Creative Writing (BFA)
As a student in the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in Creative Writing at University of the Arts, you will study the writing of poetry, fiction, flash / memoir and nonfiction from award-winning authors, pursuing your interests in an ever-expanding list of courses such as Graphic Novel, Speculative Fiction, Screenplay Adaptation and many more. The Creative Writing BFA degree program utilizes the workshop model, which is a working session for your writing that includes a judgment-free discussion with your peers and faculty. While studying at UArts, you’ll be able to take advantage of a huge variety of minors and arts courses including music, theater and dance, and you’ll be able to collaborate with your peers in an inspiring, artistic environment.
The ideal student for the BFA in Creative Writing is passionate about writing and learning to read literature from the perspective of a working artist. They will be interested in storytelling, expanding their understanding of the world, and developing their knowledge and grasp of the technical skills needed to be the next major voice in poetry, the short story or the novel. You do not need to have prior experience with the workshop model, nor with formal Creative Writing courses. The ideal student wants to develop their voice and learn how to share it with others.
What makes our BFA degree program unique is the amount of contact students have with professors and the quality of our professors and community of BFA writers. When you walk the halls of our buildings, you’ll see professors and students engaged in conversations about texts long after class ends. You’ll see real engagement from instructors who care about the development of your work and your career. Relationships don’t end with graduation; rather, they continue through lifelong mentorship and friendship. In UArts’ Bachelor of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing, your work is treated with a high level of respect as you are pushed to further your skills and find your voice through readings and writing. You’re treated like an artist who has arrived at the right place and whose work is ready to flourish.
Though internships and courses about careers in the industry, you’ll graduate with practical experiences to enter the writing world. You’ll have networking opportunities during the Visiting Writers Series, when guest authors engage students in contemporary discourse. Our alumni have gone on to Master of Fine Arts programs around the country and are publishing in the finest literary journals.
The best thing about attending the Creative Writing program was my workshop peers. I trust them so much with my writing. You really get to know one another and each other’s writing. The professors and mentors are among them as well. Together, we become a network of support and inspiration.—MeeRee Orlandini BFA ’19
Curriculum
As a Creative Writing major, you’ll be prepared for a variety of professional writing careers. Within the major requirements, 45 of the 60 credits are dedicated exclusively to writing courses, including small, intensive workshops in poetry and fiction. You can also take “craft” seminars that are focused on specialized writing forms and genres, literature courses, a hands-on course in publishing, and a cross-disciplinary course requiring close collaboration with a student in another artistic field. You’ll graduate with a linked short story collection or book of poems that can be published or used as application materials for an MFA program or postgraduate fellowships.
Graduates of the Creative Writing program are expected to
- understand the elements of the poem and the short story and be able to use them, skillfully and deliberately, in their own work;
- be close and careful readers, able to analyze text with a writer’s eye;
- demonstrate knowledge of significant books, writers and trends in the contemporary landscape, as well as the context for the development of these models and traditions;
- write ably in a range of forms and genres;
- critique writing usefully and productively, delivering detailed, well-supported verbal and written peer feedback;
- find and articulate connections between their writing and other artistic disciplines;
- demonstrate practical knowledge of producing a literary magazine;
- hone public speaking skills by reading work aloud, introducing visiting writers and participating in public readings and other presentations;
- engage in thorough, substantial revision of written work;
- demonstrate a mature awareness of their own process of writing and revising, both in written self-assessments and exit interview;
- produce a final portfolio of professional-quality writing; and
- have something to say.
Sample Curriculum
Duration: Four years, full time
Credits: 120 credits
Major requirements: 63 credits
Discipline history: 9 credits
Critical Studies: 33 credits
Free electives: 15 credits
First Year
Fall Semester: 15 credits
Intro to Contemporary Poetry (3c)
Intro to Contemporary Short Story (3c)
The Writing Life (3c)
Writing I Placement (3c)
Free elective (your choice) (3c)
Spring Semester: 15 credits
Intro to Contemporary Poetry II (3c)
Intro to Contemporary Short Story II (3c)
Science course (your Choice) (3c)
Writing II Placement (3c)
Free elective (your choice) (3c)
Second Year
Fall Semester: 15 credits
Intermediate Short Story Workshop (3c)
Craft Seminar (your choice)* (3c)
Literature course (your choice)** (3c)
Poetry & Poetics (3c)
Critical Studies (your choice) (3c)
Spring Semester: 15 credits
Intermediate Poetry Workshop (3c)
Craft Seminar (your choice)* (3c)
Literature course (your choice)** (3c)
The Short Story (3c)
Critical Studies (your choice) (3c)
*Craft seminars offered at this level include courses like Poetic Translations & Adaptations, Travel Writing, Graphic Storytelling, Memoir / Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction.
**Literature courses at this level cover topics like African American Literature, Lyric Poetry, Women Writers, Myths and Murders: Ancient Greek Drama and Queer Literature.
Third Year
Fall Semester: 15 credits
Literary Editing & Publishing (3c)
Craft Seminar (your choice)* (3c)
High Modernism (3c)
Critical Studies (your choice) (3c)
Critical Studies (your choice) (3c)
Spring Semester: 15 credits
Careers & Community (3c)
Advanced Workshop in Poetry or Short Story (3c)
Literature course (your choice)** (3c)
Critical Studies (your choice) (3c)
Critical Studies (your choice) (3c)
*Craft seminars offered at this level include courses like Poetic Translations & Adaptations, Travel Writing, Graphic Storytelling, Memoir / Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction.
**Literature courses at this level cover topics like African American Literature, Lyric Poetry, Women Writers, Myths and Murders: Ancient Greek Drama and Queer Literature.
Fourth Year
Fall Semester: 15 credits
Senior Seminar: Poetry I or Short Story I (3c)
Craft Seminar (your choice)* (3c)
Literature course (your choice)** (3c)
Critical Studies (your choice) (3c)
Free elective (your choice) (3c)
Spring Semester: 15 credits
Senior Seminar: Poetry II or Short Story II (3c)
Craft Seminar (your choice)* (3c)
Literature course (your choice)** (3c)
Free elective (your choice) (3c)
Free elective (your choice) (3c)
*Craft seminars offered at this level include courses like Poetic Translations & Adaptations, Travel Writing, Graphic Storytelling, Memoir / Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction.
**Literature courses at this level cover topics like African American Literature, Lyric Poetry, Women Writers, Myths and Murders: Ancient Greek Drama and Queer Literature.
Student Experience
As a student in a truly arts-centered university, you’ll have many opportunities to collaborate with students in other majors. You might work with Illustration and Graphic Design students on our popular undergraduate literary magazine, Underground Pool. A poet or fiction writer might team up with a music major to create a joint artistic work in our Writing and Collaboration course. Students in the Illustration program design author portraits and posters for the Visiting Writers Series each year, a tradition that started in 2014. Creative Writing majors can also take advantage of our affiliation with the nationally renowned American Poetry Review and their student internships, housed right here at UArts.
The Anthropocene is the current geological age: the age defined by humans, our presence and impact, our greatness and our badness. This 10th Anniversary Issue of Underground Pool features prose, poetry, and visual art exploring the implications of our presence on this earth, on what we have deemed (and perhaps doomed) to be our own.
This collection exists in the Anthropocene, its many corners and open fields. It will take you down city streets, through forests, inside apartments,
and into some places accessible only to the human in its own world, only translatable through language and art. Although Anthropocene is a word often invisible to humans, it is our ever-looming presence whose effects exist in every moment. There is concrete as well as nature—at some points, the concrete nearly becomes the nature. This is our reality.
Student Profiles
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Faculty Profiles
Our faculty are award-winning writers active in their field outside the classroom. They use their industry expertise and love for education to provide mentorship, often continuing conversations about texts or career advice long after class ends. The relationships you’ll build with faculty will continue beyond graduation.
Alumni & Careers
Career Development
Throughout your studies, you’ll take courses that prepare you to land your desired career. You’ll build a portfolio of work during Senior Seminar and learn about professional opportunities in the writing field during Careers & Community. You’ll have the opportunity to gain professional experience and a behind-the-scenes view of the writing industry during an internship. Though students are responsible for finding their own internships, faculty often use industry contacts to connect students with opportunities in the field. Throughout these experiences, you’ll develop the skills needed to succeed in the field, such as adaptability, creativity, critical thinking, persuasion and social perceptiveness.
Internships that have previously hosted UArts students include
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American Poetry Review
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CAPA Philly
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Cleaver Magazine
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Esquire Magazine
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Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter School
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Metro Philly
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Mighty Writers
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Neon Butterfly
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Out and About Magazine
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Philadelphia Magazine
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Philadelphia Style Magazine
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Study Breaks magazine
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Tail Fly Fishing Magazine
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University of Pennsylvania
Alumni
Graduates of Creative Writing are accomplished, award-winning writers who have had works published in magazines, journals and more. Alumni can be seen around Philadelphia practicing in a variety of fields, as Philadelphia’s regional arts and culture sector has a $4.1B effect on the area’s economy and creates the equivalent of 55,225 full-time jobs.* Nationwide, Creative Writing alumni make up part of the 131,200 jobs for writers and authors.**
*Agenda: Prosperity, a 2017 study by Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
**Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Writers and Authors
BFA '20
BFA '20
BFA '19
BFA '19
BFA '17
BFA '17
As the industry continues to grow, graduates find themselves in a variety of roles. Common careers for Creative Writing majors include
- Author
- Advertising copywriter
- Editor
- Ghostwriter
- Journalist
- Playwright
- Screenwriter
- Speechwriter
Gallery
While in the BFA in Creative Writing program, you will have the opportunity to work on Underground Pool, our undergraduate-led literary journal. You’ll also gain editing, copy editing and publishing experience. Though internships and courses about careers in the industry, you’ll graduate with practical experiences to enter the writing world. Your undergraduate study will culminate in a finished collection of poems or a series of short stories.
Creative Writing Senior Theses
Underground Pool
How to Apply
Admissions Deadline: There is no set deadline. UArts operates on a rolling admissions basis, which means we will receive and process applications throughout the year as space remains available in each program.
The following materials are required for your application.
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A completed application for admission
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A nonrefundable $60 application fee
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Official transcripts
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Official transcripts from the high school(s) you have attended are required. For transfer students, transcripts from each college you have attended are required. They must be mailed directly by your school in a sealed envelope to the Office of Admissions, emailed directly from your school, or sent through a secure electronic transcript delivery service. Transcripts sent or emailed by students are not considered official. They should be sent to the Office of Admissions, University of the Arts, 320 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102 or via email to undergradcredentials@uarts.edu.
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For transcripts from outside the U.S., refer to the instructions for international students.
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A personal statement
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Your individual voice and personal insights play an equally important and valued role in an admissions review. Your personal statement allows you to share your story, express yourself and place a spotlight on your creative journey—past, present or future. It helps us get to know you and your dreams, ideas, challenges, opportunities and/or goals in a way your transcripts and other application materials can’t.
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Here are some questions to help you shape your personal statement. Interpret them as you wish. There are no right or wrong answers—there’s only your story.
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When and how did you realize you wanted to be an artist?
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How will University of the Arts help you achieve your creative and professional goals?
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How do you want your creativity to affect the future?
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There is no word count requirement, but we recommend you share your story in 250 to 500 words. Upload your personal statement with your application for admission or email it to undergradcredentials@uarts.edu.
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Your portfolio
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Your portfolio should be 10 to 15 pages long and must include at least two different pieces of writing. Writings can include poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction and excerpts from short stories or novels. Applicants submitting poetry must also submit some prose.
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Essay: The portfolio should also include a 150- to 200-word essay that responds to the prompt, “Describe an important window.” Learn more about submitting a Creative Writing portfolio.
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International applicants must submit proof of English proficiency
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Optional Materials
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You can also submit SAT scores, a résumé and/or letters of recommendation. None of these materials are required. Learn more about submitting optional materials.
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For more information, visit our first-year application checklist and transfer checklist.
Scholarships & Financial Aid
UArts recognizes the extraordinary talent of our students through a range of merit-based scholarships. All applicants are automatically considered for such scholarships—no special application is necessary.
Nearly 80 percent of UArts’ undergraduate students enrolled on a full-time basis are eligible for some type of need-based aid. Additionally, some scholarship opportunities take need-based criteria into account. All students who are U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens and are enrolled in a degree program are encouraged to apply by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Events
Visiting Writers Series
Each year, the Visiting Writers Series, sponsored by the Creative Writing program, brings at least two acclaimed poets and novelists to campus per semester. Our students engage with visiting authors and write and present introductions for guest speakers during the series. Visiting authors also come to classes and offer contemporary discourse and personal encouragement.
Fall 2020 visiting writers
Past visiting writers have included Kazim Ali, Jamel Brinkley, Tyree Daye, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Annie Liontas, Carmen Maria Machado, Afaq Mahmoud, Liz Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, Gregory Pardlo, Alicia Jo Rabins, Roger Reeves, David Simon, Darin Strass, Laura van den Berg and more.
Salons and Student Readings
Throughout the year the students hold salons, which are open mics run by members of the BFA program and are open to students interested in sharing their work. At the end of each year, the Creative Writing program hosts a student reading to celebrate graduating seniors.
Get Started
Start your application
Begin your application today. Our admissions team will help you throughout the process.
See UArts for yourself
The best way to get to know UArts is by visiting our campus in person. Come see a show, visit a gallery, and get to know the neighborhood.
Not sure where to start?
We're glad you want to learn more. Our admissions team is happy to send additional information about our school.