university of maryland college park mfa creative writing

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University of Maryland

Maryland, united states.

The University of Maryland, College Park, offers an MFA in Creative Writing, a BA with a Creative Writing track for undergraduate English majors and a Creative Writing minor. Graduate students participate in a series of writing workshops, seminars in form and theory, and elect a sequence of surveys and seminars from the regular English Department offerings. Undergraduates take a sequence of beginning, intermediate, and advanced poetry or fiction writing workshops, as well as seminars in special topics related to the craft of writing.

Special opportunities for creative writing students include Lannan Fellowships, internships at the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress, and the possibility of taking courses at other area colleges and universities. The University sponsors annual contests for poetry and fiction contests in conjunction with the Academy of American Poets and the Estate of Katherine Anne Porter.

The University of Maryland, College Park is strategically located 20 minutes from Washington, D.C. and 45 minutes from Baltimore, and as a result affords students a wide range of unique and exciting urban, literary, political, and cultural experiences. The University itself is the largest in the area; with its libraries, film and lecture series, and course offerings, it provides the necessary resources for a full creative and intellectual environment. The Folger Shakespeare Library, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center for the Arts, the Phillips Collection, and the Smithsonian Institution, which includes the Hirshhorn and the Sackler and Freer Galleries, are only a few of the possibilities available to area residents.

The graduate program is limited in size in order to provide students with individual attention from instructors. MFA students are fully funded for up to three years through Teaching Assistantships that provide them with opportunities to teach introductory creative writing workshops, academic writing, and English literature courses.

Writers Here & Now, the MFA Program's reading series, co-sponsored and co-curated by the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House (UMD’s undergraduate residential college devoted to creative writing), brings writers of national and international prominence to the University of Maryland each year, both to read and meet with students in the graduate and undergraduate workshops. Recent visiting writers include Lesley Nneka Arimah, Jennifer Chang, Jos Charles, Alexander Chee, Jennine Capó Crucet, Natalie Diaz, Danielle Evans, Ross Gay, Louise Glück, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Terrance Hayes, John Keene, Mitchell S. Jackson, Yiyun Li, Airea D. Matthews, Claudia Rankine, Cristina Rivera Garza, Nicole Sealey, Evie Shockley, Ocean Vuong, Monica Youn, and Javier Zamora. We also invite program alumni to read in the series and visit with the MFAs.

Contact Information

2119 Tawes Hall 7751 Alumni Drive College Park Maryland, United States 20742-2315 Phone: 301-405-3820 Email: [email protected] https://english.umd.edu/academic-programs/graduate/creative-writing

Minor / Concentration in Creative Writing +

Undergraduate program director.

The minor in Creative Writing offers students the opportunity to engage deeply with their own writing and that of their peers in a graduated series of workshops led by professional writers of poetry and prose. Participants in the program take four workshops sequentially during their undergraduate careers, plus one upper-level English literature course of their choice. Eligibility for the Creative Writing minor requires either successful completion of the appropriate 200-level Creative Writing workshop with a grade of A or A-, or submission of an acceptable portfolio of work to the Creative Writing faculty.

Visit the English Department's website for more information:

https://www.english.umd.edu/academics/undergraduate/minor-crwr

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing +

Graduate program director.

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.

Special opportunities for creative writing students include the possibility of taking courses at other area colleges and universities. The University sponsors annual contests for poetry and fiction contests in conjunction with the Academy of American Poets and the Estate of Katherine Anne Porter.

The University of Maryland, College Park is strategically located 20 minutes from Washington, D.C. and 45 minutes from Baltimore, and as a result affords students a wide range of unique and exciting urban, literary, political, and cultural experiences. The University itself is the largest in the area; with its libraries, film and lecture series, and course offerings, it provides the necessary resources for a full creative and intellectual environment. The Folger Shakespeare Library, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center for the Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution, which includes the Hirshhorn, Sackler, and Freer galleries, are only a few of the possibilities available to area residents.

The graduate program is fully funded and provides students with individual attention from instructors. MFA students in creative writing gain experience teaching undergraduate creative workshops, academic writing and English literature courses.

Elizabeth Arnold

Author of Wave House, Skeleton Coast, Life, Effacement, Civilization, The Reef

https://www.english.umd.edu/profiles/earnold

Joshua Weiner

Author of Berlin Notebook, The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish, From the Book of Giants, The World's Room; Translator, with Linda B. Parshall, of Nelly Sachs's Flight and Metamorphosis

http://www.joshuaweiner.com/

Author of City of Incurable Women, The Art of Mystery, The Man Who Walked Away, Genealogy, The Shape of Things to Come, Drastic

https://maudcasey.com/

Emily Mitchell

Author of Viral: Stories, The Last Summer of the World

http://emilymitchellwriter.com/

Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes

Author of Are We Ever Our Own, The Sleeping World

https://gabriellelucillefuentes.com/

Rion Amilar Scott

Author of The World Doesn't Require You, Insurrections

http://www.rionamilcarscott.com

Lilian-Yvonne Bertram

Author of Negative Money, Travesty Generator, Personal Science, a slice of cake made of air, But a Storm is Blowing From Paradise

https://www.lillianyvonnebertram.com/about

Publications & Presses +

Visiting writers program +.

Elizabeth Acevedo, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Mary Jo Bang, Russell Banks, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Anne Carson, Jennifer Chang, Jos Charles, Alexander Chee, Michael Cunningham, Jennine Capó Crucet, Kathryn Davis, Natalie Diaz, Anthony Doerr, Timothy Donnelly, Danielle Evans, Joshua Ferris, Ross Gay, Louise Glück, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Robert Hass, Terrance Hayes, Amy Hempel, Brenda Hillman, Major Jackson, Mitchell S. Jackson, John Keene, Victor LaValle, Yiyun Li, Airea D. Matthews, Colum McCann, Ana Menéndez, Maaza Mengiste, Sigrid Nunez, Michael Ondaatje, Deesha Philyaw, Robert Pinsky, Francine Prose, Claudia Rankine, Cristina Rivera Garza, Mary Ruefle, Karen Russell, George Saunders, Jim Shepard, Evie Shockley, Tracy K. Smith, Arthur Sze, Natasha Trethewey, Colm Tóibín, Ocean Vuong, Monica Youn, Javier Zamora, Matthew Zapruder.

Reading Series +

Writers Here & Now ( https://english.umd.edu/academic-programs/graduate/creative-writing )

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University of Maryland - College Park MA in Creative Writing

Creative Writing is a concentration offered under the writing studies major at University of Maryland - College Park. We’ve gathered data and other essential information about the master’s degree program in creative writing, such as diversity of students, how many students graduated in recent times, 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 UMCP Cost?

Umcp graduate tuition and fees.

During the 2019-2020 academic year, part-time graduate students at UMCP paid an average of $1,625 per credit hour if they came to the school from out-of-state. In-state students paid a discounted rate of $731 per credit hour. The average full-time tuition and fees for graduate students are shown in the table below.

Does UMCP Offer an Online MA in Creative Writing?

Online degrees for the UMCP creative writing master’s degree program are not available at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the UMCP Online Learning page.

UMCP Master’s Student Diversity for Creative Writing

Male-to-female ratio.

About 85.7% of the students who received their MA in creative writing in 2019-2020 were women. This is higher than the nationwide number of 66.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

Racial-ethnic minority graduates* made up 42.9% of the creative writing master’s degrees at UMCP in 2019-2020. This is higher 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 .

Popular Reports

Compare your school options.

Creative Writing

A fully funded M.F.A. program that combines creative and scholarly work, undergraduate teaching, and professionalization opportunities.

Quick Links

• Enrolling in Undergraduate Intermediate Workshops
• Creative Writing Minor
• Writers Here and Now Event Series
• Jiménez-Porter Writers' House
• Stanley Plumly Lecture Series

The M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing is nationally ranked and our graduates are the recipients of many distinguished awards and fellowships.

Follow us on Facebook .

Our Faculty

Lillian-yvonne bertram.

Associate Professor, English Director, MFA Program in Creative Writing, English

Professor, English

3103 Tawes Hall College Park MD, 20742

Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes

Associate Professor, English

3120 Tawes Hall College Park MD, 20742

Emily Mitchell

3122 Tawes Hall College Park MD, 20742

Rion Amilcar Scott

3234 Tawes Hall College Park MD, 20742

Joshua Weiner

3113 Tawes Hall College Park MD, 20742

Program Coordinator

Lindsay bernal.

Academic Coordinator, MFA Program in Creative Writing, English MFA Program in Creative Writing, English

2116E Tawes Hall College Park MD, 20742

Emeritus Faculty

Michael collier.

Emeritus Professor, English

Former Faculty

Elizabeth arnold.

3101 Tawes Hall College Park MD, 20742

Program Requirements

The Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing offers concentrations in fiction and poetry and requires a creative thesis. The course requirements include both writing workshops and literature courses.  

Course Requirements

• Four writing workshops in your concentration (poetry or fiction: English 688 or ENGL 689, respectively).
• Four graduate (600- or 700-level) literature courses.
• At least one semester of Studies in Narrative Form (English 789), if your concentration is fiction, or Studies in Poetic Form (English 788), if your concentration is poetry.
• NOTE: Forms courses are repeatable and can be taken outside of your concentration for elective credit.
• One graduate-level (600-level or above) course outside the English Department, or one 400-level English course elective within the English Department.

Beginning in the second year, MFA students register for English 799 (thesis research) under the direction of a member of the creative writing faculty, write as a thesis a book-length manuscript of fiction or poetry.

Mentoring Credit

All MFA students are required to complete one credit of pedagogical or professional mentoring each semester: either ENGL878 or ENGL898.

A Letter from the M.F.A. Program Faculty

Dear Prospective Students,

Our MFA program is committed to social justice and antiracism. Our workshop process decenters whiteness and amplifies BIPOC voices, as we aim to create a space of equity for writing and collaboration and encourage extending creative practice into the world.  What is the writing that is happening now, that is looking to the future and creating a viable community?  The answer starts in the work of your imagination, your dedication to the craft, and your sense that this matters beyond the act of writing. Our commitment is to you. 

Each fall, we welcome three poets and three fiction writers into the MFA Program, a studio-based fine arts program devoted to the development and mentoring of the next generation of poets and fiction writers. 

Our attention is to your original writing and to you, the writer; our aim is to help you become the writer you envision for yourself.  As fully funded writers, selected by the program faculty from an applicant pool of over 200, you’ll spend two to three years taking workshops, literature courses, and creative forms courses, meeting one-on-one with our faculty, and gaining valuable experience teaching undergraduate workshops, academic writing, and literature courses.

Our varied individual teaching philosophies share the conviction that the hard work of drafting and revising original stories and poems is grounded in reading and studying exemplary works.  Literary history, innovative poetic and narrative form, and the experience of the writer all come into play through the shaping hand of art.

During the second and third years of the program, MFA students develop a thesis (a book-length collection of poetry or short fiction, a novel, or a hybrid project) under the direction of the MFA faculty. Students have the opportunity to work closely with each program faculty member in the genre of concentration during their time at UMD.

Completion of the thesis culminates in the occasion of a thesis defense with several faculty members, and a celebratory public reading, at which each student is introduced by their faculty mentor.

The MFA core curriculum includes practica in teaching creative writing (in the first semester) and finishing the thesis (in the last semester), plus a set of professionalization courses to prepare you for a career in creative writing.  Our program emphasizes one-on-one mentoring and personal attention to your development as a writer in the world. 

The Writers Here & Now reading series, co-sponsored and -curated by the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House (UMD’s undergraduate residential college devoted to creative writing), brings writers of national and international prominence to the University of Maryland each year, both to read and meet with students in the graduate and undergraduate workshops. Recent visiting writers include Leslie Nneka Arimah, Jennifer Chang, Jos Charles,  Alexander Chee, Jennine Capó Crucet, Natalie Diaz, Danielle Evans, Ross Gay, Louise Glück, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Terrance Hayes, Mitchell S. Jackson, John Keene, Yiyun Li, Claudia Rankine, Cristina Rivera Garza, Evie Shockley, Ocean Vuong, and Javier Zamora.  We also invite program alumni to read in the series and visit with the MFAs.

Our program faculty and alumni include recipients of the following awards and honors: ●    Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize ●    Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship ●    Guggenheim Fellowship ●    Italo Calvino Prize ●    National Book Award ●    National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship ●    NAACP Image Award ●    National Jewish Book Award ●    National Poetry Series competition ●    New York Public Library Young Lions Prize ●    Rome Prize ●    Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award ●    Whiting Writers’ Award

They have received Stegner, Hodder, Radcliffe Institute, and Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center fellowships, and their work has been featured in the following publications: ●    The Atlantic ●    Best American Poetry ●    Harvard Review ●    Los Angeles Review of Books ●    The Nation ●    The New Republic ●    The New Yorker ●    New York Review of Books ●    New York Times ●    Paris Review ●    Poetry ●    Threepenny Review ●    Washington Post ●    Yale Review

Our alumni have started their own literary journals online and in print: ●    The Account ●    Asian American Literary Review ●    AzonaL ●    B O D Y ●    Leavings ●    Oversound ●    Smartish Pace

They have continued their formal studies in doctoral programs at Florida State University, the University of Houston, the University of Illinois–Chicago, the University of Missouri, the University of Utah, and other top programs. And they have taught in universities, colleges, and high schools around the country and abroad, serving communities and fostering the literary arts.

We thank you for your interest in our program.  We urge you to review the department website to get a further sense of whether or not the MFA at Maryland is right for you.  And we wish you the very best in your writing.

M.F.A. Application Instructions

Submit the complete application and all supporting materials by December 14, 2023 —for the Fall 2024 term. (We do not accept applications for the Spring term.) Please note that the system will close promptly at midnight, so you will be unable to edit your application past 11:59pm on December 14, 2023. 

University of Maryland's Graduate Application Process

The University of Maryland’s Graduate School accepts applications through its application system . Before completing the application, applicants are asked to check the Admissions Requirements site for specific instructions.

As required by the Graduate School, all application materials are to be submitted electronically:

• Graduate Application
• Non-refundable application fee ($75) for each program to which an applicant applies.
• Unofficial transcripts of your entire college/university record (undergraduate and graduate), including records of any advanced work done at another institution. Electronic copies of these unofficial transcripts must be uploaded along with your online application. Official transcripts will be required after an applicant is admitted to the program.
• Three Letters of Recommendation . In your online application, please complete the information requested for your recommenders and ask them to submit their letters electronically. The strongest letters of recommendation are written by individuals who are familiar with your fiction or poetry and can speak about you as a writer.
• Statement of Purpose . The statement, which should not exceed 1000 words, should address your creative interests, relevant aspects of your educational experience, and your reasons for applying to our program.
• A single Creative Writing Sample in the genre in which you are applying: for fiction, 15 pages (double-spaced); for poetry, 10-15 pages (single-spaced). To ensure that your application package is processed accurately, you must specify your genre (fiction OR poetry) in the online application.

Note: We DO NOT require--or recommend--that applicants to the MFA Program in Creative Writing submit GRE scores.

The electronic submission of application materials helps expedite the review of an application. Completed applications are reviewed by a faculty admissions committee in each genre. The recommendations of the poetry and fiction committees are submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School, who will make the final admission decision. Students seeking to complete graduate work at the University of Maryland for degree purposes must be formally admitted to the Graduate School by the Dean.

Information for International Graduate Students

The University of Maryland is dedicated to maintaining a vibrant international graduate student community. The Office of International Students and Scholars Services (ISSS) is a valuable resource of information and assistance for prospective and current international students.  International applicants are encouraged to explore the services they offer, and contact them with related questions.

The University of Maryland Graduate School offers admission to international students based on academic information; it is not a guarantee of attendance.  Admitted international students will then receive instructions about obtaining the appropriate visa to study at the University of Maryland which will require submission of additional documents.  Please see the Graduate Admissions Process for International Applicants for more information.

Applicants are encouraged to direct any technical issues and questions related to the admissions process to the Graduate School ([email protected]; 301-405-3644)

Prospective M.F.A. Student FAQs

If, after reading this list, you still have unanswered questions, please contact us.

• Where do I apply on-line? You can apply now via the Graduate School's website .  
• When is the application deadline?  December 14, 2023 at 11:59 pm (EST)
• Does your program admit students for the Spring semester? No.
• What is the most important part of the application? The creative writing sample is the single most important element of a successful application to the MFA Program in Creative Writing. Of course, the Creative Writing faculty look closely at all of the other materials in the application file.
• Is it possible to meet with the Creative Writing faculty and/or staff to discuss the admissions process? Unfortunately, the faculty and/or staff do not have the time to meet with prospective applicants. We do, however, strongly encourage applicants who have been accepted into the program to visit during the spring semester to meet with faculty, staff, and current students and attend a graduate-level course.
• When are admissions decisions made? Admissions decisions are made in March.
• Should the fiction writing sample be one piece or several pieces? The fiction writing sample can be either a novel excerpt, a short story, or several short stories, as long as the writing sample does not exceed 15 double-spaced pages.
• Can I submit creative work in more than one genre and/or apply in more than one genre? No. All MFA applicants must apply within one genre (fiction or poetry) and submit work only within that chosen genre.
• Does Maryland offer an MFA in Creative Nonfiction? No. However, a workshop in Creative Nonfiction is offered occasionally, and MFA students are welcome to take it as an elective.
• Does the program offer a low-residency option? No.
• What kind of financial award packages does the program offer? Each year, the program accepts 6 applicants (3 fiction writers and 3 poets), who are fully funded by Teaching Assistantships for up to three years of graduate study. Our financial award packages include a stipend of about $25,000 per academic year and 60 credit hours of tuition remission (10 credit hours of tuition remission per semester) over three years of study. MFA students do not teach during their first year in the program. They teach two classes during their second year and four classes during the optional third year of study.
• How do I put myself in the running for funding? No separate application is required. Please see the question above.
• When are decisions made about program-awarded aid (fellowships and teaching assistantships) ?  In March. We fully fund all 6 applicants who we've accepted. Our offer letter details the program-awarded financial package.
• Where can I find information on tuition and fees? Student Financial Services and Cashiering provides a chart of tuition and fees for Graduate Students by credit hour and residency classification (resident and non-resident).
• Do MFA students ever attend the program part-time? No. Since our MFA students are fully funded  they must remain enrolled on a full-time basis (taking at least 6 credits per semester).
• What time do the MFA students take classes? Most graduate English classes are offered once a week, Monday-Thursday, either from 3:30-6pm or from 6:30-9pm. Fiction and poetry workshops are on Wednesdays from 3:30-6pm. Students must be enrolled continuously—unless they petition the Graduate School for a medical leave of absence or for a waiver of continuous registration and such petitions are approved.
• Does your program accept letters of recommendation via Interfolio? The Graduate School does not accept letters of recommendation via Interfolio. However, if Interfolio is your only option to submit your letters of recommendation, then please arrange for Interfolio to send your dossier electronically to the MFA Program Coordinator, Lindsay Bernal: [email protected] . (Lindsay will confirm the receipt of the dossier.) Please note that this alternative is a work-around: though the MFA faculty reviewers will be given access to your Interfolio dossier, your letters will continue to appear as missing from your online application.
• Does your program require applicants to submit GRE scores? No.
• Does your program waive the application fee? The Graduate School, not the Program, processes all application fee waiver requests. For more information about application fee waivers, including the eligibility guidelines, please visit the Graduate School’s website .

Featured Alumni

Poet shara mccallum mfa ’96 named 2023 guggenheim fellow.

The fellowship will support McCallum’s upcoming project, a collection of poems in response to Jamaican visual art.

Elizabeth Acevedo Has Written Her First Novel for Adults–and It’s Full of Magic

Creative Writing M.F.A. alum is profiled in TIME on her newest novel, Family Lore .

Jewish Folklore Goes Queer in Alum’s New Novel

The mystical and mundane meet in story inspired by Temim Fruchter's Eastern European family matriarchs.

Professor Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Hoa Nguyen ’91 Receive Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists

Accepting submissions: sadat poetry and music for justice and peace competitions, umd creative writing at awp 2024, poetry nfts are having a moment, lillian-yvonne bertram to read from 'negative money', kathryn maris on wave house by elizabeth arnold, umd english launches new stanley plumly lecture series in creative writing, professor joshua weiner shortlisted for 2023 national translation award in poetry, upcoming events.

University of Maryland, College Park

College Park , MD

http://www.english.umd.edu/academics/creativewriting

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry

Residency type

Program length.

36 credits (2–3 years)

Financial Aid

Each year, the program offers several Teaching Assistantships and Fellowships to the top applicants in each genre. These aid packages are typically 2-year agreements. Fellows do not teach in their first year; in their second year they teach two classes. TAs teach one class during their first year and three classes their second year. Although a great deal of this teaching is Academic Writing (English 101), all program-awarded aid recipients are guaranteed at least one chance to teach an undergraduate creative writing workshop or to serve as a teaching assistant in an undergraduate literature course.

Teaching opportunities

• Stephanie Allen MFA
• Joelle Biele MFA (Poetry) 1993
• Kara Candito MFA
• A. V. Christie MFA (Poetry)
• Katy Didden MFA (Poetry) 2003
• Jehanne Dubrow MFA (Poetry) 2003
• Sarah Fang MFA (Fiction) 2009
• Tim Fitts MFA
• James Hoch MFA (Poetry) 2000
• Steven Kleinman MFA (Poetry) 2011
• Anna Leahy MFA (Poetry)
• Shara Lessley MFA (Poetry) 2003
• Shara McCallum MFA (Poetry) 1996
• Elizabeth Oness MFA (Poetry) 1992
• Paul Otremba MFA (Poetry) 2005
• Patrick Phillips MFA 1995
• Taije Silverman MFA (Poetry)
• Hananah Zaheer MFA 2003

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 .

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Creative Writing Program / Creative Writing Program is located in College Park, MD, in a suburban setting.

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UMass Boston

• Creative Writing MFA

Further your commitment to writing as the center of your professional life.

Intensive study and practice of fiction and poetry writing with award-winning and nationally renowned faculty at the most diverse university in new england..

UMass Boston's Creative Writing MFA offers you an intense, 3-year program and focused opportunity to further your commitment to writing as the center of your professional life. Through a combination of mentoring by accomplished faculty in a series of creative writing workshops, courses focused on the study of literature offered through the English MA Program, and electives that include the practice of literary editing, the teaching of creative writing, documentary poetics, the art of memoir, and more—you will have the guidance to develop and shape your work to the full extent of your talent.

All accepted students receive funding. Graduate assistantships offer the opportunity to work with students as teaching assistants and fellows, or in editorial positions with one of our sponsors, including 826 Boston, Hanging Loose Press, Write on the Dot, Consequence Magazine, Breakwater Review, and Arrowsmith Press.

Career Possibilities

Pursue a career as a professional writer, publishing your work in literary journals, magazines. Work as an editor and collaborate with writers to refine their work and shape the final product for publication. These are just a few of the possibilities.

Become a(n):

• Writer/Author
• Literary Agent
• Writing Instructor/Professor

Start Your Application

Plan Your Education

How to apply.

Applicants must meet general graduate admission requirements in addition to the following program-specific requirements:

• A 3.0 GPA overall and in the student’s major
• Three substantive and detailed letters of recommendation, from former teachers familiar with the applicant’s most recent academic and creative work
• A 3-5 page personal statement focusing on the role of the candidate’s reading life in his or her development as a writer. (Note: The general Graduate Admissions application refers to this as a statement of interests and intent. They are one and the same.)
• Applicants must indicate whether they are applying in FICTION or POETRY in their Statement of Purpose. If you want to apply in both genres, include one writing sample in FICTION and one in POETRY and indicate in the Statement of Purpose that the application is for both.
• A writing sample of 10 manuscript pages of poetry or 20 manuscript pages of fiction

Deadlines & Cost

Deadlines: January 15 (priority) for fall. While rare, if space is available, we’ll happily consider applications until June 1 (final deadline).

Application Fee: The nonrefundable application fee is $75. UMass Boston alumni and current students that plan to complete degree requirements prior to graduate enrollment can submit the application without paying the application fee.

Program Cost Information: Bursar's website

Writing Workshops (24 Credits)

Complete one from below four times.

• CW 601 - MFA Poetry Workshop 6 Credit(s) or
• CW 602 - MFA Fiction Workshop 6 Credit(s)

Literature Courses (9 Credits)

Complete three graduate literature courses.

Electives (9 Credits)

Complete three from below.

• CW 605 - Memoir Workshop 3 Credit(s)
• CW 606 - Literary Editing and Publishing 3 Credit(s)
• CW 614 - The Teaching of Creative Writing 3 Credit(s)
• CW 675 - Creative Writing Internship 3 Credit(s)
• CW 697 - Special Topics in Creative Writing 1-6 Credit(s)

Students may elect courses offered by other graduate programs with approval from the graduate program director.

• ENGL 459 Seminar for Tutors may be taken for graduate credit (see Undergraduate Catalog)
• ENGL 675 - Reading and Writing Poetry 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 676 - Reading and Writing Fiction 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 681 - Advanced Workshop in Poetry 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 682 - Advanced Workshop in Fiction 3 Credit(s)

Thesis Courses (6 Credits)

Complete the course below both semesters of the third year.

• CW 699 - MFA Thesis 3 Credit(s)

Graduation Criteria

Complete 48 credits from twelve courses including four writing workshops, three literature courses, three electives, and two semesters of thesis workshops.

The MFA degree requires six semesters of full-time study, with 9 credits required in each of the first four semesters, and 6 credits in the final two semesters, during which students will concentrate on completing a thesis in fiction or poetry under the direction of a faculty member. MFA workshops are limited to 12 students, and seminars are limited to 15. Students have the opportunity to interact with writers in our Global Voices Visiting Writer series (recent visitors have been Raquel Salas Rivera and Carole Maso), and work with visiting prose writers - recently these have included Jane Unrue, ZZ Packer, and Fanny Howe.

Capstone: Completion of an MFA thesis of 48 to 64 pages of poetry or 100 to 200 pages of fiction written under the supervision of a thesis advisor, reviewed by a thesis committee, and subject to a public defense.

Statute of limitations: Five years.

Contact & Faculty

Graduate Program Director John Fulton john.fulton [at] umb.edu (617) 287-6700

English & Creative Writing MFA Department englishmfaprogram [at] umb.edu (617) 287-6702

Fiction Faculty

John Fulton , Program Director & Associate Professor Askold Melnyczuk , Professor Eileen Pollack , Visiting Assistant Professor

Poetry Faculty

Jill McDonough , Professor Shangyang Fang , Associate Lecturer

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