Creative
Writing (CRWR)
Degree
Offered:
M.F.A.
Graduate
Studies Office:
4147 Susquehanna Hall
301- 405-3820
crwrgrad@deans.umd.edu
Description:
The
M.F.A. in Creative Writing is offered by the Department of English.
The Department of English offers graduate study leading to the
Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees; particular strengths
of the department include early British literature, especially
that of the Renaissance; American literature; literature of the
African Diaspora; feminist theory and gender studies; and composition
and rhetoric. The Department also offers a Master of Fine Arts
degree in Creative Writing. Most students enrolled in graduate
programs in English Language and Literature seek employment in
higher education, but many also seek non-academic employment in
publishing, business and technical writing, administration, and
personnel management. To assist with placement, the department
has a Placement Director and the university has a Career Development
Center.
Admission
Information:
In
addition to fulfilling Graduate School requirements, applicants
to the M.A. degree program should present a 3.5 GPA in English
and 24 hours of upper-level English courses. Applicants to the
Ph.D. degree program should present a 3.7 GPA and an M.A. degree,
normally in English Language and Literature. All applicants should
submit a writing sample of 8-20 pages to the Office of the Director
of Graduate Studies. Applications for all degree programs must
be received by January 15. Admission is for the Fall semester
only.
Master's
Degree Requirements:
The
M.F.A. degree program requires 36 credit hours of graduate work.
The program balances courses in literature with writing workshops
(30 hours), and requires a creative thesis (six hours). It offers
concentrations in fiction and in poetry.
Facilities
and Special Resources:
Resources
for research in the College Park and Washington, D.C. area are
unsurpassed. The university's libraries hold over 2,000,000 volumes.
In addition to the outstanding holdings of the Library of Congress,
the area also offers the specialized resources of the Folger Shakespeare
Library, Dumbarton Oaks, the National Archives, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the National Center for the Study of the Visual
Arts.
The
University of Maryland, College Park is a member of the Consortium
of Institutions in the Washington area, which permits graduate
students at College Park to enroll in courses at other universities
for graduate credit at UMCP. Graduate students in English also
may take courses for graduate credit at the Folger Institute of
Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Studies, which runs a series
of seminars by distinguished scholars each year.
Financial
Assistance:
The
Graduate School awards a small number of fellowships to candidates
nominated by the various departments. In conjunction with the
Graduate School, the English Department also awards teaching assistantships,
the primary form of financial aid. Currently, about 85 teaching
assistantships are awarded each year, and about 25 of these go
to incoming students or to enrolled students who have not previously
held them.
Additional
Information:
Additional
information on admission, degree requirements, and financial aid
can be obtained from:
Director
of Graduate Studies
Department of English
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-3798
www.inform.umd.edu/engl/
On-line
Graduate School Application: www.admit.umd.edu/gradapp/begin.html
