康奈尔大学

The Creative Writing program in the department of English Language and Literature offers an M.F.A. degree only, with concentrations in either poetry or fiction. Each year the department enrolls only eight students, four in each concentration. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package, details of which are outlined on our department website. At the same time, we have a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical, and cultural fields.

Students participate in a graduate writing workshop each semester and take 6 additional one-semester courses for credit, at least four of them in English or American literature, Comparative Literature, literature in the modern or classical languages, or cultural studies (typically two per semester during the first year and one per semester during the second year). First year students receive practical training by working as Editorial Assistants for Epoch, a periodical of prose and poetry published by the Creative Writing staff of the department. The most significant requirement of the M.F.A. degree is the completion of a book-length manuscript: a collection of poems, short stories, or a novel.

Learning Outcomes

The Cornell Department of English is committed to diversity in terms of critical and theoretical approaches to the study of English literature. The areas of expertise professed by its faculty and explored by its graduate students represent the full spectrum of professional sub-fields, and interdisciplinary affiliations further extend the department’s intellectual and creative engagement. A distinguishing feature of the Cornell PhD program in English is its reliance on a system of Special Committees, which allows students to develop their own courses of study within a broad framework established by the department. Graduate students work closely with faculty committees to determine a highly flexible course of study, to set individually devised qualifying exams, and to determine additional work in foreign languages. This system encourages a close working relationship between professors and students, promoting freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of the graduate degree. Students in the English PhD program also receive extensive teacher training. After the first year in the program, students typically teach seminars in the university-wide First-year Writing Program, an experience which prepares them to design and teach courses in creative writing, literature, and cultural studies to a range of students, including agriculture and engineering majors as well as students in the humanities and social sciences. The combination of an individualized curriculum and rich teaching experience positions our students to be extremely competitive on the job market, and qualifies them to pursue work in a variety of creative fields.