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.
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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-level courses.
Coursework must include at least 12 credits in at least four 500-level workshops. If taking extra workshops, no more than 15 workshop credits can be counted toward an MFA degree.
3 credits in Techniques of Modern Fiction, Techniques of Non-Fiction or Traditional Prosody are required. (Techniques of Modern Fiction and Techniques of Non-Fiction may be repeated if the topic and/or instructor are different; see literature requirements below.)
12 credits in English Department literature courses. These 12 literature credits must include at least 3 credits in a 500-level literature seminar and 3 more credits in a second 400- or 500-level literature course. They may not include courses in Linguistics or Teaching Methods. Students may take 6 credits of Graduate Independent Study, provided that a member of the literature faculty supervises the study project. Techniques of Modern Fiction or Techniques of Non-Fiction may be repeated, or a cross-genre techniques class can be taken, for 3 literature credits. SpecialTopics courses (ENCR 495,595 or 516) taught by creative writing faculty may also count toward literature requirements.
Students may take up to 12 400- or 500-level credits in courses outside the department.