An independent directory of dedicated creative writing degrees in the United States
Dedicated creative writing degrees (BFA, BA, MFA and PhD) offered by schools in undefined. English degrees with a creative writing concentration are not listed.
89 schools · page 3 of 5
Listed alphabetically by school. This directory is not a ranking — editorial selections are published separately under Rankings. What we list
Newark, NJPublic
Rutgers University-Newark's MFA Program in Creative Writing, established in 2008, is a full-time, two-year, 36-credit program with tracks in fiction and poetry. The program states that it funds all admitted full-time students over two years, and graduate students can teach in the creative writing minor or composition program.
Moraga, CAPrivate nonprofit
Saint Mary's College of California offers a BA in Creative Writing covering poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama, and a two-year, full-time residential MFA in Creative Writing in creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry. The MFA, founded in 1995, admits about six students per genre each year and gives every accepted student some tuition scholarship.
San Francisco, CAPublic
San Francisco State University's Department of Creative Writing offers a 42-unit BA in Creative Writing and a 54-unit MFA in Creative Writing, with faculty teaching creative nonfiction, fiction, playwriting, poetry, and literary translation. The department also offers an MA in Creative Writing and runs the Poetry Center.
Bronxville, NYPrivate nonprofit
Sarah Lawrence College offers a 44-credit Master of Fine Arts in Writing with concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and speculative fiction, taken full-time over two years or half-time over a longer period. The program pairs workshops and craft seminars with bi-weekly one-on-one faculty conferences and a weekly literary colloquium.
Chicago, ILPrivate nonprofit
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Writing Department offers a BFA in Writing and a two-year MFA in Writing. Both programs emphasize writing across genres and hybrid forms within an art and design school, and students may take studio electives across SAIC.
Greensburg, PAPrivate nonprofit
Seton Hill University offers a low-residency MFA in Writing Popular Fiction that combines online mentoring with two on-campus residencies per year in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, focused on novel-length genre fiction. Undergraduates study creative writing within the English BA.
Louisville, KYPrivate nonprofit
Spalding University's Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing runs a 65-credit low-residency MFA in Writing, founded in 2001, with weeklong residencies in Louisville each spring and fall and a virtual residency each summer. The school also houses an undergraduate Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
Stony Brook, NYPublic
Stony Brook's Department of Creative Writing, Film and Television offers a 46-credit MFA in Creative Writing and Literature taught in Southampton and Manhattan, with full- and part-time study and no genre tracks, and an undergraduate BFA in Creative Writing modeled on the MFA.
Syracuse, NYPrivate nonprofit
Syracuse University's Department of English, in the College of Arts and Sciences, offers a three-year MFA in Creative Writing in fiction and poetry and a 30-credit BA in Creative Writing. The MFA admits six fiction writers and six poets each year, and graduate students edit the journal Salt Hill.
San Marcos, TXPublic
Texas State University's Department of English in San Marcos offers a three-year Master of Fine Arts with a major in Creative Writing, with fiction and poetry concentrations. Students edit Porter House Review, and the program awards post-graduation residencies at the Katherine Anne Porter House and the Clark House.
New York, NYPrivate nonprofit
The New School's Creative Writing Program, housed in The New School for Social Research, awards a 36-credit MFA in Creative Writing with concentrations in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, arts writing, and writing for children and young adults. A BA in Creative Writing is offered through the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students.
Tuscaloosa, ALPublic
The University of Alabama's Department of English offers a 48-hour MFA in Creative Writing in prose and poetry that can be completed in three years, with support guaranteed for up to four. Graduate students edit Black Warrior Review. Undergraduate creative writing is offered as a minor.
Missoula, MTPublic
The University of Montana's Creative Writing Program, in the Department of English, offers an MFA in Creative Writing with fiction, nonfiction, and poetry concentrations and an undergraduate BFA in Creative Writing. MFA students manage the literary journal CutBank, and undergraduates produce The Oval.
Austin, TXPublic
The University of Texas at Austin has two creative writing MFA programs: the Michener Center for Writers' three-year MFA in Writing (fiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting) and the New Writers Project's three-year MFA in Creative Writing (fiction, poetry) in the Department of English. The two programs share core faculty and admit students separately.
El Paso, TXPublic
UTEP's Department of Creative Writing offers a BA in Creative Writing and an MFA in Creative Writing in two forms: a residential bilingual (English/Spanish) program in El Paso and a fully online program with no residency requirement. Both MFA versions require 36 credit hours and a book-length manuscript.
Tucson, AZPublic
The University of Arizona Department of English offers a three-year MFA in Creative Writing in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with all accepted students funded through teaching assistantships, and an undergraduate B.A. in Creative Writing. The university is home to the student-run Sonora Review and partners with the UA Poetry Center.
Fayetteville, ARPublic
The University of Arkansas Program in Creative Writing and Translation, in the Department of English, offers a 60-hour MFA in Creative Writing with tracks in fiction, poetry and literary translation; most students take four years. Undergraduate creative writing is a concentration within the BA in English.
Irvine, CAPublic
UC Irvine's Department of English runs the MFA Programs in Writing, a fiction and poetry program whose graduates receive a Master of Fine Arts degree in English. The department states it provides three years of financial support to all domestic MFA students through teaching assistantships.
Riverside, CAPublic
UC Riverside's Department of Creative Writing offers a BA in Creative Writing and, with the Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production, an MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. The MFA is offered as a two-year campus program in Riverside and as a low-residency program based at the Palm Desert Center with five 10-day residencies.
Orlando, FLPublic
The University of Central Florida's Department of English, in the College of Arts and Humanities, offers a two-year, 36-credit MFA in Creative Writing in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and hybrid forms. Undergraduates study creative writing as a track within the English B.A. or as a minor.