Doctor of Philosophy in English - Creative Writing

A 90-credit hour degree, the doctoral program in creative writing allows students to hone their writing of poetry, fiction, and playwriting.

Students coming to this degree are granted up to 30 hours credit from their master's program, and are then required to take ENGL 6150: Literary Criticism, a forms course in their genre, one class in their major area (i.e., contemporary poetry, fiction, or playwriting), and at least 12 credit hours of workshop in their genre. Having fulfilled these requirements, students take an additional 9 elective credits, six hours of teaching pedagogy, and round out their doctoral experience with reading and dissertation hours. The program is designed with significant flexibility to meet the student's educational aims.

Doctoral students from our program have gone on to tenure-track jobs at a variety of institutions, including Kansas State University, California State University, San Bernardino, West Chester University, The University of Southern Mississippi, Kendall College, Pennsylvania State University, Altoona, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Pacific Lutheran University, and Truman State University.

As an applicant to the doctoral degree program, you must have an M.A. in English, an M.A. in English with an emphasis in teaching, or an M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a minimum GPA of 3.0. In rare instances, you may be admitted directly from the B.A. to the Ph.D. level, if you also have a great deal of professional or academic experience. If you have a master’s degree in an area other than English, English education or creative writing, you may have to take extra coursework in order to make up deficiencies.

Minimum English proficiency test scores:

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): 80 iBT

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic: 6.5

Pearson Test of English, Academic Module (PTE): 54

Michigan English Test (MET): 57

Application deadlines:

For Fall semester: January 10.