Mar 28, 2024  
2016-2017 Undergraduate Bulletin 
    
2016-2017 Undergraduate Bulletin [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]

English (BA) and Creative Writing (MFA), Dual-degree Program


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Qualified undergraduate students may elect to enroll in a dual-degree program, combining their undergraduate bachelor’s degree in English with a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. The dual-degree program requires the successful completion of 148 semester hours, including at least 112 semester hours at the undergraduate level and 36 semester hours at the graduate level. The dual-degree program can be completed in five years. Students who are admitted to the BA portion of the dual-degree program may substitute a maximum of 12 semester hours of graduate-level course work for an equal number of semester hours of undergraduate course work toward the completion of their bachelor’s degree.

Direct admission to the dual-degree program (BA and MFA)


Incoming first-year students may apply for direct admission to this dual-degree program. For those who choose to submit a standardized test score, an 1170 or better on the critical reading and math sections of the SAT (or a 25 on the ACT) is recommended.  Applicants must have an overall high school GPA of 3.5 (or be in the top 15 percent of their high school graduating class) in order to be considered for admission.  Students admitted directly to the dual-degree program as incoming freshmen will be admitted automatically to the MFA program at the end of their junior year through the standard graduate admissions process, provided that they fulfill the following requirements:

  1. Attain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 at the time of application to the MFA program and complete 75 semester hours of course work toward the BA in English.
  2. Maintain a minimum 3.5 GPA in the English major.
  3. Complete the first three years of the curriculum, outlined below.
  4. Submit a creative writing portfolio of no more than 30 pages of original work to be evaluated by creative writing faculty.
  5. Submit letters of recommendation, upon request.
  6. Submit a personal statement describing the student’s rationale for applying, as well as the student’s interests and literary influences.

Admission requirements for currently enrolled Hofstra students


Qualified Hofstra students majoring in English may apply, through the Office of Graduate Admission, to the dual-degree program. In order to qualify for admission to the dual-degree program, a student must have maintained a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 at the time of application and a 3.5 in the English major. Students admitted to the dual-degree program should note that admission to the MFA portion of the dual-degree program requires the fulfillment of the following requirements:

  1. Completion of 75 credits with a 3.0 overall GPA.
  2. Completion of 15 credits in English with at least 3 s.h. at Hofstra and at least 3 s.h. in advanced creative writing workshops.
  3. Minimum GPA of 3.5 in the English major.
  4. Submission of a creative writing portfolio of no more than 30 pages of original work to be evaluated by creative writing faculty.
  5. Submission of letters of recommendation, upon request.
  6. Submission of a personal statement describing the student’s rationale for applying, as well as the student’s interests and literary influences.

NOTE


Students must complete the BA before being permitted to take more than 12 semester hours of graduate courses for the MFA program.

Undergraduate Program Requirements – Semester Hours: 39


39 credits in writing and literature, chosen under advisement, including:

1. Basic Workshops - Semester Hours: 6


6 credits chosen from the following:

2. Advanced Creative Writing Workshops - Semester Hours: 6


6 credits in advanced creative writing workshops, chosen from the following:

3. Foundation Courses - Semester Hours: 6


  1. 3 credits to be chosen from ENGL 083  or 081  
  2. 3 credits to be chosen from ENGL 060 , 061 , 081 ,082 , 083 , 070  or 071  

4. Major Author - Semester Hours: 3


3 credits in major authors chosen from:

5. Electives - Semester Hours: 18


18 credits of electives chosen from among any of the 100-level courses  in the English  Department.

At least 12 of these credits must be in ENGL literature courses, that is, ENGL 100-199, excluding ENGL 170-179 and ENGL 191.  

Of these 12 credits at least 3 must be in a course dealing with literature written before 1900:

Pre-1900 Elective - Semester Hours: 3


Chosen from the following:

Remaining 6 s.h.


The remaining 6 credits may be selected from any 100-level ENGL or CRWR course; DRAM 173, 174, 175, or 176; or certain linguistics courses or courses in literature in translation in other departments, chosen under departmental approval.

Graduate Course Substitution


In the final three semesters of undergraduate study, dual-degree candidates may, in consultation with the graduate director, substitute up to 12 semester hours of graduate-level ENGL and CRWR courses for the equivalent number of semester hours of 100-level undergraduate ENGL literature courses. Of these 12 semester hours, no more than 6 semester hours of graduate-level CRWR courses may be taken by dual degree-undergraduates.

Graduate Program Requirements – Total Semester Hours: 36*


36 s.h. in graduate-level course work

*Students may register for no more than 12 s.h. per semester. Registration for more than 12 s.h. will require the permission of the program director.

I. Creative Writing – Semester Hours: 18


A. 12 s.h. in (Repeatable) Special Topics in Creative Writing


Special topics in creative writing, whether in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or playwriting, focus on creative writing projects that may emanate from prompts or assignments and are read and discussed by the instructor and other members of the workshop. Students also read and discuss models from the respective genre. Special topics in creative writing may also be organized around a particular topic, such as character development, structuring the story, or dramatic structure. Current special topics in creative writing include CRWR 240 (Poetry Writing), 241 (Fiction Writing), 242 (Playwriting), and 243 (Creative Non-Fiction Writing).

B. 3 s.h. in a Craft Course


Craft courses, whether in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or playwriting, focus on how a work is made, particularly on matters of technique, structure, and style. Issues of craft are in the foreground, driving class discussion and serving as springboards for writing assignments. Some craft courses concentrate on a form (in poetry, examples would be the sonnet, the long poem, the prose poem, the dramatic monologue), or mode (satire, elegy), or genre (the epic, from Gilgamesh to Moby Dick); others on a strategy (third person, first person), or structuring principle (the lyric sequence, the epistolary novel), or feature intrinsic to a specific genre (dialogue, prosody, stanza pattern). Unlike special topics in creative writing, where incisive critique of a student’s writing is the primary focus, in craft courses the students spend most of their class time discussing published works of literature, examining the way that work has been composed – strategies and techniques that make the piece of writing what it is – and why and how these strategies and techniques have the effect they do within the work and on the audience.

C. 3 s.h. in a Creative Writing Elective


(may include an additional special topics in creative writing or craft course)

II. Literature – Semester Hours: 12


Literature electives, to include 3 s.h. of course work on an individual author and 3 s.h. of course work in literature pre-1900.

III. The MFA Project – Semester Hours: 6


A comprehensive creative writing project in one of the essential genres; a project of length and breadth, awarded a “CR” grade after successful conclusion, and, if the project is of particular merit, a designation of “Distinction.”

Graduation Requirements


  1. Completion of all program requirements.
  2. A minimum GPA of 3.0 in overall graduate course work.

The dual-degree program requires successful completion of 148 semester hours, including at least 112 semester hours at the undergraduate level and 36 semester hours at the graduate level.

Suggested Five-Year Sequence - Total Semester Hours: 148


First Year


FALL SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
WSC 001   3
Foreign Language 1 3
Social Science Distribution HP 3
Mathematics Distribution MA 3
Social Science Distribution BH 3
Total 15

 

SPRING SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
WSC 002   3
Foreign Language 2 3
CRWR 133  (fulfills Humanities CP) 3
Natural Sciences, Computer Science Distribution NS/CS 4
Social Science Distribution: BH/HP 3
Total 16

Total: 31 s.h.

Second Year


FALL SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
CRWR 134 , 135 , or 137   3
Foreign Language 3 3
ENGL 060  (fulfills Humanities LT) 3
ENGL Elective 3
Natural Science Distribution NS 4
TOTAL 16

 

SPRING SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
ENGL 081  (fulfills Humanities LT) 3
ENGL Pre-1900 Elective 3
CRWR Advanced Undergraduate Workshop 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Interdisciplinary Studies Distribution IS 3
TOTAL 15

Total: 62 s.h.

Third Year


FALL SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
Advanced Undergraduate Creative Writing Workshop 3
ENGL 107  or 115  or 116  or 119   3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Cross-Cultural Distribution CC 3
TOTAL 15

 

SPRING SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
ENGL Literature Elective 3
ENGL Graduate Literature Elective 3
ENGL Literature Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
TOTAL 15

Total: 92 s.h.

Fourth Year


FALL SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
CRWR Graduate Special Topics 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 2
TOTAL 17

 

SPRING SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
ENGL Pre-1900 Graduate Literature Elective 3
CRWR Graduate Special Topics 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
Liberal Arts Elective 3
TOTAL 15

Awarding of BA Degree: 124 s.h.

Fifth Year


FALL SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
CRWR Graduate Special Topics 3
CRWR Graduate Craft Course 3
ENGL Single Author Graduate Literature Elective 3
CRWR 303 3
TOTAL 12

 

SPRING SEMESTER
Course Semester Hours
CRWR Graduate Special Topics 3
CRWR Graduate Craft Course 3
ENGL Graduate Literature Elective 3
CRWR 303 3
TOTAL 12

Awarding of MFA degree: 148 s.h.

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