School for a writer...

<p>Hey, was just wondering if anyone knew of any highly selective/top tier school with an amazing English program.</p>

<p>Stanford, haven't you seen Orange County, j/k.</p>

<p>BUMP</p>

<p>I would like to know of schools with a good creative writing program.</p>

<p>This is in the wrong thread by the way.</p>

<p>Williams, Denison, Vassar, Barnard, Bard, Skidmore, Smith, Davidson, Kenyon, Carleton, Scripps, Pomona, UW Madison, Oberlin, Middlebury, Knox, U Chicago, Iowa, Johns Hopkins, UVa, and Yale</p>

<p>Sarah Lawrence comes to mind immediately. They're more than a little impressive in this field :D</p>

<p>^^^^
I can't believe I forgot SL. Add William & Mary and Berkeley to my list.</p>

<p>THanks everyone for the input.. looking more into small liberal arts schools rather than bigger schools like NYU (costs too much i think for what they offer in writing). Still have fingers crossed for Columbia but highly doubt it. WHat do you guys think about Reed and other schools like it/does it match up to schools like WIlliams??</p>

<p>Yes. Reed's English program is very good, and Reed has one of the highest production rates of students who earn English PhD's. </p>

<p>Generally, many LACs will have strong English and writing programs, and even other disciplines will emphasize writing.</p>

<p>I guess my next question would be how hard is it to get into LACs like Williams, Reed, Ponoma, Middlebury, etc. </p>

<p>I have a 3.93 UW, will have taken 9 AP's by graduation
2100 SAT
Aspiring writer, novel might be published in time for graduation
EC's like Ass ED-in-Chief of literary Mag, president of 3 clubs, V soccer, guitar
and other stuff i guess (pretty condensed). Do my marks need to go up or down - i am a junior that needs to get out of the midwest fast...</p>

<p>I don't think you'll find a better writing program than that at Bard (Achebe, Ashberry, and a host of others). To give you an idea of the difference, Reed has exactly one faculty member and a visitor in creative writing; Bard has 9 (more than any of the Ivies, way more than AWS or the Claremont schools).</p>

<p>wow didnt know that, thanks alot for the reply. but is Bard as prestigious?</p>

<p>how are the writing programs at emory, miami, and santa clara?</p>

<p>"wow didnt know that, thanks alot for the reply. but is Bard as prestigious?"</p>

<p>Prestigious for what? For writers? Since most of the "prestige" schools have programs that are a bare shadow of theirs, it is hard to know what you would be measuring.</p>

<p>It's not an LAC, but you might consider UC Irvine - it has some wonderful profs, and it's graduate writing program is extremely competitive and one of the best in the country. At Irvine, all students have access to the profs, and they teach some undergrad courses.
If your a CA resident, it might be a good safety.</p>

<p>The differences among the LACs (Bard or Kenyon vs. AWS and Pomona) are quite striking. All the schools will have visiting writers, of course. Williams has one creative writing prof, a full-time lecture, and one part-time one. Amherst (which has a famous writing history) has two faculty, a writer-in-residence, and borrows faculty from Smith (which has more.) Pomona has two creative writing profs. Swarthmore (which also has a distinguished history) has two profs. and two lecturers. In contrast, Kenyon (like Bard) has nine faculty. </p>

<p>If you think this doesn't make a difference, take a look at the course offerings of each. I think it is great that all of these colleges have faculty available for dilletantes (having been one myself). But if writing is really your thing, you owe it to yourself to seriously kick the tires and see what's under the hood.</p>

<p>Mini, according to Kenyon's website, most of those people you're counting at Kenyon teach one creative writing course a year (most of their teaching load is in literature courses). It's very misleading to say that they have nine creative writing faculty members. In my view, Kenyon's reputation in creative writing is grossly overrated.</p>

<p>"Mini, according to Kenyon's website, most of those people you're counting at Kenyon teach one creative writing course a year (most of their teaching load is in literature courses). It's very misleading to say that they have nine creative writing faculty members. In my view, Kenyon's reputation in creative writing is grossly overrated."</p>

<p>I don't know Kenyon very well, but I think you miss the point. All nine of them are well-published writers, which is unheard of at AWS or Pomona. What this means is that active creative writers are bringing their special brand of expertise into the traditional academic setting, as well as teaching creative writing. From that point of view, it is likely that Kenyon (and Bard, though there the number of writing classes is larger) is underrated, rather than overrated, relative to other LACs.</p>

<p>Kenyon has few creative writing faculty because the program is small and difficult to get into. Each semester you must submit a sample of your writing in order to be elgible for the courses, and many people don't make the cut. Having many faculty would be excessive and not appropriate at a small, competitive school like Kenyon.</p>