The MFA Experience

Our two-week residencies bring students together from around the world to develop their craft, share their work, experience different cultures, landscapes, and languages, and above all, to grow as writers.

This isn’t just a degree; our experience is also about travel, adventure, and connecting cultures. It is invigorating to leave behind the daily routines of home and open yourself to new experiences and sensations that feed your creative soul.

During the residencies, we meet weekday mornings for the cross-genre craft and locale seminars. Most weekday afternoons are dedicated to workshops and tutorials with faculty-mentors. The student-to-faculty ratio is low, and our faculty members give a lot of time and attention to help students reach their goals and complete their work.

Afternoon and weekend excursions ignite our imaginations as we explore museums and historical sites, attend plays and musical events, and enjoy the local cuisine, among many other adventures. Each residency location has something to offer students outside of the program, whether connecting with family heritage in Dublin, swimming in the Mediterranean, or taking part in the café culture in Vienna.

Students participate in open-mic readings, thesis readings, and craft presentations that allow them to showcase finished work and works-in-progress.

During the residency, students form strong bonds as they become part of a diverse cohort of other writers. To help keep these bonds strong, we hold reunions on the Cedar Crest campus and at the annual AWP conference. Additionally, we host monthly webinars with invited speakers and faculty on craft and professionalization.

The MFA immerses student-writers in new locations while providing the structure needed to produce a body of work by the end of the degree. The connections made during the MFA are ones that fuel good writing. We hope you join our community.