How to Apply for the MFA
- Application Form Instructions. Please use SUNY Stony Brook Graduate School’s online application. Create an account to begin a new application.
- In the program drop-down menu, please choose Creative Writing and Literature--MFA.
- Only admissions to fall semester will be considered for funding.
- Indicate whether you are applying as a part-time or full-time student. Only full-time applications received by January 15 will be considered for funding.
- Please indicate the location (Southampton, Manhattan, both locations) where you are interested in studying.
- Even though the application will ask, you do not need GRE scores.
- You will need email addresses for the writers of your letters of recommendation. See below for more information.
Additional Documents to Upload. Be prepared to upload the following:
A statement of purpose discussing your reasons for study, your evolution as a writer, and your reading life. This should be one to two pages, the length of a good letter.
A writing sample. Admission to the program is based primarily on the evaluation of your creative writing. Your sample may be in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, scriptwriting, or a combination of genres. Please send up to 10 pages of poetry, single-spaced, or 25 pages of prose, double-spaced, with your name on every page. Send your best work, and disabuse yourself of any requirement to submit the maximum number of pages if they are not all of equally high quality. Please prepare a cover sheet for your writing sample, listing your address, phone number, e-mail address, genre(s), and title(s) of your submission.
A résumé or C.V. This document can be combined with your statement of purpose into one upload.
Letters of Recommendation. Your three letters of recommendation should be from writers, professors, or writing professionals who are familiar with your work. They do not necessarily need to be professors from whom you took undergraduate courses. We've received wonderful recommendations from leaders of informal workshops at libraries, from long-time fellow members of writing groups, from teachers in continuing education programs, and from writers conference faculty. Whomever you choose to write for you, the application system will email your recommenders with a link and instructions to upload their letters.
Official Transcripts. Finally, you will need to have an official transcript from any undergraduate and graduate institutions you have attended. Electronic official transcripts should be sent to Office of Graduate and Health Sciences Admissions, at gradadmissions@stonybrook.edu. Hard copy official transcripts should be sent to the Graduate and Health Sciences Admissions office at:
Stony Brook University Graduate School Office of Admissions and Student Services Old Computer Science Bldg, Room 2401 Stony Brook, NY 11794-4433If you have your school(s) send your hard copy official transcripts to you, do NOT open the envelopes. The unopened envelopes should be sent to the address above.
Please send your items via a service that provides tracking. If it is close to the submission deadline, a courier such as FedEx or DHL, is recommended as these couriers will deliver directly to the Office of Graduate and Health Sciences Admissions. Items mailed using the US Postal Service (USPS) are delivered first to the University’s Central Receiving Office, which can cause the package to arrive at the Graduate Admissions Office after the intended date of receipt.
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