I’m looking to find top schools that have creative writing programs as an undergraduate.?
I’d like to stay in the top 50 schools, and I want to be able to major in creative writing, not just minor. Any suggestions?
Not sure what schools are considered "top" (because it’s not like they’re being ranked by prospective employers or anything), but it might be a good idea to go to a school that also offers a graduate degree in creative writing. Typically, those kinds of schools will have more of a network of writers, more readings, etc, and the teaching assistants will be writing students, not english students. Traditionally the University of Iowa has been viewed as the most prestigious graduate writing program, although I think they only introduced their undergrad program recently. In the case where the grad program is so large and well-entrenched, you might feel like a second-tier student as an undergrad, so keep that in mind as well. But at the very least, you’re tapping into the same resources that the grad students get, and your degree gets an added reputation just from being affiliated with a famous grad program. Not all of these schools offer undergrad programs, but it can’t hurt to attend any school that does.
You can see rankings of Masters programs in creative writing in a few places:
U.S. News and World Report’s 1998 rankings: http://www-as.phy.ohiou.edu/~rouzie/569A/compcreative/University.htm
Tom Kealey’s rankings (by the author of "The Creative Writing MFA Handbook", which are biased towards graduate programs that provide funding): http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2006/12/2006-creative-writing-mfa-rankings_31.html
A blog survey of reputation: http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2007/01/2006-creative-writing-mfa-rankings-2007.html
That said, there are probably a few prestigious schools that offer undergrad programs in creative writing but do not offer a graduate program. Princeton and Yale and both pretty prestigious places to study creative writing and neither offers a graduate degree. Not sure if Yale has a full program in it or not, but I know a lot of people who wanted to be writers aspired to go to Yale. But I know Princeton has a pretty big program, with the option of submitting a piece of creative work for the thesis. You’re getting the prestige and the resources of the school itself, and surely (if you can afford it and can get accepted) that’s just as good for your development as a writer as going to a school with a well-known Masters program.
A few other things you can do to narrow down your list to your favorite schools: Check out which faculty teach with the department and try to read some of their work. Try to find out what courses you’d be required to take or if there are any interesting options available to you. And look at some of the other features of the university: location, opportunity to study abroad, opportunity to do an interesting minor in another subject, etc. Are there opportunities to take practical courses in editing, journalism, etc? Does the school have a literary magazine (and can undergrads work on it)? Can you earn credit for doing an internship (eg, at a book publisher, magazine, newspaper, etc)? Does the school have an interesting newspaper, if you’d like to write for it over the years?
Writing is a particulary interesting subject in that the school you study at doesn’t necessarily mean a lot (it really doesn’t even mean much whether you even do a degree, unless you want to teach after you graduate, but if you have the means and the will to do a degree, it’s worth it). What’s more important is to put yourself in an atmosphere that will improve your writing – give you life experiences, allow you the free time to write (eg, not demand you spend 20+ hours a week working a part-time job), let you meet other students who stimulate your mind and encourage you to do interesting things that will inspire your writing. So… reputation is worth considering, but creative writing – probably more than any other program out there – is really more about what you do outside the classroom than what you do in it. 
Good luck with your decision and your future writing career.
Not sure what schools are considered "top" (because it’s not like they’re being ranked by prospective employers or anything), but it might be a good idea to go to a school that also offers a graduate degree in creative writing. Typically, those kinds of schools will have more of a network of writers, more readings, etc, and the teaching assistants will be writing students, not english students. Traditionally the University of Iowa has been viewed as the most prestigious graduate writing program, although I think they only introduced their undergrad program recently. In the case where the grad program is so large and well-entrenched, you might feel like a second-tier student as an undergrad, so keep that in mind as well. But at the very least, you’re tapping into the same resources that the grad students get, and your degree gets an added reputation just from being affiliated with a famous grad program. Not all of these schools offer undergrad programs, but it can’t hurt to attend any school that does.
You can see rankings of Masters programs in creative writing in a few places:
U.S. News and World Report’s 1998 rankings: http://www-as.phy.ohiou.edu/~rouzie/569A/compcreative/University.htm
Tom Kealey’s rankings (by the author of "The Creative Writing MFA Handbook", which are biased towards graduate programs that provide funding): http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2006/12/2006-creative-writing-mfa-rankings_31.html
A blog survey of reputation: http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2007/01/2006-creative-writing-mfa-rankings-2007.html
That said, there are probably a few prestigious schools that offer undergrad programs in creative writing but do not offer a graduate program. Princeton and Yale and both pretty prestigious places to study creative writing and neither offers a graduate degree. Not sure if Yale has a full program in it or not, but I know a lot of people who wanted to be writers aspired to go to Yale. But I know Princeton has a pretty big program, with the option of submitting a piece of creative work for the thesis. You’re getting the prestige and the resources of the school itself, and surely (if you can afford it and can get accepted) that’s just as good for your development as a writer as going to a school with a well-known Masters program.
A few other things you can do to narrow down your list to your favorite schools: Check out which faculty teach with the department and try to read some of their work. Try to find out what courses you’d be required to take or if there are any interesting options available to you. And look at some of the other features of the university: location, opportunity to study abroad, opportunity to do an interesting minor in another subject, etc. Are there opportunities to take practical courses in editing, journalism, etc? Does the school have a literary magazine (and can undergrads work on it)? Can you earn credit for doing an internship (eg, at a book publisher, magazine, newspaper, etc)? Does the school have an interesting newspaper, if you’d like to write for it over the years?
Writing is a particulary interesting subject in that the school you study at doesn’t necessarily mean a lot (it really doesn’t even mean much whether you even do a degree, unless you want to teach after you graduate, but if you have the means and the will to do a degree, it’s worth it). What’s more important is to put yourself in an atmosphere that will improve your writing – give you life experiences, allow you the free time to write (eg, not demand you spend 20+ hours a week working a part-time job), let you meet other students who stimulate your mind and encourage you to do interesting things that will inspire your writing. So… reputation is worth considering, but creative writing – probably more than any other program out there – is really more about what you do outside the classroom than what you do in it.
Good luck with your decision and your future writing career.
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