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Program Details

M.F.A. degree program in creative writing
HEGIS code 1507
NYS SED program code 02056

Our small, highly personal two-year program confers a master of fine arts degree in creative writing in fiction, poetry, or playwriting. The program offers single-discipline and inter-genre workshops, literature seminars, small-group reading tutorials, and one-on-one tutorials, which all emphasize relationships between eminent faculty members and students. Additionally, students have the opportunity to work on The Brooklyn Review and give public readings/performances in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The program offers some fellowships as well as prizes and a winter writing residency at the Espy Foundation in Oysterville, Washington. Students may also teach undergraduate courses for the English Department.

Our graduates have had their work published widely and have won competitions sponsored by the Iowa Review, the Colorado Review, the Mississippi Review, and Zoetrope. They have been included in The Best New Young Poets anthology and The Best American Short Stories. Our playwrights have won Obies, started theater companies, and had their plays produced here and abroad.

Program Heads

Name	Title	Phone	Location	Email	Office Hours
Minter, Geoffrey	Graduate Deputy, Lecturer	718.951.5000 x3651	3149 Boylan Hall	gminter brooklyn.cuny.edu	See Adviser Hours page for full schedule

Students choose a concentration in one of the following: fiction, playwriting, or poetry.

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Matriculation requirements
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Applicants who have completed a bachelor's degree with a minimum GPA of 3.00 satisfy the undergraduate requirements of this program.

Fiction and Poetry: Thirty pages of original fiction or twenty pages of original poetry must be submitted for evaluation.

Playwriting: One original full-length play or two or more original one-act plays must be submitted for evaluation.

Applicants who did not major in English or creative writing as undergraduates but whose manuscripts show unusual talent are considered for admission. Manuscripts should be submitted with other application documents via the online application website at the time of application. Applications are not considered for spring semester admission.

Foreign applicants for whom English is a second language are required to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of 650 on the paper-based test or 280 on the computer-based test or 114 on the internet-based test before being considered for admission.

General matriculation and admission requirements of Graduate Studies are in the chapter "Admission."

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Degree requirements
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Thirty-six credits are required for the degree.

Students must complete one of the following concentrations. All three concentrations consist of 36 credits: 24 credits in the respective creative writing concentration, plus 12 credits in literature courses.

Fiction:
English 7910X to be taken in the first semester. English 7912X to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester; English 7911X once in the second semester; English 7913X to be taken two times in the second year, but not more than once in any semester.

Poetry:
English 7922X to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester; English 7923X to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester.

Playwriting:
English 7932X to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester; English 7933X to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester.

Students in all concentrations must additionally 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, Radio and Emerging Media, or Theater, or the Conservatory of Music, or another department with the approval of the deputy chairperson for graduate studies (these courses may also be taken through e-permits at other CUNY branches, including the Graduate Center, or through individual or small group tutorials). Students may substitute one writing workshop or tutorial outside of their major writing concentration for one literature course.


Permission to register for any of these substitute courses may be required from the graduate deputy chairperson of the appropriate department.

A substantial manuscript must be submitted and filed according to instructions available from the deputy chairperson. Students concentrating in fiction or poetry must submit original creative writing, in publishable form, such as a novel or collection of stories or poems. Students concentrating in playwriting must submit a full-length play or a number of one-act plays, in producible form, that would constitute a theatrical production. In cooperation with the Theater Department, efforts are made to produce the student's major work.

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Recommendations
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Students are urged to take one workshop, one tutorial, and one literature course each semester in order to complete the program in four semesters. A reading knowledge of a foreign language is strongly recommended.

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