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General Information
Please DO NOT send any application materials via postal mail. They run the risk of not being considered.
Go directly to the online application here .
The Boston University Creative Writing Program accepts applications for admission for the fall semester in any given calendar year. Our next deadline, for Fall 2023 admission, is February 1, 2023 . We do not, barring exceptional circumstances, consider late applications. We do our best to respond to all applicants by the end of March or beginning of April.
The application fee is $95. You may apply for an application fee waiver here: http://www.bu.edu/cas/admissions/phd-mfa/apply/fee-waiver/
Playwriting
Please note that the MFA in Playwriting is separate from the Creative Writing Program in Fiction and Poetry. Playwriting is now a three-year program housed at the Boston Playwrights’ Theater, still a part of the BU English Department. For information on the program and its admissions, please visit the Playwriting MFA website .
Your Application
The application for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing will include the following:
- A writing sample (for poetry, submit 10 poems; for fiction, submit no more than 40 double-spaced pages, stories are preferred)
- A personal statement, roughly 2 pages in length
- Two letters of recommendation. Recommenders must upload letters online.
- An updated CV.
- Transcripts from any college or university you have previously attended (even if no degree was earned).
- Optional : examination scores from the GRE General Test. Our GRE code is 3087.
Important Information for Those Re-Applying to the MFA Program:
If you are re-applying for Boston University’s MFA in Creative Writing, you may no longer re-use application materials (transcripts, test-scores, letters of recommendation, etc.) from your previous attempt. You will need to re-apply completely using our new application system, which can be found here .
For International Applicants:
You must supply additional paperwork, and in some cases, scores from the TOEFL exam. Please consult with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences .
Thank you, and best of luck with your application.
About the Program
Our MFA students have the opportunity to live, write, and travel anywhere in the world
Read about BU's renowned Translation Seminar
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MFA in Creative Writing
The MFA in Creative Writing is a small, intensive one-year program. The goal of the program is to help each of our students become better writers of original prose and poetry and to produce readers, critics, poets, and writers of the highest quality. The MFA in Creative Writing prepares writers to teach and to become better critics of their work and others’. The program attempts to make students scholars of literature—that is, aware of those upon whose shoulders they stand.
Course Requirements
Eight semester courses (32 credits) are required for the degree—at least half of them in workshops, with the remaining courses coming from the graduate curriculum within Boston University. At least four of the eight courses are normally taken in fiction, poetry, or a combination thereof. The four remaining courses normally are graduate-level literature courses. Courses may come from among the vast offerings of the University, from the English Department or another department that offers courses that are essentially literary in nature. Courses are usually completed within one year, though they may be completed in two.
A limited number of courses are offered in Metropolitan College under the auspices of the Department of English and are approved for graduate credit for students enrolled in the MA and PhD programs. For further information, see the Metropolitan College Bulletin .
Language Requirement
All students pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing are required to demonstrate graduate-level reading proficiency in a foreign language prior to completion of the degree. Language proficiency can be demonstrated either through a language examination, satisfactory completion of CAS XL 540: Theory and Practice of Literary Translation, successful completion of a non-credit, graduate-level foreign language reading course offered by Boston University, or the equivalent of two years of undergraduate study of the language at Boston University.
A substantial master’s thesis in fiction or poetry is required. The thesis should consist of a minimum of 90 pages of prose or 30 pages of poetry.
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Boston University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).
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Boston University
Boston , MA
http://www.bu.edu/writing/
Degrees Offered
Fiction, Poetry, Drama
Residency type
Program length.
32 semester hours (1–1.5 years)
Financial Aid
All students receive a full tuition scholarship, a year of health insurance, and a stipend.
Teaching opportunities
All students teach for one semester during their time in the program. Most teach undergraduate Creative Writing at Boston University, but some (four per year) teach Creative Writing at Boston Arts Academy, a public school for the performing arts.
Editorial opportunities
All MFA students have the opportunity to intern at AGNI literary journal for a semester or year.
Cross-genre study
Yes, with approval from workshop leader
- D. M. Aderibigbe MFA (Poetry) 2016
- Elizabeth Alexander MA (Poetry) 1987
- Yu-Mei Balasingamchow MFA (Fiction) 2019
- Ellen Bass MA (Poetry) 1970
- Peter Campion MA (Poetry) 2001
- Christopher Castellani MFA 1999
- J. D. Daniels MFA 2003
- Peter Ho Davies MFA (Fiction) 1994
- Caitlin Doyle MFA (Poetry) 2008
- Emma Duffy-Comparone MFA (Fiction) 2012
- Pete Duval MFA (Fiction) 1995
- Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh MFA (Fiction) 2016
- Kristin Ginger MFA (Fiction) 2010
- William Giraldi MA (Fiction) 2004
- Jowhor Ile MFA 2017
- Jillian Jackson MFA (Fiction) 2015
- Claire Jarvis MA (Poetry)
- Ha Jin MFA (Poetry) 1994
- Daphne Kalotay MFA (Fiction) 1994
- Julie Kane MA (Poetry) 1975
- Ted Kehoe MA (Fiction) 2006
- Marshall Klimasewiski MA
- Aviya Kushner MA (Poetry) 1998
- Jhumpa Lahiri MFA (Fiction) 1994
- Kathryn Maris MA (Poetry) 1996
- Jill McDonough MFA (Poetry) 1998
- Askold Melnyczuk MA 1977
- Jennifer Anne Moses MA (Fiction) 1982
- Andy Mozina MA (Fiction) 1990
- Patricia Park MFA (Fiction) 2010
- Carl Phillips MA (Poetry) 1993
- Dariel Suarez MFA (Fiction) 2012
- Shubha Sunder MFA (Fiction) 2012
- Pamela Sutton MFA (Poetry) 1999
- Lisa Taddeo MFA (Fiction) 2017
- Tess Taylor MFA (Poetry) 2006
- Melanie Rae Thon MA (Fiction) 1983
- Jessica Treadway MA 2002
- Farley Urmston MFA (Fiction) 2009
- Christopher Wall MA (Drama) 1996
- Anthony Wallace MA (Fiction) 1999
- Weike Wang MFA (Fiction) 2015
- Ryan Wilson MFA (Poetry) 2008
- Stefanie Wortman MA (Poetry) 2003
Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .
Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .
Creative Writing (MFA)
We are the storytellers and the poets.
Emerson’s Creative Writing (MFA) program focuses on the practice of writing and its literary foundations and is one of the longest-running programs of its kind.
We know writing is your life. That’s why our Creative Writing (MFA) focuses on the actual practice of writing, as well as its literary foundations. Our MFA program boasts some of the most impressive faculty in writing and publishing, is home to two award-winning literary journals, and is strongly connected to the Boston publishing community.
Focus on your passion, choosing from the areas of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and explore writing as both an art form and a professional pursuit.
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Degrees & Awards
Degrees offered.
| Degree | Concentration | Sub-concentration |
|---|---|---|
| Master of Fine Arts (MFA) |
Degrees Awarded
| Degree | Number Awarded |
|---|---|
| Master's Degrees | 16 |
Earning Your Degree
| Part-time study available? | No |
| Evening/weekend programs available? | No |
| Distance learning programs available? | No |
Degree Requirements
| Degree | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Master's Degrees | 1 Foreign Language Thesis Required |
Acceptance Rate
Application deadlines.
| Type | Domestic | International | Priority date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall deadline | February 1st | February 1st | No |
Entrance Requirements
Tuition & fees, financial support.
| Application deadlines for financial awards | February 1 |
|---|---|
| Types of financial support available | Teaching Assistantships Health Care Benefits Scholarship and/or loans Graduate Assistantships Federal Work-Study |
Student Body
Race/ethnicity.
| Hispanic/Latino | 7.41% |
|---|---|
| Black or African American | 3.7% |
| White or Caucasian | 40% |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 0% |
| Asian | 18.52% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0% |
| Two or more races | 3.7% |
| Unknown | 7.41% |
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Boston University Mfa Acceptance Rate
Boston university mfa painting student eva lewis shares her paintings & art school experience.
Important Information for Those Re-Applying to the MFA Program:
If you are re-applying for Boston University’s MFA in Creative Writing, you may no longer re-use application materials (transcripts, test-scores, letters of recommendation, etc.) from your previous attempt. You will need to re-apply completely using our new application system, which can be found here.
Acceptance Rate 730 Applied 19 Accepted 18 Enrolled 3%
| Type | Domestic | International | Priority date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall deadline | February 1st | February 1st | No |
| Application deadlines for financial awards | February 1 |
|---|---|
| Types of financial support available | Teaching Assistantships Health Care Benefits Scholarship and/or loans Graduate Assistantships Federal Work-Study |
Student Body 27 Total Graduate Students 18% International Breakout (representing other countries)
| Hispanic/Latino | 7.41% |
|---|---|
| Black or African American | 3.7% |
| White or Caucasian | 40% |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 0% |
| Asian | 18.52% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0% |
| Two or more races | 3.7% |
| Unknown | 7.41% |
Are MFA programs hard to get into?
It’s hard to get into an MFA program . MFA programs prefer to take people who have been out of school for a while, have proved they will continue to write outside of school on their own, and perhaps even have a publication or two or have done some work in the writing/literary community.”
What GPA do you need to get into Boston University grad school?
Students with a 3.4 GPA or higher are automatically admitted into a master’s program offered by their current undergraduate department. All students admitted to a master’s program will be considered for merit-based tuition scholarship.
What GPA do you need to get into an MFA program?
A minimum grade point average of “B” (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) , or its equivalent, in undergraduate study or in graduate level study, if any, is required for graduate admission.
What is the acceptance rate for Boston University graduate school?
Acceptance rate for masters is 39.7% and for PhD is 21.8% respectively. The tuition fees for Boston University is $53044 and $13776 should cover your living expenses.
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Home › Academics › College of Liberal Arts › English Department › Graduate Programs › Creative Writing, MFA
Creative Writing, MFA
Explore the Fall 2023 MFA Course Description Booklet
UMass Boston's Creative Writing MFA is a highly selective, 3-year creative writing master's program. UMass Boston is Boston’s only public research university and the most diverse university in New England. We admit approximately five students in fiction and five students in poetry each academic year, starting in the fall semester. When you apply through GradCAS using the link above, search for "Creative Writing" to find our MFA program.
Please check Healey Library’s Support for Teaching, Learning, and Research Continuity for continued updates on library resources and services.
What we provide: The program offers an intense and focused opportunity for students to further their commitment to writing as the center of their professional lives. Through a combination of mentoring by accomplished faculty in a series of creative writing workshops, courses focused on the study of literature offered through the English MA Program, and electives that include the practice of literary editing, the teaching of creative writing, digital poetics, documentary poetics, the art of memoir, and more—students will have the guidance to develop and shape their work to the full extent of their talent. After three years in the program, their will be prepared to sustain their commitment to contemporary literature as writers, readers, editors, and teachers.
Our program prioritizes diversity, inclusion, and sustaining community partnerships. Students in our program take advantage of our relationships with community programs and institutions like 826Boston, Grub Street, Write on the Dot , and the Black Seed Writers group. They work for literary magazines and presses including Consequence, Hanging Loose, University of Massachusetts Press, Breakwater Review, and Black Ocean , and start and run their own literary magazines. They teach undergraduate creative writing classes at UMass Boston and continuing education classes for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) . Our students and graduates publish widely, and find jobs they love. Most importantly, they're happy they chose UMass Boston.
Our Faculty : As a group, the four core MFA faculty members have decades of experience in writing, teaching, editing, and publishing. Our visiting prose writer is invited by the fiction faculty to teach in the program for one or two years. Collectively, program faculty have published dozens of books and received some of the highest honors and prizes in literature. More importantly, they are dedicated to the teaching of creative writing and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in creative writing and literature.
Our Students: Students who apply to and are admitted to our program are all unique: some have traditional academic and English department backgrounds, but many more do not. Some join our program directly from undergraduate programs, but many more come to us later in life with years or even decades of work experience in other fields. For each student who wants to pursue a career in teaching or academia, another student wants to do something entirely different. Graduates from our program have published numerous books and won prestigious writing awards. Many work in teaching, publishing, web development, journalism, and in community-oriented literary programs. While there is no single background or trajectory for our students, they all share some common characteristics: our students are compassionate, socially engaged, self-directed, and committed to their writing and to the broader community. If this sounds like you, you might be a great fit for our program! Reach out to us at [email protected]
The MFA degree requires: six semesters of full-time study, with 9 credits required in each of the first four semesters, and 6 credits in the final two semesters, during which students will concentrate on completing a thesis in fiction or poetry under the direction of a faculty member. MFA workshops are limited to 12 students, and seminars are limited to 15. Students have the opportunity to interact with writers in our Global Voices Visiting Writer series (recent visitors have been Raquel Salas Rivera and Carole Maso) and work with visiting prose writers; recently these have included Jane Unrue, ZZ Packer, and Fanny Howe.
View UMass Boston's Creative Writing MFA Program FAQ for more information on diversity, inclusion, and other relevant matters for how UMass Boston, the English Department, and the Creative Writing MFA Program work to create a welcoming environment for every student and a community for all!
>> MFA Program Statement on Black Lives Matter
Final Deadline to apply is January 15! ** While rare, if space is available, we’ll happily consider applications after the deadline.
Please contact us with any questions.
John Fulton, MFA Program Director [email protected] [email protected] 617.287.6702
New Faculty Publications
Three MFA faculty are publishing books this year! Read More
MFA program is thrilled to announce that poet Shangyang Fang will join our faculty in the fall!
Shangyang Fang joins UMass Boston MFA program as an Assistant Professor! Read More
MFA program is also happy to announce that visiting fiction writer Eileen Pollack will be joining our faculty in the fall!
Eileen Pollack joins UMass Boston MFA faculty as visiting fiction writer. Read More
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The Boston University Creative Writing Program accepts applications for admission for the fall semester in any given calendar year. Our next deadline, for Fall 2023 admission, is February 1, 2023. We do not, barring exceptional circumstances, consider late applications.
MFA in Creative Writing The MFA in Creative Writing is a small, intensive one-year program. The goal of the program is to help each of our students become better writers of original prose and poetry and to produce readers, critics, poets, and writers of the highest quality.
Boston University Boston, MA http://www.bu.edu/writing/ School notes Degrees Offered MFA Genres Fiction, Poetry, Drama Residency type Full Program length 32 semester hours (1–1.5 years) Financial Aid All students receive a full tuition scholarship, a year of health insurance, and a stipend. Teaching opportunities
Emerson’s Creative Writing (MFA) program focuses on the practice of writing and its literary foundations and is one of the longest-running programs of its kind. We know writing is your life. That’s why our Creative Writing (MFA) focuses on the actual practice of writing, as well as its literary foundations.
The Boston University based in Boston, Massachusetts offers a one-year fully funded MFA in creative writing program. This Master of Fine Arts in creative writing degree includes eight courses—four creative writing workshops and four literature courses; one of the literature courses can be BU’s well-known translation seminar. The program is ...
Program in Creative Writing at Boston University provides on-going educational opportunities to those students seeking advanced degrees.
Important Information for Those Re-Applying to the MFA Program: If you are re-applying for Boston University’s MFA in Creative Writing, you may no longer re-use application materials (transcripts, test-scores, letters of recommendation, etc.) from your previous attempt. You will need to re-apply completely using our new application system ...
Apply for our Creative Writing Program! Explore the Fall 2023 MFA Course Description Booklet UMass Boston's Creative Writing MFA is a highly selective, 3-year creative writing master's program. UMass Boston is Boston’s only public research university and the most diverse university in New England.