View the Fall 2022 course guide here.
The Rutgers-Camden MFA comprises 39 total credits, or 13 courses:
Five creative writing workshops* (15 credits)
Our workshops are small, personal, and productive. In keeping with our multi-genre approach, at least two workshops will be in your genre of concentration (fiction, poetry, or nonfiction), and at least one will be in different genre.
Three literature classes (9 credits)
Our world-class scholarly faculty is at your disposal, and we allow you to pursue your literary interests by taking classes in our graduate program in English.
Three craft classes* (9 credits)
Craft classes are literature classes taught from the writer’s perspective. In these classes, we examine the techniques published writers use to create their successful works. Offerings change regularly and have included:
- Writing the Child
- Translation
- The Long Poem
- Worldwide Weird: Global Fantasy and Surrealism
- Intensive study in Point of View
Thesis Independent Study (3 credits)
The thesis independent study is a semester-long course that allows you to work one-on-one with the professor of your choice to prepare your final project for graduation and publication.
One elective (3 credits)
Interested in botany? Want to write about a physicist or a history professor? Take a linguistics class, a foreign language, a criminal justice class or a class in the fine arts. We encourage you to branch out, try a new subject – and thus enhance the world you write about. The possibilities are endless.
Transferring credits
You may transfer up to twelve graduate-level credits toward your MFA at Rutgers-Camden.
*Students who came into the program in 2013 or prior have the option of completing the degree with the old distribution requirements (6 writing workshops and 2 craft classes) OR with the new distribution requirements (5 writing workshops and 3 craft classes). It is entirely up to each student; we will honor either distribution chosen.
For a current schedule of classes, please email mfa@camden.rutgers.edu or visit https://www.acs.rutgers.edu/soc
For graduation information, such as deadlines, requirements, guidelines, and forms, please visit the graduate school website at: https://graduateschool.camden.rutgers.edu/graduation/