university of virginia fully funded mfa in creative writing

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The Graduate Program

At a time of rapid transition in the field of literary and cultural studies, we are intent upon sustaining our offerings in traditional historical periods, elaborating those in diverse world literatures, and engaging fully with the spectrum of current theoretical concerns. The University of Virginia is also widely recognized as a leader in digital humanities, an area for which much of the initiative comes from faculty and graduate students in the English department. We take pride in offering graduate study superintended by an internationally renowned faculty.

The Master of Arts  Program provides advanced training in literary studies, preparing students for either admission to Ph.D. programs or careers in a variety of fields that require intellectual ingenuity, skills in writing or research, or training in literary criticism and theory. Those who wish to pursue doctoral degrees regularly gain admission to other fine programs. Those seeking careers immediately following the MA have found jobs in secondary teaching, technology, the public sector, business, publishing, and higher education. The MA degree may be completed in three full semesters, though students opting to write an MA thesis often take a fourth semester. 

Students may also opt to complete an MA on a part-time basis, so long as they complete the degree within five years. Some students take a full load in their first semester and then finish the degree as a part-time student, but other schedules are possible.  Some sample MA timelines may be found here .

Note: The funding of an MA degree can be challenging, as few sources of scholarship support are currently available, either at UVA or nationally. This is a matter of much current concern and discussion in graduate education circles.  (See the description, below, of our MA Teaching concentration, a partly funded degree.) Funding issues may impinge on a student’s decision to study full or part time, in that many students take loans that require them to maintain full-time status. All students with loans should contact their lenders directly to understand any implications part-time status might have for them.  Moreover, part-time UVA students are currently not eligible to receive student wages, so may not hold student jobs at the university (though this policy is under review and may change). UVA Student Financial Services can help students understand if part-time status is the right financial choice for them.

In addition to our regular MA, we offer an  MA in English with a Concentration in Teaching Literature and Writing . This two-year program provides specialized training in teaching, and, in the second year, teaching opportunities and financial support (tuition, fees, one-person health insurance coverage, and a salary per course). In cooperation with the Law School, we offer an interdisciplinary  MA in Law and Literature . Our  BA/MA program  enables selected UVa undergraduates to take graduate courses in their fourth year and go on to complete the MA degree the following year. Interested MA students may choose to earn a graduate certificate in American Studies , Africana Studies , Gender Studies , Environmental Humanities , or  Digital Humanities .  The MA in English is a terminal degree; UVa MA students who apply to the PhD program compete with other transfer applicants. 

The PhD program , with its coursework, exams, guided dissertation research, and training in teaching, places graduates in college and university research and teaching positions, in secondary education, and in academic administration, as well as in positions in publishing, consulting, the public sector, private foundations, and journalism—everywhere that research skills, rigorous analysis, and good writing are valued. In addition to their specialized research, interested PhD students may choose to earn a graduate certificate in Premodern Cultures and Communities , American Studies ,  Gender and Sexuality Studies , Africana Studies , Environmental Humanities , or  Digital Humanities . Financial support, including health insurance and tuition remission, is awarded to all PhD students from the first through the sixth year of study. As part of their package, PhD students teach one course per semester in years two through four and in year six of the program.  The fifth year of study is a fully funded year dedicated entirely to writing the dissertation without teaching obligations. Beyond the sixth year, students in good standing may receive tuition remission, fees, and a salary in consideration for teaching. Government loans and work-study funding are also available. Students typically complete the doctoral degree in six to seven years. 

The English Department makes every effort to place its students and has a good record of doing so. Recent recipients of the PhD have found teaching positions at such institutions as Williams College, Illinois, Ohio Wesleyan, Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Virginia Commonwealth University, Bowdoin, Clemson, Iowa, McGill, Nevada, MIT, Dartmouth, Bowling Green, New Mexico State, Penn, North Carolina, Rutgers, Fordham, Tufts, Arizona, Wake Forest, and Berkeley. Find more information about placement and careers in and outside of academia here .

 The University library system is a resource of many dimensions. The  Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library holds a number of remarkable collections of American and British literature. Most noteworthy is the Barrett Library, one of the finest research collections in the world for American literature, including rare books and manuscripts of Cabell, Cather, Crane, Cummings, Eliot, Frost, Harte, Hawthorne, Hemingway, Holmes, Howells, James, Twain, Wharton, and Whitman. Manuscripts in the collection include  The Red Badge of Courage , the 1860  Leaves of Grass , and  The Sun Also Rises . Other collections of note include the William Faulkner Collection, the unique Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Novels, the Wagelin Collection of American Poetry, the Taylor Collection of American Fiction, and the Tunstall Collection of Poetry.  Alderman Library, the largest circulating library on Grounds, is an excellent research facility with a standard working collection suitable for advanced studies across the humanities.  The library's online holdings and well-staffed  Scholars' Lab  provide access to a large collection of literary works and advanced computer techniques for working with the texts.  In addition, Clemons Library holds an abundant collection of video material and a well-equipped media center. The Department itself is the home of three prize-winning journals:  New Literary History , an internationally respected journal of theory and interpretation;  Studies in Bibliography , the premier international journal of analytical bibliography and textual study; and  Meridian , a student-edited journal of writing.

Students with physical or learning disabilities which may require reasonable accommodation at the University should contact  Brad Holland, Coordinator of  Services for Students with Disabilities .  Information about the larger University and Charlottesville communities may be found  here .

The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only.  The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at  http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/index.php .

Creative Writing

• [email protected]
• (434) 924-6074

The UVA Creative Writing Program offers one of the best MFA programs in the country, along with undergraduate English concentrations in poetry and literary prose and elective coursework.

Explore Creative Writing Events

Creative writing stories.

Quiz: What Kind of Reader Are You?

Our friends over at the University of Virginia Library have offered their own reading recommendations with every quiz result.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/quiz-what-kind-reader-are-you

From Judge to Bestselling Author, With Help From Tom Wolfe and Rita Mae Brown

For retired Virginia Circuit Court Judge Martin Clark, a 1984 graduate of the University of Virginia’s School of Law, law was a fallback career, a parent-pleasing choice he made after he found nobody wanted to hire him to teach creative writing.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/judge-bestselling-author-help-tom-wolfe-and-rita-mae-brown

She Wrote ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ and Co-Produced the Hit Hulu Series

Georgia Hunter’s journey to becoming a New York Times bestselling author and co-producer of the Hulu series based on her book, “We Were the Lucky Ones,” began with an English paper assignment when she was 15.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/she-wrote-we-were-lucky-ones-and-co-produced-hit-hulu-series

University of Virginia

Charlottesville , VA

http://creativewriting.virginia.edu/

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry

Residency type

Program length.

Three fully funded years.

Financial Aid

All our students receive the same amount of funding and they do not have to re-compete in their second or third year.

Teaching opportunities

In their second year, all of our students teach a 1/1 load of creative writing in poetry or fiction and the courses are largely of their own design. In a third year, our students teach a 2/2 load and primarily in first-year undergraduate writing (composition).

Editorial opportunities

Our MFA program is also the home of Meridian, a semiannual literary magazine edited by our graduate students and distributed nationally. Meridian publishes twice a year, in January and May. The journal features outstanding fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from both emerging and established writers, and work from Meridian contributors has gone on for inclusion in Best American Poetry, Best American Essays, New Stories from the South, and the Pushcart anthology.

Cross-genre study

Limited. Our MFAs do not sit in the other genre’s workshops, but there are opportunities to take additional graduate-level workshops in different genres, and from the same core writing faculty.

• Maria Adelmann MFA (Fiction) 2012
• Susanne Antonetta MFA (Fiction) 1989
• Taylor Antrim MFA (Fiction) 2004
• Hajjar Baban MFA (Poetry)
• Jasmine V. Bailey MFA (Poetry) 2010
• Sierra Bellows MFA (Fiction) 2008
• Tina Louise Blevins MFA (Fiction) 2008
• Will Boast MFA (Fiction) 2007
• Carrie Brown MFA (Fiction) 1998
• Jennifer Chang MFA (Poetry) 2002
• Joseph Chapman MFA (Poetry) 2008
• Ye Chun MFA (Poetry) 2006
• Emma Copley Eisenberg MFA (Fiction) 2015
• Caitlin Fitzpatrick MFA (Fiction) 2016
• Chris Forhan MFA (Poetry) 2003
• Aja Gabel MFA (Fiction) 2009
• Chris Gavaler MFA (Fiction) 2006
• Eleanor Henderson MFA (Fiction) 2005
• Onyinye Ihezukwu MFA (Fiction) 2015
• Greg Jackson MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Caitlin Kindervatter-Clark MFA (Fiction) 2012
• Michael Knight MFA (Fiction) 1996
• Doug Lawson MFA (Poetry) 1995
• David H. Lynn MA (Fiction) 1982
• Brendon Mathews MFA (Fiction) 2005
• Davis McCombs MFA (Poetry) 1995
• Sjohnna McCray MFA (Poetry)
• Karen Salyer McElmurray MFA (Fiction) 1986
• Charles McLeod MFA (Fiction) 2005
• Erika Meitner MFA (Poetry) 2002
• Lailee Mendelson MFA (Fiction) 1997
• Lulu Miller MFA (Fiction)
• Susan Morehouse MFA (Fiction) 1984
• B. A. Newmark MFA (Poetry) 1985
• Michael Parker MFA (Fiction) 1988
• Lydia Peelle MFA (Fiction) 2006
• Thomas Pierce MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Donald Platt MFA (Poetry) 1987
• Dana Roeser MFA (Poetry) 1981
• Bobby C. Rogers MFA (Poetry) 1988
• Christa Romanosky MFA (Poetry)
• Alexis Schaitkin MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Sean Shearer MFA (Poetry) 2019
• Joe B. Sills MFA (Fiction) 2011
• Safiya Sinclair MFA (Poetry) 2014
• Austin Smith MFA (Poetry) 2012
• Lisa Russ Spaar MFA (Poetry) 1982
• Eleanor Stanford MFA (Poetry) 2005
• Darcey Steinke MFA (Fiction) 1987
• Adrienne Su MFA (Poetry) 1993
• Larissa Szporluk MFA (Poetry) 1994
• Lisa Williams MFA (Poetry) 1996

Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .

M.F.A. in Creative Writing

The Master of Fine Arts at West Virginia University is a three-year program that combines work in a primary genre and at least one other genre with course offerings in literature, pedagogy and professional writing and editing. Genres include fiction, nonfiction and poetry. All Master of Fine Arts students receive a full tuition waiver and an assistantship, which includes a stipend valued at $16,750. 

Our alumni have gone on to further graduate study in English, to careers in editing and publishing and to positions in academia. They have received awards such as the Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship at Colgate and the Emory University Creative Writing Fellowship, won national prizes like the Iowa Award for Poetry and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Prize for Nonfiction and published books with Autumn House Press, Carnegie Mellon University, 42 Miles Press, Ohio University Press, University of Georgia Press, University Press of New England and William Morrow/Harper Collins, among others.

WVU’s MFA graduates have published in hundreds of literary journals, including prestigious venues such as  AGNI ,  Southern Review ,  Gettysburg Review ,  Field ,  Prairie Schooner ,  Tar River Poetry ,  Ninth Letter ,  Northwest Review ,  Missouri Review ,  Hayden’s Ferry Review ,  Sewanee Review,   The Journal ,  32 Poems ,  Georgetown Review ,  Controlled Burn ,  Colorado Review, Pank, Malahat Review ,  Mid-American Review ,  The New York Times, Paste, Times,  Chelsea ,  Washington Square ,  Laurel Review ,  Slant ,  New Orleans Review , and in the anthology   Layers of Possibility: Healing Poetry . Recent MFA students have won Intro Prizes sponsored by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and the GreenTower Press’s chapbook prize and have published book-length collections of poetry and fiction. Recent graduates have won honors such as the Iowa Poetry Prize and the Walt Whitman Award.  

GET INVOLVED

All MFA students in creative writing are fully funded and teach composition, with opportunities to teach creative writing in the third year. Our students engage in community outreach through the Appalachian Prison Book Project, a program that provides incarcerated people with reading materials; edit Hellbender Magazine , a national literary journal; assist with the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop; and help maintain WVU's Council of Writers. They also participate in our monthly reading series, MFA@123 (pictured above). Our program hosts readings by recognized writers, including Jayne Anne Phillips, Camille Rankine, Elizabeth Graver and Geffrey Davis. We also conduct the annual Sturm Writer-in-Residence program, a week-long program that hosts an author at WVU to give a reading and lead workshops with graduate students. Recent Sturm Writers-in-Residence have included Claire Vaye Watkins, Valerie Sayers, Oliver de la Paz, Paul Lisicky and Susan Straight.

Graduate Catalog Description   Graduate Student Handbook

WVU’s MFA faculty members, Mark Brazaitis, Mary Ann Samyn, Glenn Taylor, Christa Parravani, Jenny Johnson and Brian Broome, have published more than 25 books and have won many prestigious prizes and honors:  

• National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowship 
• MacDowell Fellowship 
• Whiting Award 
• Kirkus Prize 
• National Book Critics Circle Award (finalist)  
• Iowa Short Fiction Award  
• Yaddo Fellowship 
• Field Poetry Prize 
• Hodder Fellowship 
• Lambda Literary Award 
• 42 Miles Press Poetry Prize 
• Richard Sullivan Prize 
• Devil's Kitchen Reading Award in Prose 
• Gival Press Novel Award 
• Pushcart Prize 
• Distinguished stories and essays in  Best American  anthologies 
• Autumn House Press Full-Length Fiction Prize 
• Juniper Prize 
• George Garrett Fiction Award  
• The Journal Prize  
• Kent State University Press/Wick Chapbook Prize    
• Books for a Better Life (nominee) 
• Amazon Spotlight Pick 
• New York Times  Editor’s Choice 
• NEH-National Endowment for the Humanities  

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, fully funded mfa creative writing programs.

I love writing, and I'm starting to think about grad school options. Does anyone know of any fully funded MFA creative writing programs out there? What are some factors to consider when applying to these programs?

It's exciting to hear that you're considering pursuing an MFA in creative writing! There are indeed some MFA programs that are fully-funded, meaning they provide stipends and/or cover tuition costs for their students. Here are a few well-regarded, fully funded MFA programs in creative writing:

1. University of Iowa's Iowa Writers' Workshop

2. University of Virginia

3. Cornell University

4. University of Michigan

5. University of Florida

6. University of Oregon

7. University of Wisconsin-Madison

8. Ohio State University

Now, when applying to these programs, there are several factors to consider:

1. Faculty: Look at the faculty members in each program, their work, and their areas of expertise. It's crucial to find a program where faculty members share your interests, as they'll provide guidance, mentorship, and feedback throughout your time there.

2. Program size and structure: Some programs admit larger cohorts while others may only accept a small number of students each year. Consider whether you'd prefer a more intimate environment or a larger one with varied perspectives. Additionally, investigate whether a program is more traditional (such as focusing on workshops and craft classes) or offers alternative coursework (such as interdisciplinary options or teaching opportunities).

3. Location: Since most MFA programs last two to three years, think about where you'd be comfortable living during that time. Some people thrive in urban environments, while others prefer a quieter, rural setting. Keep in mind cost of living, climate, and transportation when evaluating locations.

4. Community and alumni network: Connect with current students and/or alumni to gain insights into the program culture and community as well as post-graduation opportunities, job placement, and the overall experience.

5. Teaching and assistantship opportunities: Many fully-funded MFA programs offer teaching assistantships that cover tuition and provide a stipend. Investigate the teaching opportunities available to you, whether they align with your career goals, and what kind of training and support is provided.

As you research and apply to various programs, remember that fully funded MFA programs can be highly competitive. Nevertheless, by carefully considering these factors and tailoring your applications to highlight your strengths, you'll maximize your chances of finding the right fit. Good luck on your journey towards an MFA in creative writing!

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15 Best Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2024

May 15, 2024

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? If you’re considering an MFA, this article walks you through the best full-time, low residency, and online Creative Writing MFA programs in the United States.

What are the best Creative Writing MFA programs?

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this article, let’s start with the basics. What is an MFA, anyway?

A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is a graduate degree that usually takes from two to three years to complete. Applications typically require a sample portfolio, usually 10-20 pages (and sometimes up to 30-40) of your best writing. Moreover, you can receive an MFA in a particular genre, such as Fiction or Poetry, or more broadly in Creative Writing. However, if you take the latter approach, you often have the opportunity to specialize in a single genre.

Wondering 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. Thesis projects are typically a body of polished, publishable-quality creative work in your genre—fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

Why should I 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.

Fourth: resources. MFA programs are often staffed by brilliant, award-winning writers; offer lecture series, volunteer opportunities, and teaching positions; and run their own (usually prestigious) literary magazines. Such resources provide you with the knowledge and insight you’ll need to navigate the literary and publishing world on your own post-graduation.

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 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.

This two-year program offers an incredibly generous funding package: $39,000 teaching fellowships each year. Not to mention, it offers that sweet, sweet health insurance, mind-boggling faculty, and the option to apply for a lecture position after graduation. Many grads publish their first book within three years (nice). No nonfiction MFA (boo).

• Location: Baltimore, MD
• Incoming class size: 8 students (4 per genre)
• Admissions rate: 4-8%
• Alumni: Chimamanda Adichie, 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

The only MFA that offers full and equal funding for every writer. It’s three years long, offers a generous yearly stipend of $30k, and provides full tuition plus a health insurance stipend. Fiction, poetry, playwriting, and screenwriting concentrations are available. The Michener Center is also unique because you study a primary genre and a secondary genre, and also get $4,000 for the summer.

• Location : Austin, TX
• 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

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. All students receive full funding, including tuition, a living stipend, and subsidized health insurance. The Translation MFA , co-founded by Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, is also two years long 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: 2.7-3.7%
• Fantastic Alumni: Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Sandra Cisneros, Joy Harjo, Garth Greenwell, Kiley Reid, Brandon Taylor, Eula Biss, Yiyun Li, Jennifer Croft

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs (Continued) 

4) university of michigan.

Anne Carson famously lives in Ann Arbor, as do the MFA students in UMichigan’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 $25,000 stipend, summer funding, and health care.

This is a 2-3-year program in either fiction or poetry, 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.

• Location: Ann Arbor, MI
• Incoming class size: 18 (9 in each genre)
• Acceptance rate: 2%
• Alumni: Brit Bennett, Vievee Francis, Airea D. Matthews, Celeste Ng, Chigozie Obioma, Jia Tolentino, Jesmyn Ward

5) Brown University

Brown offers an edgy, well-funded program in a place that only occasionally dips into arctic temperatures. All students are fully funded for 2 years, which includes tuition remission and a $32k yearly stipend. 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.  Fiction and Poetry Tracks are offered as well.

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

6) University of Arizona

This 3-year program with fiction, poetry, and nonfiction tracks 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’s dry heat is good for arthritis.

This notoriously supportive program is fully funded. Moreover, teaching assistantships that provide a salary, health insurance, and tuition waiver are offered to all students. Tucson is home to a hopping literary scene, so it’s also possible to volunteer at multiple literary organizations and even do supported research at the US-Mexico Border.

• Location: Tucson, AZ
• Incoming class size: usually 6
• Acceptance rate: 1.2% (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 

With concentrations in fiction and poetry, Arizona State is 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. Moreover, it encourages cross-genre study.

Funding-wise, everyone has the option to take on a teaching assistantship position, which provides a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a yearly stipend of $25k. Other opportunities for financial support exist as well.

• Location: Tempe, AZ
• 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.

This two-year program is in New York City, meaning it comes with close access to literary opportunities and hot dogs. NYU also 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. Concentrations in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction are available.

• Location: New York, NY
• Incoming class size: ~60; 20-30 students accepted for each genre
• Acceptance rate: 6-9%
• 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

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. Finally, teaching positions and fellowships are available to help offset the high tuition.

• Incoming class size: 110
• Acceptance rate: not publicized (boo)
• 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 

Sarah Lawrence offers a concentration in speculative fiction in addition to the average fiction, poetry, and nonfiction choices. Moreover, they encourage cross-genre exploration. 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, and many teaching and funding opportunities are available.

• Location: Bronxville, NY
• Incoming class size: 30-40
• Acceptance rate: not publicized
• Alumni: Cynthia Cruz, Melissa Febos, T Kira Madden, Alex Dimitrov, Moncho Alvarado

LOW RESIDENCY

11) bennington college.

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. The rest of the time, you’ll be spending approximately 25 hours per week on reading and writing assignments. Students have the option to concentrate in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Uniquely, they can also opt for a dual-genre focus.

The tuition is $23,468 per year, with scholarships available. Additionally, Bennington offers full-immersion teaching fellowships to MFA students, which are extremely rare in low-residency programs.

• Location: Bennington, VT
• Acceptance rate: 53%
• Incoming class: 25-35
• Alumni: Larissa Pham, Andrew Reiner, Lisa Johnson Mitchell, and others

12)  Institute for American Indian Arts

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, including screenwriting, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. In addition, each student is matched with a faculty mentor who works with them one-on-one throughout the semester.

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

• Location: Santa Fe, NM
• Incoming class size : 21
• Alumni: Tommy Orange, Dara Yen Elerath, Kathryn Wilder

13) Vermont College of Fine Arts

VCFA is the only graduate school on this list that focuses exclusively on the fine arts. Their MFA in Writing offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; they also offer an MFA in Literary Translation and one of the few MFAs in Writing for Children and Young Adults . Students meet twice a year for nine days, in January and July, either in-person or online. Here, they receive one-on-one mentorship that continues for the rest of the semester. 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 for the full two-year program is approximately $54k.

• Location : Various; 2024/25 residencies are in Colorado and California
• 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.

UTEP is considered the best online MFA program, and features award-winning faculty from across the globe. Accordingly, this program is geared toward serious writers who want to pursue teaching and/or publishing. Intensive workshops allow submissions in Spanish and/or English, and genres include poetry and fiction.

No residencies are required, but an optional opportunity to connect in person is available every year. This three-year program costs about $25-30k total, depending on whether you are an in-state or out-of-state resident.

• Location: El Paso, TX
• Acceptance rate: “highly competitive”
• Alumni: Watch alumni testimonies here

15) Bay Path University

This 2-year online, no-residency program is dedicated entirely to nonfiction. Featuring a supportive, diverse community, Bay Path offers small class sizes, close mentorship, and an optional yearly field trip to Ireland.

There are many tracks, including publishing, narrative medicine, and teaching creative writing. Moreover, core courses include memoir, narrative journalism, food/travel writing, and the personal essay. Tuition is approximately $31,000 for the entire program, with scholarships available.

• Location: Longmeadow, MA
• Incoming class size: 20
• Alumni: Read alumni testimonies here

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs — Final Thoughts

Whether you’re aiming for a fully funded, low residency, or completely online MFA program, there are plenty of incredible options available—all of which will sharpen your craft while immersing you in the vibrant literary arts community.

Hoping to prepare for your MFA in advance? You might consider checking out the following:

• Best English Programs
• Best Colleges for Creative Writing
• Writing Summer Programs
• Best Writing Competitions for High School Students

Inspired to start writing? Get your pencil ready:

• 100 Creative Writing Prompts 
• 1 00 Tone Words to Express Mood in Your Writing
• 60 Senior Project Ideas
• Common App Essay Prompts

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

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Creative Writing (M.F.A.)

The M.F.A. in Creative Writing is designed to be completed in three years. Students may specialize in Fiction or Poetry.

About Our Program

Our three-year M.F.A. degree offers tracks in Poetry and Fiction, and all students are fully and equally funded via GTA-ships of more than $20,000 per year. We encourage cross-genre experimentation, offer additional courses in creative nonfiction, playwriting, new media creative writing, and literary editing, and all students have the opportunity to teach creative writing and composition, as well as serve as editors of our literary journal,  The New River Journal .

Campuses:  

Virginia Tech Blacksburg Campus

Type of Instruction:

Residential/On Campus

What You'll Study

The M.F.A. in Creative Writing is designed to be completed in three years. Students may specialize in Fiction or Poetry. A minimum of 49 hours is required for this terminal degree. A series of creative writing workshops, courses in form and theory, new media writing, composition pedagogy, and literature and theory electives are designed for students wishing to pursue careers as writers or writer/scholars at the college level. Students also have the opportunity to work as editors on The New River: a Journal of Digital Writing and Art . A creative thesis, a written final exam, and an oral defense are required.

The 49 hours required for the degree must be distributed as follows:

• Creative Writing Workshops: 15 hours (6704/Fiction, 6714/Poetry, 6724/Playwriting, 6734/Creative Nonfiction, 6744/New Media Writing); at least 9 hours must be in the designated specialty; students are encouraged to explore other genres in 6 hours of workshops.
• Form and Theory Courses: 6 hours (5734/Form and Theory of Fiction, 5744/Form and Theory of Poetry).
• GTA Training and Composition Pedagogy: 3 hours.
• Creative Writing Pedagogy and Practicum: 3 hours.
• Editing a Literary Journal (5774): 6 hours 
• Research & Thesis (5994): 6 hours; a book-length creative thesis (a collection of poetry; a collection of short stories, or a novel)
• Graduate English courses: 9 hours; students may use an independent study in Editing a Digital Journal to help fulfill this requirement.

Why choose this program?

• Our three-year M.F.A. degree offers tracks in Poetry and Fiction, and all students are fully and equally funded via GTA-ships of more than $20,000 per year. We encourage cross-genre experimentation, offer additional courses in creative nonfiction, playwriting, new media creative writing, and literary editing, and all students have the opportunity to teach creative writing and composition, as well as serve as editors of our literary journal, The New River Journal .
• In the years since the program started, we’ve been consistently ranked among the top 30 programs in the country by Poets & Writers in their  M.F.A. rankings .
• The faculty members in our creative writing program at Virginia Tech are accomplished, prize-winning, innovative, and diverse: Ed Falco ,  Evan Lavender-Smith ,  Khadijah Queen ,  Lucinda Roy , Sophia Terazawa , and Matthew Vollmer .
• Our program is small—we admit 4–5 students a year in each genre—and we pride ourselves on the diversity and rigor of our program, our respect for our students’ voices, our financial support for our students, the individual attention students receive from faculty, and our robust  Visiting Writers Series . 
• Our  students  and  alumni  are exceptional; they have  published books , received prestigious awards and fellowships for their writing, and gone on to further success as writers, teachers, and professionals.
• All students have the opportunity to to hold editorial positions and gain publishing experience working on the digital journal, The New River Journal .
• Emily Morrison Prizes in Fiction and Poetry, and other M.F.A. writing awards offered each year.

Admissions and Tuition

Admissions requirements.

• Minimum GPA 3.0 (4 Scale)
• TOEFL/ IELTS score required  (if applicable)

Learn more about admissions requirements 

Application Deadline

January 21, 2025. 

Current Students

Funding opportunities.

The Department of English has a limited number of  graduate assistantships and fellowships  available for students applying for full time study on the Blacksburg Campus. Entering students can apply for such funding as part of their admissions application.  No separate application  required.

• All students equally and fully funded through Graduate Teaching Assistantships.
• GTA-ships include tuition remission, health insurance, and stipends of more than $20,000 per year for all three years of the program

Find out what loans are available as a graduate student and other opportunities.

Other Graduate Programs

If you have questions about the M.F.A. Program, please contact:

Marie Trimmer Graduate Programs Coodinator 310 Shanks Hall 540-231-4659  [email protected]

Matthew Vollmer 431 Shanks Hall 540-231-8322l [email protected]

Faculty In Creative Writing

• --> General Item Ed Falco -->
• --> General Item Khadijah Queen -->
• --> General Item Evan Lavender-Smith -->
• --> General Item Matthew Vollmer -->
• --> General Item Lucinda Roy -->
• --> General Item Sophia Terazawa -->
• --> General Item Janine Joseph -->

M.F.A. Bookshelf

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Department of English

M.f.a. creative writing.

English Department

Physical Address: 200 Brink Hall

Mailing Address: English Department University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1102 Moscow, Idaho 83844-1102

Phone: 208-885-6156

Email: [email protected]

Web: English

Thank you for your interest in the Creative Writing MFA Program at University of Idaho: the premier fully funded, three-year MFA program in the Northwest. Situated in the panhandle of Northern Idaho in the foothills of Moscow Mountain, we offer the time and support to train in the traditions, techniques, and practice of nonfiction, poetry, and fiction. Each student graduates as the author of a manuscript of publishable quality after undertaking a rigorous process of thesis preparation and a public defense. Spring in Moscow has come to mean cherry blossoms, snowmelt in Paradise Creek, and the head-turning accomplishments of our thesis-year students. Ours is a faculty of active, working writers who relish teaching and mentorship. We invite you in the following pages to learn about us, our curriculum, our community, and the town of Moscow. If the prospect of giving yourself three years with us to develop as a writer, teacher, and editor is appealing, we look forward to reading your application.

Pure Poetry

A Decade Working in a Smelter Is Topic of Alumnus Zach Eddy’s Poems

Ancestral Recognition

The region surrounding the University of Idaho is the ancestral land of both the Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce peoples, and its campus in Moscow sits on unceded lands guaranteed to the Nez Perce people in the 1855 Treaty with the Nez Perce. As a land grant university, the University of Idaho also benefits from endowment lands that are the ancestral homes to many of the West’s Native peoples. The Department of English and Creative Writing Program acknowledge this history and share in the communal effort to ensure that the complexities and atrocities of the past remain in our discourse and are never lost to time. We invite you to think of the traditional “land acknowledgment” statement through our MFA alum CMarie Fuhrman’s words .

Degree Requirements

Three years to write.

Regardless of where you are in your artistic career, there is nothing more precious than time. A three-year program gives you time to generate, refine, and edit a body of original work. Typically, students have a light third year, which allows for dedicated time to complete and revise the Creative Thesis. (48 manuscript pages for those working in poetry, 100 pages for those working in prose.)

Our degree requirements are designed to reflect the real-world interests of a writer. Students are encouraged to focus their studies in ways that best reflect their artistic obsessions as well as their lines of intellectual and critical inquiry. In effect, students may be as genre-focused or as multi-genre as they please. Students must remain in-residence during their degrees. Typically, one class earns you 3 credits. The MFA requires a total of 54 earned credits in the following categories.

12 Credits : Graduate-level Workshop courses in Fiction, Poetry, and/or Nonfiction. 9 Credits: Techniques and Traditions courses in Fiction, Poetry, and/or Nonfiction 3 Credits : Internships: Fugue, Confluence Lab, and/or Pedagogy 9 Credits: Literature courses 12 Credits: Elective courses 10 Credits: Thesis

Flexible Degree Path

Students are admitted to our program in one of three genres, Poetry, Fiction, or Nonfiction. By design, our degree path offers ample opportunity to take Workshop, Techniques, Traditions, and Literature courses in any genre. Our faculty work and publish in multiple genres and value the slipperiness of categorization. We encourage students to write in as broad or focused a manner as they see fit. We are not at all interested in making writers “stay in their lanes,” and we encourage students to shape their degree paths in accordance with their passions. 

What You Study

During your degree, you will take Workshop, Techniques, Traditions, and Literature courses.

Our workshop classes are small by design (typically twelve students or fewer) and taught by core and visiting MFA faculty. No two workshop experiences look alike, but what they share are faculty members committed to the artistic and intellectual passions of their workshop participants.

Techniques studios are developed and taught by core and visiting MFA faculty. These popular courses are dedicated to the granular aspects of writing, from deep study of the poetic image to the cultivation of independent inquiry in nonfiction to the raptures of research in fiction. Such courses are heavy on generative writing and experimentation, offering students a dedicated space to hone their craft in a way that is complementary to their primary work.

Traditions seminars are developed and taught by core and visiting MFA faculty. These generative writing courses bring student writing into conversation with a specific trajectory or “tradition” of literature, from life writing to outlaw literature to the history of the short story, from prosody to postwar surrealism to genre-fluidity and beyond. These seminars offer students a dynamic space to position their work within the vast and varied trajectories of literature.

Literature courses are taught by core Literature and MFA faculty. Our department boasts field-leading scholars, interdisciplinary writers and thinkers, and theory-driven practitioners who value the intersection of scholarly study, research, humanism, and creative writing.

Award-Winning Faculty

We teach our classes first and foremost as practitioners of the art. Full stop. Though our styles and interests lie at divergent points on the literary landscape, our common pursuit is to foster the artistic and intellectual growth of our students, regardless of how or why they write. We value individual talent and challenge all students to write deep into their unique passions, identities, histories, aesthetics, and intellects. We view writing not as a marketplace endeavor but as an act of human subjectivity. We’ve authored or edited several books across the genres.

Learn more about Our People .

Thesis Defense

The MFA experience culminates with each student writing and defending a creative thesis. For prose writers, theses are 100 pages of creative work; for poets, 48 pages. Though theses often take the form of an excerpt from a book-in-progress, students have flexibility when it comes to determining the shape, form, and content of their creative projects. In their final year, each student works on envisioning and revising their thesis with three committee members, a Major Professor (core MFA faculty) and two additional Readers (core UI faculty). All students offer a public thesis defense. These events are attended by MFA students, faculty, community members, and other invitees. During a thesis defense, a candidate reads from their work for thirty minutes, answers artistic and critical questions from their Major Professor and two Readers for forty-five minutes, and then answer audience questions for thirty minutes. Though formally structured and rigorous, the thesis defense is ultimately a celebration of each student’s individual talent.

The Symposium Reading Series is a longstanding student-run initiative that offers every second-year MFA candidate an opportunity to read their works-in-progress in front of peers, colleagues, and community members. This reading and Q & A event prepares students for the third-year public thesis defense. These off-campus events are fun and casual, exemplifying our community centered culture and what matters most: the work we’re all here to do.

Teaching Assistantships

All students admitted to the MFA program are fully funded through Teaching Assistantships. All Assistantships come with a full tuition waiver and a stipend, which for the current academic year is roughly $15,000. Over the course of three years, MFA students teach a mix of composition courses, sections of Introduction to Creative Writing (ENGL 290), and additional writing courses, as departmental needs arise. Students may also apply to work in the Writing Center as positions become available. When you join the MFA program at Idaho, you receive teacher training prior to the beginning of your first semester. We value the role MFA students serve within the department and consider each graduate student as a working artist and colleague. Current teaching loads for Teaching Assistants are two courses per semester. Some members of the Fugue editorial staff receive course reductions to offset the demands of editorial work. We also award a variety of competitive and need-based scholarships to help offset general living costs. In addition, we offer three outstanding graduate student fellowships: The Hemingway Fellowship, Centrum Fellowship, and Writing in the Wild Fellowship. Finally, our Graduate and Professional Student Association offers extra-departmental funding in the form of research and travel grants to qualifying students throughout the academic year.

Distinguished Visiting Writers Series

Each year, we bring a Distinguished Visiting Writer to campus. DVWs interface with our writing community through public readings, on-stage craft conversations hosted by core MFA faculty, and small seminars geared toward MFA candidates. Recent DVWs include Maggie Nelson, Roger Reeves, Luis Alberto Urrea, Brian Evenson, Kate Zambreno, Dorianne Laux, Teju Cole, Tyehimba Jess, Claire Vaye Watkins, Naomi Shihab Nye, David Shields, Rebecca Solnit, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Susan Orlean, Natasha Tretheway, Jo Ann Beard, William Logan, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, Gabino Iglesias, and Marcus Jackson, among several others.

Fugue Journal

Established in 1990 at the University of Idaho, Fugue publishes poetry, fiction, essays, hybrid work, and visual art from established and emerging writers and artists. Fugue is managed and edited entirely by University of Idaho graduate students, with help from graduate and undergraduate readers. We take pride in the work we print, the writers we publish, and the presentation of both print and digital content. We hold an annual contest in both prose and poetry, judged by two nationally recognized writers. Past judges include Pam Houston, Dorianne Laux, Rodney Jones, Mark Doty, Rick Moody, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Jo Ann Beard, Rebecca McClanahan, Patricia Hampl, Traci Brimhall, Edan Lepucki, Tony Hoagland, Chen Chen, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, sam sax, and Leni Zumas. The journal boasts a remarkable list of past contributors, including Steve Almond, Charles Baxter, Stephen Dobyns, Denise Duhamel, Stephen Dunn, B.H. Fairchild, Nick Flynn, Terrance Hayes, Campbell McGrath, W.S. Merwin, Sharon Olds, Jim Shepard, RT Smith, Virgil Suarez, Melanie Rae Thon, Natasha Trethewey, Philip Levine, Anthony Varallo, Robert Wrigley, and Dean Young, among many others.

Academy of American Poets University Prize

The Creative Writing Program is proud to partner with the Academy of American Poets to offer an annual Academy of American Poets University Prize to a student at the University of Idaho. The prize results in a small honorarium through the Academy as well as publication of the winning poem on the Academy website. The Prize was established in 2009 with a generous grant from Karen Trujillo and Don Burnett. Many of our nation’s most esteemed and celebrated poets won their first recognition through an Academy of American Poets Prize, including Diane Ackerman, Toi Derricotte, Mark Doty, Tess Gallagher, Louise Glück, Jorie Graham, Kimiko Hahn, Joy Harjo, Robert Hass, Li-Young Lee, Gregory Orr, Sylvia Plath, Mark Strand, and Charles Wright.

Fellowships

Centrum fellowships.

Those selected as Centrum Fellows attend the summer Port Townsend Writers’ Conference free of charge. Housed in Fort Worden (which is also home to Copper Canyon Press), Centrum is a nonprofit dedicated to fostering several artistic programs throughout the year. With a focus on rigorous attention to craft, the Writers’ Conference offers five full days of morning intensives, afternoon workshops, and craft lectures to eighty participants from across the nation. The cost of the conference, which includes tuition, lodging, and meals, is covered by the scholarship. These annual scholarship are open to all MFA candidates in all genres.

Hemingway Fellowships

This fellowship offers an MFA Fiction student full course releases in their final year. The selection of the Hemingway Fellow is based solely on the quality of an applicant’s writing. Each year, applicants have their work judged blind by a noted author who remains anonymous until the selection process has been completed. Through the process of blind selection, the Hemingway Fellowship Fund fulfills its mission of giving the Fellow the time they need to complete a substantial draft of a manuscript.

Writing in the Wild

This annual fellowship gives two MFA students the opportunity to work in Idaho’s iconic wilderness areas. The fellowship fully supports one week at either the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS), which borders Payette Lake and Ponderosa State Park, or the Taylor Wilderness Research Station, which lies in the heart of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. Both campuses offer year-round housing. These writing retreats allow students to concentrate solely on their writing. Because both locations often house researchers, writers will also have the opportunity to interface with foresters, geologists, biologists, and interdisciplinary scholars.

Program History

Idaho admitted its first class of seven MFA students in 1994 with a faculty of four: Mary Clearman Blew, Tina Foriyes, Ron McFarland (founder of Fugue), and Lance Olsen. From the beginning, the program was conceived as a three-year sequence of workshops and techniques classes. Along with offering concentrations in writing fiction and poetry, Idaho was one of the first in the nation to offer a full concentration in creative nonfiction. Also from its inception, Idaho not only allowed but encouraged its students to enroll in workshops outside their primary genres. Idaho has become one of the nation’s most respected three-year MFA programs, attracting both field-leading faculty and students. In addition to the founders of this program, notable distinguished faculty have included Kim Barnes, Robert Wrigley, Daniel Orozco, Joy Passanante, Tobias Wray, Brian Blanchfield, and Scott Slovic, whose collective vision, rigor, grit, and care have paved the way for future generations committed to the art of writing.

The Palouse

Situated in the foothills of Moscow Mountain amid the rolling terrain of the Palouse (the ancient silt beds unique to the region), our location in the vibrant community of Moscow, Idaho, boasts a lively and artistic local culture. Complete with independent bookstores, coffee shops, art galleries, restaurants and breweries, (not to mention a historic art house cinema, organic foods co-op, and renowned seasonal farmer’s market), Moscow is a friendly and affordable place to live. Outside of town, we’re lucky to have many opportunities for hiking, skiing, rafting, biking, camping, and general exploring—from nearby Idler’s Rest and Kamiak Butte to renowned destinations like Glacier National Park, the Snake River, the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area, and Nelson, BC. As for more urban getaways, Spokane, Washington, is only a ninety-minute drive, and our regional airline, Alaska, makes daily flights to and from Seattle that run just under an hour.

For upcoming events and program news, please visit our calendar .

For more information about the MFA program, please contact us at:  [email protected]

Department of English University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1102 Moscow, ID 83844-1102 208-885-6156

Department of English

College of humanities and sciences, mfa in creative writing.

Our selective and academically rigorous 48-credit, three-year program is designed to provide talented writers with the opportunity to work closely with both outstanding faculty and gifted peers.

Students will strengthen their craft, develop their literary aesthetics, enrich their understanding of existing traditions and compositional possibilities, and participate actively in the life of the literary community at large.

The primary tracks are poetry and fiction, and admission is highly competitive. In addition to the poetry and fiction workshops, there are courses available that focus on writing drama, nonfiction, and screenplays, as well as courses that provide practical experience in editing.

The basic requirements to complete the MFA degree program are simple and straightforward, and include 12 semester hours of writing workshops, 12 hours graduate literature courses, and six to 12 hours of thesis work. Thesis hours enable students to produce a substantial creative writing thesis, a requirement of graduation.

Concentrations

In addition to completing a thesis, fiction students will learn effective approaches for creating sustained works of fiction distinguished by a nuanced use of appropriate narrative elements, techniques and conventions and will demonstrate a highly developed proficiency in understanding and creating story structures.

Degree Details

Learning Outcomes

How to Apply

Students in the poetry concentration will gain skillful use or knowledge of major poetic devices and classic poetic forms in addition to completing a thesis.

We have expanded creative nonfiction/CNF work and created the new dual genre concentration to allow our MFA students to formally add CNF to their academic concentrations.

Program Highlights

Increased financial support.

Graduate assistantship stipends have greatly increased, and now range from $14,000 up to $22,000 a year (plus tuition waiver). All current full-time MFA students are funded.

Teaching Opportunities

Assistantships not only offer teaching opportunities in writing and rhetoric coursework, but also undergraduate creative writing classes as well.

Travel Funding

We have newly established travel stipends for MFA students for summer writing conferences and study abroad travel, as well as yearly travel funding and registration waivers for students attending the annual AWP conference.

Assistantship Options

Assistantship assignments also include the opportunity to coordinate VCU’s national literary awards , including the Cabell First Novelist, Levis Reading Prize, and Tarumoto Prize in short fiction.

Dual Genre Concentration

Independent study and internships.

We offer three-year course requirements that enable MFA students to design up to six credits of independent study and six credits of professional internships, including opportunities to work in electronic publishing (editorial, web design, digital sound editing, and more) via the program’s nationally prominent online literary journal, Blackbird .

Small Workshops

We boast an excellent 4 to 1 student to faculty ratio. Our program has nine full-time MFA faculty and approximately 30 graduate students.

Coursework Options

We have additional and regular offerings in screenwriting, form and theory coursework , and literary editing/publishing seminars.

Active Authors

Every one of our full-time faculty members has a recent or forthcoming book publication .

Faculty Specialties

We have recent faculty hires in both fiction and creative nonfiction.

A polished, book-length creative thesis is the capstone project of the MFA curriculum. Assessment of learning outcomes are conducted through a comprehensive review of each student’s thesis by the student’s thesis director and second reader (always a member of the MFA faculty ). In addition, to determine each student’s comprehension of the literary antecedents and cultural contexts of their work, and to evaluate the written and oral articulation of personal aesthetics, an exit interview (or in some cases, a traditional “thesis defense”) will be conducted by members of the MFA faculty.

Virginia Tech Fully Funded MFA in Creative Writing

Virginia tech.

Virginia Tech based in Blacksburg, VA offers a three-year fully funded MFA in creative writing. The MFA program offers tracks in Poetry and Fiction. Encouraged cross-genre experimentation, offer additional courses in creative nonfiction, playwriting, new media creative writing, and literary editing, and all students have the opportunity to teach creative writing and composition, as well as serve as editors of one of our two literary journals. All students are fully and equally funded via GTA-ships of more than $20,000 per year.

• Deadline: Jan 15, 2025 (Confirmed)*
• Work Experience: Any
• Location: North America
• Citizenship: Any
• Residency: United States

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