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Requirements for Applying to the Creative Writing Major

The application for the creative writing major is currently closed. The application will be available in spring of 2025 HERE.

Admission to the creative writing major can be competitive. Students must fulfill the following prerequisites before applying:

  1. You must be a sophomore, junior, or senior to apply. Freshmen are not eligible to apply. Seniors may apply, provided they plan to continue taking classes the following academic year.
  2. Take at least one 200-level genre-based creative writing course and be enrolled in another. You must complete the 200-level course in your chosen genre (poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction) before applying to the minor in that genre. You must also have either completed or be enrolled in another 200-level genre-based course (ENG 206, 207, or 208) by the time you apply. For example, a prospective poetry student must have taken ENG 206 and have taken or be enrolled in either ENG 207 or ENG 208 at the time of application. 
  3. Prepare a writing sample. You will need to submit a sample of your writing in your chosen genre with your creative writing application. Students often submit work from their 200-level creative writing classes, and are in fact encouraged to do so. This sample should be 7-15 pages for fiction or creative nonfiction, 4-5 poems for poetry.
  4. Fill out and submit your application here. See application site for specific instructions. Students applying in multiple genres must submit an application in each genre in which they're applying.

 

Requirements for Completing the Creative Writing Major

15 Courses, as follows:

Three Introductory Courses

Although only one genre-based introductory course (and enrollment in a second) is required to apply, all three are required to complete the major.

Year-long Writing Sequence

One of the following three-course sequences:

ENG 392 - The Situation of Writing

“The Situation of Writing,” which is typically offered once per year, investigates the writer’s relation to the culture, both currently and historically. The course addresses such questions as the relation of criticism to imaginative literature, the rise and fall of specific literary genres, the effect of the university on the production and consumption of literary works, the state of the publishing industry, and international literary contexts.

Six 300-level Literature Classes

These courses must be “pure literature”; that is, courses in which the bulk of the reading is literature and not criticism or theory. They must be selected from English Department offerings ONLY:

Note: Students who have completed two parts of either British Literary Traditions (210-1 and 210-2) or American Literary Traditions (270-1 and 270-2) can use these two courses to count as ONE of these six literature courses.

Note: Creative Writing students are encouraged to enroll in ENG 300 as one of these six courses, ideally earlier rather than later in their undergraduate career.

Two Non-Literature Related Courses

These courses, in areas such as history, art, classics, and gender studies, broaden the student’s background for the study of literature. These must be approved by a creative writing advisor. Students with a second major or a minor will be considered to have completed this requirement.

Notes:

[1] The School of Professional Studies also offers courses under the listings ENG 206, 207, and 208. These courses do not count toward the Weinberg Creative Writing Major.

[2] First-year students may not apply to the creative writing sequence, even if they complete both pre-requisite classes in the first year.