Master in Creative Writing
University of San Francisco - College of Arts & Sciences
Key Information
Campus location
San Francisco, USA
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
2 - 3 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
USD 22,160 / per year
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
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Introduction
The Master of Fine Arts in Writing program offers graduate students an intimate, personalized learning experience while taking advantage of San Francisco’s vibrant, eclectic literary scene. Founded in 1986, the program is designed to instruct writers in creative techniques, nurture their individual development and vision, and help them thrive in the larger community of writers.
Our two-year program offers workshops and literature seminars in the genres of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. The distinctive design of the program emphasizes the connection between reading and the students’ own writing and fosters collegial relationships among faculty and students in small classes. All courses are taught by accomplished practicing writers so that both literature seminars and workshops pay detailed attention to craft.
Admissions
Curriculum
Program Overview
The two-and-a-half-year program begins each fall, with courses on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:15 p.m. On Tuesdays, workshops in each genre (fiction, poetry, and nonfiction) focus on student manuscripts in a peer setting of supportive critique. On Thursdays, literature seminars focus on traditions, styles, craft elements and developments, and literary models.
Program of Study
All courses are taken within the MFA program, with classes of four units each, for a total of 32-36 units during a two-year course of study.
Because cross-fertilization enriches creativity, students are free to take courses outside their primary genre and sample a range of cross-genre literature seminars. Because the depth of understanding is crucial to successful writing, students also take seminars and workshops that focus exclusively on one genre — long fiction, short fiction, poetry, or nonfiction. Students’ work culminates in a creative thesis — a book-length manuscript that is conceived, composed and revised with extensive faculty mentoring. Students work one-on-one with a faculty mentor who provides extensive feedback on their work in a series of scheduled meetings. The thesis may be a novel, a collection of stories, a poetry collection, a collection of creative nonfiction, or a purposeful combination of these genres.
Program Timeline
Requirements include three workshops, four elective seminars, and two semesters of one-on-one thesis work.
Year | Fall 2022/2023 | Spring 2023/2024 | Summer 2023 |
1 | Workshop & Seminar (8 units) | Workshop & Seminar (8 units) | Thesis (optional) (4 units) |
2 | Workshop & Seminar (8 units) | Thesis & Seminar (8 units) |
Professional Opportunity
We create as many opportunities as possible for our students to connect with literary culture in the city of San Francisco and beyond. An internship course provides students with professional training in diverse writing-related careers. Opportunities include internships at literary journals such as Zyzzyva and Zoetrope, at magazines such as Mother Jones and Wired, at publishing houses such as City Lights and Chronicle Books, and at literacy organizations such as 826 Valencia and Streetside Stories. Students participate in literary and service organizations including Poets and Writers, Zoetrope, California Poets in the Schools, the Litquake literary festival, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Under the Volcano Writing Conference (Mexico), and the Summer Literary Seminars in Prague and St. Petersburg. A seminar on teaching writing is offered for those interested in pursuing the profession, with teaching assistantships available in undergraduate courses in English literature and creative writing.
Program Outcome
The program is designed to instruct writers in creative techniques, to nurture their individual development and vision, and to help prepare them for entry into the public life of literature.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate a working knowledge of the fundamentals of literary composition and craft
- Read as writers, applying a critical craft vocabulary as they analyze the ways in which literary meaning is developed in the works of published authors
- Evaluate and analyze the techniques and intentions of developmental drafts, including their own, and to participate in constructive critical discussion of works in progress
- Prepare for participation in the public life of literature, which may include locating their own work in the context of contemporary professional practice, acquiring skills for writing-related professions, and participating in diverse literary communities
Scholarships and Funding
MFA in Writing Specific Financial Aid
Graduate Fellowships
Each year, we provide a small number of fellowships on a competitive basis. They are awarded to the top candidates in each genre. All applicants are automatically considered for a graduate fellowship; no separate application is needed. You will learn of any fellowship award at the time we notify you of your acceptance to the program.
Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship
Recent graduates of the MFA program can apply to teach the Introduction to Creative Writing for non-majors course offered by the undergraduate English department. The fellow will teach craft fundamentals to students at a beginning level, drawing on literary models in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; provide creative prompts for student writing and helpful feedback on student work; and foster engagement with literature and creative writing.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poetry Fellowship
This fellowship honors Lawrence Ferlinghetti who published and supported the work of writers who were outsiders — outside traditional academia or traditional social conventions. In his long career, Ferlinghetti has been a staunch proponent of First Amendment rights, including free speech. This fellowship, which provides full-tuition funding, is awarded bi-annually to an applicant in poetry whose work embodies a concern for social justice and freedom of expression, interpreted in the broadest possible way.
Zivic Fellowship
The Zivic Fellowship, named after MFA alumna Jan Zivic, recognizes and supports an outstanding fiction or nonfiction student currently in the MFA program. To be considered, students must submit a writing sample and a one page statement to the MFA program. The fellowship is distributed in the fall semester of the student's second year.
MFA Zivic Fellows: 2019 – Sayantika Mandal, 2018 – Lindsay Quintanilla, 2016 – Katherine Bove & Melanie Morris; 2015 – Ebonie Ledbetter; 2014 – Ian Jacoby
Teaching Assistantships
The MFA in Writing Program, in conjunction with the undergraduate English department, offers several teaching assistantships to qualified students. Current students can apply for available assistantships. There are usually 8–12 positions per semester.
Career Opportunities
Our Alumni
Students and alumni of the MFA in Writing program have published widely in multiple forms, including books, anthologies, journals, and websites. They've read their work in bookstores and community institutions and participated in conferences at the local and national levels.
English Language Requirements
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