Washington University St Louis

St Louis, MO

https://english.wustl.edu/mfa-program

Degrees Offered

MFA

Genres

Fiction, Poetry, CNF

Residency type

Full

Program length

2 years

Financial Aid

Because of our selectivity and size, we are able to offer all our new students full and equal financial aid. For first year students, this is in the form of a university fellowship which provides a complete tuition waiver plus a stipend sufficient for students to live comfortably in our relatively inexpensive city. The amount of the stipend is variable (it has risen each of the last five years), but for our students in 2014-15 it is $21,150. In addition, summer funding of $2,500 is provided between the first and second year. We also provide full and equal funding to all of our second year students in the form of a Teaching Assistantship which, again, includes a full tuition waiver, plus a stipend that, at present, is $21,150. To earn this assistantship, our students teach one section of an introductory creative writing workshop in their genres each semester of the second year (two sections total). There are also two university-wide fellowships for graduate students, which applicants to the MFA Program are urged to apply for separately: the Spencer T. Olin Fellowships for Women presently carry a stipend of $28,000 for each of the two years (please see the Olin Fellowship website), and the Chancellor's Graduate Fellowships, for students who contribute to the diversity at the university, presently carry a stipend of $29,500 for each of the two years (please see the Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship website). All MFA students receive health insurance through Washington University.

Teaching opportunities

Students teach one section of an introductory creative writing workshop in their genres each semester of the second year (two sections total).

Editorial opportunities

Dorothy, a publishing project—a nationally acclaimed independent press publishing works of innovative fiction—offers a one-year internship for an MFA student in creative writing. Students can apply in the spring of their first year to begin the internship the following fall. The intern chosen will work directly with Danielle Dutton, the press's editor, on mutually agreed upon projects that take into account the intern's interests and strengths. In general, however, the internship is designed to give students a wide range of experience with literary publishing, and so will likely involve a mix of editorial work (e.g., reviewing submissions, writing reader’s reports, copyediting manuscripts in layout), marketing, design, and book production and distribution. The intern will also have opportunities to represent the press publicly, including at the annual AWP conference (travel and hotel expenses will be covered), and his or her name will appear on the press's masthead.

Graduates

Send questions, comments and corrections to info@creativewritingmfa.info.

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology.