Course of Study
The Graduate Program in Creative Writing offers both M.F.A. and Ph.D. degrees in creative writing. While the former contains a serious academic component, its emphasis remains on ardent participation in writing workshops and on finishing a creative manuscript with a critical introduction. The M.F.A. is designed to be completed in two years, and students frequently spend the interim summer term furthering their studies, sometimes by interning with a press or attending a writers' conference. Students in the doctoral program, having been admitted not only by Creative Writing but also by the English Department and the Graduate School at large, take two to three years of workshops and advanced literature courses, in preparation for a trio of comprehensive exams that include an oral defense. Thereafter, students are expected to complete a dissertation—a creative manuscript, usually intended for publication—complete with a substantial apologia that addresses issues, from the historical to the theoretical, they consider relevant to the aims of their writing. Both degrees include instruction in pedagogy and classroom practice in the teaching of writing.