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Degree Requirements for
the M.F.A. Program
 

Course Work Requirements
The M.F.A. calls for graduate study in the following categories:

  • 6 Workshops
• 4 Seminars
• 3 Writing & Conferences
• 3 Terms of Thesis

This distribution necessitates that 75% of a student's enrollment be in Creative Writing courses and 25% in literature--a standard ratio for the studio credential signified by the M.F.A. degree. Additional hours in disciplines other than literature and Creative Writing will normally not apply toward the degree.

Thesis Requirements
All M.F.A. candidates are required to complete a thesis, which is to be "a sustained piece of imaginative writing of high literary merit." The thesis is in fiction or poetry.

An M.F.A. degree from UO implies that the work for that degree has taken place during the candidate's graduate enrollment and under the supervision of the faculty in the Creative Writing Program. Revision of earlier work is discouraged though it can be acceptable if there is strong evidence of enlargement, revision, and improvement of literary quality. That all or parts of a thesis have been published or accepted for publication by a journal or anthology is laudable but an entirely separate matter from faculty evaluation. Publication can have nothing to do with an evaluation by the Creative Writing faculty.

M.F.A. Examination
A formal examination is also required for the M.F.A. Though schedules vary according to one's primary advisor, the exam is given in the second year. It can be designed for each candidate separately and normally measures a writer's growth and tests ingenuity and academic knowledge. It can involve--but is not limited to--questions on theory and technique, on the history of the genre, and on the writer's grasp of the contemporary situation.

  
   
 
 
   


Creative Writing Program
5243 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-5243
Phone: (541) 346-3944
Fax: (541) 346-0537
crwrweb@uoregon.edu