Does anyone know of colleges with good undergraduate creative writing programs in the Northeast? I’m trying to put together my initial to-visit list and would like some recommendations.
Thanks so much!!
Middlebury College’s program is highly regarded.
http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/enam/creative_writing
Kenyon College–in Ohio, so a little outside the northeast–has an incredibly impressive list of writer alums: John Green, Laura Hillenbrand, E.L. Doctorow, Wendy MacLeod, Ransom Riggs, and Bill Watterson.
Both are expensive private schools, where merit and/or need based aid is possible, depending on your circumstances. It’s important to determine very realistically your budget and how much you might expect in aid from a particular school. Make sure to read what the school says about aid. Does it guarantee to meet all financial need? Does it distribute merit aid widely? What would be your chances of receiving merit aid? For example, does it give substantial awards to half the incoming class, and you would appear to be in the top quarter of admitted students, so could anticipate, but not be guaranteed, substantial aid? Another helpful tip is to google the common data set for a school and go to the section on financial aid. That will give you an idea how much aid it typically gives to students.
It would also help to provide some sense of your academic record. Both of the above schools are very competitive (Middlebury especially so). So they would not be viable options for many students.
Cost and competitiveness aside, small liberal arts colleges would probably provide an environment where you could work closely with professors in honing your writing. You might look through info on Creative Writing at the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) schools. These include many of the top LACs in the Northeast (Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Bates, Wesleyan, Tufts, etc.). I would maybe just add Dickinson to that list. You might also look at some of the women’s colleges–Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, and maybe Vassar (once female, now coed). I’m not sure about creative writing at these schools specifically. I’ll note that Smith and Mount Holyoke–along with Hampshire, Amherst, and U Mass-Amherst–form a consortium that allows students to share resources/classes among them.
Good luck!
These articles discuss creative writing programs at a range of colleges (screened below by your location preference):
“The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers” | The Freelancer
Hamilton
JHU
MIT
NYU
Princeton
Sarah Lawrence
Yale
http://contently.net/2014/11/06/resources/10-best-colleges-creative-writers/
“The 10 Best American Colleges for Writers” | USA Today
Hamilton
JHU
MIT
NYU
Columbia
http://college.usatoday.com/the-10-best-american-colleges-for-writers/
“The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America” | Flavowire
Princeton
Brooklyn
UHartford
Wesleyan
Sarah Lawrence
Williams
Smith
NYU
Hamilton
Harvard
Emerson
Columbia
Vassar
Bennington
The New School
If you branch outside of the Northeast, also look into Kenyon.
My daughter is interested in the same. My niece graduated Cornell and said they have a good writing program there. I’ve also seen Hamilton in NY come up a lot in our search. Not sure of your stats, but those are all super competitive schools. My daughter is looking at the NJ state schools (Rowan and TCNJ) as affordable in state options.
There was a former CC poster who was a writer and did specific investigation into content of undergraduate creative writing programs.
From her posts, and some others during the same period, I “harvested” the following schools (just lists, not in any “ranking order”):
Northeast: Sarah Lawrence, Middlebury, Hamilton, Bard, Trinity (CT), Bennington, Amherst, Williams, Vassar, Princeton, NYU, Tufts, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Emerson, U Pittsburgh, SUNY New Paltz
Midwest: Kenyon, U Iowa, Oberlin, Grinnell, Northwestern, Denison, Beloit, Knox (Il)
West: Pomona, Reed, Stanford, U Redlands, U Denver, U Oregon, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, SF State
However that compilation was made quite a while ago.
Since then I have heard good things from students who took them about creative writing courses at Cornell, Barnard, and (a little further west) Oberlin. And a fairly recent CC student investigated and thought highly of the program at Penn. Though he ultimately chose Princeton.
Top end programs woukd include Kenyon, Hamilton, Middlebury, Penn, Columbia.
A bit easier to get into, Denison, Reed, Sewanee.
For someone with Kenyon-worthy stats the following would be safeties: Eckerd, Knox, Beloit.
I would second many in @monydad’s list. If you like the vibe at Bard, definitely check it out. Impressive faculty and creative place overall.
For convenience, here’s the link the link that was inadvertently omitted above:
http://flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america
If you are interested in screenwriting, take a look at Brown University–part of Literary Arts Dept.
You might also want to consider which schools emphasize writing in general:
Brown
Cornell
Hamilton
Harvard
Middlebury
Princeton
Swarthmore
Williams
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/writing-programs
If you’re looking for a great school with a fantastic writing program, that is, perhaps, a little less competitive, Sewanee should be at the top of that list.
University of Oklahoma has an excellent professional writing program for genre fiction (mysteries, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, etc.).
Denison has a beautiful campus and is generous with merit aid.
Sewanee is a kind of Southern, old-preppy analog of Kenyon. The two schools have historical links, and both boast long traditions of excellence in writing.
- Yale.
- Columbia.
- Princeton
- Brynmawr
If you are female, and are looking for a less competitive college, Hollins University in VA is highly ranked in creative writing.
Emory should be on your list. http://college.usatoday.com/the-10-best-american-colleges-for-writers/