UMass Boston

Applicants must meet general graduate admission requirements in addition to the following program-specific requirements:

• A 3.0 GPA overall and in the student’s major
• Two substantive and detailed letters of recommendation, from former teachers familiar with the applicant’s most recent academic and creative work
• A 3-5 page personal statement focusing on the role of the candidate’s reading life in his or her development as a writer. (Note: The general Graduate Admissions application refers to this as a statement of interests and intent. They are one and the same.)
• Applicants must indicate whether they are applying in FICTION or POETRY in their Statement of Purpose. If you want to apply in both genres, include one writing sample in FICTION and one in POETRY and indicate in the Statement of Purpose that the application is for both.
• A writing sample of 10 manuscript pages of poetry or 20 manuscript pages of fiction

Deadlines: February 1 (priority) for fall. While rare, if space is available, we’ll happily consider applications until April 1 (final deadline).

Application Fee: The nonrefundable application fee is $75. UMass Boston alumni and current students that plan to complete degree requirements prior to graduate enrollment can submit the application without paying the application fee.

Estimate Your Program Cost: Get a feel for your expected program costs using the Graduate Program Cost Calculator.

Program Cost Information: For more detailed information on costs, please visit the Bursar's website.

Writing Workshops (24 Credits)

Complete one from below four times.

• CW 601 - MFA Poetry Workshop 6 Credit(s)
  or
• CW 602 - MFA Fiction Workshop 6 Credit(s)

Literature Courses (9 Credits)

Complete three graduate literature courses.

Electives (9 Credits)

Complete three from below.

• CW 605 - Memoir Workshop 3 Credit(s)
• CW 606 - Literary Editing and Publishing 3 Credit(s)
• CW 614 - The Teaching of Creative Writing 3 Credit(s)
• CW 675 - Creative Writing Internship 3 Credit(s)
• CW 697 - Special Topics in Creative Writing 1-6 Credit(s)

Students may elect courses offered by other graduate programs with approval from the graduate program director.

• ENGL 459 - Seminar for Tutors may be taken for graduate credit (see Undergraduate Catalog)
• ENGL 675 - Reading and Writing Poetry 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 676 - Reading and Writing Fiction 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 681 - Advanced Workshop in Poetry 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 682 - Advanced Workshop in Fiction 3 Credit(s)

Thesis Courses (6 Credits)

Complete the course below both semesters of the third year.

• CW 699 - MFA Thesis 3 Credit(s)

For more information on curriculum, including course descriptions and degree requirements, visit the Academic Catalog.

At the end of three years, students will have:

1. Achieved a high level of writing skill in their field, exemplified by a capstone M.F.A. thesis aspiring to publishable quality
2. Acquired and developed their ability to edit, read, and think at a level that will allow them to work as professional content providers in the information economy
3. Be able to teach creative writing in academic and non-academic settings
4. Acquired an appreciation for a range of literary works available in a global culture and be ready to develop new ideas for reinvigorating the literary world from which they spring
5. Learned how to evaluate and navigate the literary world, finding publishing venues whose standards and aesthetics they share
6. Learned the procedures and protocols of publishing

Complete 48 credits from twelve courses including four writing workshops, three literature courses, three electives, and two semesters of thesis workshops.

The MFA degree requires six semesters of full-time study, with 9 credits required in each of the first four semesters, and 6 credits in the final two semesters, during which students will concentrate on completing a thesis in fiction or poetry under the direction of a faculty member. MFA workshops are limited to 12 students, and seminars are limited to 15. Students have the opportunity to interact with writers in our Global Voices Visiting Writer series (recent visitors have been Raquel Salas Rivera and Carole Maso), and work with visiting prose writers - recently these have included Jane Unrue, ZZ Packer, and Fanny Howe.

Capstone: Completion of an MFA thesis of 48 to 64 pages of poetry or 100 to 200 pages of fiction written under the supervision of a thesis advisor, reviewed by a thesis committee, and subject to a public defense.

Statute of limitations: Five years.

Graduate Program Director Jill McDonough
jill.mcdonough@umb.edu
(617) 287-6700

English & Creative Writing MFA Department
englishmfaprogram@umb.edu
(617) 287-6702

Fiction Faculty

John Fulton, Associate Professor
Askold Melnyczuk, Professor
Shubha Sunder, Visiting Assistant Professor

Poetry Faculty

Jill McDonough, Program Director
Shangyang Fang, Associate Lecturer