You’ll be amazed at what you can do with a Creative Writing degree from Vermont State University. Work in small classes with award-winning professors who share your passion for the well-turned phrase, the blinding insight, the masterful plot twist. Prepare for a range of careers by learning to think creatively, write wonderfully, and read deeply. You will also spend time reading and writing to develop your own voice and build connections in our creative, collaborative, and supportive community of writers.
Why Study Creative Writing at Vermont State?
- Real-world publishing experience: You’ll graduate with a strong writing portfolio and solid publishing experience. Through internships with our nationally recognized Green Mountains Review literary journal and work on our undergraduate student literary journal, Pamplemousse, you’ll gain real-world publishing skills and experience.
- Become a teacher: Students who earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing are eligible to pursue endorsement for secondary education teacher licensure.
- Thriving literary community: Poets and writers often visit campuses for lectures and readings. We have a thriving literary community — open mic nights, chapbook publishing, and the serious and deep study of our discipline. The internationally known Vermont Studio Center, just minutes from the Johnson Campus, presents a regular reading series for the many resident and visiting writers hosted at the center each year.
- Award-winning faculty: Our creative writing faculty are award-winning in their own right. You’ll get individualized attention from your very first class with writers who have been published and recognized around the country.
Financial Aid for Creative Writing Students
Vermont State University is providing a high-quality, affordable degree in Creative Writing to students across Vermont and beyond. More than 80 percent of Vermont State students are awarded financial aid, including new students, transfer students, international students, out-of-state students, and first-generation students. Our financial aid team is here to help you explore all your options.
Internships in Creative Writing
At Vermont State, you’ll gain leading-edge skills for Creative Writing jobs through internships, co-ops, career coaching, and more. Our internship placements will help you grow your professional network.
- In the creative writing program, you will have on-campus internship access to the Green Mountains Review. This award-winning literary magazine publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, literary essays, interviews, and book reviews by both well-known writers and promising newcomers. This means that, before you even graduate, you will have your name on the masthead of a journal cited as one of the top literary magazines in New England.
- Pamplemousse, our undergraduate student literary journal, is another outlet for you to gain real-world publishing skills and experience. Students who work on Pamplemousse learn to do everything from writing and editing work for publication, to soliciting submissions and meeting publication deadlines. Pamplemousse publishes high-quality, forward-thinking, innovative, and well-crafted writing in many genres and styles.
Student Stories
John and Olivia McDonough met in the creative writing program. They both went on to earn their M.F.A. degrees in writing and married each other. Their wedding was officiated by one of their professors.
“I was blown away by the number of world-class writers I was exposed to and worked with in the classroom. That stands out as one of the most valuable things for me as I move forward in life as a writer,” John said.
John and Olivia McDonough ’13
“Meeting high-caliber writers…clarified and distilled the work of being a writer. I gained a good understanding of how to cultivate creativity in everyday life,” Olivia said.
