The M.F.A. Program in Prose or Poetry normally takes two years to complete. Candidates must complete 45 graduate semester hours of classes and thesis credits, and submit a professional paper (thesis) acceptable to their M.F.A. committee and to the Graduate School.
A prose thesis must be a full-length novel, a group of short stories, or a collection of non-fiction essays. Minimum length for any prose thesis is 80 pages. A poetry thesis requires a minumum of 40 pages of poems.
Candidates must give a public thesis reading after committee approval.
With committee and graduate chair permission, an M.F.A. could comprise work in both prose and poetry.
Excluding up to 12 credits for the professional paper, at least 18 of the 33 remaining credits must be earned in 500- or 600-level courses.
Coursework must include at least 12 credits in at least four 500-level workshops.
3 credits in either Techniques of Modern Fiction or Traditional Prosody is required. (Techniques of Modern Fiction may be repeated; see literature requirements below.)
12 credits in English Department literature courses. These 12 literature credits must include at least 3 credits in a literature seminar; they may not include courses in Linguistics or Teaching Methods but may include up to 6 credits of Graduate Independent Study, provided that a member of the literature faculty supervises the study project. Techniques of Modern Fiction may be repeated, or both Techniques of Modern Fiction and Traditional Prosody may be taken, with 3 of those 6 credits counting toward the 9 required non-seminar credits of literature.
Students may take up to 12 credits in courses outside the department.
One Special Topics course may count toward the literature requirement.