Curriculum Requirements

Write the stories you’re passionate about in Emerson’s on-campus Creative Writing graduate program. Focus on your genre—poetry, nonfiction, or fiction—during your required workshops and thesis, and explore different genres along the way through your elective courses. Housed in the School of the Arts, the program requires completion of 44 credits.

Advanced Standing Curriculum

Students with a BFA in Creative Writing or a BA in English with a Creative Writing capstone or thesis may qualify for Advanced Standing. Qualified students waive 4 credits (1 course) from the Workshop Course requirements. Advanced Standing students complete the degree in 40 credits instead of the full 44-credit degree, saving time and money. Please note that Advanced Standing credit advances a student’s position within the program but credits are not granted or transferable to another institution.

Courses

Writing Workshop Courses (16 Credits Required)

Poetry Workshops

Nonfiction Workshops

Fiction Workshops

*Genre Workshops may be taken more than once. Students in Advanced Standing waive 1 course, or 4 credits, from the Writing Workshop Courses.

Electives Course Sampling (12 credits) 

Literature Course Sampling (12 credits)

MFA Thesis (4 credits)

Elective Alternative: Focus in Translation*

Translation / Global Engagement Focus, 8 credits

You can fulfill elective requirements by taking two classes from the following options: 

• A class offered at the Emerson campus, such as the Translation Seminar or the Translating Cultures course (both listed under the Topics LI 615 number)
• A course from one of the Global Pathways Programs
• Directed study. You will complete a required translation project as part of this focus; You can do so as part of the work in one of the classes and options listed above.

*Approval from the graduate program director is required for this focus.

Elective Alternative: Teaching College Composition*

4 credits

Each year, a select number of graduate students in Writing, Literature, and Publishing learn to teach writing at the undergraduate level. 

Teaching College Composition is a 4-credit, one-semester course that prepares you to teach at Emerson and other institutions after graduation.

Although taking the course does not guarantee a part-time teaching position at Emerson, students who have completed the course are interviewed by faculty and may be offered appointments. Many students find this elective as a valuable tool when pursuing jobs after graduation.

MFA Thesis

At the conclusion of your coursework, you will submit and defend a “near publishable” manuscript in one genre to be approved by a thesis committee. You must complete at least 16 credits (four courses) of the required 20 credits of workshops in the genre of your thesis. 

Your thesis may consist of a collection of poems, short stories, essays, a novel, a novel excerpt, or a nonfiction book or excerpt. Minimum required lengths for MFA theses vary according to genre.

Sample Curriculum Map

Our Creative Writing MFA can be completed full-time in three years, or part-time over four to six years. This sample curriculum map is designed to give you an idea of your course load as a full-time student over three years. For full course information, review our course catalog. 

Full-time Sample Curriculum Map (September–May)

Fall Semester 1 (4 credits)

• Literature Course

Spring Semester  1 (8 credits)

• Writing Workshop in Chosen Genre
• Literature Course

Fall Semester 2 (8 credits)

• Writing Workshop in Chosen Genre
• Literature Course 

Spring Semester 2 (8 credits)

• Writing Workshop in Chosen Genre
• Elective Course

Fall Semester 3 (8 credits)

• Writing Workshop - Any Genre 
• Elective Course 

Spring Semester 3 (8 credits)

• Master’s Thesis
• Elective Course