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Creative Writing (MFA)

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Contact Us

General Admission Contact
The New School for Social Research
Office of Admission
72 Fifth Avenue, 1st floor
New York, NY 10011
212.229.5600 or 800.523.5411
socialresearchadmit@newschool.edu

Program Contact
 66 West 12th St.
New York, NY 10011
writingprogram@newschool.edu
 212.229.5611

Directors, Chairs, and Coordinators
John Reed, Director, Creative Writing Program
Laura Cronk, Chair of Poetry
J. Mae Barizo, Chair of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program
Caron Levis, Writing for Children and Young Adults Coordinator
Helen Schulman, Chair of Fiction
Margaret Rhee, Chair of Arts Writing

Program Staff
Lori Lynn Turner, Associate Director of Administration

Admission Links

The Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing is awarded for the successful completion of 36 credits in one of the following concentrations: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Arts Writing, or Writing for Children and Young Adults. 

Popular graduate minors include Impact Entrepreneurship and Transmedia and Digital Storytelling. WriteOn NYC!, a New School–funded fellowship program, provides MFA students with high-quality teaching experience in area middle schools and high schools. Students may also enroll in campus-wide course electives on subjects such as teaching preparation, languages, and media practice.

  • DegreeMaster of Fine Arts
  • Start TermFall
  • Duration2 years
  • Credits36
  • FormatFull-time, on campus

Curriculum Details 

The Creative Writing MFA curriculum consists of the following degree requirements:

  • Writing Workshops (12 credits)
  • Reading and Practice (12 credits)
  • Writer's Life Colloquium (4 credits)
  • Creative and Critical Thesis (4 credits)
  • Critical Writing Thesis (4 credits)

In the first three semesters, students take one writing workshop and one reading and practice. Workshops are always taken within the chosen concentration, but students can take a reading and practice in another genre.

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Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy

The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.