<p>What are some colleges and universities that have a strong emphasis on writing thats evident in the curriculum or academic philosophy? i.e. Sarah Lawrence or Kenyon. What are some colleges with strong creative writing programs/offers creative writing as major?</p>
<p>When I was applying to Hamilton College, they really emphasized their attention to writing. Their curriculum seemed very writing-intensive. I would highly recommend them.</p>
<p>e.g.</p>
<p>@wasatchwriter Thanks for that, I’ve gone and looked it up. Now I know the difference.</p>
<p>Knox College is worth looking into. University of Iowa, long known for its masters writing program, now has more offerings for undergrads as well.</p>
<p>Many univs now require Writing Intensive courses for upper division students in any major.</p>
<p>However, sounds like you would like LACs or maybe Jesuits…</p>
<p>@ccvb1013
Lawrence in Wi has courses on its timetables marked writing intensive and speaking intensive. All freshman are required to take 2 terms of freshman studies. The classes of 10-12 students take on 5 “great literary works” each term. There is a guest lecturer that comes in for each work, and at the end of each work a paper is due.</p>
<p>most schools use the acronym WAC to assure parents that their students are Writing Across the Curriculum. This seldom means anything more than that one of the students’ writing course(s) can be taken in a writing intensive major course so that they get credit both for a writing requirement and a major course.</p>
<p>This is not anyone’s idea of a writing-intensive curriculum. Keep your eyes on the LACs like Hamilton. Ideally, most of your courses would require essay writing, but this requires faculty who are capable of grading writing–a very expensive prospect for a college.</p>
<p>As jkeil911 brings up, many LACs and universities require that their students fulfill a certain no. of credits in writing requirements for graduation (I know Emory does.) I’ve heard good things about Hamilton, U. Iowa, Kenyon, J. Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, Davidson, Emory, Sewanee and UVA for writing; Middlebury supports the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference. Someone mentioned Lawrence University, which Harvard faculty took a serious look at when re-vamping their undergrad program since Lawrence’s program was so successful.</p>
<p>This article mentions some colleges to consider:
<a href=“http://college.usatoday.com/the-10-best-american-colleges-for-writers/”>http://college.usatoday.com/the-10-best-american-colleges-for-writers/</a></p>
<p>According to US News,
Here’s the list, separated into LACs, private universities, and public universities.</p>
<p>Carleton
Hamilton
Kenyon
Middlebury</p>
<p>Brown
Cornell
Duke
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
Yale</p>
<p>Clemson
Colorado State
George Mason
NC State
Purdue
UC Davis
U Missouri
Washington State</p>
<p>Of course, how much you want to trust this is up to you. ;)</p>
<p>Reed, St Johns</p>
<p>If you want to do a lot of writing, choose your major from among the Humanities and Social Sciences.</p>
<p>Bard College</p>
<p>Sewanee: The University of the South is very writing intensive. It’s also home to the Sewanee Review, a well known literary journal, as well as the Sewanee Summer Writing Conference. </p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses. I will have a look at these colleges. </p>
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<p>Students in other majors will be doing writing about their major subject. E.g. math majors will write mathematical proofs.</p>
<p>
Anecdotal evidence, but I’ve noticed significantly better writing skills among my humanities and social science majors (especially the former). Science majors, who make up the bulk of my students, actually seem to have their writing skills atrophy over time, as the freshman science majors are noticeably better at writing than the seniors.</p>
<p>You don’t need to major in those areas to strengthen writing skills, though. A major in something like biology is just as good if balanced out with electives in other areas, especially if they’re upper-level seminars with large writing components. In fact, I’d say there’s a growing need for talented writers with a firm grasp of science. </p>
<p>I think it would be a useful exercise for @ccvb1013 to consider what (s)he would like to study in addition to - or complementary to - writing. The best writers and journalists are those who actually know something about what they’re writing about. As a history buff, nothing makes me cringe more than a poorly researched historical novel, no matter how eloquently written! Creative writing classes can only take one so far.</p>
<p>On a different note – It can be very tough to get into writing classes. Some colleges have an application process for writing classes and require a writing sample (e.g. Kenyon). Others have a lottery system due to the immense popularity of writing classes (e.g. Stanford). A good writing program hardly does you any good if you can’t get into the classes…so be sure to check the process for enrolling in creative writing classes.</p>
<p>Writing intensive and creative writing are two different things. Most academically rigorous colleges emphasize expository writing in all classes that use verbal communication (as opposed to math or computer science, for example). Aside from oral classroom participation your principal means of demonstrating your mastery of the material will be in writing – papers, exams etc – and excellence is encouraged. </p>
<p>Creative writing – fiction, poetry, drama – is a different discipline. Some colleges have separate creative writing majors or concentrations; some just offer classes in creative writing. </p>
<p>If you do a search you’ll find quite a few colleges that offer the major (often as a subset of the English department. Among LACs: Bard, Pitzer, Oberlin, Hamilton,Colorado College, Colby, Reed. (Interestingly Kenyon doesn’t offer a major in creative writing, yet, they, like some other LACs with strong English departments, generate a fair number of writers.)</p>
<p>Most liberal arts colleges and universities have accomplished fiction writers and/or poets on their faculty, either permanent or visiting. You might look at who is currently teaching creative writing to see how you align with that author’s style. You might also check the course catalog to see how many creative writing courses are taught each term.</p>
<p>New College of Florida requires a thesis from every student for graduation. It also has an annual Writer-in-Residence program,which allows select students to study directly with an accomplished, published author. </p>
<p>I agree with whomever suggested Knox - amazing creative writing program, top in its field with special offerings and workshops.</p>