GARDEN CITY, NY / MANHATTAN, NY
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Playwriting, Screenwriting.
💡 Features a "Manhattan Week" where students meet directly with NYC editors.
FUNDING: PARTIAL
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: LOW
ALASKA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
ANCHORAGE, AK
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Nonfiction.
💡 During the summer solstice, Anchorage gets 22 hours of daylight.
FUNDING: TUITION-DRIVEN
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: LOW
WASHINGTON, DC
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction.
💡 High up on the Washington National Cathedral, there is a stone carving of Darth Vader. He was added in the 1980s after a children's design competition.
FUNDING: PARTIAL & FULL
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
BOISE, ID
Specialization: Fiction and Poetry with a heavy emphasis on community engagement.
💡 Boise State University is home to the world's first blue-colored artificial grass football field.
FUNDING: FULL & STIPEND
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
BOSTON, MA
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, and Playwriting.
💡 Boston built America's first subway in 1897.
FUNDING: FULL & STIPEND
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY
BOWLING GREEN, OH
Specializations: Fiction and Poetry with opportunities in literary editing.
💡 Bowling is built on what was once the Great Black Swamp.
FUNDING: FULL & STIPEND
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
PROVO, UT
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry.
💡 Provo is located at the base of Mount Timpanogos, which has a massive cave system that can be toured during the summer months.
FUNDING: FULL & STIPEND
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
BROOKLYN, NY
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Playwriting.
💡 Its architecture was intentionally designed to mirror the neo-Georgian New England colleges of the early 20th century.
FUNDING: TUITION-BASED
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
CA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Specializations: Interdisciplinary Arts, Writing, Creative Studies, Consciousness.
💡 San Francisco features a "Fog Bridge" that uses high-pressure nozzles to create a bridge of artificial mist.
FUNDING: INSTITUTIONAL AID
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: Low
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS
VALENCIA, CA
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction.
💡 Founded by Walt Disney as a "CalTech of the Arts" for cross-disciplinary collaboration.
FUNDING: FULL FELLOWSHIPS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction.
💡 The nearby Madonna Inn features 110 themed rooms, including a pink-everything dining room.
FUNDING: TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS
DEGREE: MA ENGLISH (CREATIVE WRITING EMPHASIS)
SAN BERNARDINO, CA
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction.
💡 The campus museum has one of the largest Egyptian antiquity collections in the Western U.S.
FUNDING: TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
PITTSBURGH, PA
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Children’s Writing.
💡 The Big Mac was invented by a local Pittsburgh McDonald’s franchisee in 1967.
FUNDING: MERIT AID
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL/LOW
NEW YORK, NY
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, and Translation.
💡 The campus was used as the filming location for "The Royal Tenenbaums" and is known for its Gothic architecture.
FUNDING: STIPENDS/TA
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
CHARLESTON, SC
Specializations: Fiction and Poetry.
💡 Founded in 1770, it is the oldest college in South Carolina and the 13th oldest in the United States.
FUNDING: TA/FELLOWSHIPS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
FORT COLLINS, CO
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry.
💡 Fort Collins is often cited as the primary inspiration for "Main Street, U.S.A." at Disneyland.
FUNDING: FULL + STIPEND
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
NEW YORK, NY
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction.
💡 Until the mid-1800s, thousands of roaming pigs acted as the city’s primary "waste management" system, eating trash off the streets.
FUNDING: PARTIAL & FELLOWSHIPS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
SPARTANBURG, SC
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Young Adult Fiction.
💡 Founded by Dexter Edgar Converse specifically to ensure his daughter, Marie, had a quality local education.
FUNDING: SCHOLARSHIPS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: LOW
HANOVER, NH
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction.
💡 Every winter, students at Dartmouth College continue a century-old tradition by building a snow sculpture on the campus.
FUNDING: INTERNAL FELLOWSHIPS
DEGREE: MA ENGLISH (CREATIVE WRITING CONCENTRATION)
CHICAGO, IL
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction.
💡 The Chicago "L" train tracks run directly through the Lincoln Park campus.
FUNDING: ASSISTANTSHIPS & WAIVERS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
PHILADELPHIA, PA
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction.
💡 Philadelphia has the most outdoor murals of any city in the world.
FUNDING: TUITION DISCOUNTS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: LOW / ONLINE
DURHAM, NC
Specializations: Writing, Documentary Arts, Multimedia.
💡 Durham is known as "Bull City.” It was nicknamed in the late 1800s after the "Bull" Durham Tobacco.
FUNDING: FULL
DEGREE: MFA (EXPERIMENTAL/DOCUMENTARY ARTS)
RESIDENCY: FULL
GREENVILLE, NC
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction.
💡 The city only averages about 3 inches of snow per year.
FUNDING: STIPEND
DEGREE: MA ENGLISH (CREATIVE WRITING CONCENTRATION)
RESIDENCY: FULL
BARD COLLEGE (MILTON AVERY)
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY
Specializations: Writing (Interdisciplinary focus with Film/Video, Music, Painting, Photography, Sculpture).
💡 In Marvel Comics, Annandale-on-Hudson is the fictional hometown of Jean Grey (Phoenix).
FUNDING: AID-HEAVY
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: LOW
BENNINGTON, VT
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Dual-Genre.
💡 Bennington was the first US college to include visual and performing arts as full subjects in liberal arts.
FUNDING: TUITION-BASED
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: LOW
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Screenwriting, Young Adult, and Graphic Novel.
💡 Indianapolis has the largest children’s museum in the world at nearly 500,000 square feet.
FUNDING: ASSISTANTSHIPS
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Comics, and Hybrid Forms.
💡 San Francisco has the world’s only moving National Historic Landmark: the iconic cable car system.
FUNDING: MERIT/TA
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
ITHACA, NY
Specializations: Fiction and Poetry.
💡 Ithaca has more than 150 waterfalls within a 10-mile radius, carved out by glaciers.
FUNDING: 100% FUNDED
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: FULL
EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY (EKU)
RICHMOND, KY
Specializations: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Popular Fiction.
💡 Richmond is located where the Bluegrass region meets the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
FUNDING: TUITION-BASED
DEGREE: MFA
RESIDENCY: LOW