University of Mississippi · Department of English

M.F.A. in Creative Writing

MFAMaster of Fine Arts in Creative WritingFully funded (all admitted)Editorial selection: Best MFA Creative Writing Programs

Overview

A three-year, campus-based M.F.A. in Oxford, Mississippi, that admits four poets and four fiction writers each year. The department states that all students receive free tuition, subsidized health care, and an annual stipend, and the program ends with a thesis manuscript in poetry or prose.

Official program name: M.F.A. in Creative Writing
Awarded degree: Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Source: catalog.olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
School: University of Mississippi — Department of English
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Location: University, MS
Delivery / residency: Campus-based
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Study intensity: Not verified
Duration: Three years
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Required credits: Not verified
Teaching language: English (not separately stated)
Start: Fall
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Why this degree is listed

The catalog lists a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in creative writing offered by the Department of English.

Source: catalog.olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

We list dedicated creative writing degrees only. Eligibility rules

Curriculum, genres and faculty

Genres

Fiction Poetry

Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Workshops

Workshops; literature, form, and craft courses; and a thesis year ending in a finished manuscript.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Other

Four poets and four fiction writers admitted each year.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
No language requirement.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Craft courses

Students specialize in fiction or poetry but may take workshops in other forms.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Community and outreach

Annual Grisham Writer-in-Residence teaches one course per semester.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Faculty listed by the program

A. H. Jerriod Avant — Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing
Matt Bondurant — Professor of English
Beth Ann Fennelly — Distinguished Professor of English
Tommy Franklin — Associate Professor of Fiction Writing, fiction
Melissa Ginsburg — Director of Graduate Creative Writing Programs and Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing
Aimee Nezhukumatathil — Professor of English and Creative Writing
Sheila Sundar — Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing
Michael Wang — Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing

As listed on the program's official page on October 9, 2026. Listing does not mean a faculty member is teaching or supervising new students in a given year.

Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Admissions

Required, optional, waived and not-required items are shown exactly as the school states them. Anything not listed is not verified — not “not required”.

Prior degree: Not requiredA B.A. in English is not required.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Statement of purpose: RequiredStatement of purpose, no more than two single-spaced pages (Phase 1).
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Recommendation letters: Required3 letters — Three letters of recommendation (Phase 2).
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Application fee: Required$60 — No fee for Phase 1; $60 Graduate School fee if invited to Phase 2.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Application fee waiver: OptionalSome application fees can be waived for economic need at Phase 2.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Transcripts: RequiredOfficial transcripts sent to the Graduate School (Phase 2).
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Other requirement: RequiredTwo-phase process: writing sample first, Graduate School application only if invited to Phase 2.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Writing portfolio

Genre	Length	Requirement as published
Poetry	up to 10 pages	10 pages of poems, single-spaced, no more than one poem per pageFormatting: single-spacedSource: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Fiction	up to 20 pages	No more than 20 double-spaced pages of fictionFormatting: double-spacedSource: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Tests

GRE and English-language test policy: not verified. We publish this only when the school states it on an official page.

We do not publish acceptance rates or estimate competitiveness: programs rarely publish comparable figures.

Deadlines

Dates are shown with the admissions cycle the school printed. A past date is marked passed and is never carried into a new cycle.

Application deadline
Before December 15 (Phase 1; year not printed) · for Fall 2027
The school does not print a year with this date.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Year not printed
Other deadline
Before March 1 (Phase 2 Graduate School application; year not printed) · for Fall 2027
The school does not print a year with this date.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Year not printed

Tuition and fees

Each amount keeps its applicant category, academic year and basis. Per-credit, per-year and whole-program figures are not comparable with each other.

Category	Amount	Basis and year
In-state — Graduate, resident (base rate)From the school's rate table for this level	$571	per credit · 2026-2027Source: catalog.olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Out-of-state — Graduate, nonresident (base rate)From the school's rate table for this level	$1,726	per credit · 2026-2027Source: catalog.olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

These are the published rates. The program also states tuition coverage for funded students — see Funding below for what is covered.

Funding

The program states that every admitted student receives tuition coverage and a stipend for the normal length of the program. “Fully funded” never means every personal expense is covered. How we classify funding

Fully funded (all admitted)

Published stipend: $16,500 – $20,500 (annual (range printed for recent years)) · 3 years

Funding guarantee: All students are fully funded for all three years.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Stipend: Free tuition, subsidized health care, and annual stipends of $16,500-$20,500 in recent years.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Summer funding: Students who teach summer courses earn additional income.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Separate application: All applicants are automatically considered for fellowships and assistantships.
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

We do not judge whether a stipend is sufficient: living costs differ by city, household and year.

Named scholarships, fellowships and assistantships

Dissertation Fellowship fellowship
$8000 and one semester free of teaching in the third year
Eligibility: MFA students may apply
How to apply: Application
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026
DC Berry Prize prize
Three cash awards · Awards: 3
Eligibility: MFA students
Source: olemiss.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Sources and verification

Every fact on this page comes from the official pages below. Last verified October 9, 2026.

catalog.olemiss.edu/fees-financial-aid-opportunities/ — Official catalog / bulletin, verified October 9, 2026
catalog.olemiss.edu/schools/liberal-arts/english/ — Official catalog / bulletin, verified October 9, 2026
olemiss.edu/departments/libarts/english/academics/mfa-in-creative-writing/index.php — Official program page, verified October 9, 2026
olemiss.edu/english/ — Official program page, verified October 9, 2026

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Creative Writing Programs is independent and not affiliated with University of Mississippi. Information is collected from official pages and can change; confirm requirements, costs and deadlines with the school.