M.F.A. in Creative Writing

The M.F.A. in Creative Writing is a 45-hour degree designed for students who wish to pursue careers in creative writing, publishing, or the teaching of creative writing.

• Admission
• Advisement
• Curriculum
• Comprehensive Exam
• Thesis
• Fellowships
• Assistantships
• Professional Opportunities
  -- At USC
  -- After USC
  

Admission

Applicants for admission to the M.F.A. degree program must have completed a minimum of 24 semester hours of upper-division undergraduate courses in English or an appropriate related discipline, with grades indicating ability for successful graduate work.

Applicants should submit directly to The Graduate School

• online application forms,
• at least two letters of recommendation from teachers familiar with your academic achievement,
• transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate institutions, and
• satisfactory scores on the GRE general test.
  
  Successful applicants to the M.F.A. program typically have GRE verbal scores at or above the 75th percentile and an undergraduate GPA of 3.00 or better.

You should send directly to the Department of English, attention Graduate Studies (address at left)

• a sample of academic writing (approximately 8-10 pages),
• a sample of creative writing (a portfolio of poems or a sustained work of fiction), and
• a statement of purpose.

Your application is not complete until all materials have been received by The Graduate School and the Department. Admission recommendations are based on all parts of an application. The Director of Graduate Studies must approve the academic credentials and the appropriate M.F.A. Program Director (Poetry or Fiction) must approve the creative writing sample.

Application deadlines are January 30 for those wishing to be considered for fellowships or assistantships and April 15 for all others.

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Advisement

Prior to registering for classes each semester, you should make an appointment to talk with your advisor. New M.F.A. students may rely on Noreen Doughty, graduate student coordinator, or Graduate Director Holly Crocker, director of graduate studies, for advisement.

Thereafter, depending on your area of specialization, you should consult Professor Janette Turner Hospital for advisement in the fiction track and Professor Fred Dings for advisement in the poetry track. Your advisor will help you plan and file a program of study.

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Curriculum

• 15 hours of workshop courses
• 6 hours in literary or rhetorical or composition theory (exclusive of ENGL 701A/B)
• 9 hours in literature
• 9 hours of approved electives
• 6 hours of thesis writing
• 3-hour written comprehensive examination in the history and practice of your genre after completion of all course work
• reading knowledge of one foreign language
• oral defense of thesis

See also Course Descriptions, Residency, Language Competence, Time Limits for Degrees, and Frequently Asked Questions.

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Comprehensive Exam

At the beginning of the semester in which you plan to take the exam, notify the Graduate Director in writing of the genre on which you wish to be examined. The exam is divided into two 90-minute parts — one genre-based and the other technical. You will choose one of four questions for each part. Two of three graders must pass your responses. You have two opportunities to pass this exam.

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Thesis

A passable thesis must be a book-length work (a novel, a collection of stories, a group of poems, or a text in another genre approved by your director) of a quality that compares favorably with work being published by university presses and commercial publishers. It must conform to the standards set by The Graduate School. Your thesis director will supervise your ENGL 799 (thesis) hours, and your work will be read by three other faculty members: one in creative writing, one a scholar-critic in contemporary literature, and one from a cognate department. You must orally defend your thesis before this committee. The deadline for the M.F.A. thesis defense is the same as the deadline for the defense of the Ph.D. dissertation. Deadlines are set each semester by The Graduate School.

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Fellowships

A limited number of fellowships are available from The Graduate Schooland the College of Liberal Arts. Applicants to the M.F.A. program are eligible for these fellowships if nominated by the Department of English. The selection process for nominees begins January 30 with awards announced mid-March.

The James Dickey Fellowships in Poetry and Fiction, along with the Sadler Fellowship in Creative Writing, are specifically designed to attract M.F.A. applicants with exceptional promise. At the discretion of the respective fellowship committees, each award may go to a single applicant or may be divided among two or more applicants. The Dickey and Sadler Fellowships are typically awarded in March or April.

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Assistantships

The Department of English offers several types of assistantships:

• teaching assistantships,
• editorial assistantships,
• instructional assistantships, and
• research assistantships.

Based on information provided in applications completed by January 30, prospective students will automatically be considered for an appropriate assistantship. (For example, teaching assistantships are available only to students who have successfully completed 18 hours of graduate work in English.)

All assistantships confer in-state tuition status, as well as a stipend and tuition supplement whose amounts vary with the type of assistantship. Students awarded an assistantship by the Department of English are expected to

• carry no incompletes;
• earn no more than one grade below B during their academic career;
• perform assigned duties in a satisfactory manner;
• maintain a GPA of 3.5; and
• make steady progress toward the degree.
  

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Professional Opportunities

At USC

• Regular series of on-campus student readings (approximately three per semester) inviting poetry and fiction presentations. Also opportunities to read within the community, at USC branch campuses, or in Columbia area public schools.
  
• Opportunities to participate in master classes or workshops offered by guest writers, editors, and agents. In the past two years, these events have featured Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, fiction writers Tim O’Brien, Sue Monk Kidd, Percival Everett, Elizabeth George, poets Robert Pinsky, Susan Ludvigson, Jill Bialosky (editor and vice president of W. W. Norton), and literary agent Elaine Markson. Recent writers-in-residence have included Ron Rash, Louise DeSalvo, and Robert Coover.
  
• Encouragement to attend writers’ conferences and summer workshops appropriate to your area of specialization.
  
• Eligibility for recognition and awards from The Graduate School(especially for presentations at Graduate Student Day).

After USC

• Continuing interest of faculty in placing your creative work.
  
• Reviewing of revised theses with recommended strategies for publishing.
  
• Spotlighting of successful alumni in department and university media. See “Alumni Novelist Mark Powell Chases the Monster” on writing his second novel.
  

For help with career options you should use the resources on campus like

• University Career Center
• College of Arts and Scinces career Development Program

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