Very funny, I have a friend who is a graduate of MFA [chuckles] and she got into the program and her submission manuscript was about a dog.

I think it was King Arthur's dog or something and the director was like, "We want to accept you into the track, you can't write about dogs." [laughs] She's just like, "Okay." Then went to workshop first semester, submitted a story about dogs. It wasn't the novel about King Arthur's dog but it was a story and it had dogs in it. Now she's a dog handler and she'd been doing it for like 20 years.

Like often the writer can't speak in a workshop, which you can feel different ways about that [chuckles] but everybody went around and it was all like, "Oh my God, like you don't know dogs." [laughs] Everyone was getting down on her about this dog thing and she was just like, "Oh my God." She was just very confused because it was her material. Everyone's like, "Don't do dogs." [laughs] Now she's like making money writing about dogs.

Danielle: It's actually becoming her thing and so I felt a little bit sad that she had been guided in some ways not to be like, "How can we help you do what you want to do? Okay. Maybe if going to do dogs you can't be sentimental or you can't necessarily go to King Arthur." I don't know but they didn't really work with her as well as they might have I think and she came around to it because she was solid and you're just going to write what you got to write about so you stay with that. It was funny though. Additional questions? Thank you.

Participant 11: Actually, it's a weird follow-up because I have a real, was it like, were you getting that from that article that came out a year ago or two that was about the Iowa city workshop and stuff like that and how that flattened literature. It was this long article about-- Actually, it was all these things that just made me connect to my mind. Is there currently a culture of like negativity? There's a lot of this culture of negativity thing that's in a lot of fields. Like I work in nonprofits and there's this like bring down idea of culture and community culture of you have to critique everything, you have to find the negatives and take out everything out of there and stuff like that. You have to break down silos.

Is there that culture currently in MFA programs because it's like you have different things like pigeonholing and things like that? We want you to write this way or this way or we're looking for this and this like currently in publishing. Is there in MFA right now, there's this like we're looking for this and you have to be like this and this and this or not can accept you, or is there now more of stratification or acceptance of different ideas then more so than in the past?

Janet: Great question, yes.

Heather: It's a deep question. We know it's good when you just are having a pause.

Speaker 3: It's funny. There’s a Mr. Rogers quote, the guy that wrote the book that I was reading, he was saying that about our culture right now that we're so in conflict with each other. That's what's going on right now. I think then after that we all went coocoo a little bit, we are trying to get on campuses, what happens is that science is trying to stop people who [inaudible 00:51:20] these people and then everyone is picking on everyone, it seems like the people in who are already want to be in power. It seems that's the problem...

Danielle: It hasn't been my experience that there's a general culture of negativity associated with MFA programs. I think the work we do is work that that takes place, is work of critique. There's that to consider. I also think that we're experiencing a really exciting moment in contemporary American literature. We're hearing voices we would have never heard 30 years ago, 50 years ago, maybe even 25 years ago. There's such a richness and a great diversity in contemporary lit that I'm buoyed by that. I don't feel that it is negative. I don't feel a culture of negativity associated with literature today.

Janet: Reading workshop I tend to really try to facilitate and guide students towards a yes and. I think it's Pixar. They talked about how they critique. Critique can be a bunch of negative stuff, and that's really tough. You don't really listen when it's just all a bunch of negative stuff. It's about building up the work and looking at the value of the work and what is it trying to be, and then having this more positive. I'm seeing that this isn't working, but this is and this is. I try to have this building on constructive critique. It doesn't become just a wrote, let's just analyze it to death and break it down and criticize everything.

Sometimes students will tend to just go there because it's an easy place. The person before them said this in the workshop and they just thing repeat it and it's a negative that goes around the circle, and I'll stop that. It's like we've got to just build this too. We can't just say a bunch of negative stuff if that makes sense. I think that's rude.

Heather: Yes. I would agree and say at least within MFA I don't think there's a culture of negativity or negative critique. I think there is a strong culture of critique and that it's actually benefiting the MFA landscape overall, although your mileage may vary in any individual programs. Programs should be really well researched for those reasons. I do think there is resentment in larger parts of the culture about some of the ways that voices are being heard, that have not been heard previously. I think poetry is really ahead of other genres in this. I think the way you know this is because you can time your watch by like how long it's going to take for the next person to write to the Washington post about how poetry is dead.

Heather: Really what they mean is very specific poetry is dead. They mean, they're not opening up a poetry book and finding the next Auden. It's like I really like Auden and Auden is great, but we don't need to keep perpetuating 7,000 Audens. What I want is Claudia Cortez and Eve Yeung, and Dennis Smith, who's somewhere around here doing something awesome today.

Also, I want those people. I already have Auden. I don't just want more Auden, but there are people out there who really only want to read Auden for the rest of their life and are actually mad that there are people out there who are not just making more Auden.

Danielle: On this note, we're going to try to end on a note of positivity.

Janet: Yes.

Danielle: Thank you for having attended this session. I want to wish you all the best in your MFA seeking journey, in your writing lives. Feel free to contact the Lesley MFA program if you're interested in thinking about talking to us about low-residency program and of course, there are some wonderful MFA programs here in the Boston area and beyond. All the best you and thanks for coming out.

Heather: Thank you audience.

Danielle: Thanks, guys.

Heather: Awesome questions.

Announcer: Thank you for listening to Why We Write and a special thanks to the Boston Book Festival and Studio 125 for the excellent recording. If this discussion has piqued your interest, find out more about our MFA and creative writing program at lesley.edu/podcast. That's L-E-S-L-E-Y. Why We Write is taking a break for the holidays and January and we will return in February with new shows.

In the meantime, if you've enjoyed the podcast so far, please tell a friend and rate and review us on the podcast platform of your choice. It really does help other people to find the show.

Suggestions

in article about creative writing MFA programs, illustration of an open laptop with a forest growing from the keyboard

What To Know Before Applying to MFA in Creative Writing Programs

An MFA in creative writing is a graduate program meant to help refine a writer’s craft. The curriculum is designed to give writers a few years after undergrad to focus on their writing while becoming a part of a community of like-minded people. As an MFA, you’ll spend the first few semesters in various workshops and then your last year working on your thesis and refining your writing. As a poet in an MFA program, I’m working on submitting about 40 pages worth of poetry. I’m not entirely sure what this looks like for prose writers, as the minimum page count can vary depending on your program.

There are some pros and cons I’d like to point out about MFA programs. The biggest pros are that you are given constructive deadlines for your writing, you are a part of a community, and you get to learn more about sharing your work. The cons? Well, I’d say those would be financial stress, not knowing what your post-graduate plans are, a potentially negative impact on your mental health, imposter syndrome, the pressure to publish, a lot of reading and writing, and bad workshops — just to name a few.

Deadlines for Your Writing

Having deadlines to meet was one of my favorite things about the MFA program. It pushed me to produce work that I wouldn’t have otherwise. While other students were stressed by their due dates, I loved the structure they provided. And more than anything, I loved knowing that I was on track to meet my goals.

During my time in the program, I was lucky enough to meet other writers. My classmates were all smart, hard-working and creative, and it was nice to get their feedback on my work. Similarly, my professors were all successful writers, but they weren’t cocky about it. I’d say they cared more about my general well-being more than the content they were teaching.

Sharing Your Work

Sharing my work was ultimately one of the most rewarding parts of my program. As part of the course requirements, I had to give a 15-minute reading of my work. I was really nervous about it, but I picked out my favorite poems that I had written and prepared to share them with my peers. While I wanted to be taken seriously, one of my poems had a funny line in it, and its delivery kind of turned the whole reading into a comedy show. I was super grateful for the comedic relief, and the reading went much better than I expected. After sharing my work in the program, I began submitting my poems to outside magazines and was pleased when they were accepted. You can find a few of my poems here and here .

Financial Stress

I wouldn’t recommend pursuing an MFA if you already have a full-time job secured. If you don’t, still think carefully about the decision. Trying to study while not being able to afford food is not a fun experience. One of my favorite poets actually had to sell plasma to make ends meet. Unless you have an assistantship, you will have to take out a lot of money in student loans. You may not think this is a big deal before you start, but once you see those numbers on your billing statement, you will be sick to your stomach.

If you do have an assistantship, you will most likely be teaching. Even if you love the practice, it will take time away from your writing, and you will be asked to do more work than what you’re paid for. Not to mention, it can be hard to focus on your studies when you are worried about what kind of job you’ll get after graduation. Many companies will see you as overqualified with a master’s degree, and many will wonder why they should hire you if you don’t have any real work experience.

Impact on Mental Health

I also wouldn’t recommend getting an MFA if you are really struggling with your mental health. Right before I started my program, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder . I thought that it wouldn’t take long for me to stabilize again, but I was wrong; it’s been three years, and I am still having a hard time. During my first year in the program, my mental health got so bad that I almost went to therapy three times a week until I realized that group therapy wasn’t working. I wish that I didn’t have the pressures of grad school on top of my new diagnosis and finishing undergrad.

Imposter Syndrome

Ask anyone in their first year of graduate school how they are feeling and you might get something along the lines of “I was nervous” or “I was excited.” It’s very common for students to feel imposter syndrome, especially after getting into such a competitive program. My imposter syndrome was so bad during my MFA program that I struggled to write poems for my first semester, and it continued into the rest of my time at Butler. I told myself that I wasn’t talented enough or that I didn’t study hard enough or that my writing wasn’t interesting enough. But they were all lies that came from my fear of failure.

Academic Rigor, the Pressure To Publish and Competition

Let’s be honest: Graduate school in any field of study is not easy. I learned the hard way that I shouldn’t take nine credits at a time. On top of lots of reading, there was a pressure to publish your work. Not only did it feel like you needed to have the best work ready for your workshop, but you also felt like you had to have work that was ready to be published.

To put a cherry on top, you would never know how your workshop would go. For instance, say you were really proud of your poem. Even though you were happy with it, there would be a good chance that the group would be critical of your work. For me, that was difficult because I was writing about my life. I felt like people were critiquing me instead of my work. It was a lot of pressure to be the most efficient, yet unique, yet eloquent writer all at once. I wish I would’ve stopped caring about others’ opinions a lot sooner.

Do I Regret It?

In a way, I do. I regret spending so much money on a degree that doesn’t guarantee a job. However, I don’t regret taking the time I needed to learn more about poetry, about myself and how I want to live my life and treat other people. It’s a hard thing to describe. In December, I’ll finish my MFA, and I will feel really proud of myself. Until then, I’m going to try to make the most of it.

If you are considering applying for an MFA program, I urge you to take your time when thinking about graduate school. Know that these programs aren’t going anywhere, and, as long as you keep in touch with your professors, they’ll still be happy to write you recommendation letters in the future. It’s okay to wait a year, or 10, or even 20. Whatever you do, make sure that it’s the right decision for you and not one based on what other people think.

bipolar disorder
college financial advice
college poetry
college writing workshops
creative writing
mental health
MFA programs
writing community
writing workshops

Audrey Bowers, Butler University

Stop Using Stigmatized Language!

A white figure is seen approaching a black shadow-beast stretching out onto a blue background with white scratches. The beast lashes out in a hostile display, fangs bared, needle-like claws drawn and held up in a slicing gesture, whilst the white figure offers it red flowers tied in yellow paper as a sign of peace -- a perhaps healing.

Shadow Work vs. Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Uncovering Paths to Inner Growth

Two pink hands are typing at a laptop on a purple table against a pink background littered with writings and documents. The laptop has a blue screen containing an inkwell and a sheet of paper with scribbles on it, presumably this writer's latest piece of work.

Verse in the Digital Age: A New Perception of Poetry

A man in a blue gown with slick-backed hair sits on an examination table in a doctor's office adorned with diplomas, his sock adorned feet lying flat on a metal foot stool. Dr. Google is facing him, having clearly delivered terrible news based on his guarded posture, hands buried in his pockets; also, the fact that the man has broken down in tears and buried his face in his hands.

Social Media & Self-Diagnosis

Elmo stands in front of a grey staircase, flanked by brown walls, leading up to a set of blue doors. He is hugging an orange dolls close to his chest as he gives the audience a smile; the special kind, which is warm, and reassuring and promises you that everything will turn out all right in the end.

Elmo and Steve: “How Are You Doing?” Causes A Movement

Digital Detox: Rediscovering Real Life

Fiction Writing Activities to Help You Find Inspiration

Read Between the Lines: The Problem With the Goodreads Challenge

Don't miss.

The Brilliance of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Leading Ladies in Television

Illustration of woman floating with luxury items and a long receipt around her.

Debt and Dior: South Korea’s Advancing Debt from Luxury Purchases

For an article about sonification of space data, a person sits cross-legged with head phones on staring off. A blue background with musical notes around them.

By the Way, the Universe Is Always Singing

For an article on the obsessed artist trope in film, a figure sits criss crossed while writing in a journal in blue wash.

Exploring the “Obsessed Artist” Trope in Film

Faded art of foods on decorative plates set out on a table with bright green, red and yellow colors.

More than Struggle: Palestinian Cuisine

Skip to primary navigation
Skip to main content
Creative Writing, MFA

Students in the MFA Residency program listen to a lecture.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing is a terminal, two-year postgraduate degree that focuses on the art and practice of writing. At Arcadia, you choose between programs in fiction or poetry, and graduate with a completed manuscript of publishable quality, written under the guidance of the department’s award winning, diverse faculty.

Arcadia University’s low-residency MFA is distinctive in that it incorporates both a dynamic and flexible online learning environment, as well as a study abroad experience. You take between six and nine credits each term, and meet in person for a week-long residency at three different times during the course of study. Asynchronous workshops are conducted online every week during the fall and spring semesters, and are accessible at any time, through all platforms, allowing for a truly portable and flexible classroom. Our low-residency program allows you to tailor your own academic schedule in order to maintain a full-time professional life outside of school.

Studying Creative Writing, you can expect:

Visiting Writers: Visiting writers work with MFA students at each residency to discuss both craft and business issues in the writing world.
One-On-One Practicums: Each semester students participate in a series of one-on-one meetings with an instructor to review, edit, and discuss writing in detail.
Residencies & Study Abroad: Arcadia’s MFA offers three, one week long residencies. Arcadia believes a global perspective is an important facet of writing, so one residency takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland. Our residencies allow students to workshop writing with peers, faculty, and visiting writers.
Marathon Literary Review: A literary journal established by the first class of Arcadia University’s MFA in Creative Writing. Its editorial staff is made up entirely of MFA students, and they create a publication that showcases the current voices and emerging talent of writers, poets, photographers, and other artists.
Partial Funding Available: Funding packages ranging up to $4,000 are available. At least four TA positions per cohort will be offered; in order to be considered, you must apply by the priority deadline.

Experiential Learning

“I liked the flexibility of a low-residency MFA program, an increased ability to work during the program to make it a more financially feasible decision, and, of course, the Edinburgh residency.”

Andrew Huffman ’23, MFA in Creative Writing

UPCOMING EVENTS

What can i do with an mfa in creative writing.

An MFA degree in Creative Writing can prepare you for a career in editing, publishing, and teaching.

Editing: A career in editing is an especially appealing option when you gain experience working on a literary journal during your time in our MFA program. Editors can work in a range of settings, including: advertising and public relations agencies, media outlets, nonprofit and government organizations, corporations, and universities.

Publishing: MFA graduates also may pursue a career in publishing, working for a small or large press.

Teaching : The MFA is considered a terminal degree in academia, so you are qualified to teach both creative writing and composition at the university level. With the needed state certifications, you can use your MFA to pursue a career in secondary education. You may also choose to teach in private schools.

Writing: In addition to seeking publication for your own creative work, with your MFA in Creative Writing you can write for magazines, newspapers, companies, and organizations. This includes business, marketing, professional, technical, pharmaceutical and medical writing. Full-time, part-time and freelance opportunities are available.

Accelerated Law Programs, BA to JD
Accounting Major
Acting Major
Actuarial Science Major
Agribusiness Minor
Applied Behavior Analysis Early Entry Master’s Program
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Online Graduate Certificate
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Online MEd
Applied Statistics Major
Art and Technology Major
Art Education Certification, MEd
Art Education, PK-12 Certification
Art History Major
Art Major, BFA
Art Therapy Major
Arts and Global Change Major
Arts Administration Major
Arts Entrepreneurship and Curatorial Studies Minor
Autism, Online Graduate Certificate
Biochemistry Major
Bioinformatics Minor
Biology Major
Biology Education Certification
Business Administration Major
Chemistry Education Certification
Chemistry Major
Child and Family Therapy Concentration and Certificate
Cinema Studies Minor
Computer Science Major
Computing Technology Major
Counseling, MAC
Counseling, MA and International Peace and Conflict Resolution, MA
Counseling, MA and Public Health, MPH
Criminology and Criminal Justice Major
Cultural Anthropology Major
Data Analytics Minor
Data Science Major
Dual Degree Master’s Program: Creative Writing and English
Early Childhood Education, MEd
Early Entry Education Master’s Program
Economics Minor
Education Studies Major
Educational Leadership Certificate
Educational Leadership, EdD
Educational Leadership, EdD Online
Educational Leadership, MEd
Education Minor
Engineering, Combined Program
English Education Certification
English Education, MAEd
English, MA
English Major
ESL Program Certificate
ESL Program Specialist PK-12 Certification
Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity in Special Education, MEd
Endorsement in STEM
Forensic Investigations Minor
Forensic Science, MS
French and Francophone Studies Major
Gender and Sexuality Studies Major
Gender and Sexuality Studies Minor
General Science Education Certification
Global Media Major
Health Equity, Online Graduate Certificate
Healthcare Administration Major
Healthcare Management and Leadership, Online Graduate Certificate
Health Professions Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
Health Sciences
History Education, MAEd
History Major
Individualized Masters Program
Infant Toddler Mental Health, Online Graduate Certificate
Integrative STEM Education, MEd
International Business and Culture Major
International Peace and Conflict Resolution, MA
International Peace and Conflict Resolution, MA and International Relations and Diplomacy, MA
International Peace and Conflict Resolution, MA and Public Health, MPH
International Relations and Diplomacy, MA
Global Displacement and Human Rights Advocacy
International Relations, Diplomacy, and Law Major
Italian Cultural Studies Major
Japanese Minor
Jewish Studies Minor
Law and Public Policy Major
Law and Public Policy Minor
Literacy Instruction Certificate
Literacy Studies: TESOL and Reading, MEd
Marketing Major
Marketing Minor
Mathematics Education Certification
Mathematics Major
MBA, Online
Media and Communication Major
Modular Master’s Online
Movement Science, PhD
Music Minor
Neuroscience Minor
MPH, Online
Optometry, Combined Program
Orthopaedic Residency and Musculoskeletal Certificate
PA Director Credential
Pan African Studies Collective
Pan African Studies Minor
Pan-African Studies Major
Peace and Conflict Resolution Major
Peace Corps Prep Certificate
Philosophy Major
Physics Minor
Physical Therapy DPT On-Campus
Physician Assistant, MMS
Physical Therapy, DPT Hybrid
Physical Therapy, DPT and Public Health, MPH
Physical Therapy, Transitional DPT
Political Science Major
Pre-Forensic Science
Pre-International Peace and Conflict Resolution
PreK-4 Education Certification
PreK-4 Education Major
PreK-4 Education Major: Online Program
Pre-Medical
Pre-Nursing
Pre-Occupational Therapy
Pre-Physical Therapy Accelerated
Pre-Physical Therapy
Pre-Physician Assistant
Principal PK-12 Certification
Psychology Major
Public Health Major
Master of Public Health
Public Health, MPH and Physician Assistant, MMS
Reading Education, MEd
Reading Specialist, PK-12 Certification
Rehabilitation Science, MS
Religious Studies Minor
Sciences Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
Scientific Illustration Major
Secondary Education, MEd
Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Cultural Wellbeing, Online Graduate Certificate
Social Studies Education Certification
Sociology Major
Spanish Cultural Studies Major
Spanish Major
Special Education PK-12 Certification
Sport Management Major
Sports Physical Therapy Residency
Statistics Minor
STEM Education Certificate
Studio Art, BA
Superintendent’s Letter of Eligibility Certification
Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Certification
Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services Certification
Supervisor of Special Education Certification
Teacher Certification Programs for Non-Education Majors
TEFL: Teaching English Abroad
Theater Arts Major
Trauma Concentration and Certificate
Undeclared Major
World Cinema Minor
Colleges and Schools
Teaching and Learning
Undergraduate Advising
Career Education
Landman Library
Summer Sessions
Undergraduate Admissions
Graduate Admissions
Visit, Events, and Tours
Tuition and Financing
Admitted Students
Get Involved
Athletics and Recreation
Living and Commuting
Diversity and Inclusion
Arcadia’s Systems of Support
Campus Resources
New Student Experience
Because Arcadia Blog
Study Abroad
Decades in Study Abroad
Preview the World
Students from Another University
Arcadia Advantage
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Rankings and Outcomes
Community and Local Connections
Campus Map and Directions
Offices, Facilities, and Services
Healthy Knights
Test Optional Policy
A Current Student
A Faculty / Staff
An Alumnus / Alumna
A Parent/Family Member

Privacy Overview
Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Creative Writing

Image of a wooden block held by a white male hand. On the block is written "FAQ".

Please find answers to some of the most commonly-asked questions below. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to reach out the MFA Program Director Carla Spataro or the Graduate Admissions department at [email protected] .

Apply Today

Q: What can I do with an MFA in Creative Writing degree?

A: MFA graduates go on to publish manuscripts, staff literary journals , teach college courses, lead writing workshops, sit on conference panels, deliver presentations, write craft articles, review other writers, organize and participate in readings, create and manage writing blogs and websites, and become vital, active members of the writing community. Many MFA graduates also go on to work in the publishing industry , primarily as editors and agents.

Q: What are you looking for in the writing sample and statement for admission?

A: We are looking for the match between your writing goals and our program. Our goal is to assist you in reaching your goals and reaching your full potential. The writing sample and statement gives us a glimpse into the dreams you have for yourself and the commitment you are willing to make to have those dreams realized.

Part of our vision of the program is nurturing our students and faculty as part of a larger writing community. One item that we liked to see addressed in the statement of purpose is how you see yourself contributing to that community . The writing sample itself should be the strongest, most polished piece of writing you have and not more than 20 pages.

Q: What is the relationship between the MFA in creative writing and MA in Publishing ?

A: It's a dynamic environment where MFA students have the opportunity to take courses in the publishing program. These classes focus on editing, web design, e-publishing, magazine writing, and book publishing , and allow writers to gain valuable skills and. The creative writing students can also take advantage of workshops, talks, and events and have access to the insights of publishing students and professionals alike.

Q: What kind of writing workshops are available?

A: All MFA in creative writing students graduate with the same degree; however, students can concentrate on the genre or genres of their choice. Workshops in poetry, flash fiction, short fiction, the novel, creative non-fiction, playwriting, screenwriting, and young adult literature provide a full-range of opportunities . Some students will take all the required workshops in a chosen genre (poetry, for example), while others will chose a variety. Also, the four electives can be divided among writing electives, additional literature courses, or publishing courses.

Q: What kind of events and opportunities, in addition to the courses, are part of the MFA in creative writing program?

A: The program sponsors monthly readings featuring students, faculty, alumni, and guests. Visiting writers frequently make classroom visits or deliver talks. The program offers a number of graduate assistantships, as well as two teaching assistantships. MFA and publishing students work together to run the Rathalla Review, the program’s literary magazine.

The Philadelphia Stories Push to Publish conference occurs each fall on the Rosemont campus. In the spring, the MFA co-hosts the LitLife Poetry Conference. The Rosemont Writer’s Retreat is an eight day residency that offers students an opportunity to work with visiting writers in an intense workshop environment. Many students begin to send their work out for publication while still in the program, and they receive support and help in that process throughout the program and afterward.

Q: How do I apply for admission?

A: Rosemont College's School of Graduate and Professional Studies welcomes all students, without regard to race, religion, sex, national origin or handicapping conditions. Applicants for the master's degree need to have completed a baccalaureate from an accredited four-year college or university, preferably with a GPA of at least 3.0.

Applicants also provide 3 letters of recommendation, an application fee, official transcripts, and a completed application form . Applicants for the MFA in Creative Writing must also submit a writing sample. Application materials are available from the Office of Graduate Studies or from the College website.

Q: Can I take courses as a non-matriculated student?

A: Students can usually earn up to 6 graduate credits before applying for matriculated status.

Q: I took some graduate courses before coming to Rosemont? Can I transfer any credits?

A: Applicants who have completed previous graduate work may, at the time they apply for admission, make a written request to transfer a maximum of two 3-credit courses. To be acceptable in transfer, course(s) may not have been previously applied toward a graduate degree and they must provide a good "match" for Rosemont program requirements. Courses may not have been undertaken more than 5 years prior to the request for transfer and the student must have earned at least a "B" (3.0). Pass/Fail courses are not eligible for transfer.

Q: How will I know which courses to take each semester?

A: Course selection for the fall, spring, and summer sessions must be made in consultation with a program advisor, either in person or by email. The School of Graduate Studies will subsequently process course registrations. Nine graduate credits are considered a full-time load during the fall and spring; six graduate credits are considered a full-time load during each of our two summer sessions.

Q: Can I apply for financial assistance ?

A: Graduate students enrolled in a degree-granting program of study, who are pursuing at least half-time coursework (two courses in the fall or spring; one course in each summer session), are eligible to apply for tuition assistance in the form of Stafford Loans.

A limited number of competitive Graduate Assistantships are also available. A limited number of Director’s Merit Awards are also available to new students with an undergraduate GPA of 3.5 or higher and outstanding writing samples. A separate application is required for Merit Awards. Rosemont offers several tuition management options, so you can spread your payments out over the course of your program.

Q: How long will it take me to graduate?

A: Because students may elect to undertake graduate study on a full-time or part-time basis, the number of semesters required to complete all program requirements will vary. Students who pursue full-time study can usually complete their master's degree in less than two years; part-time students usually take longer. All students are permitted up to six years from the time they matriculate to complete their program requirements (extensions may be requested in writing). Commencement exercises are scheduled each year in May.

Q: I still have questions-how can I get more information?

A: Contact the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies at [email protected] or 610.527.0200 xt. 2958/ 1.888.2ROSEMONT and ask to speak directly with a graduate admissions counselor, who will be happy to set up an individualized appointment at your convenience. Please feel free to contact the program director, Carla Spataro (xt. 2346) with your questions or concerns. We will do our very best to provide you with the assistance you need!

Back to Hood.edu

A group of students sitting around a table at a writing workshop.

Creative Writing (MFA)

Master's

About this Program

Hood College’s low-residency MFA in creative writing immerses students in the rhythms of the writing life, while providing them with a solid foundation in literary craft, criticism and publishing.

Program Overview

Tuition & Fees Funding Opportunities Download MFA Brochure

Find your rhythm. Find your community. Find your voice.

Ideal for working professionals and lifelong learners who are serious about their work, the MFA in creative writing appeals to students from a variety of personal and professional backgrounds, all of whom share a passion for literature and a desire to write and publish their own novels, stories and poems. Central to our philosophy is the idea of balance—between writing and the demands of everyday life, between periods of solitude and social interaction—as well as the presence of a diverse and cohesive literary community. By the end of the program, students will have produced a book-length manuscript of fiction or poetry and will be beginning to submit and publish their work.

A 48-credit program in fiction or poetry, the low-residency MFA in creative writing involves four remote mentorship semesters and three on-campus summer residencies. Over the course of the two-year program, students will engage in one-on-one consultations with faculty mentors; participate in intensive writing workshops; attend lectures, panels and readings; begin submitting their work for publication; develop and present a craft lecture; complete a book-length creative project; and give a reading from their work. In addition to summer residences on the beautiful Hood College campus in Frederick, Maryland, students also have the option of attending an international summer residency through the Prague Summer Program for Writers , the nation’s oldest study-abroad program for creative writers in the English language.

The low-residency MFA in creative writing at Hood College will begin accepting applicants in fall 2023 for the inaugural summer 2024 residency (June 13-23). For more information, please contact program director Elizabeth Knapp or email the graduate school admission staff .

Degrees Offered

Department offering.

English & Communication Arts

Are you ready to go further?

Prospective Applicants must complete the following for consideration into the program:

Complete the online application.
Official copies of all college transcripts.
A 1,000-word essay in response to a book of fiction or poetry published within the last 10 years. The book you choose to write on must correspond to the genre for which you are applying (e.g., poetry applicants should write an essay in response to a poetry collection).
A 500-word personal statement on what you hope to achieve from the program; your reading life and which authors have been especially important or influential to you as a writer; any challenges or obstacles you have faced in your writing life as a result of your background and how you have responded to those challenges; and your current writing projects.
Fiction should be no more than 25 double-spaced pages of one or several stories, a portion of a novel, or a combination. If submitting a novel excerpt, please attach a brief plot synopsis.
Poetry should be no more than 10 single-spaced pages, with no more than one poem per page.

The course listing for the program is as follows:

Permanent Faculty

Aaron Angello is an assistant professor of English at Hood College, where he directs the theatre program and teaches courses in creative writing, modern and contemporary poetry, film and media, and drama. He is also creative director of the Endangered Species (theatre) Project and founder of the Frederick Shakespeare Festival. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals, and he is the editor of The Synergistic Classroom: Interdisciplinary Teaching in the Small College Setting . His genre-defying book The Fact of Memory: 114 Ruminations and Fabrications was published in 2022 by Rose Metal Press.

Amy Gottfried is a professor of English at Hood College and advises the undergraduate literary magazine, Wisteria. She teaches courses in environmental writing, advanced fiction, and American literature, and has twice earned Hood’s Excellence in Teaching award. Her short fiction has appeared in Passager , Glimmer Train , Adirondack Review , Blunderbuss and Brain, Teen . Awards include Blunderbuss’s 2015 Best Stories and Glimmer Train’s Fiction Open, Family Matters, and Short Short Fiction contests. She is currently working on her third novel and a short story collection.

Elizabeth Knapp is an associate professor of English at Hood College and directs the low-residency MFA in creative writing. She is the author of Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2019), winner of the 2019 Jean Feldman Prize, and The Spite House (C&R Press, 2011), winner of 2010 De Novo Poetry Prize. Her other honors include the 2022 International Poetry Prize from Atlanta Review , the 2018 Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America and an individual artist award from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Guest Writers

Sandra Beasley is the author of four poetry collections: Made to Explode ; Count the Waves ; I Was the Jukebox (winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize, judged by Joy Harjo); and Theories of Falling (winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize, judged by Marie Howe). Honors for her work include a 2015 NEA Literature Fellowship, the Center for Book Arts Chapbook Prize, the John Montague International Poetry Fellowship and six DCCAH Artist Fellowships. She is also the author of the memoir Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life , and the editor of Vinegar and Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance . Beasley is currently the Nora Roberts Writer-in-Residence at Hood College. She lives in Washington, D.C.

celeste doaks is the author of Cornrows and Cornfields and editor of the poetry anthology Not Without Our Laughter . Her award-winning chapbook, American Herstory , contains ekphrastic poems that have been featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Brooklyn Museum. doaks is a 2022 Yaddo fellow and has taught for more than a decade. Her work has appeared in Ms. Magazine , The Millions , Huffington Post , Chicago Quarterly Review , The Rumpus , The Hopkins Review and others.

Robert Eversz is the author of six novels that have been translated into 15 languages. His books have been named to best of year lists at The Washington Post , Oslo Aftenposten , Manchester Guardian , BookPage , L.A. Weekly and January Magazine . A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Robert teaches advanced fiction workshops at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and is a member of the permanent faculty of the Prague Summer Program, which he helped found.

James Allen Hall is the author of two books of poems and a book of lyric essays. Their most recent book is Romantic Comedy , winner of the Levis Prize selected by Diane Seuss and published by Four Way Books. Their previous book of poems is Now You’re the Enemy (U of Arkansas Press, 2008). They are also the author of a book of lyric personal essays, I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well . They’ve won awards from the Lambda Literary Foundation, the Texas Institute of Letters, the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts. They direct the Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington College in Chestertown, MD.

Donna Hemans is the author of three novels, River Woman , Tea by the Sea and The House of Plain Truth (forthcoming in February 2024). Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Slice , Electric Literature , Ms. Magazine , The Rumpus and Crab Orchard Review , among others. She received her undergraduate degree in English and media studies from Fordham University and an MFA from American University. She lives in Maryland and is also the owner of DC Writers Room, a co-working studio for writers based in Washington, D.C.

Steven Leyva ’s poems have appeared in Smartish Pace , Scalawag , Nashville Review , jubilat , The Hopkins Review , Prairie Schooner and Best American Poetry 2020 . He is a Cave Canem fellow and author of the chapbook Low Parish and author of The Understudy’s Handbook , which won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from Washington Writers Publishing House. He holds an MFA from the University of Baltimore, where he is an associate professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design.

Cleyvis Natera is the author of the debut novel Neruda on the Park . Her fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times Book Review , URSA Fiction , Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration , The Brooklyn Rail , TIME , The Rumpus , Gagosian Quarterly , The Washington Post , The Kenyon Review , Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal , among other publications.

Elly Williams is a senior faculty member of the M.A. in writing at Johns Hopkins University. Her essays, interviews and short stories have appeared in local and national journals, including Confessions , Fact or Fiction? , The Missouri Review , Five Points and CEA Forum . Her novel, Crazy Think , was released as a Penguin Classic in the U.K. in 1997 and under the title This Never Happened in 1998 by Random House.

Summer Residencies

The cornerstone of the low-residency MFA in creative writing is the intensive residency experience. For 10 days in June, students in the program attend residencies on the Hood College campus, during which they participate in rigorous writing workshops and attend lectures, panels and readings by permanent and guest faculty and graduating students. Residencies are designed to immerse students in activities and subjects central to the writing life and to foster a sense of community and fellowship with other writers; therefore, students are strongly encouraged to stay on campus in one of our newly renovated dorms for the duration of each residency. Visits to Frederick’s thriving historic Downtown are part of the residency; restaurants, shops, theatre, bars, art galleries, concerts and a wonderful independent bookstore are all a 10-minute walk from campus. Room and board are included in the residency fees.

At the core of the residency is the writing workshop, in which developing writers share their work for critique and provide commentary on the work of other members. Led by an accomplished writer in each genre, workshops meet daily in the mornings, and students are guaranteed an expert and detailed review of their work.

In the afternoons, faculty and graduating students present lectures and panels on a range of topics within literary history, theory and practice, while evenings are devoted to literary readings. At the end of the residency period, students return to their individual writing lives reenergized and recommitted to the practice of writing. They then commence a period of concentrated reading and writing in the semester between residencies under the close guidance of a faculty mentor.

For the second residency, students may elect to attend the Prague Summer Program for Writers , the nation’s oldest study-abroad program for creative writers in the English language. Approximately 2,000 established and aspiring writers have attended the Prague Summer Program since its inception in 1993. Included among the program’s outstanding permanent faculty are two MacArthur Fellows and a National Book Award winner in fiction. Fees for the three-week program are equal to those for a 10-day on-campus residency. Students are responsible for their own airfare and meals, but breakfast is provided with program housing. Two fully-funded teaching assistantships are available for each residency, one in fiction and one in poetry. Assistantships are competitive.

View the June 2024 residency schedule.

Mentorship Semesters

Along with the residency experience, literary mentorship is a hallmark of the low-residency MFA in creative writing. The mentorship semester is designed to help students develop a close working relationship with an experienced teacher and published author who can direct them in all matters of literary craft, criticism and publishing. As immersive experiences, the mentorship semesters also provide students with a solid foundation in literary history, theory and practice, and students are expected to read broadly and deeply both within their genre and across genres.

Under the guidance of a faculty mentor, students produce original creative work while simultaneously developing their own course of study within the areas of literary history, theory, and practice. At the beginning of each semester, students confer with their faculty mentor to create a reading list, along with a submission schedule for critical essays and original work. Over the course of each semester, students submit to their faculty mentor packets of original fiction or poetry and critical essays. The faculty mentor then provides extensive feedback, including suggestions for revision and further reading. Participation in the residencies is required for enrollment in the mentorship semesters.

Advantages of the Low-Residency Model

The low-residency model for an MFA in creative writing offers several advantages compared to traditional full-residency programs, including:

Flexibility. Low-residency programs are designed to accommodate students who may have work, family or other commitments that make it challenging to attend a full-time, on-campus program. With the low-residency model, you have the flexibility to continue working or fulfilling other responsibilities while pursuing your degree.
Geographic Independence. Low-residency programs allow students to participate from anywhere in the world. You are not limited by geographical proximity to a specific institution, which means you can choose a program that aligns with your interests and needs regardless of your location.
Intensive Residency Periods. Low-residency programs typically include short, intensive residencies on campus or at a designated location. During these residencies, you have the opportunity to engage in workshops, panels, readings and networking events with faculty and fellow students. This concentrated period of interaction provides a focused and immersive experience.
Personalized Attention. In low-residency programs, students work closely with faculty mentors or advisers. One-on-one mentorship allows for personalized attention and guidance tailored to your specific writing goals and needs. This individualized approach will help you hone your craft and develop your unique voice.
Diverse Perspectives. Low-residency programs attract students from a variety of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. The cohort of students often includes individuals with diverse perspectives and writing styles. This enriches the learning environment, fosters cross-cultural understanding and encourages creative collaboration.
Cost Savings. Low-residency programs may offer cost savings compared to full-residency programs. Since you are not residing on campus full-time, you can save on expenses such as housing and commuting. This can make pursuing an MFA more financially feasible for some individuals.

With an MFA in creative writing, you can pursue a variety of career paths related to writing, literature and communication, including:

Author. An MFA in creative writing equips you with the skills and knowledge necessary to write and publish your own literary works. Through the mentorship semesters and summer residencies, you will develop your craft and learn about the business of literary publishing.
Editor. MFA graduates work as editors for publishing houses and literary magazines, or as freelance editors. You can help writers polish their manuscripts by providing feedback and copy edits.
Copywriter. Advertising agencies, marketing firms and businesses hire creative writers to develop persuasive and engaging copy for advertisements, websites, product descriptions and other promotional materials.
Content Writer. With the rise of digital media, there is a high demand for skilled content writers. You can create engaging articles, blog posts, social media content and other written material for websites, online publications and businesses.
Literary Agent. As a literary agent, you can represent authors and their literary works. You'll review manuscripts, negotiate publishing contracts and guide writers through the publishing process.
Writing Instructor/Professor. Many MFA graduates find fulfillment in teaching creative writing. You can work as an instructor or professor at universities, colleges, writing workshops or community centers, sharing your knowledge and helping aspiring writers develop their skills.
Freelance Writer. You can work as a freelance writer, taking on a range of writing assignments. This may include magazine articles, blog posts, ghostwriting projects, content creation for businesses or contributing to anthologies and literary journals.
Communications Specialist. Corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies often employ MFA graduates as communications specialists. You can write press releases, speeches, reports and other communication materials.
Writing Coach/Consultant. With your expertise, you can offer your services as a writing coach or consultant. This involves assisting aspiring writers, providing feedback on their work and helping them improve their writing skills.

Many MFA graduates combine multiple roles or pursue a mix of freelance and traditional employment opportunities to build a diverse career in the writing field.

The Elizabeth Peters-Barbara Michaels Scholarship Fund

Established in 1990 by Barbara Mertz, the scholarship is awarded annually to a student from an underrepresented background based on writing ability. Recipients for this scholarship will be identified and nominated by the MFA faculty.

Barbara Mertz, who used the pen name Elizabeth Peters, wrote more than 60 novels. Primarily known for her work in the mystery genre, Mertz won various awards, and her novels have been translated into dozens of languages. Mertz was also a long-time resident of Frederick, Maryland.

The Nora Roberts Scholarship

Established in 2010 by the Nora Roberts Foundation, the scholarship will be awarded annually to a creative write MFA student, with priority given to those with financial need and academic merit.

Nora Roberts, a Maryland native, is the bestselling author of more than 225 novels. She is primarily known for her work in the romance genre and was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.

For more information, please contact Program Director Elizabeth Knapp .

A photo of Hood's Pergola with spring blooms.

Pergola Magazine

MFA students will help develop Hood's brand new online literary magazine, Pergola, launching in spring 2025 and featuring original work!

Program Contact

Elizabeth Knapp, Ph.D.

MFA Program Director

Nick Masucci '17

Assistant Director of Graduate Admission & Data Management

Introducing the New Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing

Hood College is excited to launch the low-residency MFA in creative writing beginning June 2024, a 48-credit program in fiction or poetry that includes four remote mentorship semesters and three 10-day summer residencies.

Sandra Beasley | Nora Roberts Writer-in-Residence

Award-winning author Sandra Beasley to serve as Nora Roberts Writer-in-Residence and guest faculty for new creative writing MFA.

celeste doaks | Guest Writer for MFA Program

Hood’s creative writing MFA program welcomes celeste doaks as guest writer for June 2024 residency.

Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation

Creative Writing

News & Events
The Living Writers Series
About the Concentration
Current Students and Alumni
Student Spotlight
Creative Writing Concentration
Apply to Creative Writing
Frequently Asked Questions
Publications
Applying to MFA Programs
Writing Science Fiction

Home / For Students / Applying to MFA Programs

Want to learn more about applying to MFA programs in Creative Writing? Trying to decide if it's right for you? Check out our FAQ below with advice from faculty members and Creative Writing Ph.D. students to help you decide and learn more.

You can also watch a Zoom recording of our MFA in Creative Writing Information Session.

Click on a Question to Get Started:

What is an MFA?

Should I get one?
Where should I go? How can I decide?
How many programs should I apply to?
What is a low-residency program?

Do I need to be published?

How much does it cost? What kind of resources will I need?

What is a fully-funded program?
What sort of teacher training will be provided?

What do you wish you would’ve known about MFA programs before you applied?

How do I apply? What materials do I need to apply?

When should I start thinking about whether or not to apply for an MFA?
Who should I ask for recommendation letters?
How do I ask for recommendations?

What are other resources I can look into?

Which MFA programs have graduates from our undergraduate creative writing concentration gone to?

"An MFA is a Masters Fine Arts, which you can get in Poetry, Fiction, or Nonfiction Writing (fewer programs are available in Nonfiction). There are also MFAs in visual art. The program is 2-3 years and involves taking seminars in which you study literature as well as participating in a group workshop where you read and comment on your peers’ writing. An MFA can qualify you to teach creative writing or other college-level writing/English courses. More importantly, it is time to read a ton and write a ton. I wouldn’t do an MFA because you are interested in professionalization; I would do an MFA if you have a writing project you are excited to pursue and/or if you are committed to simply developing and growing and improving as a writer."
Return to Question Index

Should I get one? What should I consider in determining whether or not to pursue an MFA?

"You should get an MFA if you have the passion/desire/drive to spend two years focusing on a writing project and workshopping that project with peers and faculty. An MFA alone will not qualify you for teaching at colleges and universities. You would need to have an MFA and at least one published book."

Where should I go? How can I decide?

"Some of the best advice I received when I was applying was to not go anywhere that doesn’t fully fund you. Definitely look at work from the faculty and from students who came out of these programs. I’d also advise that you think about the type of writing environment you want—if you want to be able to work in multiple genres/cross-genre, for example, some programs are more accommodating to that than others."
Go where you won’t go into debt and where you feel like the curriculum, faculty, campus location, and student body reflects your needs and interests as a writer and as a whole Although a valuable experience, an MFA is an investment that has no guarantee of a return--no matter how prestigious or celebrated the program--which is why going into debt for it is hard to justify. Visit the schools and talk to faculty and current students. Are they welcoming? Are they happy? Do they make you feel valued? Do they value similar things as you (professionally and personally)? Can you see yourself among them? Are there students of color in the program? If not, why not?
"Please do not go into debt. This cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often. The best advice is to only go to a program that fully funds you ."

"I think applying only to what pops up when you Google “Top Ten 10 Best Creative Writing MFA programs” is not the kind of research you need to do. Find out the success rate of the graduates at programs you are interested in. Read the books of the teaching faculty. Research deeply before you apply. If you can, go visit and arrange to observe a class. Pay attention to the culture of the place to see if it suits you and ask other students in the program what has worked for them."

"In addition to finding a school that will support you financially, and after narrowing your search according to where you’d like to live (or where you’d refuse to live), you should consider who you might like to study under. If you have favorite authors, find out if they teach, and where, and then investigate those programs. Be strategic."

How many programs should I apply to?

"I applied to 4—I think that was the right number. I got into three of them, and the one I didn't get into wasn't the fanciest one. I worry that applying to too many programs is extremely expensive and time-consuming. Don't apply to any program you wouldn't happily go to, or that will be prohibitively expensive."
"I applied to only two MFA programs, but I think applying to 5-7 FULLY FUNDED programs that might be a good fit for you is a more responsible and practical approach. There's no "right" number. You have to make a lot of assessments about your needs/desires/personal circumstances and try to match those with programs out there with a curriculum that matches your interests and faculty who could support your work. Many programs have fee offset grants if you inquire with the university to diminish application costs."
"My answer to the "right" number of schools question: This question reminds me of the question of how many agents one should query. I think it depends on your temperament. I sent to a small handful (I applied to about five schools over a period of two application periods) of schools & I sent to one agent at a time. I am a turtle & this worked great for me, but it would drive some people crazy! It also depends on what your goals are. When applying to MFA programs, what I wanted was a program that would fund me. Of course, an exciting faculty is a plus but I, for one, refused to apply to programs with exciting faculty that weren't capable of funding my work."

—Jennifer Tseng

What is a low-residency program?

Low-residency MFA programs provide a combination of remote and in-person learning. A typical school year consists of one ten-day intensive/residency on campus per semester, supplemented by ongoing remote classes and mentorships throughout the year (including the option of a summer mentorship). This format is ideal for students who have full-time jobs and/or families and for writers who thrive in small groups and prefer working one-on-one with their mentors. The low-res format allows for maximum flexibility and is best suited to self-starters who are comfortable with working independently.
You can find more information about Low Residency programs here and here.
"Definitely not! Though it happens occasionally that someone starts an MFA having published a book, most people who start MFAs have never published a single poem/or story even in a journal. They’re looking at your potential. And, in fact, some MFAs might not want to accept a writer who already seems “established” (i.e. widely published in top-tier publications and/or a book or two)."
"No, but publishing something demonstrates a certain amount of initiative on your part, while specific venues can signal certain aesthetic and/or political predilections."
"Again, don’t go into debt for an MFA. Find a program that will support you."
"Every MFA program costs a different amount. Some programs provide full-funding, partial funding, or no funding. The best way to find out how much financial aid the program you are interested in provides is to visit the program’s website."
"Keep in mind the cost of living in major metropolitan areas--and certain college towns-- is significantly higher than in other areas. Be active in researching the cost of on-campus housing & go on Craigslist, Zillow, etc., to have a good idea of the current state of the rental market within a 5-10 mile radius of campus."

What is a fully-funded program? (What are some fully-funded programs?)

"'Fully funded' means you will receive both tuition remission (or its equivalent) and a stipend . In other words, you (as a single person) should not have to take on debt to complete the program; the university covers both the cost of attendance (tuition) and pays you an income (stipend), through a combination of fellowships, teaching assistantships, or other work-related opportunities, such as serving on the editorial board of an affiliated literary journal. At more prestigious programs, multi-year fellowships may be awarded in the financial aid offer associated with your acceptance letter (this is an ideal scenario in which you receive an income just to write, with no additional work-related responsibilities), while other fully-funded schools with less money of an endowment ($$) will fund your degree provided you also agree to teach or perform other related-labor; at such schools, short-term, competitive fellowships may also be available upon arrival. Apply for these, which look good on your CV and will give you a break from teaching in order to focus on your creative work. It can happen, however, that some fellowships ultimately provide less money than teaching does, especially after taxes. Again, make sure you have a sense of your budget based on the current cost of living (expect it to rise, especially in urban areas) so that you can confirm the university’s stipend will be enough to support your needs."

What sort of teacher training will be provided at a program in which teaching assistantships make up a large portion of the funding?

"It REALLY varies, and this is a great question to ask current grads in these programs, either before or after you’re accepted, while you’re trying to decide where to go. In my MFA program (Iowa), training and oversight varied greatly depending on what department you were TA-ing/GSI-ing for. For the Literature department proper, we had a week-long orientation/training, and for Creative Writing we had minimal training, but were paired with a TA Coordinator (a second-year grad) who worked one-on-one with us to observe classes and provide feedback."
"When I was an undergrad I ignored the best piece of MFA advice I was ever offered. When I told my writing mentor that I wanted to go to New York to get an MFA, she said I’d be better off moving there for a summer and waiting tables till I shook the desire out of my system and then could apply elsewhere. When I reflect on my NYC MFA experience for too long, I always come back to her wisdom and wonder what would have happened if I had listened to her. Which is to say, NYC is great but is incredibly expensive and isn’t."
"Different programs have significant aesthetic differences. If you write very experimental, politically-charged, multilingual poetry, for example, you are going to feel out of place in any program that does not have a significant proportion of faculty whose work demonstrates similar concerns. DO A LOT OF RESEARCH. Also, know that you can apply to MFAs more than once; it is okay to approach your first round of applications as a practice round. And, if in that round, or a subsequent round, you only get into one program, make sure it’s a program you really want to attend. If you arrive at a program and it truly turns out to be a bad match, know that you can also apply to transfer to other programs. It’s not common, but people do it."
" There is a range of amazing programs that will fully fund you, you can find a good fit that will not put you into massive debt. I also wish I’d known more about the pedagogical & cultural differences between programs, because there is a range, and prestige isn’t always the best indicator of what will be the best fit for you."
"Do not go to a program you have to pay for in full unless this is really not a concern for you/your family. Just remember: you aren’t becoming a lawyer. There’s no promise of income at the end of the MFA tunnel. So that debt is going to be a huge burden for a long time."
"Two-year programs go by in a flash."
"Personal statement and a writing sample of about 25 pages. Some programs require the GRE. Three recommendations."
"You can apply to most programs online. You need a BA or BS degree. The most important component of your application is your manuscript. Most programs ask for 10 pages of poetry; 25 pages of fiction. Personal statement, three letters of recommendation, current CV or resume."
"You will need some kind of personal statement talking about your desire to get an MFA--why in general, why now, what it would mean for you in the future--as well as a writing sample (for poetry, this is usually anywhere from 10-15 pages). Some programs may also ask for a teaching statement and/or a diversity statement. You will also need 2-3 letters of recommendation."
"You will also need money to pay application fees, sometimes between $70-120 per school. Sometimes, fee waivers are available. Make sure to ask."

When should I start thinking about whether or not to apply for an MFA? What is the typical timeline for applying, hearing back from programs, etc?

"I strongly suggest you do not apply while still an undergraduate at UCSC. Creative Writing students at UCSC spend the spring of their senior year focusing on revising a manuscript. That will be the strongest work you do while at UCSC. If you apply in the fall of your senior year, it will not be with your strongest work. It’s hard to get into an MFA program. MFA programs prefer to take people who have been out of school for a while, have proved they will continue to write outside of school on their own, and perhaps even have a publication or two or have done some work in the writing/literary community."
"In terms of applying and hearing back, it’s just like college. Applications are due in the Fall, you hear in the spring. Recently, the past few years, we’ve had more and more students applying in the Fall of their Senior year and I think that timing doesn’t allow for maximum realized potential on your final year at UCSC. Our program is designed to have you focus hard in your last year producing a manuscript you have revised, are proud of and may even send out for publication. I recommend taking a break and giving yourself a few years to do life after college. And graduate programs like applications from well-rounded people who have done something other than school. Another benefit of waiting is when you’re not in school and are out in the world, you’ll have more to write about. Consider internships at Literary publications, or even applying to artist colonies to have focused writing time which will also look good on your resume if you do ultimately apply . . . You can also join organizations for writers, like AWP, attend conferences and talk to people, which will help you know if an MFA is really the path for you."
"I agree completely. Taking some time off between your undergraduate career and graduate school is usually a good idea. But if you think you want to go into an MFA program sooner than later after graduation, you should consider your senior thesis a springboard to the manuscript that will get you into a graduate program. If you graduate in June, your grad school applications will be due in a little more than five months. You can use that time to polish your manuscript, your CV, and your statement of purpose."
Return to Question Index

Who should I ask for recommendation letters?

"Ask previous, recent creative writing, English, and literature instructors who are very familiar with your writing, creative and critical. Ask the instructors of multiple courses for which you received high marks. Do not ask your piano instructor, even if you’re a Music major and no matter how close you are, if they have never read your writing."

How do I ask for recommendations? How far in advance should I ask?

"I always ask for a copy of a student’s manuscript, statement of purpose, CV, and a list of the classes they’ve taken from me. Offering this material when you ask for a recommendation is always appreciated. You want to make your recommenders’ jobs as easy as you can."

"You should ask AT LEAST two months in advance. Make sure to remind the faculty member what classes you took with them, why you’re applying, what you’ve been up to since graduation, and ask them what you can do to make it easier for them. You should sign up for Interfolio so that the faculty member has to do fewer letters. It’s good to politely remind faculty as the deadlines get near."

Poets and Writers MFA Program Finder
University of Arizona Guide to Applying to MFA Programs
Hebah Uddin’s article “Prepping for MFA Programs as a Person of Color”
Gionni Ponce’s article “Seeking POC: How to Choose MFA Programs”
Sonya Larson’s article “Degrees of Diversity: Talking Race and the MFA”
Snigdha Roy’s article "How to Find a Writing MFA Program for POCs"

Here’s a list of universities with MFA programs in poetry, fiction, and/or creative nonfiction that graduates from our creative writing concentration have gone to:

Columbia University
Otis Art Institute
University of Alaska
New York University
San Francisco State University
Long Island University Brooklyn
Saint Mary’s College
The New School
University of Virginia
Mills College
Sarah Lawrence University
University of Glasgow
Oregon State University
California College of the Arts
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of North Carolina, Willmington
California Institute of the Arts
Colorado State University, Boulder
University of New Hampshire
San Jose State University
West Virginia University
Fresno State University
Sierra Nevada College
California State University Northridge
Chapman University
University of San Francisco
University of Nevada, Reno
University of New Mexico
Portland State University
Apply to the Creative Writing Concentration
Report an accessibility barrier
Land Acknowledgment
Accreditation

Last modified: February 17, 2021 128.114.113.87

Procedural Guide for MFA in Creative Writing Students

Mfa program overview.

The Creative Writing Program offers the MFA degree, with a concentration in either poetry or fiction. MFA students pursue intensive study with distinguished faculty committed to creative and intellectual achievement.

Each year the department enrolls only eight MFA students, four in each concentration. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package that fully funds every student. We also offer a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical and cultural fields. Every student chooses a special committee of two faculty members who work closely alongside the student to design a course of study within the broad framework established by the department.

Students participate in a graduate writing workshop each semester and take six additional one-semester courses for credit, at least four of them in English or American literature, comparative literature, literature in the modern or Classical languages or cultural studies (two per semester during the first year and one per semester during the second year). First-year students receive practical training as editorial assistants for Epoch, a periodical of prose and poetry published by the creative writing program. Second-year students participate as teaching assistants for the university-wide first-year writing program. The most significant requirement of the MFA degree is the completion of a book-length manuscript: a collection of poems or short stories, or a novel, to be closely edited and refined with the assistance of the student’s special committee.

Requirements

Requirements for the receipt of the MFA in Creative Writing are:

Satisfactory completion of 4 required graduate workshops and 4 required graduate-level courses (plus, Literary Small Publishing, WRIT 7100, Creative Writing Pedagogical & Thesis Development, Teaching Internship, and Advanced Pedagogy Workshops) prior to M Exam;
Satisfactory completion of one year as an Editorial Assistant in Epoch and one year as teaching as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Literatures in English;
Satisfactory completion of the 2nd year Student Progress Review;
Satisfactory completion of the Master’s Exam at the end of the fourth term;
A minimum of four registered semesters (full-time study);
Submission of approved Final Thesis to the Graduate School for an August conferral in the second summer;
Completion of all degree requirements in no more than 4 registered semesters (2 years) from the time of admission.

The Special Commitee

Graduate study at Cornell requires each student to work out a program of study in consultation with a special committee, selected by the student, from the membership of Cornell Graduate Faculty. This procedure, commonly referred to as “the committee system,” takes the place of uniform course requirements and uniform departmental examinations. The university system of special committees allows students to design their own courses of study within a broad framework established by the department, and it encourages a close working relationship between professors and students, promoting freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of the graduate degree. The special committee guides and supervises all academic work and assesses progress at a series of meetings with the student. Such a system places specixal demands on the energy and adaptability of both faculty and students, and it requires a high degree of initiative and responsibility from each student.

The MFA special committee is comprised of at least two members of the Cornell Graduate Creative Writing Faculty: 1 chairperson and 1 minor members. The committee chair and at least one minor member must be a general member of the Cornell Graduate Field Faculty in English Language and Literature and a member of the Creative Writing Faculty.

The Director of Creative Writing (DCW) serves as the student’s main academic advisor and provisional chair during the first semester of residence. A student must select their committee chairperson by December of the first year. One minor committee member must be added by May of the first year. Per Graduate School requirements, the full special committee must be in place no later than the end of the third semester of study. Since the Special Committee is charged with guiding and supervising all of a candidate’s academic work, it is important to establish this committee as soon as possible.

A student may change the membership of the special committee with the approval of all the members of the committee and notice of such change must be filed with the Graduate School. No change may be made during the three months prior to the Master’s Examination except by approval of the Dean.

The Cornell Department of Literatures in English strives to be an inclusive and welcoming environment for a diverse community of students, staff, and faculty. It is our collective role to preserve that inclusivity. All of our departmental spaces are professional, and the values of respect, equity, and nondiscrimination should inform our conduct in those spaces. We should all treat each other as having equally valuable contributions to make. If, as a student, you experience any unwelcome behaviors, please tell someone—a departmental administrator, departmental staff member, or graduate school administrator or staff member. We take instances of disrespectful, demeaning, and harassing behavior very seriously.

In addition, faculty/student and advisor/advisee relationships, as you know, come in all shapes and sizes. Some are informal and egalitarian, while others are formal and hierarchical. Some are strictly intellectual, while others become quite personal. There are many different mentoring styles, and what works for one advising pair may not be productive for another. However, while we acknowledge and even honor the various textures and flavors of academic mentorship, the Department of Literatures in English does not condone the abuse of graduate students in any form. You are entitled to professional treatment that respects your autonomy and integrity as students, teachers, and intellectuals. If you have any concerns about your interactions with a faculty advisor, particularly if there is something that is preventing you from full and equal access to your graduate education, you are urged to share those concerns with the Director of Graduate Studies, Department Chair, Graduate Coordinator, Director of Administration, and/or the Senior Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Life in the Graduate School.

A student’s special committee is charged with the following formal responsibilities, guiding a student to meet the requirements and expectations of the MFA degree:

Advising students in course enrollment each semester
Meeting with students at least once each semester
Committee Chair’s must complete the Student Progress Review in the fourth semester for each student they advise
Advising students in thesis development
Conducting the Master’s Examination
Approving the final thesis submission
Writing informed letters of recommendation for job applications

The Graduate School specifies the student/faculty advising relationship in more detail. Please review these guides for details and additional resources: Advising Guide for Research Students and Graduate School Faculty Guide to Advising Research Degree Students .

Courses and Grades

Course requirements.

In consultation with their special committee, MFA students are expected to successfully complete 4 graduate-level courses (at least 4 in English, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies or Modern or classical language, or theory), 4 MFA writing workshops, Literary Small Publishing, and the Creative Writing Pedagogical & Thesis Development course (workshops, Literary Small Publishing, & CW Pedagogical Thesis Development must be taken for letter grade). Additionally, the Teaching Training (required in the first summer), Writing 7100, and non-credit Advanced Pedagogy Workshops (which are organized by the Director of Graduate Student Teaching and are required in year two).

In the first semester of study, an MFA candidate is expected to complete one graduate-level courses, Literary Small Publishing, and the MFA writing workshop of their genre for credit. In the second semester of study, an MFA candidate is expected to complete two graduate-level courses and the MFA writing workshop of their genre for credit. In the third semester of study, while teaching, students are expected to complete a total of one additional graduate-level course, the MFA writing workshop. In the fourth semester of study, students are expected to take the MFA writing workshop and the Creative Writing Pedagogical and Thesis Development Course. Please reference the MFA Program Timeline , for complete details on degree program requirements.

All students must be enrolled for a minimum of 12 credits per semester. If credits fall short with required coursework in any given semester, the Graduate School will enroll students in the Graduate Student Research “course” for the remaining credits so full-time status is achieved.

Course Selection

Graduate students may enroll in and receive graduate credit for courses designated as level 5000 and up, depending on their relevance to the students’ needs and special interests. Courses at the 6000-level, designed primarily for graduate students, aim to provide advanced coverage of significant periods, figures, genres, and theoretical issues; 7000-level courses are intensive seminars intended to serve as paradigms of scholarly research or specialized study. ENGL 7940: Directed Study, and ENGL 7950: Group Study, give students the opportunity to enroll for more informal work in areas and on problems of special interest to them. Students are permitted to take one independent/directed/group study to count towards degree requirements. Independent/ directed/group study work should not be thesis work. If enrolled in independent/directed/group study this must be approved by the special committee and a course syllabus must be sent to the GRA. Prior to each semester, the department issues a revised semester-list of course offerings and descriptions .

Undergraduate (3000/4000 level) courses do not fulfill MFA degree requirements. If there are no graduate-level courses available in the desired focus area and there are undergraduate course offerings, students must consult with their special committee. The student may be allowed (with special committee and instructor permission) to enroll in a graduate-level group study and complete graduate-level work for credit. If permitted, the student should work with the home department to properly enroll and work with the faculty member to develop a revised syllabus. The graduate-level syllabus must include a separate section identifying additional graduate-level reading, assignments, and meetings with the faculty to transform the course into an adequate graduate-level designation. This is true for Directed Studies, Group Studies, as well as undergraduate courses with a supplemental 5000+ number. The new graduate-level syllabus should be provided to the Graduate Coordinator to keep on record.

In addition to required coursework and with faculty permission, students may take undergraduate-level courses or audit (non-graded) graduate-level courses. Neither of these course options count toward MFA course requirements, even though these courses will appear on transcripts. As a rule, graduate credit is also not awarded for courses devoted principally to the acquisition of a foreign language, unless that course is offered in the Department of Literatures in English at the 6000-level or above.

Most graduate courses may be taken either for a letter grade or S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory). MFA in Creative Writing Students are required to take 4 MFA Seminars, Literary Small Publishing, and CW Pedagogical & Thesis Development for a letter grade. With the consent of instructor(s) (and in consultation with the committee, the student may change their grading options at any time before the established University deadline. After this date, changes can only be made by special petition to the Graduate School and are discouraged/only considered in cases of extenuating circumstances. An instructor may permit a student to audit a course, but audited courses don’t count toward program requirements. Grades given to graduate students in the department will be interpreted as follows:

A+, A Distinguished A- Commendable B+ Satisfactory B, B- Borderline C+, C, and below Unsatisfactory

If a student is unable to complete all the work for a course before the end of the semester in which it is offered, they may request a grade of Incomplete (INC) from the instructor. Graduate School policy mandates that all incompletes be made up within one year of the end of the semester during which the course was taken, otherwise it will become a permanent part of the transcript and the course will need to be re-taken in order for it to count.

A student must satisfactorily complete coursework in a timely manner in order to remain in good academic standing (defined below), and thus to be eligible for continued funding.

Year 1 Fall : MFA seminar, Literary Small Publishing, 1 additional graduate level courses
Year 1 Spring : MFA seminar, 2 additional graduate level courses
Year 1 Summer : Teaching Writing 7100
Year 2 Fall : MFA seminar, 1 additional graduate level course, Advanced Pedagogy Sessions (no credit)
Year 2 Fall : MFA Seminar, Creative Writing Pedagogical & Thesis Development
Year 2 Summer : Summer Grad Level Research
All courses with grades of INC/NGR (if needed to fulfill coursework requirements) must be satisfied before the M exam can be scheduled.

If a student fails to meet any of these requirements, the student will not be in good academic standing, and will be ineligible for Department and Graduate School funding the following year including lectureship years. Some deadlines may be slightly extended in the event of extenuating circumstances (such as student illness or family emergency).

Exams and Milestones

MFA students are encouraged to review the MFA Timeline , for additional details on MFA exams and milestones.

Scheduling the Master’s Examination

MFA students are expected to file their Master’s Examination Scheduling Form no later than May 1 of the second year and at least 7 days prior to the exam date.

Master’s Examination

The Master’s Examination or Thesis Defense must take place no later August 1 of the second year. This date is subject to change based on appointment periods. Upon completion of the M exam, students must submit their M Exam Results Form within 3 days of the exam.

Filing the Final Thesis Document

When approved by the special committee, the thesis must be formatted in accordance with Graduate School specifications. Full details concerning dissertation form and deadlines may be found in the Thesis and Dissertation section of the Graduate School’s website. The degree requirements are not complete until the thesis has been filed with the Graduate School and approved by the student’s committee.

Evaluation of Student Progress

Graduate Admissions and Review Committee (GARC) : GARC consists of five or more members of the Graduate Field Faculty in English Language and Literature, including the Director of Graduate Studies. Every fall, MFA students are provided with a status report from GARC detailing their progress in the program and suggestions for returning to good academic standing, if there are any concerns.

Student Progress Review (SPR) : Students are required to complete the Student Progress Review (SPR) process in April of the second year. The SPR process supports regular communication including written feedback between a student and their committee, requiring research degree students and their special committee to have at least one formal conversation about academic progress, accomplishments and future plans. Students complete a form describing milestones completed, accomplishments, and challenges, as well as set goals. The special committee chair responds in writing and indicates whether the student’s progress is excellent, satisfactory, needs improvement, or is unsatisfactory. Feedback that is documented on the SPR will be made available to the student, the student’s special committee chair, and the DGS/GFA of the student’s field.

Upon admission, each MFA student is awarded a two-year financial support package (including a stipend , a full tuition fellowship , and student health insurance ), which is guaranteed provided the student remains in good academic standing and performs satisfactorily in any assistantship capacity. Support is as follows:

Year One : Graduate Assistantship as Editorial Assistant in Epoch
Summer Year One : Stipend for participation in the required Knight Institute teacher-training program. Residence in Ithaca is required.
Year Two : Teaching Assistantships
Summer Year Two : Picket Summer Fellowship

Additional Funding Opportunities

The Graduate School is pleased to provide MFA students the opportunity to travel to enhance their scholarship. Eligible students are encouraged to apply for grant funding related to professional conferences, research travel, or summer foreign language education. Research and Travel Grants are also available through the Einaudi Center for International Research .

Employment Limit Policy

Because earning a graduate degree involves a significant time commitment, Cornell limits the amount of employment a student may hold while in a full-time registered status (during fall, spring, and summer). Students are considered full-time if they are registered, enrolled in courses, or are working on their thesis or dissertation. Additional information can be found here . University-imposed employment limits:

20 hours per week: The total employment limit for all full-time students. This includes the combined assistantship, hourly student appointments, and/or outside employment per week. This is also the maximum employment allowed by law for most international students on F1 or J1 visas.
5 hours per week: The limit for students with standard teaching assistantships (defined as 15 hours/week): no more than five hours of additional assistantships, readerships, hourly student appointments, and/or outside employment.

Teaching Assistantships, Readerships, and Lectureships

Teaching is considered an integral part of training for the profession. The Field requires a carefully supervised teaching assistantship (TA) experience (in the capacity of a graduate student instructor or graduate teaching assistant).

In addition to TA opportunities, supplementary readership opportunities may be available. Readers assist faculty members with grading papers and/or leading discussion sections for undergraduate lecture courses. These are part-time paid commitments and are not available as a primary means of graduate student support.

MFA students in their final year may consider applying for Lectureship. This is a paid teaching position that requires the student to complete their M exam and terminate their registered student status prior to the appointment date. Lecturers may not hold any student fellowships or any student employment positions simultaneously with the lectureship appointment. In all lectureship cases, the thesis must be filed by the end of the first term of lectureship or before.

Please consult the Teaching Handbook for Graduate Student Instructors, Lecturers, Teaching Assistants, and Readers in the Department of Literatures in English at Cornell University for complete details on applying for teaching, readership, or lectureship.

Registration and Degree Requirements

In addition to coursework, milestone, and teaching requirements outlined in the department’s MFA Program Timeline , degree candidates must satisfy all requirements specified by the Graduate School’s Code of Legislation . Relief from these requirements must be sought by petitioning the Graduate School. Petition requests require endorsement from special committee members and the DGS. Here are a few highlights to be aware of

A student must complete a minimum of 4 semesters of registration at Cornell (full-time study) in order to fulfill MFA degree requirements.
A student must complete their M Exam by the end of the second year, since lectureship appointment hinges on successful M Exam completion and final thesis submission.
Candidates must complete all degree requirements and submit the final thesis within two years (4 registered semesters) of entering the MFA program.

Graduate Student Committees and Organizations

Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GPSA) : brings together Cornell’s community of graduate and professional students to address non-academic issues of common concern. Drawing upon the strengths of its diverse community, the GPSA is responsible for setting and distributing the graduate student activity fee and representatives to University committees. The GPSA is composed of delegates from each graduate field and the professional schools and nineteen voting members, elected from the larger body of field representatives.

Graduate Policy and Curriculum Committee (GPCC) : consists of four elected representatives (3 PhD students and 1 MFA student) who represent the interests of the student body regarding graduate policy and graduate curriculum in the Department of Literatures in English. Representatives are expected to meet at least twice per semester with the Director of Graduate Studies. This committee provides a formal mechanism for the exchange of ideas between faculty and students. The Committee’s principal responsibility is to transmit to the Literatures in English Graduate Faculty its advice on matters of policy affecting the graduate programs within the Field in order to improve the graduate student experience.

English Graduate Student Organization (EGSO) : fosters PhD and MFA student life and culture by striving to create community, to plan and implement programming for academic and professional development, and to establish unity and cohesion among the English Department’s graduate student body. Elections are held each spring. EGSO also offers a graduate mentoring program to foster connections between incoming and current graduate students. This helps first years navigate student and social life in department, the graduate school, and the larger Ithaca community. Mentors and mentees connect prior to orientation day and meet formally and informally over the course of their first year. The program organizes lunches and other social events to welcome new students to Cornell and cultivate relationships within the department.

Reading Groups and Extracurricular Activities : The concept of “residence” comprehends more than attending seminars and writing papers. An important part of one’s education comes from informal contacts and extracurricular discussions. Every year there are several social gatherings, formal and informal, sponsored by the department. The department also encourages attendance at public lectures, readings, and conferences, and participation in reading groups and independent study groups with or without a faculty advisor. Graduate students can organize lectures, conferences, readings, workshops and other events on their own. Funds for this purpose are typically available from a variety of sources.

Informal reading groups--some established gatherings and others that form from year to year--focus on such topics as Queer Theory, U.S. Latino Literature, Marxist criticism, and Victorian Literature. Conferences largely organized by graduate students also provide a chance for graduate work to reach a wide audience of the Cornell community. Organizations such as the Renaissance Colloquium, The Lounge Hour Reading Series, Literatures in English Department Roundtable, Quodlibet (a forum for work in Medieval Studies), and the Visiting Writers Series organized by the Creative Writing program bring scholars and writers to Cornell for readings, talks, and seminars.

Departmental Resources

Administrative Faculty/Staff Contact Information : https://english.cornell.edu/contacts

Faculty/TA Office Hours : https://english.cornell.edu/office-hours

Graduate Students have access to the Resources for Graduate Students and Lecturers Canvas resources area (log in using you NetID and password).

Graduate School Resources

The Office of Academic and Student Affairs works with graduate faculty and graduate students on academic policy and programs, academic integrity and misconduct, responsible conduct of research, petitions requesting exceptions to graduate school policy as outlines in the Graduate Faculty’s Code of Legislation, and academic progress and students status.

The Office of Inclusion and Student Engagement (OISE) supports an inclusive and welcoming

environment for all graduate and postdoctoral scholars, but especially for those from marginalized communities and/or backgrounds historically excluded from and underrepresented in the academy. OISE supports systemic change and promotes a climate of diversity, belonging, equity, engagement, and achievement, which are integral components of graduate and postdoctoral education. OISE supports scholar success through recruitment, diversity fellowships, mentoring, professional, leadership, and community development programming, and ongoing support.

Recognizing that health and academic performance are intimately linked, the Office of Graduate Student Life is a source of information, support, and advocacy that creates a more student-centered graduate student life experience. In addition to being a first-point of contact for students who are struggling or experiencing any form of distress, the Office of Graduate Student Life serves as a coordinating hub with campus-partners that focus on promoting a healthy and holistic student experience. More information on available support is available: https://gradschool.cornell.edu/student-experience/help-and-support/

Faculty Resources from the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity : https://facultydevelopment.cornell.edu/faculty-resources/

Faculty Resources from Graduate School : https://gradschool.cornell.edu/diversity-inclusion/faculty-resources/

General inquiries about registration, enrollment, leaves, exams or other student requirements can be directed to the Student Service Office ( [email protected] ).

Contact Information for Graduate School staff can be found here : Graduate School Staff Directory

University Resources

The university’s Mental Health at Cornell website offers information and resources to help students get support, practice self-care, help others, and get involved in campus health initiatives. Special tips are provided for graduate and professional students.

Cornell Health supports the health and well-being of graduate students with medical and mental health care and workshops to help busy students thrive. They also offer non-clinical support services, including Student Disability Services and Victim Advocacy .

Mental health care at Cornell Health includes drop-in consultation, workshops, individual counseling, and group counseling (including several groups specifically for graduate students).

“ Notice & Respond: Friend 2 Friend for Graduate & Professional Students ,” helps graduate and professional students learn connect peers in distress with appropriate sources of support and care.

Guidance for faculty, staff, and TAs supporting student mental health:

https://scl.cornell.edu/supportingmentalhealth

Make a Gift
Directories

Search form

You are here.

Programs & Courses
Creative Writing
MFA Overview

Prospective MFA Frequently Asked Questions

How many students are in the MFA program?

The total number ranges from 20-25 students each year.

How large are the workshops?

The limit is 15 students, but workshops are usually smaller.

How many applications do you typically receive each year?

We receive over 250 applications and generally admit less than 5%.

Do you have a program in creative non-fiction?

The UW MFA program offers no track in literary nonfiction per se, but applicants may submit nonfiction as all or part of their prose writing sample, and once enrolled in the program, students are encouraged to explore the form. Works of creative nonfiction may be submitted in the graduate fiction workshops and prose students may include nonfiction in their final creative manuscript. Interested students should apply in the prose category.

Is a certain type of writing emphasized or favored in the University of Washington’s Creative Writing Program?

We do not have programs in any sort of genre writing. Within the category of literary fiction and poetry, our faculty write and teach in a wide variety of styles.

Can I apply in both prose and poetry?

When applying to the program, applicants must choose between either prose or poetry. Separate faculty committees review each genre, and should you be accepted, it will be in one genre only. Students may take workshops in the other genre, but their thesis must be in the genre in which they were accepted.

What is the admissions procedure? On what do you base acceptance?

The faculty members read the writing sample first (but only if the file is complete). If there is interest in the sample, the faculty will then review an applicant’s entire file. At that point, they are especially interested in statements of purpose and letters of recommendation.

What can I do to increase my chances of being accepted into the MFA program?

Submit your very best writing. Get letters of recommendation from people familiar with your creative writing and with you as a student. Make sure your application and all supporting material arrive by the deadline.

Can I get advice from a faculty member or staff member regarding my application materials?

Unfortunately, due to the large number of applications we receive each year (and our focus on our current students), we are unable to offer advice for or critique of in-process applications.

Will I improve my chances for acceptance if I visit your campus?

No. Some applicants do choose to visit the UW campus to help them decide if they want to apply to the MFA program. As a rule, the Director of Creative Writing meets with applicants only after they have been accepted. The best time to visit is after we’ve accepted you. Then you can meet students, as well as get a sense of the faculty and the place so you can make an informed decision about coming here.

Is there any advantage to sending in an application long before the deadline?

No. The faculty members begin reading applications after the January 2nd deadline.

I am a non-native English speaker. Do I need to submit official test (TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo) scores?

If submitting test scores, official TOEFL, IELTS and/or Duolingo test scores are required. Information on how to send test scores can be found on the UW Graduate School’s website here: https://grad.uw.edu/admission/understanding-the-application-process/admissions-faqs/#Tests .

I am a non-native English speaker and meet the minimum admissions requirements. Why do I need to also submit TOEFL or IELTS scores?

The UW Graduate School has two policies in connection to this: Policy 3.2 and Policy 5.2.

Policy 3.2: Graduate School English Language Proficiency Requirements lists the minimum English language proficiency requirements for graduate study at UW.
Policy 5.2: Conditions of Appointment for TAs who are not Native Speakers of English lists the additional English language proficiency requirements for students who wish to be employed as a TA.

Because we admit students to the MA/PhD program with funding in the form of an Academic Student Employee (ASE) teaching position, non-native English speakers must also meet the requirements listed in the UW Graduate School’s Policy 5.2 in order to be eligible to teach.

There are a variety of ways to show English language proficiency in Policy 5.2. Typically, the best way to demonstrate proof of English proficiency is to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores.

Can I submit Duolingo scores to meet UW Graduate School Policy 5.2?

No, Duolingo scores do not meet the requirements listed in Policy 5.2. If submitting Duolingo scores, you must also meet the requirements listed in the UW Graduate School’s Policy 5.2: Conditions of Appointment for TAs who are not Native Speakers of English to be considered for an ASE position.

How do I know if my official test scores have been added to my application?

You can confirm transmission of electronic test scores by logging into your application , and checking your Application Status Page > Tests section (successfully sent scores will show a date under “Date Received” column).

Do my letters of recommendation have to be from college professors?

The most useful letters of recommendation come from teachers familiar with your creative writing and with you as a student. Letters from other college professors, who may be familiar with your habits as a student and with your academic writing for example, can also be helpful. Letters from employers, unless the work was directly related to writing, are less helpful to us.

Can I submit four letters of recommendation?

While the requirement is only three letters of recommendation, you do have the ability to submit four names of recommenders in the application portal.

Can my recommendation letters arrive after January 2nd application deadline?

While letters should arrive by January 2nd, we will still consider letters which arrive within 48 hours of this deadline. Please note that it is the applicant’s responsibility to communicate with their recommenders well in advance of the deadline, so as to ensure that letters can be uploaded on time.

My writer is having an issue with the recommendation link. What should I do?

If your writers are having issues uploading their letter, they are welcome to email it directly to [email protected] . Note: we are unable to upload recommendation letters until your application has been submitted.

Are there specific guidelines for formatting the resume?

We don't have any specific requirements for the formatting of the resume. In formatting a resume, the main concern is that your most important qualifications and experience should stand out on a quick perusal.

Even though they are no longer required, should I still submit my GRE scores?

If you have already taken the GRE and wish to submit scores you may do so. However, it will not disadvantage you in any way if you do not submit GRE scores.

Can I apply after the January 2nd deadline? Do you offer extensions?

The application is due at 11:59pm on January 2 nd (if January 2 nd falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the application is due the following Monday). We typically do not offer extensions.

Can the application fee be waived?

The UW Graduate School offers fee waivers to applicants who qualify for financial need; for more information, see the Graduate School's website: https://grad.uw.edu/admission/application-fee-waivers/ .

Can I apply to the MFA and MA/PhD programs simultaneously?

You need to apply to each program separately, which means two separate applications and two fees.

What kinds of funding are available?

We offer a funding package to all admitted MFA students. The funding package includes a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a monthly stipend for two academic years, contingent on satisfactory academic progress and performance of duties. Funding includes a combination of teaching and fellowship quarters. During the teaching quarters, students will be responsible for teaching one class each quarter. Most classes will be in the composition program; there are are a limited number of opportunities to teach an introductory creative writing class in their genre. During the fellowship quarters, the monthly stipend amount may be lower.

What does the Teaching Assistantship involve?

During the first year, you will teach one section of freshman composition each quarter. While you are responsible for your own class, you will get lots of training and help from the Director of the Expository Writing Program. In the second year, TAs may be able to teach the introductory class in their genre, under the supervision of the Director of Creative Writing. In return, you will receive a tuition waiver, student health, dental and vision insurance, and a monthly stipend during the academic year.

Is there a foreign language requirement?

Can i transfer credits from another graduate school.

Once an applicant has been admitted, a limited number of credits may be transferred to apply toward the literature requirements of the degree. This evaluation is done on a case-by-case basis.

When will letters of acceptance be sent?

We typically send out letters of acceptance in mid-March.

What is a profile of the successful applicant?

Most successful applicants to our program have a GPA of 3.7, majored in English, completed at least two writing workshops in their genre at the advanced level, and have completed an undergraduate degree within the last 2-10 years.

Instagram
Newsletter

Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing

Master of fine arts in creative writing and poetics (low-residency).

Our low-residency MFA provides the structure, support, and professional development you need to take your writing to the next level .

Program Overview

Naropa’s Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing is designed for writers ready to hone their craft and earn their Master of Fine Arts degree through rigorous, cross-genre study. Students who can’t relocate to our Colorado Campus can acquire a quality asynchronous education with in-person residencies.

Whether you have a novel in progress, are preparing for a PhD program, or looking to strengthen your prose, poetry, and hybrid writing, our low-residency creative writing MFA program provides you with resources, accountability, and inspiration that fit your schedules.

Naropa takes traditional low-residency MFA programs a step further with our history of experimental and innovative writing, critical study, and cross-genre publishing. Our unique cross-genre online writing courses, generative residencies, and one-on-one mentorship provide students with a writing community, no matter where they live.

Cross-Genre Curriculum

Unlike other Creative Writing MFA programs, our low-residency MFA is open-genre. This means that writers can work in fiction, poetry, prose, non-fiction, playwriting, and hybrid forms throughout their degree program. Students experiment with narrative structures and forms that fit their unique voices. Writers develop their unique style, critical ear, and vast knowledge of contemporary trends across literary genres.

One-on-One Mentorship

One-on-one mentorship and small online writing classes help writers develop their style, refine their editing skills, and publish their work. Each writer dedicates their final semester to a thesis manuscript. Working one-on-one with their thesis mentor and workshopping with classmates through written exchange, students finish their MFA with a completed manuscript in the genre of their choice.

Generative Residencies

Every semester, our Low-Residency MFA students gather in Boulder, Colorado, for enriching and energizing residencies. MFA students meet one-on-one with mentors, enjoy master classes with guest writers, attend readings, and bond with writers. Residencies also overlap with our spring and fall symposiums, providing students with a rich 4-days of community and inspiration. Each academic year culminates in a week-long writing intensive at Naropa’s Summer Writing Program. This annual festival brings over 60 artists, writers, and thinkers to Boulder, for workshops, readings, panels, and professional development.

Quick Facts

Fifteen annual days of residency in Boulder, CO
Open-genre curriculum
One-on-one mentorship with accomplished faculty
Unique Experimental Approach
Participation in the Summer Writing Program
Cohort model developing a strong sense of community among MFA students
Several Scholarship and Financial Aid Opportunities
Applications open for August 2024

Program Format

Naropa’s Creative Writing MFA is a rigorous, generative, low-residency two-year program with 4 writing residencies in beautiful Boulder Colorado. The program combines asynchronous craft courses with on-campus residencies.

Annual fall and spring residencies allow writers to connect with other writers and faculty , deepen their craft, and participate in symposium readings and panels with other MFA students in Boulder, CO. Spring and Fall Residencies run from Saturday through Tuesday during the Spring and Fall JKS Symposiums.

The summer residency immerses writers in a full week of the Jack Kerouac School’s world-renowned Summer Writing Program . Here, students attend workshops, lectures, panels, and readings by numerous visiting writers to hone their craft, make connections, speak on student panels, and prepare for the next step in their writing career.

Course Spotlight

Craft of writing: rooting in the archive.

This course delves into the Naropa University Archive and its rich offerings to explore traditions, movements, and/or schools of writing that inform or extend the aesthetic vision of the Jack Kerouac School toward mindful writing. Possible recent historical examples include New American Poetry, the Beats, San Francisco Renaissance, the New York School, Black Mountain Poetics, the Black Arts Movement, and Language poetry, among others.

Degree Requirements

Unlike many online creative writing MFA programs, our asynchronous classes build community through writer-to-writer feedback and a structured curriculum.

Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing Requirements

26 credits of online asynchronous craft courses.

Students work one-on-one with a mentor, exchanging packets —consisting of letters, bibliographies, contemplative reflections, creative manuscripts, and critical essays—throughout the semester.

WRI-631E Craft of Writing: Rooting in the Archive(6)WRI-648E Craft of Writing: Contemplative Experiments(6)
WRI-678E Craft of Writing: Cultures & Communities(4)
WRI-735E Craft of Writing: Contemporary Trends(6)
WRI-755E Craft of Writing: Professional Development(4)

6 credits of MFA Thesis

6 credits of MFA Thesis (faculty mentorship on a book-length creative manuscript)

4 credits of the Summer Writing Program

Two eight-day summer residencies are completed at Naropa’s Boulder campus. Choose two of the following:

WRI-751 Summer Writing Program(2)
WRI-752 Week Two Summer Writing Program(2)
WRI-753 Summer Writing Program(2)

4 credits of fall and spring residencies in Boulder, CO.

WRI-789WE Fall Residency(1)
WRI-791WE Spring Residency(1)

Why Choose Naropa?

Strong writing tradition.

Founded in 1974 by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics encourages experimental forms across genres , pushing for innovation inside and outside the classroom.

Career Readiness

Whether a student plans to teach, write, edit, or work in publishing, our low-residency program provides the framework they need to develop their professional skills alongside a vibrant and supportive writing community.

In-house Publishing

The Kerouac School’s student-run Bombay Gin literary journal publishes work from promising students and distributes it nationally through Small Press Distribution. Students interested in fine-craft letterpress printing can learn at Naropa’s Harry Smith Print Shop and Kavyayantra Press.

How this Program Prepares You

Professional dossier.

Graduates from our low-residency Creative Writing MFA emerge from the program with a solid record of written work . The pieces that make up their dossier are workshopped with peers and perfectioned with guidance from their tutor.

Critical Analysis

You’ll emerge from the program with critical analysis skills that go beyond reading between the lines of a written work. The program will teach you to recognize the role of intersectionality in the literary arts, looking at the wider spectrum that surrounds a piece, and identifying bias, assumptions and stereotypes.

Unleashing creativity

Our workshops, classes and Summer Writing Program encourage students to harness their creativity by exploring experimental forms . Low-residency students receive on-on one mentoring to help them develop their creative writing skills to the fullest, as well as feedback from their writing community, be it online or during their residency.

What You'll Learn

Highly developed writing craft.

Hone your voice in every step of the writing process.

Skill in Critical Analysis

Learn to discuss literary works through a variety of critical lenses.

Contemplative Writing Practice:

Use your writing practice as a tool for self-inquiry and discovery.

Social and Cultural Awareness

Recognize the role of race, class, and gender in literary history and works.

Career Preparedness

Graduate with a publishable manuscript and/or professional dossier.

Career Opportunities with a Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing

Lyricist: write words for songs, matching melody and rhyme.
Poet: use language to creatively express emotion, ideas and experiences.
Proofreader: check written work for errors and inconsistencies.
English Teacher: teach at the postsecondary level.
Author: craft and publish original material.
Editor: review and improve written work for publication.

Hear from a Graduate

Jackie henrion, faqs about the low-residency mfa in creative writing, what is a low residency mfa in creative writing, why choose a low residency mfa creative writing program, how long does it take to complete a low residency mfa in creative writing, how is naropa’s low residency mfa in creative writing different from other programs, what types of funding are available.

Funding includes the Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and Anselm Hollo Graduate Fellowships.

The fellowships are awarded annually to three incoming MFA Creative Writing and Poetics students (residency program). Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and Anselm Hollo fellowship recipients will receive full funding (tuition and fees), plus an additional $5,000 scholarship as well as a $4,500 stipend. Fellowship recipients may not simultaneously hold a Graduate Assistantship.

Additionally, partial funding is provided for students who have applied for and been offered graduate assistantships with the Naropa Writing Center.

Visit our Graduate Scholarship page to read more about funding, fellowships and scholarships for the Low-Residency Creative Writing & Poetics MFA and other degrees.

Learn More About the Program

Connect with your counselor

Olivia phipps.

Graduate Admissions Counselor

[email protected]
Schedule an Appointment
Attend An Info Session

Ready to Apply?

Admission requirements.

Naropa University values both academic excellence and critical self-reflection . Our application process not only evaluates academic performance but also candidates’ openness and willingness to engage in contemplation.

Learn more about admission requirements and the application process for our Low-Residency Creative Writing MFA.

Graduate Students

Prospective students who have completed an undergraduate degree are welcome to apply to Naropa. When applying, candidates must submit a transcript of their undergraduate coursework, a statement of interest, a resume, two letters of interest and a creative writing sample. They may also apply for financial aid at this stage. Discover all admission requirements.

International Students

If you obtained your undergraduate diploma from a non-US university, we require additional documentation to review your application. Learn how to apply to Naropa as an international student.

Costs and Financial Aid

Naropa University students have access to several financial aid opportunities and scholarships – over 75% of our graduate students receive some sort of financial support to pursue their studies. Use our calculator to estimate your tuition, housing, materials and other costs.

Undergraduate Scholarship Opportunities

A woman holding a microphone and speaking. The picure shows her from the shoulders up. Other women are seen in the background, some looking at her and seemingly listening to what she's saying.

Interested in our Low-Residency Creative Writing MFA?

Read our blog or listen to our podcast, heartfire festival returns to naropa university, episode 92. andrew schelling: writing as a spiritual practice, womxn of naropa celebrates national poetry month, summer writing program from the archives, together in spirit, student support and resources, academic support, online student support, career services, financial aid, accessibility, related programs, mfa in creative writing, ba in creative writing and literature, request information, plan a visit, about naropa, events & community, user information, support naropa.

2130 Arapahoe Avenue Boulder, CO 80302

1-800-772-6951

[email protected]

Worried about a Student?

This is where experiential learning meets academic rigor. Where you challenge your intellect and uncover your potential. Where you discover the work you’re moved to do—then use it to transform our world.

“*” indicates required fields

Request Info
Visit Campus
COVID-19 Updates

Search Naropa University

Naropa campuses closed on friday, march 15, 2024.

Due to adverse weather conditions, all Naropa campuses will be closed Friday, March 15, 2024. All classes that require a physical presence on campus will be canceled. All online and low-residency programs are to meet as scheduled.

Based on the current weather forecast, the Healing with the Ancestors Talk & Breeze of Simplicity program scheduled for Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday will be held as planned.

Staff that do not work remotely or are scheduled to work on campus, can work remotely. Staff that routinely work remotely are expected to continue to do so.

As a reminder, notifications will be sent by e-mail and the LiveSafe app.

Regardless of Naropa University’s decision, if you ever believe the weather conditions are unsafe, please contact your supervisor and professors. Naropa University trusts you to make thoughtful and wise decisions based on the conditions and situation in which you find yourself in.

MFA Degree Program

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing provides studies in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, along with a variety of options for either a studio degree in Creative Writing, or a degree combining work in either the Department of English or other departments in which course work, or independent study, seems particularly pertinent to the student’s creative thesis. A book-length thesis of publishable quality is required; it will be directed by a member of the MFA faculty. The MFA requires 48 graduate semester hours, with a 3.00 grade point average in all graduate courses.

Admission Requirements

An overall minimum grade point average of 2.75 at the undergraduate level.
An official undergraduate and if applicable graduate transcript sent to Graduate Admissions.
A portfolio of published or unpublished writing samples in the applicant’s chosen genre (at least 20-25 pages of fiction, 10 poems, or 25 pages of nonfiction), demonstrating a potential for development to a professional standard of writing, should be submitted to the English Graduate Office along with two letters of recommendation and a cover letter stating the candidate’s choice of genre and reasons for pursuing the degree. The writing sample will be evaluated by a committee of MFA faculty. The committee will recommend admission of those applicants with the highest demonstrated talent.
Students who wish to change genres after being accepted in one genre, even if they are already registered and enrolled in the program, must submit a new portfolio of work in the new genre and be approved by the MFA faculty for admission in the new genre.
Bachelor’s degree in English or if BA is in another field, twelve (12) semester hours in upper division literature or creative writing courses with a minimum grade point average of 2.75 in these courses.
Deadlines: for best consideration apply by March 1 for the following fall semester admission and October 15 for following spring semester. Applications may be considered later but prospective students applying by those dates have first priority.

Any applicant who holds an MA degree in English may apply up to a maximum of 24 semester hours in English earned for that degree toward the MFA degree, with the approval of the graduate coordinator. A student’s advisor will insure that the combination of MA credits and courses taken in the program has appropriate breadth. Credit previously earned at another institution must be presented for evaluation not later than the end of the student’s second semester of enrollment.

Program Requirements

All students must fulfill the 48-hour degree requirement from the Core Requirements in section 1 in combination with one area of specialization under the Additional Requirements in section 2: the Studio Option, the Literary Studies Option, The Creative/Professional Option, the TESL/TEFL Option, or the Cross-Disciplinary Option.

Core Requirements

Writing workshops and forms courses.

A total of 6 courses (18 hours) required:

Four Workshop courses, at least three of which must be in chosen genre:

ENGL 7601 - Creative Nonfiction Wkshp Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7602 - Fiction Workshop Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7603 - Poetry Workshop Credit Hours: (3)

One Forms course in chosen genre:

ENGL 7470 - Forms Creative Nonfict Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7471 - Forms Of Fiction Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7472 - Forms Of Poetry Credit Hours: (3)

One Cross-Genre Course:

For Poetry Students

ENGL 6610 - Creative Writing/Translation Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7602 - Fiction Workshop Credit Hours: (3) for poets

For Fiction and Creative Nonfiction students:

Cross-genre course.

ENGL 6610 may serve as a cross-genre course if the focus was on a cross-genre, but the student must submit a portfolio of cross-genre work from the course and get written approval from the Creative Writing Coordinator.

Creative Writing Colloquium

At least two sections of ENGL 7900 must be taken (6 hours).

NOTE: Students should familiarize themselves with the Thesis/Dissertation Preparation Guide before starting to write.

ENGL 7996 - Thesis Credit Hours: (1-6) (3 hours)

Comprehensive Exam

A Comprehensive Exam based on a reading list formed by the student and the student’s thesis director.

Oral Review of Thesis

Although it is not a core requirement for the degree, all students receiving a Teaching Assistantship must take ENGL 7003 either before they become a teaching assistant or during their first semester of teaching. It is included as an alternative course in each of the options for additional requirements below.

Specialization Requirements:

Studio option:.

7 courses, 21 hours, chosen from the following:

ENGL 7475 - Literary Publishing Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7485 - Lit Arts Programming Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7604 - Creative Writing Wkshp Credit Hours: (3)

Students may take, as an alternative to replace up to 3 of these courses, an equivalent number of other courses (of 3 hours each) from other disciplines within the Department of English (this includes ENGL 7003 , which is a requirement if the student receives a Teaching Assistantship). Note: as stated in the course descriptions, ENGL 7475 and ENGL 7485 can only be counted for a maximum of 6 hours each toward the degree requirements.

Literary Studies Option:

7 courses, 21 hours, made up of the following:

At least 9 hours of Literature Courses

At least 3 hours of theory of writing and english language/linguistics courses, selected from:.

ENGL 7020-7049 - Special Topics in English Credit Hours: (3) through
ENGL 7003 - Thry/Prac Tchng Comp Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7501 - History English Lang ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7511 - Survey of Linguistics ** Credit Hours: (3) through
ENGL 7517 - Discourse Analysis Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7531 - Theory and History of ESL ** Credit Hours: (3) through
ENGL 7537 - Issues in Second Language Reading ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7590 - Appl/Theory Linguistics Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7801 - History Composition Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7805 - Foundations of Writing Studies Credit Hours: (3)

Literary Editing

Up to 6 hours of

Literary Arts Programming

Forms courses.

Up to 9 hours of

Creative/Professional Writing Option:

At least 9 hours of professional writing courses:.

ENGL 6618 - Document Design ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 6619 - Web Design/Online Writing ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7013 - Wkshp Hlth Care Writing ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7014 - Wkshp Public Hlth Care Writing ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7806 - Resch Meth In Writing Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7807 - Wksp/Govmt & Corp Wrtg ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7808 - Wksp/Sci & Techn Wrtg ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7809 - Technical Editing ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7818 - Collaborative Writing ** Credit Hours: (3)

Note: Up to 6 hours of ENGL 7811 - Internship Prof Wrtng may be counted toward this requirement. All internships must be pre-approved by the coordinator of the Creative Writing program along with another professor in the student’s primary genre.

Up to 6 hours of:

Tesl/tefl option:.

15 hours in the Certificate Program in Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language (TESL/TEFL), including 12 hours in the certificate core:
ENGL 7530 - Field Experience and Practicum in ESL ** Credit Hours: (3-6)
ENGL 7531 - Theory and History of ESL ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7532 - Principles of Skills Assessment ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7535 - ESL Grammar ** Credit Hours: (3)

3 elective hours selected from:

ENGL 7533 - Methods/Techniques of ESL in K-12 ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7536 - Issues in Second Language Writing ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 7538 - Cultural Issues in ESL ** Credit Hours: (3)
ENGL 6533 - ESL/EFL in Multicultural Settings Credit Hours: (3)

6 hours of electives in English, Creative Writing, or Foreign Languages

Cross-disciplinary option:.

Up to 9 hours of English courses from any discipline (includes ENGL 7003 )

At least 12 hours of courses from another department: Art, History, Journalism, Theater, Foreign Languages, or other department in which course work, or independent study, seems particularly pertinent to the student’s creative thesis.

Up to 9 of the 21 hours may be fulfilled by independent study in another department and/or internship hours, but all cross-disciplinary courses/independent studies/internships must be pre-approved by the coordinator of the Creative Writing program along with another professor in the student’s primary genre. Internships must be of a nature that will allow the student to participate in research that will form the basis of the student’s thesis.

Although taking all 12 hours of the cross-disciplinary minimum in only one other department is not required, it is recommended that the student focus primarily on one area or else have a clear rationale for fulfilling the 12-hour minimum in more than one cross-disciplinary area.

Retention Requirements

Upon entering the MFA program, a student chooses an advisor in his or her concentration. The advisor will monitor the student’s progress toward completion of the degree. Each semester the Graduate Studies Committee will examine the academic progress of all students for retention in the program. If a student receives either two C’s, one D, or one F grade in any English graduate level course, that student will be subject to review and could be dismissed from the program. In order to remain in good standing, all graduate students must maintain a 3.0 average in all courses. Students who are on academic probation for two consecutive semesters will not be allowed to continue in the program.

My Davidson | A Student Blog Photo Essay: English Scholars Go to AWP Conference

a compilation of images from a conference featuring young men and women

In February, Abbott Scholars in Davidson College’s English Department had the opportunity to attend the AWP (Association of Writers & Writer Programs) Conference in Kansas City. Check out their photos and reflections.

About the Authors

Isabel smith '24: poetry & book fairs.

The Abbott Scholars Program allows students to spend a year crafting either a scholarly or creative thesis on a topic of their choice, working alongside a director, a reader, and the other scholars. You get an extended period of time to produce strong writing, opportunities to talk with visiting authors, and the ability to request funding for related research and travel.

a group of young men and women standing and smiling

Abbott Scholars

One travel opportunity is the chance to attend the Association of Writers & Writer Programs (AWP) conference, which seven of us went to in February of this year. This year, the conference was in Kansas City, and it lasted three days: Thursday to Saturday. Each of us individually picked what panels to go to each day. I am writing a poetry thesis, so the first talk I attended was “Sound and Color: Poets and Visual Artists in Exquisite Exchange.” The presentation was my favorite of all of them because of how illuminating and beautiful it was. Each poet had partnered with a visual artist, and they shared the process of working in tandem to create together, displaying photographs, blurbs of text exchanges, paintings, and finally, the finished poetry. Due to this experience, I decided to incorporate visual art into my own practice, and I have since begun working on finding available art as well as creating some myself. Additionally, my mother is a painter and my father is a poet, so I was very excited to share what I had learned with the both of them.

Throughout the few days, I attended panels on drafting tips and tricks (featuring Davidson Professors Parker and Shavers), sharing elegies, queer post-religious poetry, and trans poetics, all of which were a pleasure and incredibly helpful. Another important aspect of the conference was the bookfair. It was a labyrinth, spanning an entire floor of the huge conference center. Besides fun and silly booths — like one labeled “Poetic Help” — the bookfair featured presses, literature reviews, and MFA programs, so I got the chance to talk to experts in the field of writing and publishing. They also tended to give out free books, excitingly, so I got quite the haul, all of which I can’t wait to read. At night, the seven of us — Tavie Kittredge, Michael Chapin, Nate Bagonza, Mason Davis, Taylor Dykes, Abby Morris, and myself — would explore the city, including events put on by AWPers. We went out to dinner together and attended the keynote, a poetry reading at a cat cafe, and a Rock & Roll-themed reading. It was amazing to bond with my peers and explore a new city. Thanks to the funding of the Abbott Scholars Program, I know much more about how to pursue a future in writing.

Michael Chapin ’24: Surrounded by Passionate Writers

The seven of us traveling together really solidified the bonds we’ve been building over the past semester and allowed us to spend time together outside of our thesis work, whether that was over Thai or ramen for dinner or just taking the time to explore the city.

a sign reading "welcome to the AWP24 Conference & Bookfair!"

Getting to spend that time at AWP was incredibly special because, for me at least, it was the first time being surrounded by people deeply connected and committed to writing in all its forms. We attended events ranging from poetry readings at cat cafés to queer narrative presentations in speakeasy bars.

My personal highlight of the conference was listening to Jericho Brown deliver the keynote speech in which he called on us to challenge the world as we know it — to challenge book bans and our perception of the world as impossible to change. Brown asked why we can’t imagine a better world while acknowledging that a better world is not created without a fight. A quote from the speech that has stuck with me in the weeks since was his question: “If the fight is against fascism, who do we need to be if we lose that fight?” And then, who do we need to be to win?

Trying a taste of Kansas City barbecue!

Exploring the streets of Kansas City.

Mason Davis '24: The Impact of AWP

The best part of the conference? Talking to authors, talking to MFA directors, talking to independent publishers … Being honest about what I wanted to know and not feeling awkward about lacking experience was so valuable.

The best single moment I had was cornering Susan Choi and telling her how much I loved Trust Exercise . She seemed so delighted that I loved the book, which warmed my heart. AWP carried an infectious feeling of immense creative potential that has stuck with me vividly.

a group of young men and women take a selfie

Now that I’ve seen a piece of the literary world, I want to be a part of it. I loved talking about books and the book-world all day. It felt a bit like the Davidson College campus except that everyone wants to do creative writing. That was a dream for me. I felt sad coming back to reality ... Sitting side-by-side with people who have just done a fantastic reading, or highly regarded editors, or publishers etc. etc. made me feel like my goals are imminently possible. There is so, so much writing out there and so many people making it work, somehow. If they can do it, so can I.

I'd also been skeptical about MFA programs (how will I afford it? is it even necessary?), but meeting all those MFA students and directors has convinced me that I'd be doing myself a serious disservice by not applying to programs in the next 1-5 years, depending on where life takes me. Not to get ahead of myself.

I want to express my gratitude to the Abbott family (and personally Susan, who was so wonderful to share a dinner with) for the opportunity to, in a sense, role-play as a 'real' writer for an extended weekend and get to try on those shoes. I liked how they fit. I can only speak with certainty for myself, but I know I felt (re)invigorated in becoming a person of letters.

Keep Exploring

Learn more about English at Davidson College

Learn more about the Abbott Scholars Program

March 26, 2024
My Davidson

Future Students
Parents/Families
Alumni/Friends
Current Students
Faculty/Staff
MyOHIO Student Center
Visit Athens Campus
Regional Campuses
OHIO Online
Faculty/Staff Directory
University Community
Research & Impact
Alumni & Friends
Search All News
OHIO Today Magazine
Colleges & Campuses
For the Media

Helpful Links

Navigate OHIO

Connect With Us

OHIO’s new head of Musical Theater excels in the classroom and on stage

Steven Strafford is difficult to pin down, in the literal sense. To run through his recent professional history is to find yourself jumping back and forth between what sounds like the work of an entire company but is, somehow, mostly just himself.

One thing is certain, however, OHIO’s new head of Musical Theater brings a lot to the table.

Strafford grew up in New Jersey by way of Brooklyn with a family history in vaudeville and the Irish nightclubs of New York City, but he recalls much of his love of theater growing from watching musicals at home with his mom followed by an intense desire to study them as a child.

He remembers visiting the library to borrow Broadway cast recordings and librettos, spending an hour a day working on building up his singing chops. His first role in a school play was when he truly caught the bug, reflecting that theater “provided a place where the feelings were as big as I felt them.”

This eventually led to a BA in theater from Drew University and a career in professional acting that began in New York and eventually brought Strafford to Chicago, where the stresses of a young working artist also drew him into the pitfalls of addiction.

Three years later, Strafford emerged from this dark time healthier and determined to get back on track. He landed his first significant role as Prince Herbert in the Mike Nichols’ directed "Spamalot" and began dissecting his thoughts on life and love after addiction, writing them down to organize his feelings. These musings matured over time into what would become Strafford’s first award-winning play, the one-man autobiographical show "Methtacular," which first premiered at Cincinnati Fringe Fest in 2012 and went on to gain accolades from critics in New York and Chicago.

What initially may have been a practice in self-reflection had become a new creative outlet for Strafford, and a desire to further explore writing led him to pursue playwriting at OHIO, graduating in 2023 with his MFA. Since then, his work has hit an enviable stride with multiple new world premieres and award-winning plays being produced simultaneously.

In the past year alone, Strafford’s MFA thesis play "Squeakers" was produced at OHIO, the award-winning "Small Jokes About Monsters" has had recent runs in Indiana and Minnesota, "Greater Illinois" had its world premiere at Theaterworks in the Square at Memphis in January, "The Match Game" will mark yet another world premiere this April in at Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati, and Strafford will revisit "Methtacular" at Cincinnati Fringe again this summer.

Whenever discussing his plays and the characters that inhabit them, Strafford’s infectious comedic bent is hard to deny even in passing conversation. This desire to find the humor in everything extends into themes that often deal with heavy subject matter but are handled with a deft touch so that the audience is never taken out of the story.

“I like to create comedic moments in incredibly dark surroundings…you can’t check out if everyone is laughing," he said.

Not to be satisfied with just a successful career as a playwright, Strafford has not allowed his acting skills to get dusty, either.

“You have to push,” Strafford says, and push he does.

Recent acting gigs have included TV appearances on NBC’s "Chicago Fire" and HBO’s "Somebody Somewhere," a role in an upcoming independent movie "Just Breathe" (in which Strafford also performed all his own stunts), workshopping a new musical in Chicago, and portraying Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Tantrum Theater’s recent production of "Twelfth Night."

In addition to regular auditions for upcoming acting roles and continuous writing plans, Strafford also joined the faculty of OHIO’s School of Theater as head of Musical Theater this fall. How does he do it?

According to Strafford, you have to “ learn where to place your relentlessness. I am now relentless in supporting my students." As much as his other professional accomplishments impress, it's when Strafford speaks about teaching his students that love for his newest role shines through.

Abby Golden (BFA ’24) confirms that Strafford brings all this and more into the classroom.

“ We are incredibly fortunate to have Steven…His passion, dedication, and ability to foster growth in our students is paving new paths and igniting a sense of drive and confidence in each individual...ensuring that every student feels valued and supported," Golden said.

He explains his teaching style relies on a tripod of “joy, clear eyed business sense, and intellectual curiosity.” Students in his program spend a semester breaking down musical scripts from all eras of the songbook to understand their place and meaning in time and their relevance today.

Strafford says his goal is to “prepare students to understand the assignment of the job… have confidence in their ability to receive, understand, and implement acting notes with personal agency… and to use their natural impulses to support the choices in a musical.”

Musical Theater alum Lauren Janoshka (BFA ’23, MA’ 24) reflects on her time working closely with Strafford on a one woman show.

“He really works to build spaces that aren't merely safe, but safe to take risks. He told me to pick whatever I wanted to produce…and to let him know how to best support my vision and we would go from there. What I appreciated most and what I believe is reflective of his vision for the program is his desire to help students actualize the depth they already contain. I felt like a more whole person after working with him…I"m not sure I've had someone believe in me that much ever,” Janoshka explained.

Strafford’s recalls his mother once lamented on his choice of career, she had hoped that he'd one day be a college professor…a fact his mom was quick to correct when reached out to for comment. Employing a familiar comedic wit she clarifies, “It was my cousin Dorothy that said stop making your mother worry and become a teacher already!”

The fact that Strafford has managed to become a successful actor, writer, and professor feels like a similar comedic turn he'd have written himself, as a plot device solely for the enjoyment and appreciation of his mother’s support and guidance, and with his students being the lucky recipients of the gag.

Steven Strafford lives in Athens with his husband Wade (MFA ’24) and their toddler Seely.

You can learn more about Steven’s work by staying in touch with School of Theater social media, reading one of his plays (" Small Jokes About Monsters " is available through Dramatists Play Service), and on his website at stevenstrafford.com .

IMAGES

MFA in Creative Writing Update: Time and Perspective
Everything you need to know about an MFA in creative writing!
MFA in Creative Writing
MFA in Creative Writing
The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate
The Truth about a M.F.A. in Creative Writing

VIDEO

White Snake Voicelines Stone Ocean [+Pucci Voicelines]
NICE WIN On Toshi Video Club
Distinguished Writers Series: Kaitlyn Greenidge
Distinguished Writers Series: David Adjmi
Why David Foster Wallace Hates MFA Programs
What is Camperdown Writers' Kiln?

COMMENTS

What Can You Do with an MFA in Creative Writing: 2024 Costs & Job
MFA in creative writing degree holders earn an average annual salary of $62,185. You can use your MFA in creative writing to work in various industries, such as marketing and public relations, publishing, and academia. An online MFA in creative writing degree can provide you with flexibility and opportunities to connect with a broader community ...
What Can You Do With an MFA in Creative Writing?
At the University of New Orleans, you can earn an MFA in creative writing that focuses in poetry, fiction or nonfiction. The curriculum requires 45 course credits, and the materials are accessible online for both part-time and full-time students. You can explore literature from different eras, such as the 20th century, and attend workshops. 8.
7 Creative Writing Careers You Can Get With an MFA Degree
2. Screenwrite. Bring your stories to life on screen. Whether you like creating plot, characters or script, you can use your creative writing skills as a screenwriter. Screenwriters create content for shows and movies and imaginatively translate the written word into a visual piece of art. 3.
What Jobs Can You Get With an MFA in Creative Writing?
If you're a traditionalist Many writers go into teaching after earning their MFA in Creative Writing, often at the university level.The usual trajectory is to begin as an adjunct and then work one's way up through the ranks to professor*, which ideally comes with a sweet corner office lined with leatherbound books.Typically, you need to have published at least one book to land the coveted ...
I Have an MFA. What Now? 6 Career Paths for MFA Graduates
One of the best aspects of the MFA is the opportunity to work and study in a community of writers. This doesn't have to end after graduation. Don't forget to stay in touch with fellow writers and advisors. When you're knee-deep in a manuscript and need a critique, ask the readers you know you can trust. Keep Writing.
MFA in Creative Writing Programs Guide
MFA in Creative Writing Program Guide. Whether focusing on poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, a creative writing degree prepares students for a multitude of career options. Spanning two years, a master of fine arts (MFA) program trains you to become a skilled writer, communicator, and editor who can receive and apply feedback effectively.
What Can I Do with a Creative Writing MFA?
There are many MFA in creative writing jobs, including a marketing director, creative director, executive director, assistant professor, editor, and more. Jobs for MFA creative writing graduates vary based on where the person is located and the type of work they want to do. It's always important to weigh the pros and cons of getting any ...
Can an MFA in Creative Writing Help You Get a Job?
The salary potential for positions requiring or preferring an MFA in Creative Writing ranges from $50,000 to $75,100 per year. If you want to become a published author, an MFA in Creative Writing provides advanced study in the craft. The earning potential for writers varies widely depending on genre and how long they've been published.
The Best 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2023
Julia Conrad. With a Bachelor of Arts in English and Italian from Wesleyan University as well as MFAs in both Nonfiction Writing and Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, Julia is an experienced writer, editor, educator, and a former Fulbright Fellow. Julia's work has been featured in , , and , among other publications. To read ...
The 10 Best MFA Creative Writing Programs [2024]
Its Master of Fine Arts program is one of the best MFA creative writing programs in the country, exposing students to various approaches to the craft. While studying under award-winning poets and writers, students may specialize in either poetry or fiction. 3. University of Texas at Austin - New Writers Project.
Career Opportunities with an MFA in Creative Writing
September 14, 2020. Most poets who receive a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in the United States usually pursue one of two interconnected fields: publishing or academia. While these careers are related, the paths are different in the skills they require. To be a great professor, you need a passion for learning and mentoring students, a ...
3 Myths About the MFA in Creative Writing
Myth 2: The MFA Is a Shortcut to Getting Published. No agent will sign you and no editor will publish your book based on a credential alone. You have to write something beautiful. If you attend an MFA program and work hard, you will become a better writer.
What Will YOU Do with an MFA in Creative Writing? The Sky is the Limit!
An MFA in creative writing can open the door for you to work in a wide variety of industries and roles. You might choose to become a novelist, a government grant writer, a creative writing teacher, or a content writer, among many other potential opportunities. Let's discuss some of the most common MFA in creative writing jobs. Work in a ...
Online MFA in Creative Writing Program
Online MFA in Creative Writing Program Overview. Share your story with the world and let the power of storytelling take your career to new heights with an online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing.As one of the only programs available that encourages a focus on genre fiction, our online MFA lets you hone your craft in an area specific to your strengths and interests.
What an MFA in Creative Writing Can Do For You
The three authors writers talk about Lesley's low-residency MFA program, diversity in MFA programs, and what an MFA program can and can't do for you. A Q&A with the audience rounds out this episode. Recorded at the Boston Book Festival by Studio 125. Listen to more recordings from this year's festival. Check out all of our episodes on our ...
What To Know Before Applying to MFA Creative Writing Programs
Follow Us. An MFA in creative writing is a graduate program meant to help refine a writer's craft. The curriculum is designed to give writers a few years after undergrad to focus on their writing while becoming a part of a community of like-minded people. As an MFA, you'll spend the first few semesters in various workshops and then your ...
Creative Writing, MFA
An MFA degree in Creative Writing can prepare you for a career in editing, publishing, and teaching. Editing: A career in editing is an especially appealing option when you gain experience working on a literary journal during your time in our MFA program. Editors can work in a range of settings, including: advertising and public relations ...
Should You Get an MFA in Creative Writing? (Pros and Cons)
Having taken some non-MFA creative writing classes myself that had wound up squashing my creativity rather than the opposite, I really didn't want that. In the end, I couldn't stomach signing on the dotted line and investing about $50,000, which is what it was going to cost me, for a program I wasn't confident was going to help me enough.
MFA FAQs
Applicants for the master's degree need to have completed a baccalaureate from an accredited four-year college or university, preferably with a GPA of at least 3.0. Applicants also provide 3 letters of recommendation, an application fee, official transcripts, and a completed application form. Applicants for the MFA in Creative Writing must also ...
Creative Writing (MFA)
With an MFA in creative writing, you can pursue a variety of career paths related to writing, literature and communication, including: Author. An MFA in creative writing equips you with the skills and knowledge necessary to write and publish your own literary works. Through the mentorship semesters and summer residencies, you will develop your ...
Applying to MFA Programs
An MFA can qualify you to teach creative writing or other college-level writing/English courses. More importantly, it is time to read a ton and write a ton. I wouldn't do an MFA because you are interested in professionalization; I would do an MFA if you have a writing project you are excited to pursue and/or if you are committed to simply ...
Procedural Guide for MFA in Creative Writing Students
The Creative Writing Program offers the MFA degree, with a concentration in either poetry or fiction. MFA students pursue intensive study with distinguished faculty committed to creative and intellectual achievement. Each year the department enrolls only eight MFA students, four in each concentration. Our small size allows us to offer a ...
Prospective MFA Frequently Asked Questions
We offer a funding package to all admitted MFA students. The funding package includes a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a monthly stipend for two academic years, contingent on satisfactory academic progress and performance of duties. Funding includes a combination of teaching and fellowship quarters.
Low Residency MFA Creative Writing
Naropa's Creative Writing MFA is a rigorous, generative, low-residency two-year program with 4 writing residencies in beautiful Boulder Colorado. The program combines asynchronous craft courses with on-campus residencies. Annual fall and spring residencies allow writers to connect with other writers and faculty, deepen their craft, and ...
Program: Creative Writing, (MFA)
MFA Degree Program. The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing provides studies in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, along with a variety of options for either a studio degree in Creative Writing, or a degree combining work in either the Department of English or other departments in which course work, or independent study, seems particularly ...
Photo Essay: English Scholars Go to AWP Conference
Besides fun and silly booths — like one labeled "Poetic Help" — the bookfair featured presses, literature reviews, and MFA programs, so I got the chance to talk to experts in the field of writing and publishing. They also tended to give out free books, excitingly, so I got quite the haul, all of which I can't wait to read.
OHIO's new head of Musical Theater excels in the classroom and on stage
What initially may have been a practice in self-reflection had become a new creative outlet for Strafford, and a desire to further explore writing led him to pursue playwriting at OHIO, graduating in 2023 with his MFA. ... (MFA '24) and their toddler Seely. You can learn more about Steven's work by staying in touch with School of Theater ...

Resources for professionals exploring their education options.

7 Creative Writing Careers You Can Get With an MFA Degree

Why Think About an MFA in Creative Writing?

What Can You Do With an MFA in Creative Writing?

2. Screenwrite

6. Speak out

A Quick Look at the Job Outlook for Writers

Why Earn a Creative Writing MFA at MSMU?

And, Mount Saint Mary’s University Los Angeles sits right at the heart of it all.

Pursue Your Creative Writing Career at the Mount!

5 Tips for Paying for Graduate School in 2023

What Jobs Can You Get With an MFA in Creative Writing?

How much can you expect to earn?

If you’re a traditionalist

If you want to teach, but not in a university

If you are an online guru

If you are That Person always correcting other people’s grammar

If you are a rebel

A Creative Writing MFA isn’t a guarantee—but it is an opportunity

Recommended reading

The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 2) (Writers Helping Writers Series)

Nikengie Brands Ultimate Self-Publishing Guide

Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Writing: Creating Vivid and Colorful Stories that Readers Want to Read

The Elements of Style (4th Edition)

The Associated Press Stylebook: 2022-2024

Shannon Bowring

Why You Need an MFA in Creative Writing

How Long Does it Take to Get an MFA in Creative Writing?

15 Best Low Residency MFA Programs

Why would you pursue an MFA?

What can you do with an MFA?

What are the advantages of UTEP’s online MFA in Creative Writing?

What's Next?

Connect With Us

The Best 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2023

First of all, what is an MFA?

Reasons to Get an MFA in Creative Writing

Types of Creative Writing MFA Programs

Fully-Funded Full-Time Programs

Full-Time MFA Programs

Low-Residency MFA Programs

Online MFA Programs

The Top 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs Ranked by Category

Fully Funded MFA Programs

2) University of Texas, James Michener Center (Austin, TX)

3) University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)

4) University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)

5) Brown University (Providence, RI)

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs (Continued)

7) Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ):

FULL-RESIDENCY MFAS (UNFUNDED)

9) Columbia University (New York, NY)

10) Sarah Lawrence (Bronxville, NY)

LOW RESIDENCY

12) Institute for American Indian Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

13) Vermont College of Fine Arts

ONLINE MFAS

15) Bay Path University (Long Meadow, MA)

Julia Conrad

College Planning in Your Inbox

The 10 Best MFA Creative Writing Programs [2024]

The 10 Best MFA Creative Writing Programs

Master of Fine Arts in Fiction/ Poetry

2. University of Michigan – Helen Zell Writers’ Program

Master of Fine Arts

3. University of Texas at Austin – New Writers Project

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

4. University of Nebraska – Kearney

Master of Arts

5. Bay Path University (Massachusetts)

MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing

6. Brown University (Rhode Island)

MFA in Literary Arts

7. University of Iowa (Iowa)

MFA in Creative Writing

8. Cornell University (New York State)

9. Columbia University ( NYC )

MFA in Fiction Writing

10. New York University (NYC)

Common Courses for MFAs in Creative Writing