About Master’s Program,
The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts is a two-year program that offers study in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, and playwriting. The program is comprised of faculty from the Department of Creative Writing and the Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production.
Our program consists of workshops in a chosen genre, culminating in a final project (the master’s thesis or manuscript) that showcases the writer’s cultivated talents in the form of a poetry collection, novel, short story collection, memoir, essay collection, screenplay, or full-length play.
The MFA requires students to major in the genre they apply in, but encourages them to explore other genres as well, allowing for creative movement within disciplines. For example, structure and focus in screenwriting and playwriting can be applied to fiction and nonfiction and lyricism and metaphor in poetry can enhance description and dialogue in the other genres.
Students will also engage in supplemental coursework through seminars selected from other departments. Our students commonly take classes offered by such varied programs as comparative literature and foreign languages, English, Hispanic studies, and media and cultural studies, among others.
If you need further information beyond what is available on our website, please feel free to contact Interim MFA Coordinator Marcelina Ryneal at Marcelina.Ryneal@ucr.edu.
Master’s Program Degree Eligibility with GPA,
- Six workshops in your primary genre (24 units)
- Three graduate seminars from Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts (12 units)
- One graduate seminar from any department outside of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production and Creative Writing. Subject matter must be relevant to your manuscript/thesis. The requirement can be met with upper-division courses if you receive instructor approval to enroll in concurrent 292 units (four units).
- Four electives (16 units) of workshop, graduate seminar, or manuscript/thesis units. You may take a maximum of six workshops (24 units) within your chosen genre and a maximum of 12 manuscript/thesis units within six quarters. All cross-genre workshops require prior instructor approval.
- Your manuscript or thesis project (eight units):
In the Creative Writing Track, your manuscript/thesis can be a poetry collection, novel, short story collection, novella, memoir, essay collection, or a book-length nonfiction project.
You will invite one or two faculty members to serve as your manuscript/thesis advisor(s). In addition to these advisors, two faculty readers will evaluate your manuscript/thesis
Master’s Funding Coverage,
Except in rare circumstances, we are able to fund all domestic and international students who apply by the fellowship deadline with a full fellowship and stipend for their first year.
The fellowship pays full tuition and all fees except course fees of approximately $24 per quarter and a one-time $160 single document fee in the fall. We also include a stipend to go toward living expenses. The stipend is variable each year, dependent upon our budget and the add-ons that the Graduate Division might give individuals who meet certain criteria, such as a high undergraduate GPA.
Our base stipend for Fall 2022 entry was $5568 for the year. Students with add-ons from the Graduate Division may receive stipends as high as $12,000.
If you submit an application for admission by January 5, you are automatically eligible for fellowship funding. There is no separate application for the fellowship.
International students receive the base funding package of tuition coverage and a stipend, but are not eligible for add-ons from Graduate Division.
As a second-year student, you may apply to be a teaching assistant (TA) in the program. Your teaching assistantship will pay full tuition and all but approximately $200 of your quarterly fees. You will receive a monthly salary of $2,582 for teaching one course per quarter.
We grant assistantships based on good academic standing, generous citizenship in the program, teaching potential, and professionalism. While an assistantship is not guaranteed, we do try to plan so that all qualified students are funded.
We typically only hire second-year students for TA positions because it is usually their only source of funding. When we have a deficit of second-year students, we may hire a first-year student as a TA for one quarter.
If you are a second-year student, you may apply for an additional one to two quarters of funding for an optional third year. Our faculty select a maximum of two applicants to present to the Graduate Division. The Graduate Division awards additional quarters in a competitive university-wide process. Successful applicants exhibit extraordinary creative talent and strong potential for future book publication and/or play/film production.
Application Requirement,
A writing sample
Transcripts
Three letters of recommendation
A personal history statement
A statement of purpose and project proposal
A Statement of Pedagogy
CV
TOEFL or IELTS scores
The GRE is not required.
Application Deadline,
Jan 15, 2025
Application Fee,
$135 application fee
