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Announcing our new MFA in Creative Writing, taking applicants for our first cohort to join Fall 2025!*
*approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is pending

Texas Tech's new MFA in Creative Writing will offer traditional writing workshops in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and literary translation with our award-winning faculty. Our program provides students with the training in literary studies that has long been a hallmark of our creative writing program. MFA students will share workshops and seminars with our doctoral students. Their degree plan includes dedicated writing time as well as a third year devoted to the production of a book-length thesis, which highlights the mastery they've developed in three years of study—how to perfect the individual story, poem, essay, or translation. In addition, our program will allow students to deepen their grasp of the broader historical and critical context of literature, which, in turn, informs their own writing. Texas Tech's new MFA in Creative Writing will provide a fulfilling education whether as a terminal degree or as preparation for continued study in a doctoral program.

Join us in Lubbock, Texas, where you will be part of a supportive and engaged literary community with other graduate students through engaging coursework, exceptional pedagogical and teacher training in a nationally recognized first-year writing program, and a range of departmental organizations, service opportunities, and graduate certificate programs. As a TTU graduate student, you will find exceptional academic breadth and specialization as well as an inclusive and diverse group of faculty and graduate students actively engaged in academic pursuits and in the broader Lubbock community.

Come write with us on the South Plains. Make your impression.

Application Deadline

January 10, 2025

Contact

Dr. Jessica Smith
Managing Director of MFA
english.mfa@ttu.edu

Dr. Curtis Bauer
Director of Creative Writing
english.cw@ttu.edu

Apply Now

Funding

When you apply to our onsite MFA program, you are automatically considered for funding. The funding for incoming students consists of a teaching position with a competitive salary—guaranteed $15,500/year for three years—and partial tuition and fee waivers. Summer teaching/funding is also regularly available, as is the opportunity to teach creative writing workshops in the student's third year.

Application Requirements

Application Deadline: January 10, 2025

Applicants should apply to the MA program in English; select MA. Once final approval for the MFA program has been finalized, applicants will be moved into the MFA program.

The English Department is waiving the application fee for the MFA for fall 2025 applicants. To receive a waiver code for the application fee, email english.mfa@ttu.edu.

The GRE is not required for entry into the MFA program. Applicants must submit the following information:

• • College transcripts
  • Resume or curriculum vitae
  • 8-10 page (or longer) critical writing sample (optional)
  • A creative writing sample (15-20 pages)
  • 700-word statement of purpose outlining your interest in our graduate program; how your current and past experiences have prepared you for graduate study in this field; your future academic and career plans; and any additional information that may aid in evaluating your candidacy
  • 3 letters of recommendation. (Recommenders send their letters directly through the TTU Graduate School application portal via a prompt generated by the system)

Note: Applicants applying to our literary translation track should have excellent proficiency in the source language; a deep and sustained passion for literature, literary study, and creative writing; a compelling portfolio that shows promise in the art of literary translation; and an abiding interest in international literature and global literary communities. These applicants submit 8-10 pages of literary translation into English in a chosen genre (along with source texts) and 7-10 pages of original writing in English, critical or literary.