Graduate Studies
Students in our M.A. and Ph.D. programs enjoy:
- Nationally competitive graduate stipends, up to $15,000 per year, with opportunities to teach a wide range of courses, including creative writing workshops
- Generous graduate student travel funding
- Editorial fellowships on New Ohio Review, Quarter after Eight, and Brevity
- Opportunities to interact with our distinguished visiting writers, including funding for long-term mentoring arrangements
M.A. candidates complete two years of study and write a thesis of creative work in their genre. Doctoral candidates must complete five years of study, comprehensive exams, a major critical essay, and a creative dissertation.
Graduate Seminars
Creative Writing graduate seminars mix both studio and academic approaches while being selective regarding genre (poetry, fiction, and nonfiction). There are typically two poetry and fiction workshops offered per year, each of the four workshops taught by different instructors, and one creative nonfiction workshop. Form and theory courses in each genre are offered annually depending on student demand. The catalog numbers for workshops are 6970 (poetry), 6980 (nonfiction), and 6990 (fiction). Current and recent courses include:
- 765: Theory of Literature: Poetry, Mark Halliday
- 691: Creative Writing Seminar: Fiction, Joan Connor
- 765: Theory of Literature: Fiction, Zakes Mda
- 691: Creative Writing Seminar: Poetry, Jill Allyn Rosser
- 694: History of the Essay, Dinty W. Moore
- 765: Theory of Literature: Fiction, Darrell Spencer
Creative Writing Requirements
In addition the general PhD requirements, doctoral students in creative writing must take two take two literary history seminars in their period of specialization and one literary history seminar in a period other than their period of specialization. They also take two creative writing workshops in their genre and two creative writing workshops outside their genre. They also take a graduate elective which can be outside the department, but may be a fifth workshop in their third year as part of their preparation for the creative writing dissertation.
In addition to the general MA requirements, masters students in creative writing take three creative writing workshops in their genre of specialization and one additional creative writing workshop outside that genre. They also take two literary history seminars and complete a creative master's thesis.
Admissions Materials Online
For information on applying to the graduate program in creative writing, please see the admissions page of this site. Please note that the writing sample for creative writing applicants should be appropriate to genre: fiction (20-40 pages), nonfiction (20-40 pages), or poetry (10 poems). In addition, applicants for the Ph.D. program in creative writing should submit a critical paper from a previous literature class. Applicants for the M.A. program should send only their creative work.
