<p>So I'm a junior in high school interested in majoring in Creative Writing. I love Brown as a school and I'm almost done with the application to its summer program (fingers crossed). But it seems that they don't actually provide an undergrad CW major? Anyone know about that?! :-SS
Also, as a general question, just how good is a creative writing concentration? I aspire to be a fiction writer and even though a degree isn't going to guarantee me a future as a bestselling author, I'd love to grow as much as I can grow as a writer in a great Creative Writing program. (Am I making any sense, or...)
So I don't know why I'm so dead set on majoring in Creative Writing, whether it's silly or not or if just a concentration would do.</p>
<p>P.S. Kenyon and NYU are also schools I was really interested in before I found out they offer no actual major in CW.</p>
<p>It is not necessary to study creative writing in college to become a fiction writer. Of the professionally published authors I know (a very close family member is in the business) almost none did their UG in creative writing. Indeed this family member has critiqued creative writing programs for promoting writing which is celebrated only in academia, not by the general public. </p>
<p>whenhen, I do understand that but I can’t think of anything other than writing I would enjoy studying in college. </p>
<p>PolarBear, I have thought of Syracuse and have a lot of other schools in mind. The ones mentioned are just first choices :)</p>
<p>Ahh, hence my second question. Seriously not getting whether a concentration is anything different or less than a major.</p>
<p>I am also interested in what a good college program would be for an aspiring fiction writer. Is it true that most successful writers didn’t study creative writing in college? Do they tend to be traditional English majors? Psychology? History? Or what? </p>
<p>Does it matter whether it’s called a “major” or a “concentration”? I would think what matters is which classes you take, and whether the college provides a good community for writing. It’s not like you will be going to work for a large company that requires a particular degree.</p>
<p>@moonboots, you might want to look into the Writing Seminars program at Johns Hopkins. I don’t know much about it, but it seems to be well-regarded. <a href=“http://writingseminars.jhu.edu/undergrad.html”>http://writingseminars.jhu.edu/undergrad.html</a></p>
<p>@mathyone, a lot of us who are interested in creative writing feel left in the dark about what colleges will be suitable and such. John Hopkins is one of my Reach schools, and their Writing Seminars is celebrated it seems from the fact that it always manages to turn up in conversations like these.</p>
<p>I think you need to look at the actual courses you would take and how many of them would be writing. Probably you’ll find fewer requirements in a “concentration” than a major. But if more is available, I imagine you can take more. I guess I’d be looking more at the number of courses available, the number of faculty, and the size of the program, rather than worrying too much about what the school labels it. </p>
<p>My writer is still in 8th grade so I haven’t gotten very far in these investigations.</p>
<p>all good programs. this really comes down to the writer/teachers with whom you will work. any chance you live nearby and could go to some of their office hours and take 10 minutes of their time and feel them out as teachers/person-to-person communicators?</p>
<p>@jkeil911 Nah, I live on the other side of the ocean in Saudi Arabia. Makes it tough, the decision process and all.
@PolarBearVsShark Hamilton is one of the best liberal arts schools when it comes to CW. Its location is a little troubling, though.
@mathyone that sounds like a good enough course of action.</p>
<p>How many of these programs require more than ten revisions to capstone level writing/</p>
<p>more’s the pity. we need more good fiction writers from Saudi Arabia who write in English. I wish you luck and look forward to reading your first novel or collection.</p>
<p>@whenhen I’m not really familiar with this terminology; do you mean prerequisites?</p>
<p>@whenhen, "How many of these programs require more than ten revisions to capstone level writing/ " Are you saying that this represents an important standard of the quality of the program? Is this a question that should be asked in college visits?</p>
<p>@jkeil911 Thank you! My parents are slightly pressuring me to go to NYUAD, but I can’t imagine spending another four years in the Middle East! Agh! </p>
<p>I’m saying that if these programs don’t require revision after revision of a work, they’re not teaching students how to be writers. Anyone can write a novel. Far fewer people are willing to respond to criticism, revise it, listen to criticism again, revise it further, and repeat ten plus times. </p>