M.F.A. Creative Writing

College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences
a group of students pose with a professor in a hallway

Degree Options:

  • MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Literary Genre, Poetry, or Hybrid Forms

Who Would Be Interested in This Program?

  • This program is for any person with an undergraduate degree seeking to improve his or her creative writing abilities in poetry and / or prose for the purposes of publication.
  • The MFA in Creative Writing is also a terminal degree that can make you eligible for promotion in English or Language-Arts-related secondary education positions (consult your school district for their policies).
  • The MFA in Creative Writing also makes you eligible to teach in English, Composition, and Creative Writing-related programs at the college and university level as an adjunct, instructor, and visiting or tenure-track professor.
  • The Bluegrass Writers Studio is a low-residency program, meaning all fall and spring semester workshops are taken online, live, one day per week via Zoom. All contemporary literature courses are taken online, asynchronously, via Canvas. Students do complete 12 credits of in-person, residency hours. These can be taken early to mid-July at our Domestic Summer Residency in Richmond / Lexington, KY, in late June to early July at our International Summer Residency in Lisbon, Portugal, or at both.

What Are the Requirements to be Admitted to the Program?

  • Applicants should submit a a writing sample both in the online application and attached as an email to the program director.

  • The writing sample should consist of:

    • A two-page letter of intent addressing the applicant's reasons for applying to the program.
    • Approximately 15 pages of poetry or 20 pages of prose (fiction or creative nonfiction).
  • Applicants must have completed an undergraduate bachelor's degree.
  • Ordinarily, a 2.5 standing GPA should have been achieved at the undergraduate level. 
  • Applicants who achieved an undergraduate GPA of less than 2.5 are required to submit GRE scores (Verbal: 150+, Quantitative: 155+, Writing: 4.0+)
  • The MFA Admissions Committee reserves the right to waive any of the above requirements in the event that a writing sample is deemed exceptional. 

Where Are Recent Graduates of the Program Employed?

  • While many of our students enter the program already in full-time careers (education, law, medical, business, etc.) and continue in those after graduation, and while the goal of the program is first and foremost to prepare graduates to compete for publication in the contemporary literary marketplace, many of our students do use their MFA to launch a new career.
  • Through our press internships and literary journal editing opportunities, alumni have secured jobs in publishing and public relations.
  • On the strength of their coursework and their public presentation (a thesis requirement), students have received letters of recommendation from faculty and secured secondary-level teaching positions as well as college and university-level positions from the adjunct level all the way to professor. 

How Do I Get More Information?