Which Boarding Schools have good creative writing programs? One of my focal points in choosing boarding schools to apply to is having a strong writing program where I can improve my prose and storytelling skills.
Highly qualified English teachers with small classes make most of boarding schools great at teaching writing. My daughter at Grier thinks her writing skill got hugely improved.
However, when we researched and visited boarding schools for her, Milton Academy’s writing department seemed standing out. When we visited Milton, various (creative) writing programs were clearly visible in many places. I think I saw many postings on walls in buildings about some CW clubs, classes, competitions, although my memory is hazy. Also I read some reviews of the school focusing on its great CW program. It’s curriculum seems is full of CW electives.
P.S. Milton gave us the worst rejection, which was no rejection notification at all. We just had to guess that she didn’t get in after waiting for many days…
Loomis Chaffee! My dd is a senior (and a passionate writer). Amazing opportunities in and outside of class. Sophomore Writing seminar is required for all students, you can take AP English in 11th grade (called SEM - you have to test into it), there are multiple writing electives offered for Juniors and Seniors (Creative Writing, Shakespeare), all faculty in the English department are EXCEPTIONAL! The LOG is a renown student paper, the LOOM for literary writing. You can apply to be a peer writer/editor for the Writing Center. The Writing Center has started a mentorship program for local 5-8th graders to teach them creative writing with LC students as volunteers…
They all do pretty much. Any good boarding school’s stock and trade is great writing instruction, including creative writing.
I am with @ThacherParent on this. You will write and write and write some more at BS. Some will be essays, some poetry, some research papers, some short stories. Maybe an act of a play. And in some electives, perhaps a novel.
I would strongly recommend looking at the course catalog for English at the schools that have caught your eye and look at the courses offered. You will almost certainly spot several that interest you. I would also take a look at the literary magazines at each school. While they tend to focus on shorter works, you may get a sense of what other students at the school are up to.
I just finished a writing Faculty-Sponsored Activity this fall at Groton. Upperclassmen can apply for FSAs to pursue an interest instead of an afternoon activity (sport, dance, theater). I met with an English teacher weekly and put together a portfolio of short stories and memoirs.
Seniors take exposition in the fall, a class in personal essay writing. Creative writing isn’t huge here, but there are ways to pursue it.
Are there any schools with more specialized creative writing electives?
@CottenCandyTrill I took a short fiction elective last year, and there’s also a poetry class. Be warned that when it comes to electives, you’ll probably only be able to take a handful once you fulfill all the requirements.
Many of them do. But as @stargirl3 said, most of the are senior electives. You’ll have to get through the 9th-11th grade classes first (which all will entail a lot of writing). At some schools, it may be possible to double up in junior year and take an elective in addition to the required English course.
Many schools have their catalogs on-line - they are the best place to start.
BTW, once you get there, because there will be so much more writing requirement than you have experienced before, you may end up not wanting to choose additional writing electives.
Walnut Hill School for the Arts, for Writing, Film, and Media Arts majors, offers the following courses: screenplay studio, playwriting studio, fiction studio, poetry studio, the song lyric, writing and publishing practicum, expeditions in writing and film, and a senior studio, as well as four film courses. Students take 3-4 arts classes a semester, so they take these courses more than once.
If you’re willing to go off the beaten path, check out Idyllwild Arts in California.
Interlochen, Walnut Hill and Idyllwild are Art boarding schools and CW is considered as an art major by each of them. They have somewhat condensed common academics and less of everything else but art, which I think is the only way to truly heavily support art focus since there are only 24 hours in a day…
My daughter went to a summer camp at Interlochen before applying boarding schools. While she liked it, afterward she figured out that she did not want that much focus on art and didn’t apply to any of the three. But if CW is your main focus and more than a hobby/extracurricular, you can look into those art schools.
Others to check out might be Cambridge School of Weston, Putney and Vermont Academy. All are “artsy” and very flexible in allowing for independent study.