Help! In Search Of Great Writing Schools!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My major will be English with a concentration in creative writing, and a strong English program is a must. In fact, the more writers they turn out the better! BASICALLY, I NEED WRITING SCHOOLS! Any recs on places that turn out amazing writers are super welcome. I have found strong English programs at strong liberal arts schools, but any other schools with a really big (or heck, just a big) focus on creative writing would be great. Just to rule out anything you may want to mention, here are the schools I already like or dislike:</p>

<p>A BRIEF HISTORY OF MY COLLEGE SEARCH THUS FAR...</p>

<p>WHAT I LIKE: My top school is Bryn Mawr. Nothing has matched it yet. My other two tops are Mount Holyoke and Smith, although I am rethinking Smith just because it may be a little too liberal for me. I am a one hundred percent supporter of all-womens colleges and have found that atmosphere a lot better for me than anywhere else fit-wise (I am a straight girl and a private Catholic school attendee (and atheist) for 9 years, but these places were heaven) but I am still very open to co-ed schools, as long as I can see myself fitting in there. I visited Wellesley and Barnard and didn't feel a fit at all, so don't worry, I am not ruling all-womens in and everything else out.</p>

<p>WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: I have also visited BU, NYU, and Northeastern, and discovered that city campuses are not my thing. SUNY Binghamton reinforced the idea that big schools were not right for me (small liberal arts are definitely going to be the schools for me) and SUNY Geneseo was a little too isolated and lacking some of the focal points I was looking for. BC and Holy Cross were Catholic-school-redux for me, and I just didn't feel a fit there. Marist was the same story, and I was counting on that to be a safety! The cliques seemed visible and the extension-of-high-school idea was prominent. If I saw one more Coach bag, I was going to die. I was also going to look at Purchase, but I heard way too much negativity about it. Also, I am a moderate liberal (almost an oxymoron) and I know that I am not looking for an art school setting, so it just isn't going to be on my list.</p>

<p>Which leaves a big problem. I NEED MORE SECONDARY AND SAFETY-ISH SCHOOLS.</p>

<p>Wells is my safety at this point, as I know I'll be accepted and receive a ton of merit money for it. I have my top three (or maybe two) schools and I want to apply to five or six schools at the most, possibly less.</p>

<p>If these are any help, here are my stats as a student:
GPA- 3.60
SATs- W 770, CR 740, M 600. I have retaken these tests in October but have yet to receive the scores- I am expecting some critical improvements on the math section.
SAT II- I am scheduled for Literature, World, and US History this November and December. As I am not applying early decision or action anywhere, these will be included in my applications and score reports.
My class load this year:
AP Politics, AP Biology, AP Literature, Calculus Honors, Mandarin Chinese II, and Concert Band and Concert Orchestra. I am a very dedicated French Horn player with multiple awards and am ranked number one in my all-state region. The schools I am looking out have all had outlets for my playing, and I'd really like a school that will allow me to keep the instrument an active part of my life. Worst comes to worst, I will seek out a local chamber orchestra, but I'd still like to find a medium to strong music program in my schools.</p>

<p>So...if anyone has any ideas for great writing schools, and secondary or safety schools with a mature and strong approach to learning, I will be forever in your debt. And when I say forever, I mean it. An eternity of chocolate for you, my friend.</p>

2

<p>Look at Kenyon College in Ohio</p>

3

<p>A little too far away for me. I'm kind of staying in the New England area (I'm from New York). Thank you anyway!</p>

4

<p>I'm looking at writing programs as well. Loved Bryn Mawr.</p>

<p>--> Sarah Lawrence in Bronxville, NY. Too bad they don't count SATs, because yours are really solid. It will likely be too liberal for your taste, but they have a superb writing program, lots of great writers teach/have taught there, and I would definitely investigate it if I were you. VERY small school, beautiful campus, perfect distance from NYC (40 min train ride).</p>

<p>--> Also try Kenyon in Gambier, OH--seems like a match. They graduated E.L. Doctorow, for one. Very respected writing program, nationally renowned literary magazine... not overwhelmingly liberal. Check it out.</p>

<p>--> Knox College in Galesburg, IL is one of Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives. Very high acceptance rate--definitely a safety for you. $4000 yearly scholarship for writers. Really strong writing program, and they send lots of writing students to prestigious grad programs. Also a plus is they have this sort of randomly huge proportion of international students on campus--highly diverse for the midwest.</p>

<p>--> Beloit in Beloit, Wisconsin also has a strong writing program, accepts high percentage of applicants. Safety.</p>

<p>--> The University of Iowa has the top grad program for writing in the country, but undergrads don't necessarily have access to all the good stuff and it is a big school.</p>

<p>--> Oberlin and Wesleyan definitely have a raging-liberal vibe, but strong writing programs.</p>

<p>--> Middlebury wouldn't be a safety, but they have a nice relationship with the Breadloaf School of English--it's a summer grad program, and undergrads from Middlebury alone can participate; Midd undergrads concentrating in writing can also attend the Breadloaf Writers' Workshop.</p>

<p>--> --> Wish I'd known about this earlier: UNC-Chapel Hill has a full-tuition scholarship based on writing ability alone--involves pretty rigorous application process, portfolio, interviews, the whole shebang. The Tom Wolfe Scholarship, I think it's called. You might want to check it out.</p>

5

<p>"UNC-Chapel Hill has a full-tuition scholarship based on writing ability alone--involves pretty rigorous application process, portfolio, interviews, the whole shebang. The Tom Wolfe Scholarship, I think it's called. You might want to check it out."</p>

<p>Good to know...</p>

6

<p>For somebody whose first-choice college is Bryn Mawr and wants to stay in the northeast, I would suggest looking into Hampshire College, Clark, and Bard. These schools are less competitive admissions-wise than the others that have been mentioned (still not a walk in the park to get into) but I don't know if they would be considered relatively safe schools for you or not.</p>

<p>Another Bryn Mawr-ish school that has great academic and creative writing programs that gets very little attention is Hollins College in FL. It's also a womens' college, and the person I know there turned down Bryn Mawr and Reed for it.</p>

<p>I have a love affair with the schools you mentioned, though I don't attend them. I had reservations about going to a womens' college at the time I was looking at schools.</p>

<p>--edit--</p>

<p>Oh, you do give stats, in which case I think the schools I listed could be considered safeties.</p>

7

<p>Creative writing programs from Rugg's Recommendations:
Agnes Scott
U Alabama
Bard
Middlebury
Beloit
Barnard
Bennington
Brown
Carlow
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia
Creighton
Dana
Denison
Dominican
Eckerd
Emerson
Fla St
Grinnell
Hamilton
Hobart
U Iowa
John's Hopkins
Kenyon
Lewis-Clark State (ID)
Linfield
Long Island U Southhampton
Lycoming
U Maine Farmington
U of Michigan
SUNY New Paltz
NC State
Northwestern
Oberlin
U Oregon
U Pitt
Redlands
St Andrews (NC)
San Fran St
C of Santa Fe
Sarah Lawrence
Stephens
Susquehanna
Sweet Briar
Temple
UVA
Washington Coll (MD)
Webster
Wheaton (MA)
Wichita State
Wittenberg</p>

<p>US News graduate creative writing programs:
1. University of Iowa 4.5
2. John Hopkins University (MD) 4.2
3. University of Houston (TX) 4.2
4. Columbia University (NY) 4.1
5. University of Virginia 4.1
6. New York University 4.0
7. University of California, Irvine (CA) 4.0
8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MI) 4.0
9. University of Arizona 3.9
10. Boston University 3.8
11. Cornell University 3.8
12. University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MA) 3.8
13. University of Montana (MT) 3.8
14. University of Washington 3.8
15. Washington University (MO) 3.8
16. Brown University (RI) 3.7
17. Indiana University, Bloomington (IN) 3.7
18. University of Arkansas (AR) 3.7
19. University of Utah 3.7
20. Arizona State University 3.6
21. Emerson College (MA) 3.6
22. George Mason University (VA) 3.6
23. Hollins College (VA) 3.6
24. Sarah Lawrence College (NY) 3.6
25. Syracuse University (NY) 3.6</p>

8

<p>Wow. Thank you to everyone! </p>

<p>russiasaurus- Thanks so much for that list. I am actually thinking about looking at Sarah Lawrence again, even though it may be a little too left for me. In the end, I'm a very tolerant person, so I probably wouldn't mind as long as I was getting an awesome opportunity to write. The UNC program sounds really interesting- I had no idea that was available. Coincidentally enough, I was actually nominated for the Breadloaf program you were talking about, but Middlebury is definitely no safety, ha. </p>

<p>unalove- I will definitely check out Clark and Bard, seeing as they both look like a good fit with even better chances of acceptance for me. According to last year's freshman stats, I don't think I'd have any trouble getting in. I saw Hampshire this summer and wasn't one hundred percent sold on the independent study program- I have been doing independent study programs at my school for two classes a year, and I really am not crazy about the system. I like a lot of teacher/student interaction (confessed verbal learner) so I don't know if that'd be good for me. And I agree with the love affair. If Bryn Mawr was a man, I'd have already married him and had like five of his babies by now.</p>

9

<p>I don't think Franklin & Marshall has been mentioned. It has quite a good English and creative writing program. There's a separate building on campus for writing, and it hosts events throughout the year. </p>

<p><a href="http://magazine.fandm.edu/summer03/su03_story1.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://magazine.fandm.edu/summer03/su03_story1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Susquehanna, Goucher, Hartwick, Wheaton, Dickinson, and Vassar are a few more possibilities. Goucher offers cross-registration with Johns Hopkins, which also has excellent writing courses.</p>

<p>Unalove's suggestion of Hollins was an excellent one, although it's not very close to NY. I have two good friends there who absolutely love it, and I must admit, they do make it sound like a pretty awesome school. It has quirky traditions like Tinker Day that might appeal to someone interested in Bryn Mawr, and the proximity of VMI means male students aren't too far away.</p>

<p>For those interested in the UNC scholarship, Davidson offers a $20,000</a> scholarship to promising writers.</p>

10

<p>I agree with Unalove's recommendation of Hollins. I just wanted to point out that it is in VA and NOT FL.</p>

11

<p>Oops. I get it confused with Rollins, which I believe is in Florida.</p>

12

<p>Perhaps you might want to look into Wheaton College in MA. It's a small liberal arts colllege but, perhaps somewhat less selective...? And, from what we've heard, English is a relatively popular major there.</p>

13

<p>Johns Hopkins has the number 2 Writing Seminars program in the country.</p>

14

<p>Johns Hopkins has one of the top 2 in the country.</p>

15

<p>Glad to see Hollins mentioned (and put into the right state).</p>

<p>I don't think Michigan would be your bag, but I'll bring it up for others interested in the topic. Michigan offers over $100,000 in creative writing prizes each year for enrolled students (the Hopwood awards). There's a whole culture around the prizes and the school is very interested in encouraging budding writers.</p>

16

<p>You may wish to look at:</p>

<p>Bennington
Carnegie Mellon
Colby
Emerson
Franklin and Marshall
Hamilton
Ithaca
Bard
Skidmore
Sarah Lawrence
Brandeis
Union
Oberlin
Kenyon
Middlebury
Johns Hopkins
Susquehanna
University of Rochester
Muhlenberg</p>

17

<p>Heythere, You've had plenty of good suggestions. I would particulary encourage you to consider Skidmore and Hamilton.</p>

<p>I would also suggest you take a look at Williams. They don't have a creative writing degree per se but they have a very strong English department with several well known authors/poets on their faculty (Andrea Barrett, Jim Shepard, Karen Shepard). They are very supportive of creativity, in the arts in general and specifically in writing. </p>

<p>The reason I think Williams may appeal to you is that it is non-urban, middle of road politically and offers *wonderful *music performance opportunities even for non-majors. Double majors are common. Not sure if it matters, but like Bryn Mawr, Williams has a great art history department.</p>

<p>It's definitely another reach, but I believe your scores, your writing and the French horn would make you a person of interest.</p>

18

<p>oh wait. Creative writing? then i dunno. St John's probably isnt good for that (if someone other than the OP is reading this, forget it. I sent them a PM)</p>

19

<p>Mills College in Oakland, CA. All girls school as well.</p>

20

<p>I don't think Smith is much more liberal than Bryn Mawr. IMHO, if you want to bear Bryn Mawr's children, you should at least want to go steady with Smith. They have a great deal in common.</p>