<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I'm a junior in HS currently undergoing the college search. I have loved to write my whole life and my English teachers, family, and friends alike have always told me that I'm good at it. So I've decided to focus on writing for my major! :)</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend to me a college or university in the United States with a good creative writing program? I'd love to look into it! Thank you.</p>
<p>You can certainly google this info, OP, and without a whole lot more info it would be hard to find you a fit. You’ll need to make a distinction, if there is one for you, between journalism and other kinds of writing.</p>
<p>Start by looking at Hamilton, Cornell, Iowa, Brandeis, Northwestern.</p>
<p>I’ll put in a plug for Penn. The Kelly Writers House is an extraordinary resource there.</p>
<p>Here are a few links:</p>
<p><a href=“Writers Find Haven on an Ivy Campus - The New York Times”>Writers Find Haven on an Ivy Campus - The New York Times; </p>
<p><a href=“Kelly Writers House”>http://www.writing.upenn.edu/wh/</a></p>
<p><a href=“Kelly Writers House - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Writers_House</a></p>
<p>Regarding writing at Penn:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.writing.upenn.edu/”>http://www.writing.upenn.edu/</a> </p>
<p>And an interesting recent NYT editorial piece regarding Philip Roth at Penn:</p>
<p><a href=“Opinion | English Class With Mr. Roth - The New York Times”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/opinion/sunday/english-class-with-mr-roth.html</a></p>
<p>For LACs, take a look at Kenyon, Oberlin, Knox, Bard, Vassar, Sewanee, Colorado College.</p>
<p>You’re right, @jkeil911, I could Google this and I have, many times. But I really wanted to hear what people with experience and “insider knowledge” had to say on the subject rather than a college’s website tooting their own horn with nothing to back it up or a news article with no supporting claims telling me “Go here. Have a nice day.” </p>
<p>Now, to answer your second statement about distinction about my writing: I’ve been writing fiction and short stories my whole life, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve really enjoyed writing creative nonfiction. Journalism is all fine and good, but I’m looking for a creative writing program. Thanks!</p>
<p>Thank you, @quakerstake! The Kelly Writers House sounds really cool and Penn offers an a English major with an emphasis in creative writing, which is what I’m looking for!</p>
<p>And thanks to you, @KAMmom. I’ll take a look.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence and Vassar.</p>
<p>Look into the Iowa Writers Workshop for h.s. kids this summer. they used ot have a renowned program. However, writers are a dime a dozen. Best to not make it your major . Journalism jobs are drying up. Unless you’re prepared to submit lots of stuff for publication and accept rejection over and over again, it’s just not a good field.</p>
<p>Don’t stop at investigating programs. Some professors teach only grad students, or they teach undergrads infrequently. Try to check the course schedule for the last year (ideally several years) to see who is actively teaching undergrads. And then find out everything you can about those people.</p>
<p>My English teacher wrote me a recommendation letter for the Iowa Young Writers Studio this summer, @proudfather , so I’ll definitely be trying that. And thank you for your realism. I appreciate that. However, I’m willing to face rejection and I’m willing to push through it. Writing is the life for me. :)</p>
<p>Interesting, @WasatchWriter… So right now my #1 school is University of Iowa. Are you saying I should look into who is teaching undergrad writers and then improve my skills in the genre of writing they teach?</p>
<p>If writing is the life for you, think carefully – where will you work with that as a major? Do you hope to write novels, poetry, screenwriting, plays? Journalism is dead. Do you have any connections ? Sometimes, its best to just major in something else and write for the school paper, lit magazine, a local paper, etc. and work your way up from there . I do writing, so i know how difficult this field is. </p>
<p>I am interested in screenwriting particularly. I thought maybe a creative writing degree or English with an emphasis in creative writing degree would look good to someone accepting my scripts. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I’m saying that your decisions about which programs go onto your short list should partly be based on the instructors you will actually work with. Someone well-known whose writing you admire might not be the best instructor for you. A young instructor with only a few publications could be an awesome instructor.</p>
<p>It’s not unreasonable to assume that a reputable program will have good instructors, but since you can in fact check up on people, doing so might make a difference.</p>
<p>I see. Thank you, @WasatchWriter. That actually makes a lot of sense.</p>
<p>Wesleyan?</p>
<p>It would be good to have a program that has more than one fiction/poetry/script instructor at each position. That won’t be such a problem at the schools we’re mentioning, but put that nugget in your pocket in case you decide to go small or less well-known. </p>
<p>It would be good to meet with the instructors and sit in on their classes. </p>
<p>Put NYU on your check-out list. Have a look at Tisch while you’re there.</p>
<p>Thanks, @International95 and @jkeil911! I’ll look into all of your suggestions.</p>
<p>If you like screenwriting, look for colleges in california. I thought UCLA had one of the best programs in the country,and it’s right near Hollywood.</p>