Degree Requirements
All M.F.A. candidates must complete 36 credits of course work.
Course requirements are genre specific, as follows:
Fiction
- The Art of Fiction (English 7910X) to be taken in the first semester.
- Fiction Workshop (English 7912X) to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester
- Reading Fiction (English 7911X) to be taken two times in the first year, but not more than once in any semester
- The Craft of Fiction (Eglish 7913X) to be taken two times in the second year, but not more than once in any semester.
Poetry
- Poetry Workshop (English 7922X) to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester
- The Craft of Poetry (English 7923X) to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester.
Playwriting
- Playwriting Workshop (English 7932X) to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester;
- The Craft of Playwriting (English 7933X) to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester.
Additional Course Work
In addition to the above listed requirements, students in the fiction concentration must complete 9 credits in three courses, and students in the poetry and playwriting concentrations must complete 12 credits in four courses chosen from the 7000-level courses in the English Department (including courses in comparative literature).
Students may substitute for no more than two such courses any two 7000-level courses from the Departments of Art, History, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Speech, Television and Radio, or Theater, or the Conservatory of Music. Students may substitute one writing workshop or tutorial outside of their major writing concentration for one literature course.
Thesis
The thesis—a full-length work of publishable quality—is the culmination of studies in the creative writing program. Candidates for the M.F.A. must submit a collection of poetry, a collection of short stories, a novel, or a full-length play.
