Program Overview

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Program Overview

The Creative Writing and Environment MFA program at Iowa State University offers a unique and intensive opportunity for gifted writers to document, meditate on, mourn, and celebrate the complexities of our transforming natural world. This three-year program cultivates an interdisciplinary approach to research and writing, allowing students to develop a heightened environmental imagination that finds expression in quality, publishable works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.

Program Structure

The MFA degree requires 54 hours of graduate credit, including:

• A core of creative writing courses
• A book-length thesis (6 credits)
• Experiential environmental fieldwork (3 credits)
• 12 credits in disciplines other than English (such as Landscape Architecture, Anthropology, Environmental Science) relevant to an individual student's research interests and thesis project

Degrees Offered

• Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

Program Duration

The median time to earn the master's degree is 2.8 years.

Learning Goals

The program aims to help students:

• Demonstrate understanding of craft and professional practice through coursework, workshops, and completion of refined imaginative literary manuscripts in multiple genres
• Identify, research, and examine the natural world and the environmental imagination
• Broaden and deepen understanding of literary and theoretical traditions of the major genres and the methodologies of craft analysis and practice
• Design, write, workshop, refine, and defend a significant body of publishable- or production-quality imaginative writing, including a full-length thesis manuscript
• Gain practical training and experience in creating and fostering a healthy literary community and sustaining a professional life in letters

Admission Requirements

Graduate College Requirements

• 4-year Bachelor's degree (or equivalent)
• Academic Records/Transcripts
• Minimum 3.0 GPA
• Proof of English Proficiency

Program Specific Requirements

• Pearl Hogrefe Fellowship in Creative Writing application information
• Three letters of recommendation (LOR)
• Application for Teaching Assistantship statement
• Writing Sample Portfolio
• All non-native speaking applicants must provide an audio/video of spontaneous spoken English
• Program Requires GRE: No
• Program Requires GMAT: No
• Program Will Review Without TOEFL or IELTS: No

International Requirements

• Financial Statement
• English Proficiency Minimum:
  • TOEFL Paper (PBT) | 587
  • TOEFL Internet (iBT) | 95
  • IELTS | 7
  • PTE | 68
  • Duolingo | 115

Application Requirements

Application Deadlines

January 5 (once per year for fall semester entry only). Early application completion is encouraged.

Application Details

This program is open to domestic and international students.