Colleges & Universities

[deloughy]

Hey,

Can anyone recommend or suggest any colleges or universities that offer Creative Writing degrees? It seems like most colleges offer English degrees and you can just take creative writing electives. I've learned this from calling the schools and speaking with their English departments. I keep seeing ads on here for Full Sail, which a friend of mine went to, but their tuition is twice as much as most other colleges I've seen. If it's a "you get what you pay for" sort of situation then the money isn't an issue. But if the same quality and experience can be gained elsewhere for half the price, then that would be the better option. But I am getting frustrated searching for Creative Writing degrees (BA) just so that all the search results can produce colleges that offer a BA in English.

Art schools like Full Sail and the Academy of Art University focus on creativity, so I'm wondering if, even though the price is significantly higher, the better education lies there.

Any advice?

Thanks, guys.

[mammamaia]

have you googled for 'list of US colleges offering BA in english''?... the search results for that should give you the info you need...

can you go to any college/university, or are you restricted to a certain part of the US?

full sail is an online school... is that what you're looking for?... if so, add 'online' before 'US' to the search subject above...

why do you need to get a degree?... are you looking to a career as an editor at a magazine or publishing house?... or to teach?

[Pat Pechon]

I'd start any education quest by researching, and applying to whatever is availible to you in education grants. State and Federal. Anytime you can save money why not?

In this economy I know that's limited but then again I know someone who just got his Pell Grant. Now he's a veteran. Does that matter? I don't see why, as veterans have educational benefits exclusive to them that are beyond a Pell Grant.

A grant will naturally allow you more options, and the worst they can say is "No"

I'm an Alum of The Art Institute of Chicago. But, that isn't written art.

[James A. Ritchie]

In all honesty, a bachelor's degree won't do you much good. If you're wanting to profit from a writing degree, you really need to be looking for a master's degree in English, with an emphasis on creative writing. Most large university's offer one. You should also look for top M.F.A. programs, and this is what the English Lit. degree with creating writing electives sets you up for. A Ph. D. in English, with an emphasis on creative wriitng, is even better, but a master's will do nicely.

It largely is a matter of you get what you pay for because the bigger and better the university, the more big names they'll bring in to help out, to lecture, etc. But reputation really matters. Butler University is pretty small, but has a very, very good reputation for their creative writing and M.F.A. program, and the tuition is just over $16,000 for the first year. For what you get, this is pretty reasonable.

But many universities offer a master's in English with an emphasis on creative writing, and also have fine M.F.A. programs. You really need at least a master's, and getting a Ph. D. and/or an M.F.A. is better still.

[DrG2]

You didn't indicate WHY you want the degree. Do you want to be a better writer, or do you want a job for which you need a certain degree? If the degree is prompted by a career goal, find out what kind of degrees people in that field have. From what I've seen, agents and editors tend to have diverse backgrounds, though they do tend to have degrees from excellent schools.

Many (I think the great majority) of agents give little credit to M.F.A.s in creative writing. They have certain expectations of the writing styles that come from (most of) those programs, and they don't like that writing style ("precious" is the term that is often used).

[pls]

A degree in journalism might be more useful. Not only will you be able to learn a trade, so to speak, that will sustain you while you are writing deathless prose at midnight, but you'll be immersed in all kinds of humanity and situations which simply reek of story ideas. Plus you'll be writing every day on spec and receiving constant demands for improvement in your stories from your copy editor.

Working as a newspaperman worked for Hemingway. And it worked for me. Sorta.

[rosebud]

I'm sure there are a lot of local colleges and universities in your neck of the woods where you could get a good start on the road to a degree in creative writing. However, if you're more interested in traveling to another location to obtain a degree in creative writing start researching by first considering a location you prefer to live in and begin a new life. You don't need a reason to get a degree, advancement is always a worthy cause. Personally, I'd begin by goggling your degree choice and moving on from there.

[deloughy]

In all honesty, a bachelor's degree won't do you much good. If you're wanting to profit from a writing degree, you really need to be looking for a master's degree in English, with an emphasis on creative writing. Most large university's offer one. You should also look for top M.F.A. programs, and this is what the English Lit. degree with creating writing electives sets you up for. A Ph. D. in English, with an emphasis on creative wriitng, is even better, but a master's will do nicely.

It largely is a matter of you get what you pay for because the bigger and better the university, the more big names they'll bring in to help out, to lecture, etc. But reputation really matters. Butler University is pretty small, but has a very, very good reputation for their creative writing and M.F.A. program, and the tuition is just over $16,000 for the first year. For what you get, this is pretty reasonable.

But many universities offer a master's in English with an emphasis on creative writing, and also have fine M.F.A. programs. You really need at least a master's, and getting a Ph. D. and/or an M.F.A. is better still.

James,

Thank you so much. I am going to call Butler on Monday and ask for more information (I am on their website now).

Do people with degrees get priority in the publishing business, or is getting picked up by an agent more reliant on having that killer query letter, regardless of education? I won't have any sort of degree before I query anything, so I'm curious.

And I would go as far as I could go, so Ph. D. or M.F.A. sounds fine to me.

[mammamaia]

Do people with degrees get priority in the publishing business, or is getting picked up by an agent more reliant on having that killer query letter, regardless of education?

i seriously doubt they ever do...

it's the summary of the book that either sells it or not... a string of degrees won't make a poor plot and anemic characters any more appealing to the person who has to sell them to a publisher... and if the query letter is poorly written, no degree is going to make the agent think the ms will be any better, no matter how good the plot/characters may seem...

[EccentricKim]

I don't think a degree is what grabs an agent's attention . . . and I tend to disagree with pls about journalism, but that's just my personal preference. I majored in journalism for a few months and hated it!

I don't have a degree, but I took an online writing course through Long Ridge Writer's Group which earned me college credit. By the time I was done with the course I had 3 op-ed pieces published, and now I have 2 books and 2 short stories through a small publisher. They really did help me a lot. I took the "Breaking into Print" course where you have the choice of focusing on fiction or nonfiction (I ended up doing both).

Good luck! I think everyone is different when it comes to education . . . I always wanted that degree but so far it hasn't happened. Luckily, if you want to be a novelist, it is not required at all. But being as educated as possible about writing is.