creative writing major hunter college

CRWRTG-MFA - Creative Writing

Official name of program, department(s) sponsoring program, degree designation, nysed program code.

Hunter’s Creative Writing MFA is a highly selective program in which students work closely with distinguished writers to perfect their writing skills. The course comprises workshops, craft seminars, one-on-one supervisions with faculty, and literature classes. There are three concentrations: fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Most years there are twelve students per concentration. Each year, several students are named Hertog Fellows (fiction and creative nonfiction) and Thomas Hunter Fellows (poetry). These students are paired with established writers, for whom they conduct research for one semester.

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Hunter College’s Creative Writing Program

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Hunter College presents the Distinguished Writers Series, one of the signal components of the Hunter Creative Writing Program. It has a rich history and continuing tradition of presenting intimate readings and class visits to their MFA seminars from the leading voices in contemporary fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

Writers who have participated in the series and met with students include Edwidge Danticat, Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje, Seamus Heaney, Margaret Atwood, Anne Carson, Zadie Smith, Louise Glück, Colson Whitehead, Marlon James, Salman Rushdie, Jamaica Kincaid, Robert Pinsky, Cornelius Eady, Walter Mosley, Ian McEwan, Frank Bidart, Annie Proulx, Deborah Eisenberg, Colm Tóibín, Yusef Komunyakaa, Mary Gaitskill, Edmund White, Elizabeth Strout, Claudia Rankine, Susan Faludi, Terrance Hayes, Jhumpa Lahiri, Greg Pardlo, Karen Russell, Gary Shteyngart, and Hilton Als, among many others.

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Creative Writing

Start here for research at hunter college libraries.

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This guide has been created to connect undergraduate and graduate creative writing students with useful resources at Hunter College & CUNY libraries, at public libraries in New York, and freely available on the web.

This guide is maintained by Jennifer Newman , English & Humanities Librarian.

It's best to bookmark the Hunter College Libraries home page  https://library.hunter.cuny.edu/   on your own computer or device. 

From here you can navigate One Search, see lists of databases, find research guides, configure your NetID and password, and learn how to set Hunter College as your home library on Google Scholar.

Note that you will need to know your Hunter NetID and password to access online resources through the Hunter College Libraries.

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• Last Updated: Feb 16, 2024 11:49 AM
• URL: https://libguides.library.hunter.cuny.edu/CreativeWriting

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

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List of All U.S. Colleges with a Creative Writing Major

Writing has been my passion practically since I learned to read in kindergarten. I would write stories about princesses and my family dog, Gansett. When it came time to look at colleges, I was set on attending one with a strong creative writing program. Ultimately, I graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in Writing Seminars.

Today, colleges across the country offer creative writing as a major. Because writing skills are essential for a wide range of careers, and because most curricula emphasize broad liberal arts competencies, a degree in creative writing can set you up for success in numerous fields, whether you want to be an editor or a lawyer.

Interested in majoring in creative writing? Learn which schools offer the major and what to look for in a program.

Overview of the Creative Writing Major

Creative writing is about more than spinning tales. For your major, you’ll generally need to pursue a curriculum grounded in literature, history, foreign language, and other humanities courses, along with distribution courses, if the college requires them.

Most creative writing majors must participate in workshops, in which students present their work and listen to peer critiques, usually with a certain number of advanced courses in the mix. In some cases, colleges will ask you to specialize in a particular genre, such as fiction, poetry, or playwriting. 

To succeed in creative writing, you’ll need to have a tough spine, in order to open yourself up to feedback from your classmates and instructors. You may need to give readings in public — if not as an undergraduate, certainly during your career. Of course, a passion for creating is essential, too, as is a willingness to revise your work and learn from the greats and your peers.

A creative writing major opens up doors to many careers, including journalism, content marketing, copywriting, teaching, and others. Even careers that don’t center around writing often have a strong writing component: you’ll need to write reports, deliver presentations, and so on.

Some writers go on to earn an MFA, which will help you hone your craft. It’s also often a prerequisite for teaching creative writing at the college level.

What to Look for in a College as a Creative Writing Major

Published authors on faculty.

Many world-renowned authors have another claim to fame: professorships. Writers who have taught their craft include (among many others):

• Maya Angelou (Wake Forest University)
• Colson Whitehead (many colleges, including Vassar College and Columbia University)
• Stephen Dixon (Johns Hopkins University)
• Viet Thanh Nguyen (University of Southern California)
• Eula Biss (Northwestern University)
• Toni Morrison (Princeton University)

Be aware that as an undergraduate, you may not be able to learn from the greats. That’s why it’s important to look into which courses these faculty teach before you have dreams of being mentored by Salman Rushdie — who is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU.

Genres Offered

While many schools that have creative writing majors offer fiction and poetry courses and tracks, there are some niche genres that could be more difficult to find. If you’re interested in playwriting, for example, you won’t find that at every school. Before you decide on a program, be sure it includes the genres you’d like to explore further, whether that’s flash fiction, creative nonfiction, or something else.

Workshopping Opportunities

The core of most quality creative writing curriculum is workshopping. This means sharing your work in your classes and listening to your peers discuss and critique it. While this may sound intimidating, it can do a lot to help you hone your work and become a better writer. Look for colleges that make this the bedrock of their curriculum.

Showcasing Opportunities

Are there opportunities to present your work, such as college-sponsored readings where undergraduates can participate? Or, perhaps the school has a great literary journal. At my school, students could submit their plays and have them performed by fellow students. 

List of All U.S. Colleges With a Creative Writing Major

What are your chances of acceptance.

No matter what major you’re considering, the first step is ensuring you’re academically comparable to students who were previously accepted to the college or university. Most selective schools use the Academic Index to filter out applicants who aren’t up to their standards.

You’ll also want to demonstrate your fit with the school and specific major with the qualitative components of your application, like your extracurriculars and essays. For a prospective creative writing major, the essay is particularly important because this is a way to demonstrate your writing prowess. Activities might include editing your school’s newspaper or literary journal, publishing your work, and participating in pre-college writing workshops.

Want to know your chances of being accepted to top creative writing schools? Try our Chancing Engine (it’s free). Unlike other calculators, it takes your individual profile into account, including academic stats and qualitative components like your activities. Give it a try and get a jumpstart on your journey as a creative writing major!

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College Info

Finding a dedicated creative writing program at a school you're excited about can be a real challenge, and that's even before you start worrying about getting in. Nonetheless, there are some great options. In order to help you find the best school for you, this list rounds up some of the best colleges for creative writing in the United States .

The Best Creative Writing Programs: Ranking Criteria

You should never take college rankings as absolute truth —not even the very official-seeming US News ones. Instead, use these kinds of lists as a jumping-off place for your own exploration of colleges. Pay attention not just to what the rankings are but to how the rankings are determined.

To help with that, I'll explain how I came up with this highly unscientific list of great creative writing colleges. I started by narrowing my search down to schools that offered a specific creative writing major. (If you don't see a school you were expecting, it's likely because they only have a minor.)

In ranking the schools, I considered five major criteria:

• #1: MFA Ranking —If a school has a great graduate creative writing program, it means you'll be taught by those same professors and the excellent graduate students they attract. Schools with strong MFA programs are also more likely to have solid alumni networks and internship opportunities. However, many schools with great undergrad programs do not offer MFAs, in which case I simply focused on the other four options.
• #2: General School Reputation —The vast majority of your classes won't be in creative writing, so it's important that other parts of the school, especially the English department, are great as well.
• #3: Extracurricular Opportunities —One of the key advantages of majoring in creative writing is that it can provide access to writing opportunities outside the classroom, so I took what kind of internship programs, author readings, and literary magazines the school offers into consideration.
• #4: Diversity of Class Options —I gave extra points to schools with a variety of genre options and specific, interesting classes.
• #5: Alumni/Prestige —This last criterion is a bit more subjective: is the school known for turning out good writers? Certainly it's less important than what kind of education you'll actually get, but having a brand-name degree (so to speak) can be helpful.

The Best Creative Writing Schools

Now, let's get to the good stuff: the list of schools! The exact numbering is always arguable, so look at it as a general trend from absolutely amazing to still super great, rather than fixating on why one school is ranked #3 and another is ranked #4.

#1: Northwestern University

Northwestern's undergrad creative writing program boasts acclaimed professors and an unparalleled track record of turning out successful writers (including Divergent author Veronica Roth and short-story writer Karen Russell).

Outside the classroom, you can work on the student-run literary journal, intern at a publication in nearby Chicago, or submit to the Department of English's yearly writing competition . The university is also home to a top journalism program , so if you want to try your hand at nonfiction as well, you'll have plenty of opportunities to do so.

#2: Columbia University

Like Northwestern, Columbia is home to both a world-class creative writing program and a top journalism school (plus one of the best English departments in the country), so you have a wide range of writing-related course options. Columbia also benefits from its location in New York City, which is bursting at the seams with publishing houses, literary journals, and talented authors.

#3: University of Iowa

The University of Iowa's big draw is the infrastructure of its graduate Writers' Workshop, which is often considered the best MFA program in the country.

As an English and Creative Writing major here, you'll take classes from great young writers and established professors alike, and get to choose from a wide range of topics. This major provides transferable skills important for a liberal arts major with a creative focus. You'll also have access to the university's impressive literary community, including frequent readings, writing prizes and scholarships, and the acclaimed literary journal The Iowa Review .

#4: Emory University

Emory is renowned for its dedicated undergrad creative writing program , which draws the very best visiting scholars and writers. Students here have the chance to attend intimate question-and-answer sessions with award-winning authors, study a range of genres, compete for writing awards and scholarships, and work closely with an adviser to complete an honors project.

#5: Oberlin College

A small liberal arts school in Ohio, Oberlin offers very different advantages than the schools above do. You'll have fewer opportunities to pursue writing in the surrounding city, but the quality of the teachers and the range of courses might make up for that. Moreover, it boasts just as impressive alumni, including actress and writer Lena Dunham.

#6: Hamilton College

Hamilton is another small college, located in upstate New York. It's known for giving students the freedom to pursue their interests and the support to help them explore topics in real depth, both inside and outside the classroom. Hamilton's creative writing program takes full advantage with small classes and lots of opportunities to intern and publish; it also has one of the best writing centers in the country.

#7: Brown University

Brown's Literary Arts program offers one of the top MFAs in the US as well as an undergraduate major . For the major, you must take four creative writing workshops and six reading-intensive courses, which span an array of departments and topics, from music and literature to Middle East studies and Egyptology.

#8: Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University has an excellent creative writing MFA program, lots of super specific class options, and a number of scholarships specifically earmarked for creative writing students. This school’s undergraduate English program also offers a concentration in creative writing that allows students to specialize in a specific genre: poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. If you’re interested in exploring your potential in a specific writing genre, Washington University could be a great pick for you.

#9: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT might not be a school you generally associate with writing, but it actually has an excellent program that offers courses in digital media and science writing, as well as creative writing, and provides plenty of guidance on how graduates can navigate the tricky job market.

Not to mention the school is located in Cambridge, a haven for book lovers and writers of all kinds. Though it probably isn’t a good fit for students who hate science, MIT is a great place for aspiring writers who want to build writing skills that are marketable in a wide range of industries.

#10: University of Michigan

University of Michigan is one of the best state universities in the country and has a top-notch MFA program. This school’s undergrad creative writing sub-concentration requires students to submit applications for admittance to advanced creative writing courses. These applications give students crucial practice in both building a writing portfolio and articulating their interest in creative writing to an audience who will evaluate their work. If you're looking to attend a big school with a great creative writing major, this is a fantastic choice.

#11: Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins is another school that's known more for engineering than it is for writing, but, like MIT, it has a dedicated writing program. As a major here, you must take not only courses in prose, poetry, and literature, but also classes on topics such as philosophy and history.

#12: Colorado College

Colorado College is a small liberal arts school known for its block plan , which allows students to focus on one class per three-and-a-half-week block. The creative writing track of the English major includes a sequence of four writing workshops and also requires students to attend every reading of the Visiting Writers Series.

Bonus School: New York University

I didn't include NYU in the main list because it doesn't have a dedicated creative writing major, but it's a great school for aspiring writers nonetheless, offering one of the most impressive creative writing faculties in the country and all the benefits of a Manhattan location.

How To Pick the Best Creative Writing School for You

Just because Northwestern is a great school for creative writing doesn't mean you should set your heart on going there. (The football fans are completely terrifying, for one thing.) So where should you go then?

Here are some questions to ask yourself when looking at creative writing programs to help you determine the best school for you:

Does It Have Courses You're Interested In?

Look at the course offerings and see whether they interest you. While you can't predict exactly what classes you'll love, you want to avoid a mismatch where what you want to study and what the program offers are completely different. For example, if you want to write sonnets but the school focuses more on teaching fiction, it probably won't be a great fit for you.

Also, don't forget to look at the English courses and creative writing workshops! In most programs, you'll be taking a lot of these, too.

What Opportunities Are There To Pursue Writing Outside of Class?

I touched on this idea in the criteria section, but it's important enough that I want to reiterate it here. Some of the best writing experience you can get is found outside the classroom, so see what kind of writing-related extracurriculars a school has before committing to it.

Great options include getting involved with the campus newspaper, working on the school's literary journal, or interning at the university press.

Who Will Be Teaching You?

Who are the professors? What kind of work have they published? Check teacher ratings on Rate My Professors (but make sure to read the actual reviews—and always take them with a grain of salt).

If you're looking at a big school, there's a good chance that a lot of your teachers will be graduate students. But that's not necessarily a bad thing: a lot of the best teachers I had in college were graduate students. Just take into consideration what kind of graduate program the school has. If there's a great creative writing MFA program, then the graduate students are likely to be better writers and more engaged teachers.

What Are the Alumni Doing Now?

If you have a sense of what you want to do after you graduate, see if any alumni of the program are pursuing that type of career. The stronger the alumni network is, the more connections you'll have when it comes time to get a job.

What About the Rest of the School?

Don't pick a school for which you like the creative writing program but dread everything else about it. Most of your time will be spent doing other things, whether hanging out in the dorms, exploring off campus, or fulfilling general education requirements.

Many schools require you to apply to the creative writing major, so make doubly sure you'll be happy with your choice even if you aren't accepted to the program.

What's Next?

Are you sure a creative writing major is the right fit for you? Read our post on the pros and cons of the major to help you decide what path to take in college.

For more general advice about choosing a college, check out our complete guide to finding the right school for you. Some major factors to consider include deciding whether you're interested in a small college or a big university , an in-state or out-of-state institution , and a public or private school .

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Requirements for Graduation: Hunter Core and Major Field of Study

A student at Hunter College must earn a total of 120 credits to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. These 120 credits must include credits to satisfy the Hunter Core Requirement (up to 42 credits) and to satisfy the requirements of a major field of study (major). Credits for the Hunter Core and for a major usually do not add up to 120. A student may reach the necessary 120 credits by completing an additional major, a minor field of study (minor), a certificate program, or by taking elective courses.

Please note: New York State law requires a minimum number of liberal arts and science courses for undergraduate degrees, as follows:

BA 75% of credits towards the degree, 90 credits BS  50% of credits towards the degree, 60 credits BMus, BFA 30% of credits towards the degree, 40 credits

Please see  New York State Rule for Liberal Arts and Sciences Courses 

Declaring a Major

Students should confer with their advisor and can declare a major by visiting this page . Some majors require an application, audition/and or entrance exam.  For a complete list, please visit: same website… and departmental websites.

All matriculated students must declare a major no later than the semester in which the combination of credits earned and credits for which they are currently registered totals 60 or greater . Transfer students entering with 60 credits or more must declare their major before the end of their first semester of attendance at Hunter.

Requirements for a Major

All matriculated students must declare a major no later than the semester in which the combination of credits earned and credits for which they are currently registered totals 60 or greater. Transfer students entering with 60 credits or more must declare their major before the end of their first semester of attendance at Hunter. Students may find that some courses and career opportunities are available to them only if they have declared a major. In addition, under New York State guidelines, students who have not yet declared a major by the 61-credit point are ineligible for TAP financial aid. To declare or change a major, a student should get a major declaration form from the OASIS, Room 217 Hunter North and confer with an adviser in the major department.

For students who are nearing the 61-credit point and remain undecided about their choice of major, there are a number of avenues of assistance. Designated faculty in each academic department advise prospective majors about the undergraduate programs and related career possibilities. Also, the advisors in the Office of Student Services and Career Development Services offer assistance in choosing a major. The college is concerned that students select their major with careful consideration and with good knowledge of the range of options.

To earn a Hunter degree, students must complete at least half of their major credits at Hunter.

Major Courses and Hunter Core Courses

A course taken to satisfy a major requirement often may satisfy a Hunter Common Core requirement. However, students are not allowed to take more than two courses from one department or program to fulfill the Hunter Core Requirement (note: English Composition 1 will not be counted as an English course in this context).

More than One Major 

Before you declare multiple majors, please consider the following:

Declaration of more than one major may have significant implications for a student; for example, regarding additional time to graduation, professional certification, and/or issues concerning financial aid eligibility. Students are urged to meet frequently with academic advisors, faculty advisors in each major, and financial aid/scholarship advisors before they choose to pursue more than one major.

More than One B.A. Major

B.A. students have the option of declaring more than one major. Students must complete the Hunter General Education requirements as well as the requirements for all declared majors. B.A. students must complete at least 90 Liberal Arts credits to graduate regardless of which major(s) are selected.

More than One B.S. Major

B.S. students have the option of declaring up to two B.S. majors. Students must complete the Hunter General Education requirements as well as the requirements for all declared majors. B.S. students must complete at least 60 Liberal Arts credits to graduate regardless of which major(s) are selected.

Declaring Up to Two Majors between Different Undergraduate Degree Awards

Undergraduate students may declare up to two majors between different undergraduate degree awards (for example, combining a B.A. major with a B.S. major). Students who wish to complete the requirements for two majors from different degree awards have two options to achieve this.

One-degree option

In cases where a student completes the requirements for two declared majors from different award designations, the student may be awarded the degree associated with one of the two majors. Only one degree with one major will be awarded. For the identification of the second major, a notation of completion of all of the requirements of the second major will reside in the transcript permanent comment section. This is a minimum 120-credit option.

Two-degree option

Students who complete the requirements for two declared majors from different degree awards may opt to receive two undergraduate degrees and two diplomas. In order to be awarded two degrees, such as a B.A. and B.S., students must complete at least an additional 30 credits in residence beyond the standard 120 total credits required for a bachelor’s degree. This is a minimum 150-credit option. It may take students five or more years to complete this option.

Note: Students enrolled in the Thomas Hunter Honors Program may declare up to two majors between different undergraduate degree awards, at least one in a B.A. field, in addition to the Special Honors Curriculum major.

Important considerations

With either option, students must complete the Hunter General Education requirements as well as the requirements for all declared majors and complete all degree requirements from both degree awards. Degree award requirements may differ with respect to number of required liberal arts credits or minimum required cumulative grade point average. For students with majors in two different degree awards (e.g., B.A. and B.S.) the following applies: • If the degree awards have a different number of required liberal arts credits, the student must complete the higher number of required liberal arts credits. • If the degree awards have different requirements for minimum cumulative grade point average, the student must earn the higher required minimum cumulative grade point average.

Double Counting Between or Among Multiple Majors

Courses may satisfy the requirements of more than one major. Double counting between or among majors occurs when a student uses a course or courses to count towards the credit requirements of more than one declared major. When double counting is allowed, the student does not need to take additional courses to reach the required number of credits in the major. A student is allowed to double count courses between or among majors if and only if such double counting is allowed by all the majors for which the student has declared and towards which the credits apply. If any department or program for which the student has declared a major and towards which the credits apply does not have an approved policy that allows double counting of courses between or among majors, then double counting is not allowed. The student who uses the course(s) to satisfy the requirements of more than one major must take additional courses as approved by the major department(s) or program(s) to reach the required number of credits in each major.

Double Counting Between Majors and Minors

Courses may satisfy the requirements of both a major and a minor. Double counting occurs when departments allow a course or courses to count towards the credit requirements of both a major and a minor. When double counting is allowed, the student does not need to take additional courses to reach the required number of credits in the program. A student is allowed to double count courses between majors and minors if such double counting is allowed by the minor program, except when such courses are also used to fulfill the Hunter Focus requirement. If a minor program does not have an approved policy that allows double counting of courses between majors and minors, then double counting is not allowed.”

Advising 

Hunter College is concerned that students select their major(s) with careful consideration and with good knowledge of the range of options. For students who are nearing the 60-credit point and remain undecided about their choice of major, there are a number of avenues of assistance. Designated faculty advisors in each academic department can inform prospective majors about their undergraduate programs and related career possibilities. Also, the advisers in the Office of Advising and Career Development Services can offer assistance in choosing a major.

Each department has advisers to help students with such matters as course content, when a course is expected to be given, how a course is conducted (lecture, discussion) and the textbook(s) to be used. Students may want to discuss majoring in a subject before they make their official decision or to inquire about graduate schools. Majors should see the department advisers frequently to discuss their interests. 

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Hunter College MA in Creative Writing

Creative Writing is a concentration offered under the writing studies major at Hunter College. We’ve pulled together some essential information you should know about the master’s degree program in creative writing, including how many students graduate each year, the ethnic diversity of these students, and more.

If there’s something special you’re looking for, you can use one of the links below to find it:

• Graduate Cost
• Online Learning
• Student Diversity

Featured Programs

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

MFA in Creative Writing - Online

Embrace your passion for storytelling and learn the professional writing skills you'll need to succeed with our online MFA in Creative Writing. Write your novel or short story collection while earning a certificate in the Online Teaching of Writing or Professional Writing, with no residency requirement.

MA in English & Creative Writing

Refine your writing skills and take a step toward furthering your career with this online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.

Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction

Harness your passion for storytelling with SNHU's Mountainview Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction. In this small, two-year creative writing program, students work one-on-one with our distinguished faculty remotely for most of the semester but convene for weeklong intensive residencies in June and January. At residencies, students critique each other's work face-to-face, meet with major authors, agents and editors and learn how to teach at the college level.

How Much Does a Master’s in Creative Writing from Hunter Cost?

Hunter graduate tuition and fees.

In 2019-2020, the average part-time graduate tuition at Hunter was $855 per credit hour for out-of-state students. The average for in-state students was $470 per credit hour. The following table shows the average full-time tuition and fees for graduate student.

Does Hunter Offer an Online MA in Creative Writing?

Hunter does not offer an online option for its creative writing master’s degree program at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the Hunter Online Learning page.

Hunter Master’s Student Diversity for Creative Writing

Male-to-female ratio.

Of the students who received their master’s degree in creative writing in 2019-2020, 76.9% of them were women. This is higher than the nationwide number of 66.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

Around 7.7% of creative writing master’s degree recipients at Hunter in 2019-2020 were awarded to racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 24%.

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online

More about our data sources and methodologies .

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The Rita and Burton Goldberg MFA Playwriting Program at Hunter College is a highly selective, rigorous, and affordable two-year playwriting program located in the heart of New York City. We seek writers eager to develop their craft and challenge assumptions about what theatre is and will become. 

The Program

The program at Hunter is focused on helping writers hone their voice and aesthetic while taking risks and experimenting with form. Students study with award-winning writers, working theatre professionals, and esteemed guest artists in a program that offers intensive, hands-on writing workshops and fosters a collaborative, close-knit artistic community.

There are five students in each cohort, which allows our instructors to give students generous individual attention. Each semester, students take three courses that meet in the evenings, which enables students the flexibility to work during the day. Teaching Assistantships are available to students in their second year. To supplement coursework, the program provides a series of Master Class workshops each semester with playwrights, directors, and industry professionals, as well as free or affordable tickets to a wide range of New York City productions to facilitate a robust connection with the New York theatre community. 

The capstone project of the program is the Hunter MFA Playwrights Festival , a week-long workshop with professional directors and actors which culminates in a public reading attended by agents, literary managers, producers, and other industry professionals. You can read about our 2023 MFA Playwrights Festival HERE .

The Hunter MFA Playwriting program is both affordable and accessible. The cost of in-state tuition for one semester is $4,230, and the program is often able to provide partial or full tuition waivers to incoming students. Additionally, all students are offered paid Teaching Assistantships in their second year.

Instructors

Current and recent playwriting faculty include: david adjmi (stereophonic, stunning) clare barron   (dance nati on, you got older).

Mia Chung (Catch as Catc h Can, You For Me For You) Lisa D’Amour  (Detroit, Airline Highway) Tina Satter  (This is a Room, Half Straddle) Lloyd Suh  (The Far Country, The Chinese Lady) Maria Striar  (Clubbed Thumb) Anne Washburn  (Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, The Internationalist)

Visiting Artists

2022-2023 visiting artists: eboni booth, morgan gould, raja feather kelly, aya ogawa, and mfoniso udofia.

Photos from the 2022 MFA Playwrights Festival

Student & Alumni News

June 27, 2023

Phillip Christian Smith (’23) is announced as a member of New Dramatists.

June 5, 2023

Jesse Jae Hoon's (’21) 12 Chairs  produced as part of the Parsnip Ship’s Radio Roots Fellowship.

June 5 , 2023

John J. Caswell Jr.’s (’20) play Wet Brain  premieres at Playwrights Horizons.

​ May 26 , 2023

Diana Ly (’23) named as member of the Orchard Project Greenhouse Lab.

May 9, 2023

Minna Lee (’24) selected by Assembly Theater for the 2023-2024 Deceleration Lab.

May 5 , 2023

Chad Kaydo (’21) named as a winner of the Theater Masters Take Ten National MFA Playwrights Competition.

April 4, 2023

Maya Lawson’s (’21) play Por Du is receives a reading in the Bushwick Starr Reading Series.

March 26, 2023

Minna Lee’s (’24) play My Home on the Moon  will premiere in the San Francisco Playhouse’s 2023-4 Season.

​ October 13, 2022

T. Adamson (’17) announced as th e recipient of the Vineyard Theatre’s 2022-3 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award.

​ September 7, 2022

Jesse Jae Hoon  (’22) is named as a 2022-23 Playwrights Realm Writ ing Fellow for his play Somebody is Looking Back at Me .

​ July 13, 2022

Hayley Stahl  ('19) and  Chad Kaydo  ('22) are named as finalists  for the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission.

​ June 16, 2022

Diana Ly (’23) announced as a debut member of the Universal Writers Lab.

May 20, 2022

Jesse Jae Hoon (’22), Liqing Xu (’21), and Garrett Zuercher (’22) will be part of the 2022 Orchard Project Adaptation Lab

May 17, 2022

Mara Velez-Mendelez’s (’19) Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members premieres at Soho Rep.

March 16, 2022

Lindsey Ferrentino (‘14) will write and direct film version of Amy and the Orphans for Netflix.

March 1, 2022

John Caswell Jr.’s (’20) Man Cave produced by Page 73 premieres at the Connelly Theatre.

February 9, 2022

Charly Evon Simpson’s (’17) Sandblasted premieres at the Vineyard Theatre in a co-production with WP Theater.

January 31, 2022

Liqing Xu’s (‘21) Yellow Dream$ produced in Second Stage’s 2022 Judith Champion New Voices Series.

January 18, 2022

Liz Appel’s (’21) Bells Like Hooves produced in Roundabout Theatre Com pany’s 2022 Underground Reading Series.

September 23, 2021

Justice Hehir (’18) and Hannah Novak (’18) receive Clubbed Thumb Constitution Commissions.

September 15, 2021

Garrett Zuercher  (‘21) produces and directs Deaf Broadway’s concert production of Into the Woods  for Restart Stages at Lincoln Center.

May 22, 2021

Garrett Zuercher  (‘22) wins the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

September 24, 2020

John J. Caswell Jr.  (‘20) received the Vineyard Theatre’s 2020 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award.

I am incredibly grateful for my time in the Hunter Playwriting MFA program.   I wanted the opportunity to focus and deepen my craft, to work with undergraduates in preparation for future teaching, and to stay in NYC and involved with theater in the city. This program allowed me to do all three of those things and more while working with professors and fellow students I greatly admired.   It pushed me in the ways I need to be pushed in order to grow as a playwright.

- Charly Evon Simpson, Class of 2017

Read the MFA Playwriting Program’s 2021-2022 Newsletter HERE

Admission  requirements.

You must meet the following minimum requirements in order to be considered for admission. Meeting these minimum requirements does not guarantee acceptance to the program.​

Interviews will be conducted with a select group of candidates after the initial review of application is completed. (Only matriculated students are eligible to take MFA courses.)

A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution comparable in standard and content to a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College.

Play Manuscript - Submit a full length play at least 45 pages as a PDF. A digital copy of the manuscript needs to be uploaded in the online applications system before submitting the application

Two letters of recommendation from appropriate academic or professional references.

A statement of purpose of approximately 500-750 words answering the following questions: Why do you choose playwriting as a literary form? Discuss your background in the theatre, the playwrights and productions that have influenced you, and what you hope to bring to the stage.

Applicants whose native language is not English and who have taken all or part of their undergraduate education in a country where English is not the native language are required to submit scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The following minimum scores must be obtained:

Paper Based Test: 550

Computer Administered Test: 213

Internet Based Test: 60 (less speaking component)

FALL 2023 DEADLINE: January 15, 2024

Questions? Contact the Director of the Rita & Burton Goldberg MFA Playwriting Program, Christine Scarfuto, at [email protected] .

Ready to start your application? Click the button below!

Degree Requirements

This two-year program encourages playwrights to discover and develop their unique voices.  Students should expect a thorough grounding in theatre history, dramatic literature and theory, and the craft of playwriting. They will also have the opportunity to take electives and learn from well-known guest artists. At the end of the first year, students will have a reading with a professional director and actors. The second year of the program culminates in a 29-hour workshop of a new play and a public, staged presentation of the students’ work.

Required Courses

MFA Playwriting I:  Developing Your Voice THC 73100

MFA Playwriting II:  The Art of Revision THC 73200

MFA Playwriting III: New Play Workshop THC 73300

MFA Playwriting IV: Thesis Project THC 73400

MFA Production Workshop I: Adaptation THC 73500

MFA Production Workshop II: The Playwright Prepares THC 73600

History of Theatre I THC 75100

History of Theatre II THC 75200

Play Analysis THC 79000

Electives (9 credits)

Sample Program of Study

First Semester

History of Theatre I

MFA Playwriting I: Developing Your Voice

MFA Production Workshop I: Adaptation

Second Semester

History of Theatre II

MFA Playwriting II: The Art of Revision

Third Semester

MFA Playwriting III: New Play Workshop

Play Analysis

Fourth Semester

MFA Production Workshop II: The Playwright Prepares

MFA Playwriting IV: Thesis Project

Christine Scarfuto Program Director [email protected]

The Director of the Rita and Burton Goldberg MFA in Playwriting is Christine Scarfuto. Christine is a dramaturg with over a decade of experience in new play development. She was the Literary Manager of Long Wharf Theatre from 2015-2019 and has worked with Second Stage Theater, LCT3, Signature Theatre, Lark Play Development Center, Playwrights Center, Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Realm, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Kennedy Center. Christine was educated entirely in public schools including the University of Iowa, where she received her MFA in Dramaturgy.

Gregory Mosher Senior Associate Dean for the Arts [email protected]

The Program is part of the Hunter Department of Theatre, which is chaired by Tony Award-winning producer and director Gregory Mosher, who has produced over 100 world or American premieres at the Lincoln Center and Goodman Theaters, on Broadway, and in the West End. Writer colleagues in these productions include David Mamet, John Guare, Elaine May, Emily Mann, John Leguizamo, Richard Nelson, Mbongeni Ngema (Sarafina), Arthur Miller, David Hare, the Nobel Prize-winners Derek Walcott and Wole Soyinka, Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett, and many more.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of our MFA Playwriting Program will be able to:

Create, revise, and develop full-length dramatic works that expresses students’ own artistic aesthetic. 

Collaborate with directors, designers, actors, and other theater artists.

Develop constructive workshop practices and demonstrate the ability to closely observe, analyze, and respond constructively to the writing of workshop participants.

Analyze a variety of dramatic structures, techniques, methods, and approaches with the aim of enriching students’ own work.

Demonstrate a sophisticated knowledge of theater history and practice with the aim of enriching students’ own work.

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Creative Writing

Find your voice. write your future., why study creative writing at millsaps, in their own words.

Kiana Everhart, Class of 2024

“i found everything i wanted in a creative writing program here. the classes are unique and engaging while still challenging me and pushing me outside my comfort zone. i love that this program simultaneously encourages my creativity while allowing me to hone my skills as a writer.”.

Patricia Syner , Class of 2024

“i have been introduced to a wide array of texts that have challenged and broadened my understanding. the professors’ dedication to not only the material but also to the individual student’s interpretations and questions fosters a profound, interactive environment.”.

Brittany Wilson, Class of 2024

“we grow in many ways as writers and creatives because of this department. millsaps' creative writing department is good, fertile soil for students who want to expand their writing horizons and blossom into the writers of our time.”, featured courses.

Here is a sampling of a few courses that might pique your interest.

CRWT 2400 Intro to Creative Writing

Crwt 3760 fiction into film, degree options.

Discover your degrees, minors, concentrations and certification options available for this field of study.

Minor in Creative Writing

Publish in our award-winning literary magazine

Exciting visiting writers series, digital welty research lab, our distinctive strengths.

• Majors have undertaken novels and short story collections as participants in the Honors Program.
• Courses in the workshop model build communities of writers that students can draw on for a lifetime of writing support.
• Through the Digital Welty Research Lab, students can learn humanities coding and web design skills, which can help them tailor their creative interests to today’s technological world.

Gain hands-on experience

Our curriculum emphasizes problem solving and critical thinking skills essential to any career (and therefore any Pathway), as well as scientific writing and experimentation skills that may be especially critical to students interested in any of our six Pathways tracks.

Study Abroad

All Millsaps students can take advantage of our study-abroad classes. Millsaps College is ranked as one of the best study-abroad programs in the country! Creative writing majors might enjoy our Writing (In) Place class offered in the Yucatán.

More About the Degree

Recent career placements.

• Smith Robertson Museum
• Teach for America
• University of California-Davis Development and Alumni Relations
• Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance
• University Press of Mississippi
• Creative Distillery
• Iowa Public Radio
• Mississippi Department of Archives and History
• Mississippi Today
• Mississippi Department of Transportation

Postgraduate Study

• Bennington College
• Boston University
• Columbia University
• Florida State University
• University of Virginia
• University of Southern Mississippi
• Jackson State University
• Library school

Careers of Recent Graduates

• Marketing and Communications

Related Areas of Study

• Literature in English
• Communication Studies
• Film Studies
• Self-Designed Major

Ready? Take the next step!

Director of the Centers for Writing and Academic Success Lecturer, Creative Writing Director, McMullan Writers Workshops View Full Biography

Michael Pickard

Eudora Welty Chair of Southern Literature, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Chair of English View Full Biography

Upcoming Events

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‘Random’ Passions Become a Profession at Millsaps

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Claire Azordegan, a junior at Millsaps College, may seem to have interests scattered in many different directions, but for her, it all fits together seamlessly. For starters, she is majoring in both Spanish and anthropology while also pursuing a minor in biology. She is a member of the Rotaract Club …

Brittany Wilson Named Semi-Finalist for Fulbright Award

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This achievement underscores the dedication and expertise of our students, as well as support from the previous faculty members, Millsaps alums and other members in the Millsaps community.

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Feb 19, 2024

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