BA Creative Writing Overview
The Undergraduate Creative Writing Program in the School of the Arts combines intensive writing workshops with seminars that allow for a deep study of literature from a craft perspective. Our students develop and hone their literary voices in workshops, where their work is given meaningful creative attention. In our creative writing seminars, students explore literary technique and history, broadening their sense of possibility by encountering the various ways, historically, that language has been used to make art. To expand their understanding of literary craft, students may enroll in courses from other departments such as English, Comparative Literature, Philosophy, History, and Anthropology, among others. Students will determine, in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, the related courses that will best inform their creative work.
Curriculum and Requirements
The major in Creative Writing requires a minimum of 36 points: five workshops, four seminars, and three related courses.
In workshops, students produce original works of fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and submit them to their classmates and instructor for close critical analysis. Workshop critiques (which include detailed written reports and thorough line-edits) assess the mechanics and merits of the students’ written work. Individual instructor conferences distill the critiques into a direct plan of action to improve the work.
Our seminars offer a close examination of literary techniques such as plot, point of view, tone, and voice. They expose students to a wide variety of approaches in their chosen genre. Extensive readings are required, along with short critical papers and/or creative exercises.
In collaboration with faculty advisers, students select a series of courses drawn from various departments that aim to enrich individual artistic instincts.
Consult our Undergraduate Writing Courses & Requirements and the Columbia College Bulletin for detailed major requirements as well as a complete list of available courses.
Deadlines
The deadline to submit an application for a Senior Workshop is Friday, August 28 at 4 PM ET. You will be notified of your workshop acceptance status shortly before the semester begins. See Registration Procedures for more information.
Please note: Beginning Workshops, Open Workshops, and seminars do not require applications.
Admissions and How to Apply
The Writing Program offers a curriculum that serves the undergraduate Creative Writing majors at Columbia College, the School of General Studies, and Barnard College. Undergraduate students declare the Creative Writing major in their sophomore year.
Career Opportunities
Students have the opportunity to gain editorial and publishing experience by working with and/or submitting to Quarto, the official undergraduate literary magazine of Columbia University’s Creative Writing Department. It is a student-run magazine that publishes the best of Columbia’s undergraduate writers from all four of Columbia’s undergraduate colleges.
Our workshops also allow students the time and space to draft a portfolio, whether they are preparing to apply for MFA programs or planning to pursue future publishing opportunities.
Students have the opportunity to share their writing at a fall Open Mic Night, open to majors and non-majors alike. Our graduating majors share their work at a spring semester Senior Showcase. The department frequently hosts distinguished visiting writers and editors through the Art + Life series, the No Smoking reading series, an annual spring panel on publishing, and other events.
Program Contact
Mitchell Glazier
Creative Writing Pre-College & Undergraduate Program Administrator
Watson Hall, 612 W 115th Street, 7th floor
[email protected]
212.854.5771
Dorla McIntosh
Undergraduate Writing Program Administrative Assistant
Watson Hall, 612 W 115th Street, 7th floor
[email protected]
212.854.3774
