Thanks, I hadn’t seen that OpEd. It’s worth noting that creative nonfiction writing is a much smaller subset of the broader English major. The author, who is obviously passionate about this particular genre, seems to be conflating the loss of this one position to the loss of the department. I would, too, if that was my intended area of specialization and I wanted to effect change. I suspect this is more about lower demand for this particular genre than a more general disregard for the creative writing major. An OpEd doesn’t have to be balanced, though.
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I don’t think she was equating these two things. The headline for her op-ed might be a riff on the New Yorker article she cites at the beginning. I think she saw the elimination of this position as part of a broader chipping away of the humanities, and she sees value in this form of creative writing as part of the Middlebury legacy. She also sees all forms of creative writing as integral to the English major.
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As an English major, I can relate. I’d like to know why Middlebury had plans to cut this position in the first place. The OpEd doesn’t provide an answer, except to imply it’s because English as a major is being deprioritized as students move away from the humanities. Is demand for this particular genre decreasing? Is there a visiting professor whose contract is up and they’re having trouble finding a replacement? Or is this really just an “attack” on the creative writing program? Regardless, I’m glad this was posted. It’s useful info for potential applicants interested in CW.
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For additional perspective on potential choices, these suggestions were from an article in USA Today, “The 10 Best American Colleges for Writers”:
- Emory
- Hamilton
- JHU
- MIT
- NYU
- WUStL
- University of Iowa
- Columbia
- University of Michigan
- Colorado College
Although the list is from an older article, I’m posting it here partly to reinforce a few of your current selections.
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Here are Google’s picks for best colleges for creative writing (scouring the web). Many of the previously mentioned schools are on this list.
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Macalester in St Paul MN… and I lived 7 years in New Haven…. The location of campus reminded me of Whitney Avenue. The main road outside Macalester has the largest collection of Victorian residences in America.
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Someone recommended Williams to me; looks like a great, selective school but I’m not sold on the creative writing program. Anyone have thoughts?
I’m not sure this is a particularly deep thought, but I do not recall any people singling out Williams for being particularly strong for creative writing. But it is a great LAC overall, and as a result it is an extremely tough admit. So I do sorta wonder whether it makes much sense as an addition.
That said, I believe their only supplement is an optional academic paper, which I suspect you would have, so . . . .
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When my D23 began her college search, she was thinking of Creative Writing/English as a major. By the time her RD applications were going in, her focus had begun to shift, and now that she is on campus, I’m not sure whether she will ever take a Creative Writing class. But during the initial search, she was looking at programming/resources related to Creative Writing, so I’ve got some familiarity with those at the schools she researched. I’m not sure what the current budget is for the OP, but I wanted to mention that my D didn’t have great success with the need aware schools that are often categorized as targets/low reaches for a student like the OP with a 35 ACT and #2 rank in class (my D had similar stats, good ECs and recommendations, and good outcomes in her process overall, but she didn’t fare so well with those “target” schools). That isn’t to say they aren’t worth applying to! But I just want to be sure the OP realizes that depending on finances, they may be reachier for admissions. Specifically, my D was waitlisted at Kenyon and Denison (she did the summer writing programs offered by both schools, demonstrated lots of interest, etc.) Her older brother with lower stats/rigor and lower need (first kid in college in the family) was accepted to Denison, but their meeting of need resulted in his most expensive cost-to-attend offer of 10 schools and was above their own NPC. Waitlist at Wes as well (I believe someone else here mentioned their need-aware admissions), so I just wanted to give an example to the OP of how admissions may be impacted. Similar outcome for my D at MoHo, Skidmore, Macalester.
If Grinnell is appealing, start demonstrating a lot of interest! Do the virtual tour as well as the virtual info session, reach out to a student and ask questions (last year there was a portal for this through the admissions website), etc. They told my D that all of that matters. Do the optional essay when they release it in the portal after you apply. My D was accepted there with good aid. If Dickinson is a potential add (someone else in the thread suggested it), PM me so I can share with you some more detail about their English/Creative Writing programming - my D dug into a lot before her interview so I think I still have her notes on that. She added it as a relatively safe choice after an early round deferral from Brown, and they gave her their Presidential Scholarship (you have to submit an extra essay for that one, but I think if you interview and submit that essay, you’d be in the running for it). I think when my D added the school, it wasn’t possible to request an interview through the website anymore (late December over winter break), but she emailed her admissions rep directly to request an interview and got one.
As a safe choice, I’d also recommend looking into Beloit. See if they still offer the Creative Writing Fellows program which was something that intrigued my D when she applied last year. They kept offering additional resources to my D after her acceptance, and she felt kind of sad declining the offer eventually.
Other schools she applied to where she found Creative Writing resources of interest in her search process included Bates (but their aid was the worst for us once admissions decisions came out), Bowdoin (check out The Foundationalist there - it’s a literary journal that is co-run by Bowdoin, Iowa, and Yale students), Bryn Mawr, Smith, Vassar…
she liked Oberlin, too, but their aid wasn’t as good as the aid at Grinnell, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, and others. I’m not sure how much that’s still a factor for OP.
ETA: I saw Clark mentioned as well. My S21 applied, and we visited. There were a lot of things we liked about Clark, but for us, it was expensive - second only to Denison. So I’m not sure where it would fit on the affordability scale for the OP.
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It’s tricky to make a hard and fast rule about such things. Some need-aware colleges are need-blind as a practical matter because as the amount budgeted for FA gets boosted from one year to the next, there’s often enough money to finalize the class without revisiting any decisions based on an applicant’s need. That’s how Wesleyan University works.
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The OP asked for advice about programs which would meet their criteria and for support on their rejection from Yale. If people want to discuss who they think are good candidates for Yale, or talk about kids that they know who were accepted to “elite” colleges, they are welcome to start their own thread on th etopic.
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Agree -definitely not a hard and fast rule…I’m cautioning against thinking those schools are definitively in the “target” category. One can never be sure how all the institutional priorities for the school will factor in, yet some students think their chances are mainly dictated by their stats and by the school’s overall acceptance rate (as if schools don’t have reasons other than strength of application to decline to admit students).
I’d add to your good point that many times kids with the most significant financial need would be accepted at those need-aware schools (over kids with somewhat less financial need) because the school has set priorities in terms of where to spend their financial aid dollars to align with particular other priorities (first gen, low income, rural). So need itself does not in any way mean you can’t get in - it may actually be a positive factor in admissions for some. But it can be an admissions factor (not only an affordability factor) among many that the OP should recognize when trying to build a balanced list.
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UMichigan is a top school for creative writing for grads, I have been told. Not sure how that relates to undergrad program.
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I recommended Williams and Grinnell as two academically excellent LACs that would most likely provide need based aid similar to Yale and other deep-pocketed privates. As I said merit scholarships can be a godsend but in many cases it’s difficult to predict what will come through until it’s too late to make adjustments to your apply list.
Many schools (including Yale) situate creative writing concentrations in their English departments. To me this is a positive as English literature tends to be a well funded mainstay of a liberal arts education. Some schools hire writers as full time faculty; some rely on visiting positions or yearly residencies. Some offer the major to all students; some have secondary admissions hurdles later on.
I like Williams’ for creative writing because of its rigorous academics, notably in its English department, its high name recognition among graduate programs and its commitment to undergraduate teaching and mentoring. If you have specific questions about the program. I’d suggest you contact the college. Perhaps they could put you in touch with a current student.
There’s no question that Williams is not an admissions safety. I may be wrong, but you don’t seem to be interested in pursuing schools that are both admissions and financial safeties. Merit scholarships don’t count unless they are in hand or guaranteed based on specific criteria.
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For creative writing, Middlebury would likely be a better choice than WIlliams.
Kenyon, which the OP already has on their list is also excellent, as well.
I will again post what I think is the best list of colleges for creative writing. Most of the others suffer from the fact that they are created by people who aren’t engaged in creative writing. This list is by a literary Journal which if very familiar with the quality of the work created by the graduates and faculty of these places, and focusses on that:
PS. I’m not entirely an uninterested party. My daughter, who does engage in creative writing (but majored in neuroscience), recently graduated from Middlebury.
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While OP doesn’t want to stay in TN, the fact that Sewanee is on there (and many lists), would be a strong likely (vs. others mentioned), and now meets need - might make it a smart choice.
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I just want to second that I think lists like that curated by actual human beings working in the field are particularly valuable sources of potential leads.
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I would agree that Middlebury would be a good addition as would several other academically rigorous LACs that would be likely to come in at the same cost as Yale might have.
The problem with “best of” lists is that they don’t take the applicant’s financial needs into account.
Back in the day Bucknell was a fiction powerhouse, but you don’t hear much about it in that context these days. Philip Roth’s alma mater
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Another architectural parallel between Yale and Wesleyan are their iconic, brutalist arts buildings:
Wesleyan Center for the Arts (CFA)
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Truth be told, this is a very relevant point of connection between Wesleyan and Yale: it demonstrates how both institutions are, and have been, consistently connected to new developments in the arts, from creative writing to drama to architecture. Both the A&A building at Yale and the CFA at Wes are key parts of the university’s identities–indisbutably for the better, to my mind!
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