400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-2332
mfa@pmc.edu

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program at Pine Manor College  requires four semesters of intensive work via mail or email and five, 10-day residencies when students are physically on the college campus. The program requires 60 credits—including work done during the residency and the remaining semester—for completion.

As an undergraduate institution ranked number one from 2004-2007 for diversity, Pine Manor College continually seeks opportunities to present excellent role models in leadership and social responsibility for its students and works to build connections with its surrounding community. The Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing of Pine Manor provides students the opportunity to engage with the outside community through internships, and features a diverse faculty and student body, reflecting the College’s overall mission.

In collaboration with a faculty mentor, students of Pine Manor’s MFA Program will design their areas of study in one of the following genres: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or writing for children & young adults.
“The residency exceeded my expectations, to say the least,” said Maryann Jacob Macias of New York City (pictured), who is studying writing for children & young adults. “The faculty and director made themselves completely available to students in and out of the classroom.”

THE RESIDENCY

Each 10-day residency, held in July and January, begins the new semester with a demanding program of Creative Writing Workshops in which student work is discussed and evaluated. Students also attend courses in Craft, Criticism, and Theory, as well as Elective Seminars & Studies, featuring one to two-hour classes, lectures, and panel discussions, in addition to readings and one-on-one sessions with faculty mentors. Residencies provide students with an opportunity for immersion in a community of writers as they sharpen their craft and expand their visions of their art.

The summer 2008 residency will take place from July 11 through July 20.
The winter 2009 residency will take place from January 2 through January 11.

Please see our Application Guidelines for more information about deadlines.

Click here for a list of sample classes

THE SEMESTER

Between residencies, students work one-on-one on a semester-long project with a faculty mentor. During this time of independent work and study, students in their first and second semesters are required to submit five packets per semester to their faculty mentor, the focus of which has been agreed upon with the mentor in advance.

Students are expected to devote at least 25 hours per week to independent study work each semester. It should be noted that reading, as well as writing, is a vital component of the MFA Program of Pine Manor College. By the time a student graduates, he or she will have read between 50 and 80 books.

Students and faculty are required to submit thorough evaluations of the residency and the semester project. These evaluations become part of the student's permanent record and determine whether credit is granted toward the 60-credit degree.

During the third semester, students complete a 30 to 35-page critical essay. This semester-long project is designed to allow students to direct their attention to some critical aspect of the writing process or the role of literature in the world. Students may focus their major critical essays on issues of craft, various analytical approaches, critical/literary theory, or multicultural voices in literature.

Or, third-semester students may instead elect to concentrate in an applied track. Such tracks are not offered by most other low-residency programs in the Northeast. Students who undertake one of these tracks in their third [major critical essay] semester may focus on:

  • arts administration & community programming
  • pedagogy & literacy studies
  • publishing

Students who choose one of these tracks will undertake an internship as part of their research for the major critical essay. Such internships will enrich their experience, broaden their knowledge, and provide necessary research for the essay due at the end of the semester.

During the fourth, creative-thesis semester, students work closely with faculty mentors to revise work created during the MFA Program with the goal of producing a book-length manuscript of publishable quality.

The fifth and final graduating residency requires the presentation of a 50-minute lecture or course in the students’ specialized area or track, developed in her/his critical essay. In addition, students in their final residency deliver a 20-minute reading from their creative thesis before members of the MFA program and the general public, including Pine Manor College undergraduates.

A ceremony is held during this fifth residency for graduating students. Graduating students are only required to attend the residency for a modest fee, and do not continue for another semester.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

In order to graduate, students must have received a passing grade for 60 credits of course work and must have attended five, 10-day residencies. In addition to receiving passing grades for all course work, students must complete a creative thesis (a novel, or book-length collection of poems, short stories, or creative nonfiction) that is approved by a faculty mentor, give a reading from their creative thesis during their final residency, and teach one lecture at the final residency.


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