Creative Writing (Minor)

Department Website

Program Description 

The New York University Program in Creative Writing, among the most distinguished programs in the country, is a leading national center for the study of writing and literature. The undergraduate and graduate programs provide students with an opportunity to develop their craft while working closely with some of the finest poets and novelists writing today. The creative writing program occupies a lovely townhouse on West 10th Street in the same Greenwich Village neighborhood where so many writers have lived and worked. The Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House allows writers—both established and emerging—to share their work in an inspiring setting.

The program's distinguished faculty of award-winning poets and prose writers represents a wide array of contemporary aesthetics. Our instructors have been the recipients of Pulitzer Prizes, MacArthur Genius, Guggenheim, and NEA fellowships, National Book and National Book Critics Circle awards, Pushcart Prizes, the Whiting Writer's Award, and more.

Undergraduates are encouraged to attend the program's reading series, which brings both established and new writers to NYU. Writing prizes, special events, and our undergraduate literary journal, West 10th, further complement our course offerings and provide a sense of community for undergraduate writers. If you have questions about the minor in creative writing, please contact us at creative.writing@nyu.edu.

Minor Declaration

To request declaration of a minor, CAS students should visit the host department. To request declaration of a cross-school minor, CAS students should complete the online Minor Application available in their Albert Student Center. Students may also use the Minor Application in Albert to request cancellation of a CAS or cross-school minor.

Program Requirements

The minor requires the completion of four 4-credit courses (16 credits), comprised of the following:

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
Minor Requirements
CRWRI-UA 815	Creative Writing: Intro Prose & Poetry	4
or CRWRI-UA 9815	Creative Writing
Select 12 additional credits of Creative Writing courses		12
Total Credits		16

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, Creative Writing minors will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

1. Students will develop their own original voices while receiving guidance from accomplished writers and editors.
2. Students will deepen their knowledge of elements of literary craft.
3. Students will develop their ability to read carefully and critically as writers.
4. Students will develop their ability to provide and process feedback from peers. 
5. Students will enhance their revision skills. 
6. Students will deepen their understanding of the publishing world and the literary field.

Policies

Program Policies

Grading

The creative writing minor must be completed with a minimum grade point average of 2.0 (C). No credit toward the minor is granted for grades of C- or lower, although such grades will be computed into the grade point average of the minor, as well as into the overall grade point average. No course to be counted toward the minor may be taken on a Pass/Fail basis.

Course Substitutions

Students may petition to apply one outside (non-CRWRI-UA) course toward the minor, either as the introductory prerequisite (equivalent to CRWRI-UA 815 or 9815) or as an elective. Ideally, the equivalent course will focus on students' own creative practice, craft element(s) of genre, and incorporate a workshop (peer feedback) structure. Students must complete the course substitution petition form (available on the program's website) and provide the course syllabus prior to registration. The undergraduate programs manager will review the submitted syllabus to verify course level and determine substitution eligibility.

If the program preapproves a non-NYU course for substitution, it can only be counted toward the minor if 1. the Office of the Associate Dean for Students in CAS has also approved the course credit for transfer, and 2. the student receives a grade of C or better.

Repeating Courses for Credit

Only one introductory level workshop may be taken, and introductory level courses are not repeatable for credit. Intermediate and advanced workshops may be taken three times (repeated twice) for credit with the advice of the undergraduate programs manager. Students may also repeat an 8-credit summer intensive once to complete the 16-credit minor.

Summer Study

Students who begin their minor by taking one of the program's 8-credit summer intensives—Writers in New York (CRWRI-UA 818, 819, or 835), Writers in Paris (CRWRI-UA 9818 or 9819), or Writers in Florence (CRWRI-UA 9828 or 9829)—are not required to take the introductory workshop (CRWRI-UA 815, CRWRI-UA 9815, or equivalent). Following completion of one of these 8-credit intensives, students may take advanced coursework in the same genre as their summer intensive and/or move directly into an intermediate workshop in an alternative genre.

Study Away

Students may begin the creative writing minor while studying away at an NYU site should register for CRWRI-UA 9815 Creative Writing or, if studying away in the summer, for one of the 8-credit intensives offered in Paris and Florence (CRWRI-UA 9818, 9819, 9828, or 9829) as noted above.

NYU Policies

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages.

College of Arts and Science Policies

A full list of relevant academic policies can be found on the CAS Academic Policies page.