Creative Writing M.F.A.

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Minimum Requirements for Creative Writing M.F.A. Degree: 45 credits

Minimum grade of B required for F600-level courses.

General University Requirements
Complete the graduate general university requirements.
Master’s Degree Requirements
Complete the master's degree requirements.
Creative Writing Program Requirements
Complete and pass a written comprehensive examination 1
Students may advance to candidacy when their advisory committee deems that they have made satisfactory progress in both academic and writing areas.
Complete the following:
ENGL F601Theory, Criticism and Methods 23
ENGL F671Writers' Workshop9
ENGL F699Thesis6
Approved electives 36
Complete one of the following:3
Teaching College Composition 4
Approved ENGL F600-level elective course 3
Literature seminars as determined by the student's advisory committee 512
Complete four of the following:
Studies in British Literature: Old and Middle English
Studies in British Literature: Renaissance and 17th-Century
Studies in British Literature: Restoration and 18th Century
Studies in British Literature: 19th Century
Studies in British Literature After 1900
Studies in American Literature to 1865
Studies in American Literature from 1865-1918
Studies in American Literature after 1918
Studies in Comparative Literature
Contemporary Literature
Images of the North
Or other approved elective
Complete two of the following:6
Forms of Poetry
Forms of Fiction
Forms of Nonfiction Prose
Writing for Film and Television
Total Credits45
1

Based on a standardized reading list, the examination is to be taken no later than the student’s fourth semester of work. The examination should be held on a Saturday approximately one month into the spring semester.

2

Students are required to take ENGL F601 in their first year of study.

3

A student may petition the Thesis Advisory Committee and the department chair to take up to 6 credit hours of approved individual study (F697) to be applied toward the English M.F.A. electives requirement.

4

Required if you are a teaching assistant or planning to teach.

5

A literature class is one that does not have as its primary purpose the training of a student to be a creative writer or to teach composition. Some versions of ENGL F692 and ENGL F693 may meet this criteria.

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Admission Requirements

Complete the following admission requirements:

  • Submit creative writing sample.

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Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes are measurable statements that describe knowledge or skills achieved by students upon completion of the program.

Students graduating from this program will be able to:

  • Produce written work in their chosen discipline of a quality that is comparable to material being published in contemporary literary magazines and journals
  • Write clearly and engagingly; produce sustained coherent critical writing at an appropriate level of sophistication for graduate study
  • Complete program in a timely manner
  • Demonstrate adequate preparation to pursue a career in writing, publishing, or (with further study) in an academic career in creative writing or a related field; recognition of own work’s strengths and weaknesses; familiarity with the literary marketplace (book and journal); plans and adequate preparation to seek publication
  • Consider the graduate program at UAF to be of high quality