University of Virginia - MFA Creative Writing Posted on April 29th
he MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Virginia is a two-year program and, in general, we admit five poets and seven fiction writers each year, which keeps our program small and intimate, with about 25 students matriculating at any one time. We receive some 500 applications per year.
Our program was ranked highly by U.S. News and World Report; Virginia tied for 3rd/4th in the nation with Columbia University. The Atlantic Monthly recently included our program in its list of the top ten MFA programs in the country. We have a small, aesthetically diverse, and distinguished faculty (their biographies are available in the Faculty section).
All of the students who are admitted to our program receive financial support for both years of study. We do not accept any transfer credits. In the first year, all MFA students receive health insurance coverage and a Hoyns or Poe/Faulkner Fellowship in either fiction or poetry writing. The amounts of these fellowships vary from year to year, but the fellowships cover tuition (for 6 graded hours and 6 ungraded hours each semester)—which for in-state students this year is $8,157 and for out-of-state students $14,900—and allow for some money left over.
Unfortunately, the University will not allow us to waive tuition costs in the first year of study, and there are no teaching opportunities for first-year MFA students, as we look at this first year as a time of adjustment and intense focus on personal writing and mentoring. In the second year, all of our students receive an introductory, undergraduate fiction, poetry, or expository writing course to teach, one in the fall and one in the spring, with health insurance, a tuition waiver and a Graduate Teaching Assistant salary of about $9,250 for the year.
Application Deadline
Applications for Fall 2008 admission must be postmarked no later than January 2, 2008.
How To Apply
To make a full application to the MFA Program in Creative Writing you must submit two separate packets of information: one to the Creative Writing Program and one to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. You can apply to both the fiction and poetry areas but will be admitted to just one. Should you choose to apply to both, you must submit one Graduate School application; a separate Fellowship Application should accompany each fiction and poetry submission.
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
437 Cabell Hall
PO Box 400775
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4775
