college of charleston creative writing mfa

Anthony Varallo, Program Director 843.953.5665 [email protected]​  https://english.cofc.edu/graduate-programs/master-fine-arts-creative-writing/index.php

Mission Statement

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program provides students with a rigorous education in the writing and craft of fiction or poetry. The program culminates with the completion a full-length manuscript of either prose fiction or poetry (the thesis). Applicants must submit a creative writing sample in the primary genre they plan to complete their thesis in.

Program Description

The College of Charleston’s Master of Fine Arts Program offers advanced degree training to students who wish to gain expertise in the writing of fiction or poetry. As in music or the visual arts, the best education for the artist includes training in the history and traditions associated with the student’s discipline, training in theoretical and formal approaches to the craft, and intensive peer and faculty feedback

Admission Requirements and Application Deadlines

Creative writing, m.f.a. admission requirements, institutional admissions requirements.

• A completed application form with a nonrefundable application fee of $60.
• Official transcripts of   all   undergraduate and graduate coursework. An earned bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university is required.
• International applicants should refer to the International Students area within the “Admissions Information” section of the catalog for information on providing appropriate documentation with the application.

Program Admissions Requirements

• A Baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher learning with a cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 2.500 on a 4.000 scale.
• A creative writing sample in the genre of application that demonstrates skill and promise for further development in the art. Fiction samples may include one short story, several short stories, or a section of a novel, and must not exceed 30 pages in length. Poets should send no more than 10 pages of poetry.
• A statement of purpose (300-500 words). Applicants should discuss: their writing style, as well as literary influences; how the College/program will support their goals; and what the applicant believes he or she will contribute to the program.
• Three letters of recommendation. Each referee should be as specific as possible in addressing the applicant’s motivation and ability to successfully complete a graduate degree.

Note: The M.F.A. Creative Writing program does not accept students for non-degree seeking status.  Applicants interested in graduate coursework in English are encouraged to explore the M.A. English program as it does accept non-degree seeking students.

Application Deadlines

• Fall: January 15, priority*; July 1, final
• Spring: No spring admission
• Summer: No summer admission

*Candidates who submit a completed application by the priority deadline will automatically be considered for Graduate School and/or graduate program funding.

Transfer Credit Policy

No program specific guidelines. Please refer to the Graduate School’s transfer credit policy   .

Program Requirements

• Creative Writing, M.F.A.    

Program Learning Outcomes

• Creative Writing M.F.A. (PDF)

The official news site of the College of Charleston.

Novelist bret lott leads new mfa program in creative writing.

The great American poet William Carlos Williams didn’t understand how someone could live and never write something down, says Bret Lott , acclaimed novelist and professor of English at the College of Charleston. If you’re a like-minded person, perhaps it’s time to consider applying to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the College.

Bret Lott, novelist and director of the College’s MFA program in Creative Writing.

The two-year, full-residency program, which begins in the fall of 2016 pending approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Schools, is designed to sharpen the writing skills of graduate students interested in fiction and poetry. Students will choose from two tracks of instruction: either a studio track designed to prime writers for publication and careers in literary-related fields, or an arts management track to prepare students for “positions in the arts community at large,” says Lott, the program’s director. Altogether the program promises immersion in a world of prose, poetry and the practical aspects of establishing a career in the arts.

Lott is the author of the bestselling novel Jewel and 13 other titles. His teaching colleagues in the MFA program, including poetry professors Emily Rosko and Gary Jackson as well as fiction writer Anthony Varallo , are equally as talented. Together they’ve published more than 20 books.

These professors will teach regular three-hour writing workshops in which students offer critiques of each other’s work. Also, the MFA program will feature graduate courses in English and American Literature as well as Elements of Form and Craft in Fiction. Enrollment will be capped at 24 students for the College’s MFA program, and classes will meet in a historic home at 72 George St.

Lott says the College’s MFA program provides aspiring professional writers “time to rehearse” and practice a craft that is almost unmatched in its utility and versatility.

“Writing is such a portable thing,” says Lott. “You can go anywhere and be a writer.”

Besides, he says, “It’s great for you as a human being to practice art, to be creating things, making things.”

And that’s a sentiment with which the poet Williams would surely agree.

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Creative Writing Program College of Charleston

Our Writers

Melissa Hughes is a biology professor at the CofC, where she teaches classes in animal behavior, ornithology, and sex, while studying aggression and communication in (not between) sparrows and shrimp. Many years ago, she studied biology and poetry at Bucknell University, then zoology at Duke University; she is excited to return to poetry in the MFA program. Her writing explores the physicality of our human lives and our connections to the nonhuman world. She lives with her husband and an unreasonable number of pets, and enjoys birdwatching, kayaking, and learning the names of the weeds in her yard.

English Department News

Mfa in creative writing program will launch in fall 2016.

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of English are proud to announce the establishment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at the College of Charleston.

Crazyhorse Editors/Creative Writing faculty (left to right): Anthony Varallo, Jonathan Bohr Heinen, Malinda McCollum, Gary Jackson, Bret Lott (standing), Emily Rosko. Photo by Leslie McKellar.

Beginning in the fall of 2016, the College of Charleston will open its doors to graduate study in both poetry and fiction, and for good reason: the College is home not only to a cadre of nationally and internationally recognized writing faculty— Bret Lott , Gary Jackson , Emily Rosko and Anthony Varallo —but also houses one of the country’s premiere literary journals, Crazyhorse , published since 1960 and consistently ranked as among the top publishing venues in the nation. Undergraduate students have for years reaped the benefits of a creative writing concentration within the Department of English, but now, with the MFA, graduate students from across the country will be afforded the opportunity to study writing, literature, publishing and the arts at large on our campus. Given the city of Charleston’s literary heritage and its inherent ties to the arts, the program is sure to become one of the most significant homes for the study of writing in the country.

The MFA in Creative Writing, a two-year program of study, will feature separate Studio and Arts Management tracks, and will offer not only advanced degree training in the writing of poetry and fiction, but also opportunities to assist in the production of Crazyhorse . The backbone of the program will be workshops taught by writing faculty in the two genres, as well as training in the history and traditions associated with writing, theoretical and formal approaches to the craft, and intensive peer and faculty feedback. Students in both the Studio and Arts Management tracks will also gain reading, writing, and critical thinking skills valuable to such humanities-based industries as editing, publicity, marketing, and promotion in publishing and the arts; the Arts Management track will emphasize management, organization, decision-making, and problem-solving skills in preparation for jobs within the creative economy.

Stay tuned—we’ll have more on the program as we grow closer to our first class of writers! For questions about the program, contact Bret Lott . More information about the English department at the College of Charleston can be found here .

(This article was first published in the HSS Spring 2015 newsletter .)

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