Creative writing

Applicants for the MFA in creative writing must meet the following degree-specific admission requirements:

• Education level: Bachelor's
• GPA: 3.0
• GRE: No
• TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo: 79/6.5/115 (for applicants whose education was completed in countries where English is not an official language)
• Number of references: Three
• Creative writing sample
  • Options:
    • Prose: 20 pages max
    • Poetry: 5-10 poems, 10 pages max
• Analytical writing sample: 8-20 pages

Program availability

• Concentration: Thesis
• Semester intake: Fall
  • Eligible for international applicants
• Deadlines: General application deadlines

Visit Graduate Admissions to learn more and start your application.

English department contact: Michael McGriff; director of creative writing creativewriting@uidaho.edu

Graduate Admissions contact: graduateadmissions@uidaho.edu, 208-885-4001

All students admitted to the MFA program are fully funded through teaching assistantships. All assistantships come with a full tuition waiver and a stipend. Students are also eligible for departmental scholarships, including the Grace Nixon and Earl and Ada David scholarships.  

Over the course of three years, MFA students teach a mix of composition courses, sections of Introduction to Creative Writing (ENGL 2900), and additional writing courses, as departmental needs arise. MFA students also have the opportunity to study Writing Center pedagogy and tutor at the U of I Writing Center.

Graduate teaching assistantships

As a graduate teaching assistant you will typically teach small introductory writing courses (2-2 load) and receive extensive instructional support from the director of first-year writing. In your third year as an MFA candidate, you may also teach undergraduate creative writing. All TAs participate in a one-week pre-semester workshop and enroll in ENGL 5230 Composition Pedagogy: Theory and Practice.

• In-state and out-of-state tuition waivers
• Spring and fall semester stipend
• College-level teaching experience
• Faculty mentorship

MFA Creative Writing Fellowships

MFA candidates in creative writing may be selected for one of our fellowships:

Centrum Fellowship
Attend the renowned Port Townsend Writers’ Conference tuition-free, including lodging and meals. Writers participate in workshops with acclaimed faculty and engage with a national literary community. Open to all MFA program candidates.

Port Townsend Writers’ Conference

Writing in the Wild Fellowship
Spend a week writing in Idaho’s wilderness at either the McCall Outdoor Science School or the Taylor Wilderness Research Station. These immersive retreats offer space for creativity and cross-disciplinary collaboration with scientists and researchers.

Hemingway Fellowship
Awarded to an outstanding third-year fiction writer, this fellowship provides time, space and resources to support the development of a book-length work. Benefits include:

• A year off of teaching duties
• A private office

This program will be a good fit if you want to:

• Join a community of committed artists
• Study with student-centered professors
• Have time to write
• Study across literary genres
• Work with field-leading scholars

• Increase your pedagogical knowledge and

  training

• Gain hands-on experience teaching at an R1 flagship university

Hands-on learning

• Attend readings and workshops with visiting writers
• Intern with Fugue, the Department of English’s nationally recognized literary journal
• Work at the U of I Writing Center
• Intern with the Confluence Lab
• Participate in the Centrum or Hemingway Fellowships
• Attend a writing retreat at the McCall Outdoor Science School or Taylor Wilderness Research Station