The M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing

The Programs

Each year the department enrolls only eight students, four in each concentration. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package which fully funds every student. At the same time, we have a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical, and cultural fields. Students choose a Special Committee of two faculty members who provide a great deal of individual attention and encourage students to design their own courses of study within the very broad framework laid down by the department.

Students participate in a graduate writing workshop each semester and take 6 additional one-semester courses for credit, at least four of them in English or American literature, Comparative Literature, literature in the modern or classical languages, or cultural studies (typically two per semester during the first year and one per semester during the second year). First year students receive practical training by working as Editorial Assistants for Epoch, a periodical of prose and poetry published by the Creative Writing staff of the department. The most significant requirement of the M.F.A. degree is the completion of a book-length manuscript: a collection of poems, short stories, or a novel.

M.F.A./Ph.D. Joint-Degree Program

Each year one or two students may be admitted to both the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing and the doctoral program in English Language and Literature. These students take the M.F.A. writing workshop courses and Ph.D. seminars for four semesters, write an M.F.A. thesis, and receive the M.F.A. degree. They then proceed to complete the remaining requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Cornell offers only the scholarly Ph.D., not the Ph.D with creative dissertation.

Special Committee

Every graduate student selects a Special Committee of faculty advisors who will be responsible for providing the student a great deal of individual attention. The Committee is comprised of at least two Cornell Creative Writing faculty members: a chair, and one minor member. An additional member may represent an interdisciplinary field. The University system of Special Committees allows students to design their own courses of study within a broad framework laid down by the department, and it encourages a close working relationship between professors and students, promoting freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of the graduate degree. The Special Committee for each student guides and supervises all student’s academic work and assesses progress in a series of meetings with the students.

Teaching

Teaching is considered an integral part of training for the profession. The Department of English, in conjunction with the First-Year Writing Program, offers excellent training for beginning teachers and varied and interesting teaching within the university-wide First-Year Writing Program. Graduate students are assigned to writing courses under such general rubrics as “Portraits of the Self,” “American Literature and Culture,” “The Mystery in the Story,” “Shakespeare,” and “Cultural Studies,” among others. Serving as a Teaching Assistant for a lecture course taught by a member of the Department of English faculty is another way graduate students participate in the teaching of undergraduates.

Funding

All M.F.A. degree candidates are offered a two-year of funding combining:

• a first-year Graduate Assistantship working at Epoch, a periodical of contemporary literature published by the Creative Writing staff of the Department of English. Students help to read submissions, plan special issues, and assume other editorial and administrative responsibilities. This assistantship carries a full tuition fellowship.
• a first-summer teaching assistantship, which is linked to a teachers training program for which residency is required
• a second-year Teaching Assistantship with a full tuition fellowship
• a second summer of support (offered in recent years and, though not guaranteed, is expected to continue.)
• All of the above assistantships include a stipend and Student Health Insurance.

Optional MFA Lecturer Appointments

Degree recipients who are actively seeking outside employment or who are applying for fellowships and residencies are eligible to apply for further teaching for one year, with the possibility of two, in The First-Year Writing and the Creative Writing programs. These appointments are limited and are not guaranteed.

Admission and Application

Applicants for admission should be aware that the M.F.A. degree alone is only a part of the qualifications needed to obtain a teaching position in a college writing program. In intense competition for such positions, a substantial body of published works is of greatest value, as well as the kind of teaching experience gained here in Cornell’s M.F.A. program. Graduates of the program also gain valuable experience which may help them should they choose a career in publishing.

• Applicants may request admission to:
  • MFA in Creative Writing - poetry concentration
  • MFA in Creative Writing - fiction concentration
  • Joint MFA / Phd (Admission to the two programs is decided separately. Applicants may be admitted to only one of the two programs.)
• Applicants are considered for fall term only.
• No terminal M.A. degree is offered in English.
• Applications must be submitted on-line through the Graduate School
• Application deadline is DECEMBER 15.

Requirements Summary (includes Graduate School Requirements)

• All Programs:
• Application and fee
• Statement of Purpose
• Three letters of recommendation
• Transcripts (one official copy)
• TOEFL (if non-native speaker of English)

• Additional program specific requirements:
• M.F.A.
  • GRE General Test (Institution code: 2098; Field 2503)
  • Creative Writing Sample (Fiction candidates must submit a creative writing sample of 6,000 to 12,000 words, preferably typed double-spaced in a conventional 12-point or 14-point font. Samples may be excerpted from a larger work, or a combination of several works. Poetry candidates must submit at least 10 to 12 poems of any length.)
• M.F.A. / Ph.D. Joint
  • GRE General Test (Institution code: 2098; Field 2501)
  • GRE Subject Test in English Language and Literature
  • Critical Writing Sample (see specifications above)
  • AND
  • Creative Writing Sample (at least 10 to 20 pages, preferably typed double-spaced in a conventional 12-point or 14-point font. Sample may be excerpted from a larger work.)

Application Information

The deadline to submit your application is December 15, and the application must be submitted on-line. All supporting materials (see the requirements summary) must be submitted directly to the department with the exception of the statement of purpose and the diversity statement, which may be uploaded with the application. Recommendation writers may upload their letters, or send them directly to the field with the recommendation letter cover sheet attached. The field will notify applicants by early January should any portion of the application be missing.

All supporting materials must be submitted directly to the English Department with the exception of the statement of purpose and the diversity statement, which may be uploaded with the application. Recommendation writers may upload their letters, or send them directly to the department with the recommendation letter cover sheet attached. Applicants will be notified by early January should any portion of their application be missing.

Department Address

• Graduate Applications
  Department of English
  250 Goldwin Smith Hall
  Cornell University
  Ithaca, NY 14853-3201