<p>This is one of the areas where a university has some advantages.
At D2s university, this Spring semester there are 14 sections offered of 200-level Creative Writing. She reports that the creative writing courses she took there were better than the ones she took at her prior LAC (not Oberlin, but considers this dept a stength there).</p>
<p>One can get shut out in a university too, but with more sections offered, and courses offered more frequently, you are likely to have more shots at taking a particular course that you are interested in.</p>