<p>I was just accepted to WUSTL and I was wondering if anyone could comment on the English and creative writing departments. I'm not sure what I want to major in, but I was thinking more of a humanities focus. Thank you and I appreciate any information anyone has!</p>
<p>Last summer I went to the Writers Institute at WUSTL and I got to meet some of the professors of creative writing. I know that they hold workshops and have activities for people interested in creative writing there. In fact, if you’re interested in slam poetry they have their own on campus group called WU-Slam. If I end up going to washu ( which I probably will) I’m deffinately going to join : )</p>
<p>Thank you for the info! :)</p>
<p>no problem! : )
what kind of writing interests you???</p>
<p>If I end up here, I’ll definitely be looking into creative writing, so I’m pretty interested to hear more about it too :)</p>
<p>My son, a freshman, loves to write for the poetry slam. He’s a bio major, but found the poetry slam nights were lots of fun.</p>
<p>I’m more interested in writing short stories or for the newspaper. Does anyone know about the newspaper or magazine or anything else writing-oriented?</p>
<p>There’s Student Life, which is our MWF student newspaper, which I assume would be a good way to get involved in journalism. There’s also WUnderground, WashU’s premier (only) satirical newspaper, which is pretty funny, and Political Review.</p>
<p>Just a note. Washu does not have a creative writing major. There is a general writing major and a creative writing minor and a literature minor. That being said, Washu is a great school. The advisers will really work with you to make sure you can study whatever you want.</p>
<p>Just quickly browsing through the course catalog, there are somewhere around 120 courses in the English department (didn’t exactly count). I think it’s one of the broadest departments in that sense, which means that you’ll find a lot opportunities. I do know that there are a lot of renowned authors who teach at Wash U, and the department has visiting professorships for authors to spend time on campus to teach, write, and hold lectures. </p>
<p>Just searching the student union groups directory, there are two more groups in addition to the ones that people mentioned above that might be of interest:
“Sigma Tau Delta is an international honorary for students interested in English and American literature. Students in the honorary pursue their literary interests through a journal of criticism (WORD), academic activism, tutoring in the community and sponsorship of public readings.”
“Spires publishes a semesterly literary magazine featuring the strongest poetry, short fiction pieces, and visual art submitted by undergraduates across the US. Spires aims to promote an awareness and appreciation of literature and art for the entire WU community.”</p>
<p>I complied the rest of the links by visiting various Wash U websites. I can’t really provide any more detail since I’m not familiar with English or Writing here beyond the required Writing 1 course. </p>
<p>Listing of all English faculty members by their fields: [Faculty</a> Listing By Field | Department of English](<a href=“http://english.artsci.wustl.edu/node/462]Faculty”>http://english.artsci.wustl.edu/node/462)</p>
<p>The Text and Tradition program: [Text</a> & Tradition | The Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities](<a href=“The Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities | Washington University in St. Louis”>http://iph.wustl.edu/getting-started/text-tradition)
Other freshman programs: [FOCUS</a> | The Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities](<a href=“http://iph.wustl.edu/getting-started/focus]FOCUS”>http://iph.wustl.edu/getting-started/focus)
The Spenser project – this was recently in one of the Wash U newspapers: [Washington</a> People: Joseph Loewenstein | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis](<a href=“http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21908.aspx]Washington”>Washington People: Joseph Loewenstein - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis)</p>
<p>Since you mentioned a humanities focus, you should also investigate the Interdisciplinary Humanities Project major which it seems a fair amount of English majors pursue: [The</a> Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities](<a href=“http://iph.wustl.edu/]The”>http://iph.wustl.edu/)</p>
<p>Thank u! That was really helpful. The FOCUS program seems interesting. I don’t know if I want to major in English but I like that Wash U has a creative writing minor. Is it difficult to become involved in the newspaper your freshmen year?</p>
<p>
Not at all. StudLife is ALWAYS looking for new people, especially freshmen.
Also, StudLife has a pre-orientation program. If you’re interested in StudLife, you should definitely do it.</p>
<p>Side note/random fact- Tennessee Williams attended WashU for a year… before dropping out because he was upset that he didn’t win a poetry contest.</p>