Creative Writing
(CRWR)
Abstract
The MFA in Creative Writing provides a professional course of study for graduate students seeking to perfect their ability to compose poems, stories, and novels. While primarily affording students intensive studio or practical work within their chosen genre, the MFA in Creative Writing requires that students incorporate such work with a traditional study of literature. The goal of the MFA in Creative Writing is to provide an atmosphere in which students can both hone their skills as writers and gain a theoretical and historical understanding of their craft.
Admissions Information
In addition to fulfilling Graduate School requirements, applicants to the M.F.A. degree program should present a 3.0 GPA. Applicants should submit a writing sample, for fiction, 25 pages, or for poetry, 10 poems, to the Office of the Creative Writing Program. Applications must be received by January 15. Admission is for the Fall semester only.
Application Deadlines
Type of Applicant Fall Spring Domestic Applicants; US Citizens and Permanent Residents with foreign credentials; International Applicants seeking admissions under A, E, G, H, I and L visas and immigrants
Deadline: January 15
International Applicants seeking admission under F (student) or J (exchange visitor) visas
Deadline: January 15
Application Requirements
- GRE General recommended
- 3 Letters of Recommendation
- Writing Sample
Degree Requirements
Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)
The M.F.A. degree program requires 36 credit hours of graduate work. The program balances courses in literature with writing workshops (30 hours), and requires a creative thesis (six hours). It offers concentrations in fiction and in poetry.
Facilities and Special Resources
Resources for research in the College Park and Washington, D.C. area are unsurpassed. The university's libraries hold over 2,000,000 volumes. In addition to the outstanding holdings of the Library of Congress, the area also offers the specialized resources of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Dumbarton Oaks, the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Center for the Study of the Visual Arts.
UMCP is a member of the Consortium of Institutions in the Washington area, which permits graduate students at College Park to enroll in courses at other universities for graduate credit at UMCP. Graduate students in English also may take courses for graduate credit at the Folger Institute of Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Studies, which runs a series of seminars by distinguished scholars each year.
Financial Assistance
The Graduate School awards a small number of fellowships to candidates nominated by the various departments. In conjunction with the Graduate School, the English Department also awards teaching assistantships, the primary form of financial aid. Currently, about 85 teaching assistantships are awarded each year, and about 25 of these go to incoming students or to enrolled students who have not previously held them.
Contact Information
Additional information on admission, degree requirements, and financial aid can be obtained from:
Lindsay Bernal, Academic Coordinator
Creative Writing Program,
2116D Tawes Hall,
Department of English,
University of Maryland,
College Park, MD 20740
MD
20740
Telephone: 301-405-3820
Fax: 301-314-7539
lbernal@umd.edu
http://www.english.umd.edu/creativewriting
