About Master’s Program,
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing offers advanced poets and fiction writers three years of fully-funded support and community in the literary town of Oxford, Mississippi. We accept four poets and four fiction writers each year, boasting a 3:1 professor-student ratio. Admitted students work closely with our distinguished faculty in intimate and intensive workshops, courses that investigate form and influences, and a thesis year that culminates with a finished, polished manuscript.
We specialize in fiction and poetry, though our students may take courses in either genre as well as creative nonfiction, hybrid genres, speculative fiction, and eco-writing. Workshops are run by our core faculty: Beth Ann Fennelly, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Matt Bondurant, Tom Franklin, Sheila Sundar, Michael Wang, and Melissa Ginsburg. In addition, our yearly writer-in-residence program brings in authors who teach a graduate workshop–Jesmyn Ward, Garth Greenwell, Raven Leilani, Kiese Laymon, and Megan Abbot are just a few of the authors who have enriched our writing community.
The degree consists of twelve hours of writing workshops (four courses), three hours of Form, Craft & Influence (FCI), nine hours of literature seminars, six hours of thesis direction, and six hours for other electives and/or directed readings. Every student that is accepted into our program is fully-funded, with tuition remission, a stipend, and health insurance for all three years, and there are a variety of extra funding and scholarship opportunities available.
Our long-running reading series allow us to bring in a diverse array of internationally renowned poets and writers. In recent years, Ada Limon, Ha Jin, Claudia Rankine, Rita Dove, Kiki Petrosino, Shane McCrae, Jennifer Egan, Craig Santos Perez, Tyehimba Jess, and many others have visited our campus. In addition, our MFA student reading series, MissReads, gives all MFA students the chance to read to a robust audience of faculty, students, and Oxford’s literary community. Oxford is home to many conferences, such as the Oxford Conference For The Book, and our faculty serves on panels at the Mississippi Book Festival. Our literary magazine, The Yalobusha Review, offers opportunities for students interested in gaining editorial experience. The UM Longleaf Scholar program provides students access to The Longleaf Writing Conference in Seaside, Florida. Each year, we bring literary agents to campus for student consultations and pitch sessions, most recently Sonali Chanchani and Jeff Kleinman (Folio Literary Management) and Sarah Phair (Greenburger Associates).
Master’s Program Degree Eligibility with GPA,
The MFA program at the University of Mississippi consists of 42 total hours to be completed in three years.
All MFA students must be in attendance on the first day of their classes, and are allowed no more than 2 absences per semester in each class. Students enrolled in thesis hours who are not currently taking coursework are still required to be in residence in Oxford for the duration of each semester. This requirement applies to all students, including Grisham Fellows and others who do not hold a graduate assistantship. Exceptions may be made to this requirement with prior approval of the graduate program coordinator and their thesis advisor.
Master’s Funding Coverage,
We offer two main sources of funding: John and Renee Grisham Fellowships and Teaching Assistantships. These are supplemented by other financial aid opportunities and fellowships. In recent years, total funding packages have allowed us to offer every MFA student free tuition, subsidized health care, and annual stipends that range from $16,500-20,000.
Application Requirement,
There is no fee for the first stage of the MFA application. At this stage, we are evaluating applicants based solely on the merits of the writing. If your application progresses to Stage 2 in February, we will ask you to officially apply to the UM Graduate School, at which point a $60 fee will be collected.
Before December 15, please email the following items in one named PDF document to mfaadm@olemiss.edu. Your email subject line should read “Poetry Application” or “Fiction Application.”
A cover sheet with your name, mailing address, email, and phone number, the genre in which you are applying (specify Poetry or Fiction), and the titles of all the pieces in your writing sample.
A statement of purpose (no more than two single-spaced pages; include your name and contact information) that indicates your background and experience, your academic or career goals, and what you hope to achieve in the program. You should also tell us here if you wish to be considered for a teaching assistantship or fellowship; there is no separate application for assistantships or fellowships.
A writing sample.
Poetry Writing Sample: 10 pages of poems (single-spaced) with your name and contact information on each page.
Fiction Writing Sample: no more than 20 pages of prose (double-spaced) with your name and contact information on each page.
*If applying for both genres, please send two separate Phase I applications in separate emails.
Stage Two, February 15-April 15:
When we have completed Stage I on February 15, we will post a notification on our website. If you are on our list of finalists, you will be contacted by email and a telephone call and asked to complete the UM Graduate School online application and pay the application fee. If you do not hear from us, you have not moved onto Stage II of the application process and will not be admitted into the MFA program.
Before March 1, Stage II applicants should complete the UM Graduate School online application:
Complete an online application form, including the survey for the Graduate School Access Fellowship: https://olemiss.edu/applynow/
Pay the $60 application fee to the Graduate School.
Send three letters of recommendation to the Graduate School. When you put in your recommenders’ email addresses in the online application, it will take 24-48 hours for them to get an email from the Grad School. That email should include a link where they can upload their recommendation. Recommenders can also email mfaadm@olemiss.edu and gschool@olemiss.edu.
Send official transcripts to the Graduate School at:
The University of Mississippi
Graduate School
100 Graduate House
University, MS 38677
If you don’t have your official transcripts yet, you can email unofficial ones to mfaadm@olemiss.edu and gschool@olemiss.edu as you wait for the official ones to clear.
*Writing Samples: You should not need to reupload your writing sample or statement of purpose. However, if the online application will not let you submit it without that step, upload the same documents you applied with in the fall.
Application Deadline,
Dec 15, 2025
Application Fee,
Pay the $60 application fee to the Graduate School.
