English and Comparative Literature
MFA - Creative Writing
Requirements for Admission to Classified Standing
In addition to meeting minimum requirements for admission to the Graduate Division outlined in this catalog, an applicant must have:
A minimum of 24 semester hours of acceptable undergraduate course work in the major beyond freshman composition;
A 3.0 grade point average in major courses;
Approval by the departmental MFA in Creative Writing Committee;
For an international student, TOEFL score of 610 or higher.
Requirements for Admission to Conditionally Classified Standing
Students who do not qualify for classified standing but who meet university requirements for graduate admission and whose past performance gives promise of satisfactory completion of requirements for admission to classified graduate standing may, with the approval of the departmental MFA in Creative Writing Committee, be admitted as conditionally classified in the MFA program.
Requirements for Admission to Candidacy for the MFA in English
Admission to candidacy for the Master of Fine Arts degree in English requires favorable action by the departmental MFA in Creative Writing Committee. Applicants will observe the stipulations relative to such items as transfer credit, time limit, completion of the core requirement, and scholarship stated in this catalog.
All candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, are required to:
- Complete an approved 48-unit program with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. At least 36 of these units must be graduate-level (i.e. 200-numbered) courses. Any upper division courses to be applied to the MFA must be approved in advance by the Creative Writing Director.
- Demonstrate competency in the theory and practice of literary production and scholarship by passing ENGL 201C.
- Demonstrate reading proficiency in a second language by passing a language examination. (This requirement is waived for students whose first language is not English or who have, within five years of achieving candidacy, earned a grade of "B" or better in the fourth semester of an acceptable foreign language course).
- Write a substantial work, with critical introduction, in one of the four program emphases: Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, or Script Writing.
- Pass the MFA Comprehensive Examination.
|Graduate Competency in Writing||0|
|At SJSU, students must pass the graduate competency in writing requirement. For information on the Competency in Writing Requirement, please see http://info.sjsu.edu/gcw.html.|
|Requirements of the Major||48|
|ENGL 201C. Materials and Methods of Literary Production||3|
|Complete eighteen units (12 units in Primary Genre and 6 units in Secondary Genre) from:|
|ENGL 240. Poetry Writing Workshop||3|
|ENGL 241. Fiction Writing Workshop||3|
|ENGL 242. Nonfiction Writing Workshop||3|
|TA 275. Graduate Scriptwriting Seminar||3|
|All courses repeatable for up to 12 total units of credit|
|Complete five courses from:|
|ENGL 139. Visiting Authors||3|
|ENGL 202. Poetic Craft and Theory||3|
|ENGL 203. Narrative Craft and Theory||3|
|ENGL 204. Seminar in Modern Approaches to Literature||3|
|ENGL 208. Seminar in Comparative Literature||3|
|ENGL 211. Seminar in Twentieth Century Poetry||3|
|ENGL 215. Seminar in Myth and Symbolism||3|
|ENGL 216. Seminar in Medieval English Literature||3|
|ENGL 224. Studies in English Early Modern Literature||3|
|ENGL 225. Seminar in Shakespeare||3|
|ENGL 228. Seminar in Genre Studies||3|
|ENGL 230. Seminar in Eighteenth Century British Literature||3|
|ENGL 232. Seminar in Romanticism||3|
|ENGL 233. Seminar in the Victorian Period||3|
|ENGL 253. Seminar in Period Studies of American Literature||3|
|ENGL 254. Seminar in Genre Studies of American Literature||3|
|ENGL 255. Seminar in Thematic Studies of American Literature||3|
|ENGL 256. Seminar in Twentieth Century British Literature||3|
|ENGL 292. Beowulf||3|
|ENGL 298. Special Study||1-4|
|Complete six units from:|
|ENGL 133. Reed Magazine||3|
|ENGL 257. Seminar in the History of Rhetoric||3|
|ENGL 259. Seminar in Composition Studies||3|
|ENGL 298. Special Study||1-4|
|Creative Project in candidate's emphasis area|
|ENGL 299. Master's Thesis or Project||1-6|