I applied here because the undergraduate writing programs seemed to be held in high esteem based on several rankings I found, but there doesn’t seem to be much actual information about the major or the courses. Can anyone comment on the rigor and quality of creative writing classes at Emory?
@owl2019 hey! I’m also extremely interested in the Creative Writing program at Emory, did you get accepted? I don’t have much information about it but I’ve heard amazing things…
It’s one of those programs where you get what you make of it… I have friends who worked their ass off and are great writers…
And friends who didn’t do much and still got A’s.
Are you looking for professor recommendations?
Lots of premeds pick up a minor/major in that program…
I also recommend the Classics departments. Definitely worth checking out some courses there.
I think that the Creative Writing Program is tougher than English, though not grade wise. What I mean by tougher is the fact that they often stress the “workshop” style of classes that makes critique of student work much more intense than the typical writing intensive course. If your product isn’t good, you’ll get ripped to shreds/get good feedback whereas many courses in other depts just pretend that you did well and simply hand over the A. Apparently many of the CW courses try to make it such that the writing is actually excellent before they hand over the A. As for pre-meds, I wouldn’t say “lots”, but many, because the reality is: If you major in it, they have many instructors that actually grade quite harshly and it is likely you would have to go through those folks before getting that degree. If you are not actually interested in writing, you are not going to go there. You will do like other pre-healths and find the easy poetry instructor that knows pre-meds target their class and thus relax the requirements and standards a lot. Regardless, for a humanities major, it has its fair share of rigor which is unusual at many universities (where almost every teacher just assumes students suck or need very high grades so simply make them work less for it by lowering the reading and writing load. I feel that while the grades are high, many instructors in those depts do much less of the “dumbing down” than is normal).
@render142 I have been accepted to Emory for next year but my letter of acceptance didn’t specify a major (I indicated on the Common App that I was interested in the English and Creative Writing double major program)… I feel like I really need to consider it strongly because Emory gave me a $20k/yr scholarship.
However, I also want to make sure the program is really rigorous. I need a challenge. I’m also considering the Plan II Honors Program at UT Austin, which is highly esteemed in Texas. It’s a hard decision and it basically comes down to the quality of the major here at Emory.
@aluminum_boat Thanks for the info! Are you majoring in Classics? Also, which professors would you recommend in Creative Writing (I don’t know how much choice I will have as an entering freshman).
@bernie12 Wow, thank you! This is a lot of food for thought. Are there many people in the program who seem interested in CW as a career path?
@aluminum_boat and @bernie12 - thank you both for your perspectives. I am also interested in knowing the Creative writing in Oxford vs Emory. Our D has got admitted to both Emory and Oxford (Oxford scholar and so we might have to give up the scholar position if we decide to go to Emory). She for sure wants to major in Creative writing and literary arts . We are torn between oxford and emory. we loved the scholars wkend and everything about oxford but we have heard loads of things about Emory’s creative writing. how would you rate oxford’s Creative writing vs Emory’s?
@owl2019 : I am not sure about career paths as many Emory students at Emory who are not “big 3” pre-professional in depts like CW and polisci for example explore areas like journalism and writing in various venues. Again, I think you will be challenged to write better by the major. I had an amazing friend who came in as a transfer student to the English department and admitted that it had much higher standards than normal (especially the likes of someone like Morey). And again, always consider the level of feedback and the intellectual environment in the department. From what I gather, the intellectual intensity of depts like English and CW are much higher than many other departments (maybe religion can rival it) and that is partly because of the reputation and its link to thinks like MARBLE (this is legit…and what is cool is that many instructors, even at the freshman English level try to incorporate it into the curriculum. In my Comp. Lit 181 course, we were actually made to construct one of the short papers of 6-8 pages from engaging with original documents from the civil rights error in MARBLE and it was really cool) and the new Digital Scholarship stuff is doing AND the fact that we have amazing faculty (it is interesting enough that undergraduates actually get input on express interests in the various talks and workshops. They don’t really have to be forced to participate in activities, many kind of just do it). Dr. Tretheway is offering a freshman seminar for example…this is not common. Usually someone at that level would only teach upperclassmen, but she chooses to teach freshmen. And her classes are apparently worth making a video about (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFqGKAoBdow&index=1&list=PL2E51DB6D92D76C7D). You don’t get a video or magazine article about your course unless it is truly special on this campus (like ORDER has gotten many).
But regardless, the dept is pretty serious about controlling the quality of its courses you must actually apply to them:
http://creativewriting.emory.edu/home/
In addition, if you are humanities oriented and want a rigorous experience from the get go, you can take some voluntary core courses to get you started…http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/index.html
@jrParent : To me, this is one of those cases where there could indeed be an advantage to main campus where the creative writing and English scene is more lively. Like I tried to explain above, it isn’t only about the coursework in this case, it is the whole experience. I imagine Oxford’s courses could be on par or perhaps better for all I know in this area, but I would consider the differences in EC development and engagement with the topic.
More evidence that it is perhaps a serious major: http://creativewriting.emory.edu/home/academics/index.html
Interesting. Perhaps they actually give a decent amount of B+'s or else they would not make an A- a requirement. What is more interesting is that they make those who got below A- work harder by submitting writing samples (a manuscript) before moving on. That is fairly intense and I am willing to bet many such programs have things like that.
My D just declared a double major in Spanish and Creative Writing (she’s a sophomore) and thinks highly of Emory’s creative writing program. The writing and literature classes she’s taken so far have been challenging and she likes the faculty, especially the fiction professors who have very high standards. A paper she did on children’s literature within Japanese internment camps came to the attention of the dept. before she’d even met with her advisor to officially apply as a writing major, so the faculty seems to be on the lookout for good writers.
@bernie12 - I just compared the Creative Writing of main vs oxford and it is exactly the same! thanks for sharing that link!
would anyone happen to know if you AP out of the first year writing requirement for english? or perhaps take a higher level class? it’s not clearly delineated on the website.
You can AP out of that and take a higher level one if you want. Note that your continued writing requirements can be in any fields. I didn’t take any of them in English for example. All were in religion, polisci, and history.