Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing

MFA in Creative Writing Admission Requirements

Applicants must meet the minimum university requirements for graduate study. Applications from candidates in any field will be considered. Admission is based on samples of creative writing in the student’s chosen genre (10-20 pages), academic record, a personal statement, and two letters of recommendation, one of which must come from a creative writing instructor or professional writer.  Please do not send letters from friends or any other non-professional contact.

Program Description 

The Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing at Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles, is an artist-training program for graduate students who want to write professionally in the genres of novel, short story, playwriting, poetry, screenplay and non-fiction.  We are ideal for working adults.  The degree program can be taken fully online, fully on-campus, or a combination of the two. These options give you the freedom to fit into your life a graduate degree while keeping your other commitments. The MFA in Creative Writing at Mount Saint Mary's, Los Angeles will be synonymous with the latest in technology and teaching.  In addition, you'll be able to study in Spanish as well as English.  Starting Fall 2016, we plan to phase in bilingual study.  Beginning now, students may write their thesis projects in either language.

What gives our program its special character?  We develop writers in multiple genres, believing that you can excel in more than one.   We are interested in the whole writer, an expert who isn't narrow.  Our integration of the humanities into our course of study reflects commitment to intellectual rigor and liberal arts as the cornerstone of human understanding.  We pay close attention to your needs as a developing artist.  The courses are demanding, disciplined, and the level is high.  In short, we give you your money's worth.

The teachers in our program put a premium on helping our students into their professional careers, through continued mentoring.  This means not only teaching the techniques that make you the best writer you can be, but also preparing you for the publication market.  Our writers and director, combined, have a long track record of helping students to national and international literary prizes and book-length publications.  Whatever your career path, our job is to help you write stories, novels, plays, poems, or screenplays, at the highest level, and get them into print or staged before an appreciative public.  In that, we are practical minded and the curriculum is set up to get you there.

Our students are of all ages and from many different educational backgrounds.  You do not need to have completed a degree in literature in order to apply to us.  Combining humanistic depth, intellectual rigor, multicultural and bilingual study, technology, a flexible online format, cross-training in multiple genres, and practical preparation—that is what makes our MFA in Creative Writing stand apart. 

Degree Requirements

The MFA in Creative Writing Program is a 36-unit interdisciplinary course of study that culminates in a terminal degree that qualifies the holder to teach at the college level. The coursework includes fifteen unit hours in creative writing workshops [including bilingual creative writing when offered], three unit hours of literary theory, nine additional unit hours in Humanities and/or Film and Television electives, three unit hours of electives, and six unit hours of thesis. The MFA student completes a critical essay and an original creative writing work in a selected genre.

Creative Writing Workshops (15 units)

Complete 15 units of Creative Writing Workshops (CRW 210-CRW 248).

Humanities Electives (12 units)

Complete three (3) units of Literary Theory (HUM 241E) in the first year, and nine (9) units of Humanities (HUM) and/or Film and Television (FLM) Electives.

See Masters in Humanities and Film and Television course list for course offerings and descriptions.

Electives (3 units)

Complete 3 additional units of Creative Writing (CRW), Humanities (HUM), or Film and Television (FLM) coursework.

Thesis (6 units)

Complete 6 units of Thesis (CRW 296). These are taken in consecutive semesters, 3+3, normally in the last two semesters of the student's course of study.

Required for completion of the degree is submission of a minimum 120-page manuscript in one genre – fiction, creative nonfiction, play, screenplay or teleplay; or 50 pages of poetry – closely reviewed, edited and refined with the assistance of the student’s Thesis Committee. The Creative Writing Thesis can be written in English and/or Spanish. For more information on the Thesis proposal and approval process, contact the MFA in Creative Writing Program office.

Total Credit Hours: 36

Humanities and Film and Television students may take Creative Writing courses with the consent of their program directors and permission of the instructor. A short writing sample is required.

MA Humanities and MFA Creative Writing Articulation

Mount Saint Mary’s University Graduate Division

Upon the approval of the MA HUM and MFA Creative Writing faculty, students currently enrolled in the MA Hum Program who have successfully completed a minimum of 1 semester with a GPA of 3.0 or above and whom the faculty deem to have demonstrated aptitude and skill in creative writing may be allowed to enter the MFA Creative Writing program with all applicable MSMU credits toward the MFA Creative Writing Degree, if approved by the faculty and Graduate Dean, under this MA HUM and MFA/Creative Writing Articulation Agreement.  Students must withdraw from the MA HUM program, and then submit an application to the MFA Creative Writing Program to the Graduate Admissions Office, and be accepted into the MFA program by the faculty and Graduate Dean.    (Students may submit an academic petition for waiver of transcripts, application fee, and letters of recommendation since these are already on file with the University). 

Upon the approval of the MFA Creative Writing and MA HUM faculty, students currently enrolled in the MFA Creative Writing Program who have successfully completed a minimum of 1 semester with a GPA of 3.0 or above and whom the faculty deem to have demonstrated aptitude and skill in the study of the Humanities may be allowed to enter the MA HUM program with all applicable MSMU credits toward the MA HUM Degree, if approved by the faculty and Graduate Dean, under this MA HUM Program/MFA/Creative Writing Program Articulation Agreement.   Students must withdraw from the MFA program, and then submit an application to the HUM Program to the Graduate Admissions Office, and be accepted into the HUM program by the faculty and Graduate Dean.  (Students may submit an academic petition for waiver of transcripts, application fee, and letters of recommendation since they are already on file with the University.)

Concurrent enrollment in both the MA HUM and MFA Creative Writing Programs is not permitted; dual degrees will not be granted; and work presented for one degree may not subsequently be counted toward the other, except as allowed under the section on Second Master's Degree in the MSMU Graduate Division Policy and Procedures Handbook.