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The Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing for Screen and Television, is an intensive two-year degree program that concentrates on writing for narrative film and television. During the course of their studies, students benefit from a wide array of internship and mentorship opportunities available as a result of the university’s close links to the Los Angeles film industry’s top screenwriters, directors, production companies and studios.Course work includes practical instruction in everything a working writer needs to learn about the filmmaker’s art and craft. Writing is taught in small workshop-style classes. The approach focuses on the visual tools of storytelling, developing stories from characters and then on an Aristotelian three act structure. Fractured narratives, ensemble stories, experiments with time and points of view, as well as other idiosyncratic styles of storytelling, are also addressed. The curriculum covers other professional concerns, including legal issues, agents and the Writer’s Guild, as well as the history and analysis of cinema and television. Classes are taught by working writers with a wide variety of skills, experience and approaches.Each fall 32 students are selected to begin the Graduate Writing for Screen and Television Program; there are no spring admissions. Applicants must submit a supplemental application and materials to the Graduate Writing for Screen and Television Program. For specific instructions, contact the Cinematic Arts Office of Admission, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211, (213) 740-8358 or online at cinema.usc.edu.A total of 44 units is required. A minimum of 30 units must be 500-level or above.

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Graduate Application Procedures

The faculty admissions committee places considerable importance on the autobiographical character sketch, story ideas, writing samples, portfolio list and letters of recommendation during the application review process. There are no admission interviews but applicants may be contacted for more information or clarification of submitted materials. The committee ensures that all applicants are judged equitably by limiting evaluation to the items listed.

You must submit the SlideRoom Application titled: "Graduate Writing for Screen & Television MFA Program".

You must access the SlideRoom Application via the "Go to SlideRoom" link in the SlideRoom tab in the Program Materials quadrant of the Graduate Application for Admission. The SlideRoom Application should only be accessed via this button in order for your applications to be linked and successfully submitted.

  • Write a scene between two very different kinds of people who get stuck in an elevator on New Year's Eve.  Please use screenplay format. (2-5 pages in length)
  • Write a scene between two people (e.g., a parent and child, roommates, spouses, etc.) who live together. The first character strongly desires to go out; the second desperately wants the first to stay home. Emphasize visual elements as well as dialogue. Please use screenplay format. (2-5 pages in length)

Convey in writing the greatest challenge you have faced and how you responded to it. The challenge may be of any kind you care to write about -physical, emotional, moral, creative, personal, professional or some other sort. (1-2 pages in length)

One sample of your creative writing. This may be an excerpt with a note explaining the context. Writing in script form is not required. Please only include original material-do not submit a television spec episode of an existing television show. (Maximum of 10 pages. If you send more than 10, only the first 10 will be read)

A record of the applicant's background and experience, listing education, employment, etc.

  • July 2019,  A Day in the Life,  digital video, 12 minutes. Position: writer/director. A documentary on a homeless Iraq vet who has lived on the streets since his return from the military. Created for senior-year multimedia term project, San Raphael High School, Miami, Florida.
  • March 2020,  Doorways,  a series of 5 black-and-white photographs. Position: photographer. "Second Prize Winner" in the Des Moines Sunday Journal photo contest.
  • February 2021,  Cellomorphosis,  short story. Position: writer. A variation on the novella by Franz Kafka; published in Writing, vol. IV, 2021, at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts.

University of Southern California

School of dramatic arts.

A student rushes up the stairs toward the Bing Theatre.

USC School of Dramatic Arts to offer free tuition for its MFA programs

The acting and dramatic writing degrees will now have tuition costs waived for incoming and current students starting in the fall of 2024.

For the first time in its history, students attending the USC School of Dramatic Arts to receive their Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) in the acting and dramatic writing programs will be attending the university tuition-free starting in the 2024-25 academic year. Incoming graduate students, as well as continuing MFA students in those programs, will no longer shoulder any tuition costs. 

The decision comes at a pivotal moment for the entertainment industry, as actors and writers navigate tightening competition for opportunities in film and TV. USC is committed to ensuring that talented individuals from diverse backgrounds have access to a world-class education without financial constraints. Generous donors who support the USC School of Dramatic Arts have fueled this mission to provide an accessible cutting-edge dramatic arts training experience and their ongoing support will be essential to securing this mission in perpetuity.

“Removing the tuition burden for the MFA acting and writing programs is an important investment in the future of storytelling and the performing arts,” says School of Dramatic Arts Dean Emily Roxworthy. “So often we see exceptional talent unable to reach their potential because financial barriers keep them from accessing top-tier training. At the USC School of Dramatic Arts, we’ve been privileged to witness the unique voices and multi-hyphenated ambitions of these diverse young artists. By offering free tuition, we can now give more of these promising students the artistic home they deserve.”

This groundbreaking initiative reflects USC’s ongoing commitment to fostering a vibrant and inclusive academic community. The university recognizes the importance of diversity in both background and experience, and has implemented numerous programs to break down barriers to higher education. USC also offers an Affordability Initiative , for example, launched by President Carol Folt in 2020 to ensure tuition-free attendance for undergraduate U.S. students whose household annual income is $80,000 or less. 

The tuition-free MFA programs will allow the university to more competitively recruit extraordinarily gifted creatives who bring distinct stories and experiences to stage and screen with no financial barriers. The MFA programs serve 30 students, and 100% of them had been receiving financial assistance through scholarships or grants.

These full-tuition scholarships were possible thanks to the steady support of scholarship donors and the leadership of the School’s Board of Councilors, an advisory board composed of notable professionals, alumni, and community leaders, who inspire the generous philanthropy that will continue to grow SDA’s endowment.

“Providing full tuition scholarships to the current and incoming MFA acting and dramatic writing students is a commitment to creating opportunity for all, and emphasizes the School’s value in telling diverse stories from varied backgrounds regardless of financial means,” says Actress and Board Member Connie Britton. “We’re letting the storytellers and performers of tomorrow know that we believe in them and the power of their dreams. I’m so proud to be supporting this groundbreaking initiative!”

The university has expanded need-based grant funding by more than 60% since 2010, far exceeding the rate of tuition increases. Two-thirds of USC undergraduates receive some form of financial aid, and more than 21% of undergraduates come from low-income families.

Please consider a donation to allow the School of Dramatic Arts to grow vital student scholarships across all degree programs and secure access to an SDA education in perpetuity. Donate today.

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Bruce Nauman, Vices and Virtues, UCSD Stuart Collection

MFA in Writing

Welcome. The MFA Program in Writing welcomes brave and innovative writers and encourages the formation of mutually-supportive, inspiring literary communities. The program is small, with typically 4 to 8 new students admitted and funded each year. The intimate nature of the program allows students to work very closely with writing faculty and each other within the quarterly cross-genre workshop.

The MFA program is a two-year full-time, in-person program foregrounding the interconnectedness of literary arts practice, modes of production and distribution, and the rigorous study of literatures, arts, and cultures. The program offers the option of extending to a third year; the majority of students choose to do so.

All graduate writing workshops are cross-genre and often interdisciplinary, investigating and often undermining a studio-versus-academic distinction in advanced literary education. Moreover, the program encourages interdisciplinary research and holistic approaches to teaching and learning. Therefore, teaching creative-critical reading and writing skills as a Teaching Assistant is a popular choice among all Writing students in the MFA program, most of whom are eligible for scholarships and fellowships in addition to union-represented compensation for Teaching Assistant work.

Program participants are encouraged to focus exclusively on writing, teaching, research, and art-making during their residency, allowing writers to integrate pedagogical training and artistic practice as a way to prepare for future scholarly endeavors while creating a book-length work of literature. To that end, each quarterly cross-genre workshop discusses writing-in-progress and published works in terms of poetics, prosody, and literary conventions alongside the interrelationship between aesthetic intervention/ experiment and radical social change across cultures, nations, regions, and movements.

While each writer’s extra-departmental coursework is flexible, program participants are expected to take five workshops. The cross-genre workshops function less as editorial sessions or as explications of craft techniques than as vibrant skill-sharing intellectual roundtables. UCSD’s writers generate dazzlingly diverse collaborations in writing and literary/arts events, many of which result in various forms of publication. Both faculty and graduate projects tend to repurpose, interweave, hack, and muddle generic categories and/or radically elasticize their conventions.

UC San Diego is a tier-one research university respected internationally for untangling mysteries and manifesting world-altering possibilities in the arts, humanities, and sciences. The MFA in Writing is part of the Department of Literature, a world literature department with a focus on critical theory, social justice, and cultural, ethnic, and gender studies, where faculty members work in multiple languages, geographies, and historical periods. All graduate writing workshops are offered in English, but program participants may work with Literature and extra-departmental faculty on bilingual or multilingual projects, including works in translation.

With ties to   Visual Arts ,   Music ,   Ethnic Studies ,   Science Studies ,  the   Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop  and the   Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination , along with other departments, centers, and programs, unprecedented entanglements of artistic and scholarly experimentation are encouraged. The MFA program co-exists with a thriving undergraduate writing major and benefits from the long-established   New Writing Series   and the   Archive for New Poetry . Current MFA Writing Faculty include   Kazim Ali , Amy Sara Carroll ,  Ben Doller ,   Camille Forbes ,   Lily Hoang ,   Jac Jemc ,  Casandra Lopez ,  Brandon Som , Anna Joy Springer , and Marco Wilkinson . Emeriti Writing Faculty include   Rae Armantrout   and   Eileen Myles .

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MFA Admission 2025

Application Period 9/4/2024 - 12/4/2024

Decision Notifications February - April 2025

Program Begins Fall 2025

[ Admission Overview  ]

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The MFA Design Degree Program

Application deadline.

The fall 2024 application deadline for the MFA Art program was Monday, January 15, 2024.

Roski’s MFA Design

This five-term, studio-based mfa design program supports you in developing a unique and sustainable personal contemporary practice through a critical examination of issues, theories and ideas relevant to design and studio practice right now., the mfa design experience, usc roski enrolls a very small cohort of mfa design candidates each year, who work closely together and with the school’s internationally acclaimed design faculty in the roski graduate building—an expansive hub in the l.a. arts district. you’ll also work with an expanded community of leading professionals—designers, artists, historians, critics, curators and culture makers., quick links.

  • MFA Design Student Handbook
  • MFA Design Course Catalog
  • MFA Design Info Sessions
  • Graduate Catalog

The MFA Design program offers curricular depth combined with USC Roski’s intellectual and artistic reach and the geographical influence of its position on the Pacific Rim and in one of the world’s major arts and design capitals. 

With its postwar influx of prominent Bauhaus figures, Los Angeles has long had a strong footing in design. In the past several years the scene has blossomed, with a community of designers and a roster of events. With its location in the L.A. Arts District, the USC Roski Graduate Building is in the heart of a cultural hub with an international gallery and museum scene and hundreds of design and advertising companies nearby.

The L.A. Arts Scene

The USC MFA Design studios are housed in the Roski Graduate Building, a 15,000-square-foot retrofitted hub for artists, designers and scholars that encourages collaboration and cross-pollination. The building also serves as the site for most Roski public programming, including artist and designer talks.

In the Graduate Building, you’ll have access to a dedicated media editing room, a shared project space for the creation of expanded installations, and the Makerspace. You’ll also be assigned a large, open-concept workstation in the Graduate Building’s design studios—space that simultaneously encourages focus and collaboration.

You’ll work with visiting design professionals through a series of private conversations. Visits typically occur weekly, but may occur more or less frequently, as determined by individual student needs and faculty advisors. 

The Visiting Designer Forum—linked to the school’s annual Roski Talks lecture series—features group discussions following public presentations by prominent artists, designers, writers, scholars and curators. As a first-year graduate student, you may also attend a closed-session seminar to engage in intensive dialogue on issues posed in the talk and have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with the visitor, present your work and benefit from their professional expertise.

The Designer in Residence Forum, offered in the spring, provides advanced MFA Design students a chance to engage in-depth with a visiting designer, artist, scholar, curator, historian or critic, including inviting the visitor to engage through studio visits, group critiques, seminars and individual mentoring sessions.

Past Roski Talks

The MFA Design curriculum matches practical skills with a deep dive into theories and ideas. You’ll expand your knowledge and abilities in several areas, including:

  • Your ability to analyze graphic design (along with architecture, fashion, art and other cultural production), communicate design ideas effectively, examine their formal elements, and engage in research to understand their contemporary and historical contexts.
  • Your knowledge of the creative process, as exemplified by the study of specific works in design history, with a focus on understanding various creative methodologies. 
  • Your understanding of how political, cultural and social conditions affect the practice of all aspects of design. You’ll have the opportunity to see how practitioners in the field create work that speaks to specific audiences using innovative graphic forms.
  • Your knowledge of the theoretical, historical and aesthetic decisions behind a range of work.
  • Your connection with the field of design in order to enhance your ability to create work and establish a practice that is engaged with the world at large.

USC and the Roski School boast an array of cross- and interdisciplinary opportunities, offering an unparalleled environment for advanced study and practice. As a student, you’ll benefit from our collaborative partnerships with design firms and collectives, as well as formal affiliations with four notable museums of contemporary and Asian art. 

Your Thesis

For your capstone, you’ll write a thesis providing a rigorously researched, and theoretically and historically grounded set of arguments relating to your proposed final project. you’ll also mount a practice component such as an exhibition, public presentation, community project or a proposal for a new course or new program, and join a cohort public presentation in the spring of your second year. students are guided by a faculty committee, including a thesis supervisor and two other members., the mfa design faculty, the roski school’s design professors and lecturers are a dynamic team with extensive experience. you’ll be on a first-name basis with professionals who’ve practiced their skills everywhere from l.a.’s agencies and studios to the international design scene., april greiman, brian o’connell, bruno lemgruber, sherin guirguis, ewa wojciak, preparing for professional practice, design studio co-lab.

This practical course prepares you for professional life by addressing the contextual issues, theories, movements and ideas relevant to contemporary design practice involving clients. You’ll develop methodologies for customer collaboration, taking away analytical tools and design techniques.

Design Pedagogy

Get hands-on instruction in creating design-related coursework, writing syllabi and developing in-class assignments, in preparation for a teaching assistantship in your second year. 

Design Internships

Roski’s Field Internship Experience matches you and your interests with a design firm or independent designer, who then sponsors you for at least 150 hours of practical training and/or field experience.

Global Art and Design

The Global Art and Design elective promotes global and interdisciplinary thinking. These seminars address visual culture in a broad international framework via a changing focus on specific regions and case studies. A sensitivity to cultural differences and contrasting ways of making and understanding the visual arts is key.

Study Tours

The Design Study Tour is a faculty-guided, seven-day spring break trip to an American city. You’ll visit a dynamic cultural hub and make stops at renowned design firms, studios and museums. Your degree requirements also include at least one two-week International Design Study Tour, taking in a European or Asian city like Berlin, Lodz, London, Shanghai, Tokyo or Warsaw.  

Expand Your Vision

You’ll take at least 16 elective units to earn your MFA Design, and you can pick courses within Roski or from across USC’s schools. These include the University’s six top-ranked professional art schools, in addition to the Marshall School of Business, the Annenberg School for Communication, the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. 

Opportunities

At Roski, Teaching Assistantships are awarded to MFA Design candidates on a competitive basis in the second year of the program. Compensation includes partial tuition remission, payment for TA duties and health benefits. TAs work with Roski professors on assigned tasks 10 hours weekly.

Keep Reading

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  • Museums and Libraries
  • Galleries and Exhibition Spaces

Your Next Step

  • Roski Admissions
  • Teaching Assistantships
  • Ready to Apply?

University of Southern California

Los Angeles , CA

https://dornsife.usc.edu/cwphd

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry, CNF

Residency type

Program length.

64 units (5 years)

Financial Aid

Students admitted to the Ph.D. program in Creative Writing and Literature receive financial support and assistance in the form of Teaching Assistantships and Fellowships, which include full tuition remission, year-round health and dental benefits, and a stipend at the current rate.

Teaching opportunities

Editorial opportunities.

  • Chris Abani PhD 2005
  • Dexter L. Booth PhD
  • Stephan Clark PhD
  • Jonathan Escoffery PhD (Fiction) 2024
  • Emily Geminder PhD (Fiction) 2021
  • Katherine Karlin PhD (Fiction) 2009
  • Lisa Lee PhD
  • Robin Coste Lewis PhD (Poetry)
  • Ryan McIlvain PhD
  • Bonnie Nadzam PhD (Fiction) 2010
  • Jessica Piazza PhD 2014
  • Michael Powers PhD
  • Jianan Qian PhD (Fiction) 2025
  • Josie Sigler Sibara PhD (Fiction) 2013
  • Amy Silverberg PhD (Fiction)
  • Safiya Sinclair PhD
  • Brandon Som PhD (Poetry) 2014

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 .

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    University of Southern California
   
  Aug 24, 2024  
USC Catalogue 2021-2022    
USC Catalogue 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOGUE]

Return to: USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences    

Writing Program courses are designed to help students develop practices of reading, writing and critical reasoning that are necessary for success in academic and professional discourse. Writing Program pedagogy emphasizes small classes and frequent conferences in order to provide the highly individuated instruction and careful feedback necessary to extend the writing process and enhance the rhetorical judgment of each student. To meet the university’s writing requirement, students must complete WRIT 150    (or its equivalent) and an advanced writing course, WRIT 340   .

Jefferson Building 150 (JEF 150, mc 1293) (213) 740-1980 FAX: (213) 740-4100 Email: [email protected] dornsife.usc.edu/writing-program

Director: Norah Ashe-McNalley, PhD

Associate Directors:  Jeffrey Chisum, PhD; Mariko Dawson Zare, PhD 

Professor (Teaching):  Mark Marino, PhD

Associate Professors (Teaching): Norah Ashe, PhD; Jennifer S. Bankard, PhD; Stephanie Bower, PhD; Michael Bunn, PhD; Jessica Cantiello, PhD; LauraAnne Carroll-Adler, PhD; Jeffrey Chisum, PhD; James Condon VII, PhD; Andrew De Silva, MPW; Elizabeth Durst, PhD; William Feuer, PhD; Farida Habeeb, PhD; Nathalie Joseph, PhD; Stephen Mack, PhD; Matthew Manson, PhD; Amy Meyereson, MPW; Indra Mukhopadhyay, PhD; John Murray, EdD; Daniel Pecchenino, PhD; Shefali Rajamannar, PhD; Eric Rawson, PhD; Sandra Ross, MA; Deborah Sims, PhD; Scott Smith, PhD; David Tomkins, PhD; Robert Waller Jr., MPW; Ellen Wayland-Smith, PhD; William Wyatt, MPW

Assistant Professors (Teaching):  Emily Artiano, PhD; Justin Bibler, PhD; Tamara Black, PhD; Amanda Bloom, PhD; Ryan Boyd, PhD; Brent Chappelow, PhD; James Clements, PhD; Nicholas De Dominic, MFA; Carlos Delgado, MFA; Daniel Dissinger, PhD; Antonio Elefano, JD; Amber Foster, PhD; Rochelle Gold, PhD; Amanda Hobmeier, PhD; Ashley Karlin, PhD; Meridith Kruse, PhD; Rory Lukins, PhD; P.T. McNiff, MPW; Sarah Mesle, PhD; Cory Nelson, PhD; Vanessa Osborne, PhD; Benjamin Pack, MPW; Leah Pate, PhD; Steve Posner, MPW; DeAnna Rivera, JD; Daniel Pecchenino, PhD; Steve Posner, MPW; DeAnna Rivera, JD; Alisa Sanchez, PhD; Atia Sattar, PhD; Anne Schindel, PhD; Mary Traester, PhD

Lecturers:  Christ Belcher, MFA; William Gorski, PhD; Taiyaba Husain, MFA; Jessi Johnson, MPW; Shana Kraynak, PhD; Kate Levin, MFA; Dana Milstein, PhD; Chris Muniz, PhD; Tanvi Patel, PhD; Stephanie Payne, MFA; Jessica Piazza, PhD; Michelle Rosado, PhD; Isabel Sobral Campos, PhD; Patti Taylor, PhD

Lower-Division Requirement

WRIT 150 Writing and Critical Reasoning–Thematic Approaches    focuses on the rhetorical principles and techniques necessary for successful college-level writing. Special attention is paid to critical thinking and reading, sentence-level fluency, research techniques, and the elements of academic argument and reasoning. WRIT 150    will not satisfy the lower-division writing requirement if taken on a Pass/No Pass basis.

Advanced Writing Requirement

All students at USC, except those who satisfy their general education requirements through the Thematic Option Program, must complete WRIT 340 Advanced Writing   , an upper-division course designed to help students write on topics related to their disciplinary or professional interests. Students usually enroll in WRIT 340    in their junior year, and may not take the course earlier than their sophomore year. Different schools within the university offer sections of this course. Students should consult their major departments to determine which version of WRIT 340    best complements their program of study. WRIT 340    will not satisfy the university’s advanced writing requirement if taken on a Pass/No Pass basis.

All classes that meet the university’s advanced writing requirement teach students to write clear, grammatical, well-structured prose; to discover and convey complex ideas critically; and to appreciate the nuances of effective argumentation. The principal aim of the requirement is to develop a student’s capacity to formulate thoughtful and compelling writing for specific academic, professional and public audiences.

Preparatory Course Work

Some students are better served by taking a preparatory course before they enroll in WRIT 150   . Entering freshmen who score below a specified level on the verbal portion of the SAT take the University Writing Examination. Based on the results of this examination, certain students enroll in WRIT 120 Introduction to College Writing    or  WRIT 121 Introduction to College Writing in a Second Language    during their first semester at USC.

International students take the University Writing Examination after having completed any course work required by the American Language Institute.

Transfer Credit

Students may complete the lower-division requirement by completing an equivalent second-semester composition course that is taken for a letter grade option (not Pass/No Pass) at another institution after high school graduation and prior to enrolling at USC. Equivalent transfer credit is determined by the university’s articulation officer. The advanced writing requirement must be completed at USC.

Time Limits

Students should complete the lower-division writing course requirement by the end of their first year at USC and must complete it before they enroll in their 65th unit. Transfer students who have not completed the lower-division requirement prior to entering USC should enroll in WRIT 150    during their first semester at USC, and must enroll in WRIT 150    no later than their 19th unit (second semester) at USC.

Writing Program

  • •  WRIT 095x Writing Tutorial
  • •  WRIT 120 Introduction to College Writing
  • •  WRIT 121 Introduction to College Writing in a Second Language
  • •  WRIT 130 Analytical Writing
  • •  WRIT 133 College Writing for International Students
  • •  WRIT 150 Writing and Critical Reasoning–Thematic Approaches
  • •  WRIT 320 Inside-Out Writing Workshop
  • •  WRIT 340 Advanced Writing
  • •  WRIT 380 Writing in Global Contexts
  • •  WRIT 385 Writing Fellows Practicum
  • •  WRIT 440 Writing in Practical Contexts
  • •  WRIT 450 Advanced Research Writing
  • •  WRIT 499 Special Topics
  • •  WRIT 501a Theory and Practice in Teaching Expository Writing
  • •  WRIT 501b Theory and Practice in Teaching Expository Writing
  • •  WRIT 540 Writing for Master’s Students

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MFA in Creative Writing

group photo

About the Program

Our innovative MFA program includes both studio instruction and literature courses. Writers can take workshop courses in any genre, and they can write a thesis in fiction, nonfiction, poetry or “hybrid” (multi-genre) form. In the second year, they teach popular Creative Writing courses to Davis undergraduates under faculty supervision, gaining valuable experience and sharing their insight  and enthusiasm with beginning practitioners.

Questions? Contact:

Sarah Yunus Graduate Program Coordinator, MFA Program in Creative Writing [email protected]   Pronouns: she/her  

Admissions and Online Application

Events, Prizes, and Resources

  • Funding Your MFA

At UC Davis, we offer you the ability to fund your MFA. In fact, all students admitted to the program are guaranteed full funding in the second year of study, when students serve as teachers of Introduction to Creative Writing (English 5) and receive, in exchange, tuition and health insurance remission as well as a monthly stipend (second year students who come to Davis from out of state are expected to establish residency during their first year). We have a more limited amount of resources – teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and out of state tuition wavers – allocated to us for first year students, but in recent years, we’ve had excellent luck funding our accepted first years. We help students who do not receive English department funding help themselves by posting job announcements from other departments during the spring and summer leading up to their arrival. We are proud to say that over the course of the last twenty years, nearly every incoming student has wound up with at least partial funding (including a tuition waiver and health insurance coverage) by the time classes begin in the fall.  

We have other resources for students, too – like the Miller Fund, which supports attendance for our writers at any single writer’s workshop or conference. Students have used these funds to attend well-known conferences like AWP, Writing By Writers, and the Tin House Conference. The Davis Humanities Institute offers a fellowship that first year students can apply for to fund their writing projects. Admitted students are also considered for University-wide fellowships.

Cost of Attendance

  • Course of Study

The M.F.A. at Davis is a two-year program on the quarter system (our academic year consists of three sessions of ten-week courses that run from the end of September until mid-June). The program includes classes and a thesis project. It requires diverse, multidisciplinary study and offers excellent mentorship.  

Writers concentrate in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or “hybrid” (multi-genre) forms. They take at least four graduate workshops, and they’re required to take one workshop outside their primary genre (many of our students choose to take even more). Writers at Davis also take graduate courses in literature from abundant options, including the program’s Seminars for Writers. Writers can also take graduate courses in literary study taught by scholars in the English Department. And many of our writers enroll in courses relevant to their work in other departments like art history, comparative literature, linguistics, and performance studies.  

At the end of the first year, writers form a thesis committee with a Director and two additional readers from the faculty. In the second year, writers at Davis concentrate on Individual Study units with these mentors, working closely with their committee to create a book-length creative work. Writers present their projects at intimate, intense, celebratory defense in May with all members of their committee in attendance.

  • History of the Program

We’re a new MFA, but we’ve been a successful and respected Creative Writing Program since 1975—a “sleeper” program, as one guide to MFA programs called us. The people who founded the CW program at UC Davis were all lovers and teachers of literature, and chose to call the program an MA, rather than an MFA because they wanted to ensure that the degree would not be seen as a “studio” degree but one in which the study of literature was integral.  In the 1980’s and 1990’s, most often under the leadership of Jack Hicks and Alan Williamson, the program emphasized writing on the American West and the wilderness. Our high profile faculty included Sandra McPherson, Gary Snyder, Sandra Gilbert, Clarence Major, Katherine Vaz, Elizabeth Tallent, Max Byrd, and Louis Owens.  

We also created an introductory sequence of workshops taught by graduate students, which has become one of the highlights of the program for the second years who teach the courses and the undergraduates who take them. There’s more to teaching these courses than learning to teach; teaching helps our writers understand their own writing in ways that no other aspect of a writing program can do. Pam Houston joined the program in the early 2000’s and she led a faculty that included Lynn Freed and Yiyun Li. As an MFA, we remain a place that values sustained literary study as core to the making of art, but we’re also allowing our vision of genre to expand and embrace the other arts and media.

The town of Davis began as "Davisville," a small stop on the Southern Pacific railway between Sacramento and the Bay Area.  Some of our graduate students choose to live in Sacramento or the Bay Area, making use of the commute-by-train option, which is still very much in place.  For those commuting by car, Davis is a 15-25 minute drive from Sacramento and a 60-90 minute drive from the Bay Area.

Students also choose to live in Davis itself, which CNN once ranked the second most educated city in the US.  Davis is a college town of about 75,000 people. Orchards, farms and ranches border it on all sides. The town boasts a legendary twice-weekly farmers market (complete with delicious food trucks and live music). Bike and walking paths lead everywhere (many students prefer not to own a car while they are here) and there are copious amounts of planned green space in every subdivision. The flatness of the land makes Davis ideal for biking, and the city over the past 5 decades has installed bike lanes and bike racks all over town. In fact, in 2006,  Bicycling Magazine , in its compilation of "America's Best Biking Cities," named Davis the best small town for cycling. Packed with coffee houses, bookstores, and restaurants that serve cuisine from every continent, Downtown Davis has a casual vibe. It’s a great place to hole up and write. Davis is filled with hard wood trees, and flower and vegetable gardens, and wild ducks and turkeys walk the campus as if they own the place. It’s a gentle place to live. Although summers get quite hot, the other three seasons are mild, and each, in their own way, quite beautiful. For more about the town, check out  the Davis Wikipedia page .

Woodland and Winters, two small towns close by to Davis, are also options for housing—and they’re good options for those who are not so desirous of the college town scene.  Yet another option is to live in the scenic rural areas Davis is surrounded by.

To the west of Davis, Lake Berryessa and the Napa valley are close by.  To the east, the Sierra mountains are close by; Reno and Tahoe are just a couple hours drive in that direction. 

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Master of Fine Arts – Creative Writing

MFA – Creative Writing

Admission   |  Required Coursework   |  MFA Faculty   |  Visiting Writers Series   |  RipRap   |  FAQs

Since the late 1960s, California State University, Long Beach has promoted the value and significance of creative writing as part of its educational mission. Building on a thriving undergraduate program, CSULB welcomed its first class of MFA students in Creative Writing in 1995. Over 200 students have since earned their MFA degrees and a respectable number have gone on to publish in a wide range of national outlets as well as to teach at various postsecondary levels.

The Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing is a terminal degree currently recognized as sufficient to qualify students for college and university teaching jobs and for positions in the publishing industry. The MFA program at CSULB is a two-year, full-time program in which students complete 48 units of coursework with professors in the Department of English. Students are expected to submit an approved thesis of creative writing midway through the spring semester of their second years.

We hope this site will help guide interested applicants and newly admitted students through the process of becoming part of a distinct community of writers in Southern California.

What are you looking for?

Aimee bender, percival everett, dana johnson, anna journey, robin lewis, susan mccabe, maggie nelson, danzy senna, david st. john, ph.d. in creative writing & literature.

3501 Trousdale Parkway

Taper Hall of Humanities 431

Los Angeles, CA  90089-0354

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8:30 a.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Times may adjust in accordance with university holidays.

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COMMENTS

  1. Writing for Screen and Television (MFA)

    Applicants must submit a supplemental application and materials to the Graduate Writing for Screen and Television Program. For specific instructions, contact the Cinematic Arts Office of Admission, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211, (213) 740-8358 or online at cinema.usc.edu.A total of 44 units is required. A minimum of 30 units must ...

  2. Writing for Screen and Television (MFA)

    Writing for Screen and Television (MFA) - USC. Updated: Monday, August 5, at 9 a.m. PT. USC's University Park Campus is open to students, faculty, staff, registered guests and known vendors with confirmation of work. If arriving by car, via public transit or on foot, entry is available at: McCarthy Way and Figueroa Street (24/7); McClintock ...

  3. Writing for Screen and Television (MFA)

    The Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing for Screen and Television, is an intensive two-year degree program that concentrates on writing for narrative film and television. During the course of their studies, students benefit from a wide array of internship and mentorship opportunities available as a result of the university's close links to ...

  4. John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television

    The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing for Screen & Television is a unique, four-year program for students who want a real career in screen and television writing. Students work with talented writers from around the globe in small workshop-style classes, learn from top minds in the industry and working professionals, and intern at top companies ...

  5. - PhD in Creative Writing & Literature

    USC Dornsife PhD in Creative Writing & Literature. IN ADDITION TO COURSEWORK, students have the opportunity to participate in Ph.D. student-run projects such as The Loudest Voice, a reading series, and Gold Line Press, a publisher of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry chapbooks.. Though known for its competitive sports teams, USC also organizes an array of stimulating events throughout the year ...

  6. How to Apply · School of Dramatic Arts · USC

    Submit an SDA SlideRoom Application. The following materials are required in order to be considered for admission in the USC School of Dramatic Arts. Please be sure to upload all materials via SlideRoom. Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV): Your resume should include any and all performance activities. If you would like, you may also add any other ...

  7. Department of English Language and Literature

    Here are the details of our admission criteria, application process, and funding. Applications are due by January 15. The MFA is a three-year, 45-hour program, culminating in a book-length creative thesis. Our signature creative writing outreach program sends MFA students to local public schools to teach poetry and fiction to kids.

  8. Master of Fine Arts Dramatic Writing

    The Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing (MFADW) at the USC School of Dramatic Arts provides students with the foundation to not only build a fruitful career, but to further discover and develop their own authentic voice. At the heart of this program, the MFADW teaches playwriting first and foremost, then expands into adaptation ...

  9. Graduate

    In addition to our Ph.D. in English Literature, USC English is one of a very small group of institutions in America to offer a combined Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature.Students admitted to this track take a series of writing workshops taught by our internationally renowned creative writing faculty and graduate literature seminars with their cohorts in the literature track.

  10. USC Cinematic Arts

    There are no admission interviews but applicants may be contacted for more information or clarification of submitted materials. The committee ensures that all applicants are judged equitably by limiting evaluation to the items listed. You must submit the SlideRoom Application titled: "Graduate Writing for Screen & Television MFA Program".

  11. Literature and Creative Writing (PhD)

    The program provides dual emphasis in literature and creative writing, culminating in the dissertation, which combines critical analysis with creative originality. ... (second semester for students who enter with an MA or MFA degree or near equivalent), the student will sit for a departmental examination, which is part of a comprehensive ...

  12. USC School of Dramatic Arts to offer free tuition for its MFA programs

    The tuition-free MFA programs will allow the university to more competitively recruit extraordinarily gifted creatives who bring distinct stories and experiences to stage and screen with no financial barriers. The MFA programs serve 30 students, and 100% of them had been receiving financial assistance through scholarships or grants.

  13. MFA in Writing

    The MFA Program in Writing welcomes brave and innovative writers and encourages the formation of mutually-supportive, inspiring literary communities. The program is small, with typically 4 to 8 new students admitted and funded each year. The intimate nature of the program allows students to work very closely with writing faculty and each other ...

  14. Writing for Screen and Television (MFA)

    The Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing for Screen and Television, is an intensive two-year degree program that concentrates on writing for narrative film and television. During the course of their studies, students benefit from a wide array of internship and mentorship opportunities available as a result of the university's close links to ...

  15. The MFA Design Degree Program

    The USC MFA Design studios are housed in the Roski Graduate Building, a 15,000-square-foot retrofitted hub for artists, designers and scholars that encourages collaboration and cross-pollination. The building also serves as the site for most Roski public programming, including artist and designer talks. In the Graduate Building, you'll have ...

  16. creativewritingmfa.info

    This is an attempt at creating an objective ranking of graduate creative writing programs. For further and more detailed information on how the scores are generated see the methodology ... MFA: NC: University of Southern California: 4266: 6100: 2433: 0: Fiction, Poetry, CNF: PhD: CA: University of Wisconsin Madison: 4266: 3600: 766: 100 ...

  17. University of Southern California

    University of Southern California. Los Angeles, CA. https://dornsife.usc.edu/cwphd. School notes Degrees Offered. PhD. Genres. Fiction, Poetry, CNF. Residency type. Full. Program length. 64 units (5 years) Financial Aid. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program in Creative Writing and Literature receive financial support and assistance in the ...

  18. Welcome to English!

    Welcome to English! When the Great Library of Alexandria burned, it wasn't just 40,000 scrolls that were lost; entire imaginative universes went up in smoke. Literature supplies the materials we use to build and remake worlds. And it allows us to reimagine the world - as it was, is and might be. To major in English is to connect the deepest ...

  19. The Writing Program

    Equivalent transfer credit is determined by the university's articulation officer. The advanced writing requirement must be completed at USC. Time Limits. Students should complete the lower-division writing course requirement by the end of their first year at USC and must complete it before they enroll in their 65th unit.

  20. MFA in Creative Writing

    Contact: Sarah Yunus Graduate Program Coordinator, MFA Program in Creative Writing [email protected] Pronouns: she/her. Admissions and Online Application. Faculty. Events, Prizes, and Resources. Funding Your MFA. At UC Davis, we offer you the ability to fund your MFA. In fact, all students admitted to the program are guaranteed full funding in ...

  21. English Major

    An English degree can help prepare you for a career in entertainment, journalism, business, technology, law, medicine, public policy, or many other fields. Because of this, many of our students combine English with other majors for a double major. While students cannot double major in Literature and Creative Writing, since they each belong to ...

  22. Master of Fine Arts

    The Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing is a terminal degree currently recognized as sufficient to qualify students for college and university teaching jobs and for positions in the publishing industry. The MFA program at CSULB is a two-year, full-time program in which students complete 48 units of coursework with professors in the ...

  23. Faculty

    3501 Trousdale Parkway. Taper Hall of Humanities 431. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0354