|
Admissions Requirements
In addition to completing an online Carlow graduate application, requirements include:
- Two essays, typed and double-spaced, which will satisfy the graduate application essay requirement.
- Essay #1 is a self-assessment of applicant's writing ability, including reasons for entering Carlow's low residency MFA program (300 words).
- Essay #2 is a critical response to a substantive piece of literature.
- Two letters of recommendation from persons who can assess the applicant's creative writing, preferably teachers with whom she/he has studied, and others who know applicant's capacity to work independently.
- Ten pages of poetry, 25 pages of fiction, or 25 pages of nonfiction.
Back to top
Residency Requirements
Students choose an intensive writing experience in fiction, poetry or creative nonfiction guided by a mentor. Genre workshops and mentor-conferences typically fill half the day. Seminars, lectures and readings given by visiting writers and guest speakers from the publishing and writing communities fill the afternoons and early evenings. Students and mentors may also attend cultural events and visit sites of literary significance. Students must attend all events.
At the end of the 11-day residency, each student and mentor agree on an individualized five-month writing and reading schedule intended to improve the student’s writing of poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction. The plan is submitted to the program director and filed in the MFA office. Each mentor will submit to the MFA director a detailed evaluation of the student’s performance during the residency. The student cannot advance in the program without the approval of the MFA director and of the mentor.
Back to top
Practicum Requirements
The primary focus of the semester practicum is the student’s creative writing. Students should be prepared to invest a minimum of 25 hours per week carrying out the writing plan designed with their mentor. Students will submit poems, fiction or creative nonfiction to their mentors at regular intervals during the semester.
Mentors will also give students specific writing assignments based on a reading list that is intended to contribute to their development as writers and critical readers. Mentors will give prompt, detailed responses to all assignments by written correspondence, email, tapes, faxes or personal meetings.
Students must complete a minimum of four exchanges with their mentors, and both are encouraged to keep logs of their correspondence. At least once during the semester, mentors will submit a short narrative account of the student’s progress to the MFA director.
At the end of the semester, mentors submit a practicum evaluation with supporting documentation of student progress and performance with recommendations for continued study in the program.
Each student must fulfill all practicum requirements in order to receive a passing grade for the practicum.
What Students Say...
"The Carlow MFA program offers the best kind of immersion: diving into seminars and workshops in the residency phase, followed by semester long, one on one learning from the best to be the best." — Wayne Cresser, Riverside, RI |
|
Back to top
Creative Manuscript/Defense
The fifth semester of the MFA program is the semester where students produce an original manuscript of publishable quality in fiction, creative nonfiction or poetry. They work closely with a mentor with whom they previously have studied in the program. The University statute of limitations for the completion of the degree is seven years, including the two years of residencies/practica.
Steps for Submission of the Creative Manuscript
- The mentor recommends to the director of the MFA program that the student’s manuscript is ready for review.
- Upon accepting the mentor’s recommendations, the program director invites an academic committee to review and approve the manuscript and act as the committee for the student’s defense. The student is responsible for delivering four copies of the manuscript to the program director at least one month before the scheduled defense and public reading.
- The defense takes place with the committee and the student’s mentor, if available. As soon as possible after this meeting, the student presents a public reading of the manuscript and answers questions from the audience
Timetable for Submission and Defense of the Creative Manuscript
- The student submits four copies of the manuscript to the director of the MFA program at least one month before the defense. Students who want to participate in the May commencement must submit their manuscripts by April 1. Students wanting to participate in the January commencement must submit their manuscript by November 15.
- The defense, which includes a meeting with an academic review committee and a public reading from the manuscript followed by questions and answers, is scheduled by the program director, the student and the mentor. It can be scheduled at any time during the academic year when convenient for the student and the academic review committee.
- The student earns the degree at the time of the defense.
- The student may participate in commencement exercises. Commencement ceremonies are held in May and in January. The student may participate in the ceremony that follows the defense.
|
Back to top |
