Creative Writing, M.F.A.
Master of Fine Arts
About this program
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing invites you to grow as a writer who creates work with depth and craft. You study poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, plays, or translation while reading diverse literature. You build your writing through workshops and mentor-guided practice. You graduate prepared to publish, teach, edit, and work professionally in the literary arts.
Program Curriculum and Requirements
Program Scope
Our two graduate programs differ in scope, distinguished by innovative classes. Both include seminars, workshops, opportunities for community projects and a thesis.
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a 54 unit program which consists of writing workshops as well as creative process and/or literature courses. It also requires a 12 unit correlative, a cluster of courses related to your special interests. The M.F.A. degree takes about three years for a full time student to complete; M.F.A. students can attend part time and have seven years in which to complete all the requirements for their degree. The M.F.A. is the terminal degree in creative writing. If your goal is to teach creative writing at the four year college or university level, you will need an M.F.A. degree in addition to book publication; now, many community colleges also hire M.F.A.s to teach in their English Programs. The M.F.A. will, like the M.A., prepare you for an English Ph.D. program.
Please email cwriting@sfsu.edu for a digital copy of our Graduate Handbook!
Please email the department for an M.F.A. advising worksheet.
Please email cwriting@sfsu.edu with any questions!
Program Learning Outcomes
- Creative Work: Students will produce a publishable written creative work that demonstrates individual and universal vision and a high level of craft skills.
- Professional Preparation: Students will demonstrate professional level skills in fields related to literature and/or creative writing, including publishing, writing, teaching, editing, book arts, and/or arts management.
- Literature: Students will read, discuss, and analyze the work of a broad range of writers from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, as well as explain how literature in general, and their own genre in particular, relates to larger human experience.
- Craft Elements: Students will write and revise creative nonfiction, fiction, plays, and/or poetry using the elements of craft as well as analyze and discuss craft elements in their peers’ creative work.
Admissions Information
Students interested in this program must submit, via Cal State Apply a meaningful sample of their writing (15 to 20 pages of fiction or creative nonfiction, or 15 to 20 pages of literary translation, or a full-length stage play or two short plays, or 15 to 20 poems), two letters of recommendation, and transcripts. All application materials are to be uploaded by February 15 for consideration for our entry scholarships, or by May 10th for admission to the following fall semester.
Applicants from creative writing programs at other colleges or universities may transfer nine units to the M.F.A. program, on review and recommendation of the Creative Writing Admissions Committee and approval of the Division of Graduate Studies. For further clarification, contact the Creative Writing Department.
Students in the Master of Arts in English with Concentration in Creative Writing at SF State who wish to enter the M.F.A. program are required to apply for admission and are subject to the same admission standards as are all other applicants. For students entering with an earned M.A. in English: Creative Writing from SF State, the M.F.A. is a 30 unit degree as described below.
Enrollment priority in M.F.A. classes is given to classified M.F.A. students accepted in the genre of the course.
Deadlines for Fall 2027 Admission:
Applications open October 1 for admission in the following Fall semester.
The Creative Writing Department does not offer Spring admissions to the Graduate Programs in Creative Writing.
- Round 1 Deadline: February 15th for Priority Consideration for Scholarships
- Round 2 Deadline: April 19th
Please apply by February 15th to be considered for our entry scholarships. Applications submitted after this date may be, but are not required to be, considered for scholarship due to our paperwork deadlines.
Ready to apply? Visit the Graduate Students page to get started.
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Caro De Robertis
- Professor