George Mason University

 

Each year, more than 300 applicants will seek the 40 positions in our MFA Creative Writing program (15 each in fiction and poetry, up to 10 in nonfiction). The most important factor in gaining admittance is the portfolio of original writing. Sometimes work of significant merit will not gain an admission because the writing simply does not fit with the kind of work our faculty members are doing themselves and, therefore, are best prepared to teach. With this in mind, here are the basic steps for applying to the program.

Some Suggestions as you prepare to apply:

Plan ahead. It takes time to collect the supporting documents necessary to apply.

Read some faculty work before you apply. You can find biographies and faculty reading samples on our faculty bios page. Compare our faculty to those at other programs and ask yourself which writers you would most like to have help you develop your craft.

Read the blogs and contact our department with your questions (writing@gmu.edu).

Visit Mason and attend an open house event in November. If you can't make one of the November events, our department opens its doors again in March. Open houses are a great chance to meet the director, talk to current students, sit in on an MFA class, and attend a reading. All open house events are RSVP only so please check out the open house schedule and RSVP.

Ready to Apply? Follow this checklist to get through the application process.

Application (online only)

• Go to admissions.gmu.edu

Transcripts

• Official transcripts are required from any degree granting institution that you have attended.

Two Letters of Recommendation

• Academic Recommendations are preferred

One 1000-word Writing Sample*

• This should be an analytical writing sample, such as a literary analysis, not a creative piece.
• *This requirement is under reconsideration and applicants need not supply a writing sample. Those applicants also interested in a TAship may be asked to supply a writing sample if called for an assistantship interview so these applicants may choose to go ahead and supply a sample or wait to see if they are asked for a sample.

One 750-word goals statement (online)

• Your goals statement (approximately 750 words) should include an introduction of yourself as well as an insightful explanation of why you want to study the writing of poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. This is a critical portion of your application package, and one of our main sources of information about you.

Portfolio

• Your portfolio should consist of at least two complete short stories if you are a fiction applicant, or, if you are applying in nonfiction, at least two complete essays or the equivalent (up to 50 pages), and if you are applying in poetry, up to 10 pages of poems.
• Applicants in poetry are welcome to submit long poems or shorter poems up to the requested 10 pages. Put no more than one poem on a page, with adequate margins and a readable font. Be sure your name is on every page and that pages are numbered and stapled together. Provide a table of contents that includes page numbers. You want to make it easy for us to find a poem quickly during discussion of your work. Applicant portfolios in fiction may contain novels or novellas as well as the two short stories. The reason for requesting stories is to ensure a fair consideration and because most workshops are based on stories. A fiction applicant's portfolio should include more than one work in order to represent the breadth of his or her abilities. Similarly, a nonfiction portfolio may contain longer essays, biographies or autobiographies, but applicants should submit more than one work.
• Portfolios should be single-sided, and fiction and nonfiction portfolios should be double-spaced.

Graduate Teaching Assistantship Application (optional)

• Each year we have four or five graduate teaching assistantships open in fiction and poetry, and one or two in nonfiction. First-year TAs earn stipends ranging from $10,000 to $13,500 and tuition waiver to cover 48 credit hours of graduate coursework. TAs take pedagogical courses to prepare them to teach composition and literature, and once they have taught in both those fields, they are eligible to teach our introductory and intermediate undergraduate creative writing courses. First-year TAs work 15 hours each week in the university writing center. Second- and third-year TAs teach their own sections of composition or literature, writing their own syllabuses, choosing their own texts, etc. Individuals who do not receive a TA in the first year of their studies may apply in subsequent years. Persons who receive a TA appointment in their first year are assumed to have it through the full three years required to complete the program.
• Graduate Teaching Assistantship Application.
  
  

Please note: GRE/standardized-test scores are not required for admission to the graduate creative writing program.

International students, please note: TOEFL scores are required for admission to the graduate creative writing program.

• International Student FAQs
  
  
  

Checklist complete? You should send all application materials—application (online), transcripts, letters of recommendation, writing sample, and goal statement (online) —directly to the Graduate Admissions Office.

• MSN 2D2, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030
• You can send everything seperately or gather supporting documents and send them all at once. The choice is yours. Simply make sure that everything gets to the graduate admissions office for review and you are set.
• Recommenders may also choose to send letters directly to graduate admissions or send them to you to be forwarded to graduate admissions but letters should remain sealed until they reach graduate admissions.

• If you have questions about the application and supporting documents prior to the completion of you application please contact the graduate admissions office at chssgrad@gmu.edu. Your application does not come to the department for review until it is complete meaning that the application and all supporting documents have been received and reviewed by the graduate admissions office.