goddard mfa creative writing

Lucy A. Snyder

Author • editor • writing instructor, pursuing an mfa in creative writing.

July 28, 2017 Lucy A. Snyder MFA in creative writing programs , Writing Advice 0

People have asked me about my experiences in Goddard College’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program , so I thought I would post about them. Hopefully this will help anyone thinking of pursuing his or her own MFA.

I have been writing for publication for over 20 years. I started pursuing my writing seriously while I was working on my master’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In the summer before I graduated, I attended the six-week  Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop  at Michigan State University (it has since moved to the University of California at San Diego). At that workshop, I worked with instructors such as Tim Powers and Samuel R. Delany who helped me onto the path of becoming a published fiction author. During that workshop, and afterward, I spent a lot of time thinking about genre fiction and developing my writing process.

After the Clarion workshop, I decided that I want to master as many styles and genres of writing as I possibly can. I decided that I want to be the kind of professional who can write anything, write it well, and deliver it on time. If an editor approaches me and says “We’d like you to write a narrative sestina that re-tells the myth of Daedalus in a near-future dystopian setting; what do you think?” or says “We need a 4,000-word, first-person Lovecraftian story set in Victorian England,” I feel that my response should be “Why yes, I can do that; when do you need it?”

I pursued my writing goals and sold dozens of short stories and poems to a wide range of competitive publications. I also sold several collections, and Del Rey published three of my novels. In short, things were going well.

But I also realized I wanted to develop more depth as a writer. I missed the intense study experience of Clarion and wanted to connect with a new, vibrant community of writers. I wanted to gain new practical and theoretical knowledge and the stronger grounding in literary fiction and writing theory. I wanted to do substantial work in a form I had not attempted before.

And so I decided to start applying to MFA in creative writing programs. Specifically, I wanted to apply to a program with a low-residency format, which would enable me to continue living in Columbus while I pursued my degree. I knew I’d have to attend week-long, in-person residencies at the college campus twice a year, but I wouldn’t have to pull up stakes, quit my job, and move to a strange town.

As a working writer, I knew I was in a very different place than most prospective MFA students. Some students enroll in creative writing programs in order to have the freedom to discover who they are as writers; I already had a well-established writing identity. Many students pursue creative writing MFAs as a way to gain the skills necessary for publication; I was already published.

As a consequence, many people questioned why I wanted to go back to school. Didn’t I already have a master’s degree? Wasn’t I already doing the thing that MFAs are supposed to enable a writer to do?

The answer I gave was that I wanted the credentials necessary to teach at the college level. I explained that I could sell a dozen novels but few college English programs would ever consider hiring me to teach without an MFA or PhD (or a high-level literary award). Most people were surprised by this news, but would then nod, satisfied that I’d de-mystified my motivations. Corporate America has primed us all to understand professional development!

Figuring Out How To Make an MFA Workable

Once I started telling people that I wanted to pursue a low-residency MFA in creative writing, other working writers were not shy about regaling me with their MFA horror stories. So naturally I had lingering concerns about enrolling in a program. Would the other students accept me as a fellow student, or would I be an outsider? Would the other students resent my presence because I was already published? Would I face tedious lit snobbery from students and faculty who look down on speculative fiction? Would members of the faculty who don’t publish very much view me with hostility? Would I be assigned to well-meaning advisors who didn’t understand genre and therefore didn’t understand what I was trying to accomplish with my work? Would I receive less-than-optimal advice as a result?

Furthermore, several people said, “No! Don’t put yourself into that kind of debt!”

This was the real point of worry for me. I’m not wealthy; like many writers, I normally need a day job and a part-time adjunct faculty job in addition to my freelance writing, and despite all that work, I’m still driving a 22-year-old car. My side hustles have side hustles. I’m not alone; lots of people have joined the precariat. But while wages have remained flat in a lot of jobs, college tuition costs have rocketed like they’re on a mission to Mars. Total tuition costs at low-residency MFA programs in the U.S. currently ranges from $20,000-$40,000, not counting costs of books, travel, wages lost to residencies and study time, etc. That’s a lot .

Paying for school these days represents a crushing debt burden for many students. I know people who owe so much on their student loans that they have no expectation of ever being able to pay it all off, in no small part because their degrees have not helped them get the kinds of jobs necessary to make a dent in their debt.

But here, at least, I had a solid plan: I was employed full-time at a not-for-profit private college that participates in the The Council of Independent Colleges’ tuition exchange program . And I knew that several schools that participated in that program also offered MFAs in creative writing.

How does the program work? Here’s their blurb:

CIC-TEP is a network of CIC member colleges and universities willing to accept, tuition-free, students from families of full-time employees of other participating institutions. Each participating institution in the network agrees to import a limited number of students on the same admission basis as they accept all other students, without regard to the number of students it exports. CIC-TEP began more than 30 years ago when a small group of member presidents suggested that CIC create a program with minimal rules and low fees that they could offer as a benefit to employees. Today, 436​ colleges and universities (roughly two-thirds of all CIC Members) from 48 states and five countries are participating. Over the decades, thousands of employees and their spouses and dependents have been able to attend college tuition-free. This year alone, more than 1,700 students were able to fulfill their educational goals thanks to CIC-TEP.​​​

The basic deal is that if you’re an employee at one CIC institution, you and your dependents can get tuition remission for degrees at other member colleges. In some instances, this is a far better deal than the tuition remission that universities offer their staff for study. For instance, Franklin University staff who want to obtain graduate degrees at Franklin only have 50% of their tuition covered. Through the CIC program, assuming the degree is online or low-residency, 100% of full-time graduate tuition could be covered.

Unfortunately, actual details about whether or not I would receive funding were hard to come by. I found out that I had to apply to a participating school, be accepted into the program, and then I would have my employing school fill out a CIC scholarship application for me. But the HR rep who was submitting the paperwork on my behalf had no idea whether I would get funding or not; we had to wait and see.

Regardless, I figured that if I focused on the best-ranked of those schools – in this case it was Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont – and was accepted, it was likely I’d receive a full scholarship to cover the bulk of my costs. I’d still have to pay for my travel, books, and residency room and board, but those costs were maybe 10% of the total cost of the MFA program. The trick, of course, would be to make sure I could graduate in the limited terms the scholarship would cover.

Even though I had a plan to avoid debt as I sought my MFA in creative writing, I had plenty of logistical concerns. The MFA workload looked daunting: in addition to writing a novel, I would need to read a whole lot of books and write over 140 pages of papers. Furthermore, I had to maintain my full-time job to keep my scholarship, and I had reached a point in my writing career where I was regularly getting invitations to write for fiction projects. I didn’t want to start turning down invitations, because no matter how politely you decline an editor’s request, there’s the chance that a future invitation won’t be forthcoming from that editor ever again. Could I manage graduate school in addition to full-time work, adjunct teaching, and everything else I needed to keep doing?

Ultimately, I realized that the only way I could find answers to my questions was by trying the MFA program to see how things went. I applied to Goddard College with an unabashedly genre piece of fiction: my short story “ Magdala Amygdala ,” which won the Bram Stoker Award. Readers widely agreed it was the best story I’d written so far. I figured that if Goddard rejected my application, it would be for the horror elements in my story … and it would be for the best.

But Goddard accepted me, and after a few nail-biting months in which I was in planning limbo, I got a confirmation that I’d received my funding through the CIC program. When I attended my first residency, I was pleased to find that most of my concerns were unfounded. The faculty and students were overall very supportive, and I encountered far fewer students who resented my presence than I’d expected. So far, so good. My next goal would be to determine what I actually wanted to accomplish in the program.

What the Program Was Like

When I applied, I knew I wanted to write a novel for my creative thesis. I’d come to realize that no matter how many short stories I write or where they’re published, I won’t have much of a chance of being widely known as a fiction writer unless I produce good novels. And from a practical standpoint, I will never achieve my ultimate, difficult goal of being a full-time fiction writer if I write only short stories.

At my first residency, my faculty advisor and I decided that I would write a fantasy novel for my creative project. In addition to my novel, over the course of the program I would need to read 45-60 agreed-upon books and write short papers on them (at least 12 per term to stay on target). I’d also complete two short critical papers, a teaching practicum and teaching essay, a long critical paper, and a process paper. The program would take a minimum of four terms, but due to the workload many students need five or six terms to graduate. (I knew that I would have to manage to graduate in four terms or my funding would run out.)

During that first residency, I read Robert Chambers’ weird fiction collection  The King in Yellow , and my reading sparked the idea for a new Lovecraftian southern gothic novel:  The Girl With the Star-Stained Soul , which I first explored as a pair of short stories.

I realized that it would be a better project for me because it took better advantage of my Goddard advisor’s personal and literary expertise but also because it would involve me stretching myself creatively to work in a new genre. It was the first work of young adult fiction that I’ve ever tried to write.

That first semester, I wrote and revised a quarter of the new novel, and I felt good about the quality and quantity of creative work I was able to produce. The first term was a little rocky and extremely stressful because I was in the first stages of trying to figure out how to manage this huge black hole of time and energy that had just dropped squarely into my schedule. I did ultimately learn some new and better time management techniques, because when you have 24 hours of work to do and 12 hours to do it, you figure shit out.

At the start of my second semester, I realized that I also wanted to write more poetry and explore different types of short fiction (again, to take advantage of my advisor’s expertise in those forms). My main regret over my Goddard experience is that I was not able to explore as many different forms as I hoped to initially; while I certainly don’t regret completing a new novel, I do regret that I couldn’t do any work in play writing and graphic novel scripting aside from attending a few residency workshops. There just wasn’t time.

I found my second semester particularly challenging because I had to complete a teaching practicum. Although my writing workshop series was a success and I received a lot of positive student feedback and learned a whole lot about teaching, it was a tremendous sink for time and energy. As a consequence, I made less creative progress than I’d planned, although I was happy with the quality of the work I did produce.

But I had to catch up in my third term. I completed the bulk of my novel, but constantly wished I was getting more done. I found myself spending a great deal of time and energy on my critical work, and that unfortunately slowed my progress on my creative work. It was frankly an exhausting term capping three other exhausting terms; trying to stay on top of everything while I was in the program was incredibly stressful.

I worked hard to get my novel completed by the first deadline of my fourth term; it was ridiculously difficult but I succeeded. I got a lot of support from my husband and close friends during those difficult terms, and I’m not sure any of this would have been workable without them.

What I Learned in my MFA Program

People frequently ask me some variant of, “You were already a published writer before you became a student in the Goddard College MFA in creative writing program; did you actually learn anything new?”

The short answer is: yes, I certainly did. As with a lot of learning environments, you tend to get out of it what you put into it. Which is to say, if you’re not engaged and you only do the bare minimum to scrape by, you probably won’t learn much. But even if you’re already a fairly experienced working writer, if you try to stretch yourself to try new things and immerse yourself in your projects, you’ll certainly be a better writer at the end of the program.

There were specific, craft-related things I learned. The first is that I learned a whole lot more about literary criticism and improved my nonfiction writing game in ways that will continue to be useful to me. The second is that through my reading and writing I learned a whole lot more about the young adult genre; this is immediately useful to me in my adjunct position in the Seton Hill University MFA program. And the third thing was that I gained a much better grounding in African American literature and learned better ways of researching and portraying nonwhite characters.

But in my fourth term, I had an important creative epiphany. I finally realized that it wasn’t just my day job and paper-writing slowing down my progress on my creative writing: I had been battling chronic writer’s block since my second term.

I know of a lot of ways to break a block and was able to fight through to get my work done, but none of the many tactics I tried ever fixed whatever underlying problem was causing my slowdowns. And the fight was  constant .

I mentioned my block in my cover letters when I submitted my novel to my advisor John McManus and second reader Susan Kim:

Overall, this novel has been slow going, and I’ve felt tremendously frustrated with myself at my pace. I’ve been struggling with writers block for most of the past year: I’ve been getting my work done, mostly, eventually, but it’s felt like a battle every time I sit down to accomplish anything, and I’m not sure why it’s been happening. (I don’t expect you to have any suggestions that will magically cure this; I only bring it up because it’s been part of my process.)

Because I didn’t ask for advice, John did not mention the block in his feedback and instead focused on my novel in his reply (“Congratulations on completing this draft of  The Girl With the Star-Stained Soul , which easily ranks as one of the most fully realized and successful theses I’ve seen at Goddard or anywhere. This is deft, strong writing.”) Susan, however, did address my difficulty:

You have my sincere sympathy. Have you also experienced a similar slowdown when writing short fiction? If not, this might just be your subconscious suggesting that you no longer want to write long form.

Her remarks gave me pause. Could it be that my subconscious was fighting me over writing in a form that I wasn’t cut out for? That thought was far more terrifying to me than a thousand blister-eyed shoggoths. But if it was my reality, I had to face it. So I considered all my Goddard writing, and my freelance writing assignments … and realized I’d had to fight through all of them to one degree or another.

It wasn’t my novel … it was  everything . My novel wasn’t more of a problem than anything else, other than that it required more sustained grinding through to finish than other things. And I’m certainly not running short of ideas for novels.

That night, I happened to read “ Burnout, Creativity, and the Tyranny of Production Schedules ” by author Elizabeth Bear in which she discusses needing to take a break from her writing career:

Between life stress and overwork, I hit a wall at the end of last year. I’ve been struggling with actually accomplishing my job for a while − hating to sit down at the computer, being avoidant, generally feeling not so much blocked as if every word was being taken off my hide with a potato peeler.

“Yes!” I thought. “A potato peeler! That’s what this has felt like!  Every single word !”

I read on, and she discussed how, after attending a critical peer workshop, she became hyper-critical of her own fiction and nothing she wrote ever seemed good enough to her. Invitations to write for new projects gave her a spike of anxiety. Her situation and reactions all seemed gut-churningly familiar to me.

But I also realized that if I continued to be successful, I will have more and more fiction projects … but I wouldn’t have graduate school to juggle on top of it. If I became very successful, I wouldn’t necessarily have to manage a full-time job on top of my writing career. I am fully aware that surviving purely on freelance income can become a special hell of stress and uncertainty; Bear found herself in the throes of burnout as a full-time fiction writer without a day job and adjuncting to attend to.

That said, took her cautionary tale to heart. I realized that I needed to be better about saying “no” to projects that will cause more stress than they are worth in terms of creative expression, payment or prestige. I needed to be better at attending to my own health needs, whether that is my mental health or physical maintenance activities like going to the gym as often as I should. If I don’t, my work and everything else will suffer.

Was Pursuing an MFA Worth It?

Given the insane stress of being a full-time graduate student on top of a full-time job and my existing freelance obligations, the natural question people ask is, “Was it worth it?”

One of the things that most creative writing programs advertise as a feature is that each student learns about his or her individual writing process and presumably becomes a better writer as a result. My writing process was not a mystery to me before I started the Goddard College MFA program. I understood how to build an organic plot from character conflict, how to create voice, how to generate narrative tension. I knew how to brainstorm far more ideas than I will ever have the time to turn into stories and novels and poems. Which is not to say that my prose was above reproach; there’s always room for improvement. And my feedback from my Goddard advisors was reflective of that: my first drafts are decent, solid work, but there are always ways they could become even better. So I push forward, always trying to approach the unreachable, wholly subjective elements of perfection.

But I’ve come to realize that my writing process and my creative process are two linked but different things. It’s an important distinction. And while my creative process wasn’t entirely a mystery, the troubles I encountered in my final terms indicate that clearly I had a much less firm grip on it all than I thought I did before I started my MFA work.

My struggle with writer’s block highlighted the aspects of my creative process that need more attention to prevent slowdowns. Certainly, I still need to produce work and press on even if my muse appears to have stood me up on a given work day … but I can’t treat myself as a fiction production assembly line. I can’t treat myself like a machine that needs kicking if it starts faltering. Percussive maintenance might work for a stuck valve in a gasoline engine, but mental beat-downs are just going to make me resent my work.

And if I resent the work that is uniquely mine, the work that only I can do, the work that speaks to my reason for existing more than anything else in the world, where will I be? I will be stuck. I will be miserable.

I have to trust in my own creative process to facilitate my writing process. The writing process isn’t always joyful, but the joy is there, and I can’t forget to embrace it. There are a thousand easier ways to make money and earn a living. I have to find the reward in the writing, not in the having written. I can’t be so focused on the finish line that I forget to experience the journey.

But aside from learning that valuable lesson, was pursuing an MFA at Goddard worth all the work?

In my case, yes, it was: I achieved the major goals I set out to accomplish and I produced a lot of good work that I have either sold or expect to sell. The program was a good (but not perfect) fit. It was life-changing experience for many of my classmates, but not for me; Clarion  was  that experience for me, and I knew going in that I was unlikely to experience it again. In short, the program met my expectations and exceeded them on some levels.

And the key for me was that I found funding through CIC.edu and didn’t have to go into debt for my degree. I wouldn’t have pursued it otherwise. The cost of paying for the program out of pocket — roughly $9,000 per term — would have absolutely been a deal-breaker.

If you can find funding for or feel you can afford an MFA and are prepared for the possibility that the degree may not improve your employment prospects, an MFA is worth considering. I definitely think that the Goddard program helped me become a smarter writer and better teacher in ways that I probably wouldn’t have accomplished on my own.

2021 Update: It turns out that for my entire life, I’ve had inattentive-type ADHD. I was diagnosed in late 2018, a bit over a year after I made this post. Since then, after much trial and error, I found medication and new strategies that work well for me. My writing productivity has much improved, and it turns out I can write novels just fine.

The upshot is, ADHD was a huge factor in the difficulties I had during my MFA. So, if you see yourself in any of the struggles I chronicled above, you might see if you can get tested.

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Goddard College

Plainfield , VT

https://www.goddard.edu/academics/master-of-fine-arts-in-creative-writing/

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry, CNF, CYA, Drama, Screenwriting, Graphic Novel

Residency type

Low-residency

Program length

48 semester hours (4 semesters)

Financial Aid

Goddard has some internal partial scholarships available

Teaching opportunities

Students complete a teaching practicum as part of their studies. Students interested in obtaining elementary or secondary teacher licensure may do so by transferring to the Goddard College Education and Licensure Program for two semesters following the completion of their MFA studies.

Editorial opportunities

Yes, students have the opportunity to work on the voluntary, student-run literary journal "The Pitkin Review."

Cross-genre study

Yes, cross genre and hybrid genre is possible.

• Judith Barrington MA (Poetry) 1981
• Dianne Benedict MFA 1979
• Cara Benson MFA
• Barbara Flug Colin MFA (Poetry) 1977
• Nicolas Destino MFA
• Mark Doty MFA 1980
• Keith Eisner MFA
• Richard Hoffman MFA 1977
• Liz Latty MFA (CNF) 2012
• Laura McCullough MFA (Fiction) 1994

Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .

Are you seeking one-on-one college counseling and/or essay support? Limited spots are now available. Click here to learn more.

15 Best Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2024

May 15, 2024

Whether you studied at a top creative writing university or are a high school dropout who will one day become a bestselling author , you may be considering an MFA in Creative Writing. But is a writing MFA genuinely worth the time and potential costs? How do you know which program will best nurture your writing? If you’re considering an MFA, this article walks you through the best full-time, low residency, and online Creative Writing MFA programs in the United States.

What are the best Creative Writing MFA programs?

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this article, let’s start with the basics. What is an MFA, anyway?

A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is a graduate degree that usually takes from two to three years to complete. Applications typically require a sample portfolio, usually 10-20 pages (and sometimes up to 30-40) of your best writing. Moreover, you can receive an MFA in a particular genre, such as Fiction or Poetry, or more broadly in Creative Writing. However, if you take the latter approach, you often have the opportunity to specialize in a single genre.

Wondering what actually goes on in a creative writing MFA beyond inspiring award-winning books and internet memes ? You enroll in workshops where you get feedback on your creative writing from your peers and a faculty member. You enroll in seminars where you get a foundation of theory and techniques. Then, you finish the degree with a thesis project. Thesis projects are typically a body of polished, publishable-quality creative work in your genre—fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

Why should I get an MFA in Creative Writing?

You don’t need an MFA to be a writer. Just look at Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison or bestselling novelist Emily St. John Mandel.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of reasons you might still want to get a creative writing MFA. The first is, unfortunately, prestige. An MFA from a top program can help you stand out in a notoriously competitive industry to be published.

The second reason: time. Many MFA programs give you protected writing time, deadlines, and maybe even a (dainty) salary.

Third, an MFA in Creative Writing is a terminal degree. This means that this degree allows you to teach writing at the university level, especially after you publish a book.

Fourth: resources. MFA programs are often staffed by brilliant, award-winning writers; offer lecture series, volunteer opportunities, and teaching positions; and run their own (usually prestigious) literary magazines. Such resources provide you with the knowledge and insight you’ll need to navigate the literary and publishing world on your own post-graduation.

But above all, the biggest reason to pursue an MFA is the community it brings you. You get to meet other writers—and share feedback, advice, and moral support—in relationships that can last for decades.

Types of Creative Writing MFA Programs

Here are the different types of programs to consider, depending on your needs:

Fully-Funded Full-Time Programs

These programs offer full-tuition scholarships and sweeten the deal by actually paying you to attend them.

• Pros: You’re paid to write (and teach).
• Cons: Uprooting your entire life to move somewhere possibly very cold.

Full-Time MFA Programs

These programs include attending in-person classes and paying tuition (though many offer need-based and merit scholarships).

• Pros: Lots of top-notch non-funded programs have more assets to attract world-class faculty and guests.
• Cons: It’s an investment that might not pay itself back.

Low-Residency MFA Programs

Low-residency programs usually meet biannually for short sessions. They also offer one-on-one support throughout the year. These MFAs are more independent, preparing you for what the writing life is actually like.

• Pros: No major life changes required. Cons: Less time dedicated to writing and less time to build relationships.

Online MFA Programs

Held 100% online. These programs have high acceptance rates and no residency requirement. That means zero travel or moving expenses.

• Pros: No major life changes required.
• Cons: These MFAs have less name recognition.

The Top 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs Ranked by Category

The following programs are selected for their balance of high funding, impressive return on investment, stellar faculty, major journal publications , and impressive alums.

FULLY FUNDED MFA PROGRAMS

1) johns hopkins university , mfa in fiction/poetry.

This two-year program offers an incredibly generous funding package: $39,000 teaching fellowships each year. Not to mention, it offers that sweet, sweet health insurance, mind-boggling faculty, and the option to apply for a lecture position after graduation. Many grads publish their first book within three years (nice). No nonfiction MFA (boo).

• Location: Baltimore, MD
• Incoming class size: 8 students (4 per genre)
• Admissions rate: 4-8%
• Alumni: Chimamanda Adichie, Jeffrey Blitz, Wes Craven, Louise Erdrich, Porochista Khakpour, Phillis Levin, ZZ Packer, Tom Sleigh, Elizabeth Spires, Rosanna Warren

2) University of Texas, James Michener Center

The only MFA that offers full and equal funding for every writer. It’s three years long, offers a generous yearly stipend of $30k, and provides full tuition plus a health insurance stipend. Fiction, poetry, playwriting, and screenwriting concentrations are available. The Michener Center is also unique because you study a primary genre and a secondary genre, and also get $4,000 for the summer.

• Location : Austin, TX
• Incoming class size : 12 students
• Acceptance rate: a bone-chilling less-than-1% in fiction; 2-3% in other genres
• Alumni: Fiona McFarlane, Brian McGreevy, Karan Mahajan, Alix Ohlin, Kevin Powers, Lara Prescott, Roger Reeves, Maria Reva, Domenica Ruta, Sam Sax, Joseph Skibell, Dominic Smith

3) University of Iowa

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is a 2-year program on a residency model for fiction and poetry. This means there are low requirements, and lots of time to write groundbreaking novels or play pool at the local bar. All students receive full funding, including tuition, a living stipend, and subsidized health insurance. The Translation MFA , co-founded by Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, is also two years long but with more intensive coursework. The Nonfiction Writing Program is a prestigious three-year MFA program and is also intensive.

• Incoming class size: 25 each for poetry and fiction; 10-12 for nonfiction and translation.
• Acceptance rate: 2.7-3.7%
• Fantastic Alumni: Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Sandra Cisneros, Joy Harjo, Garth Greenwell, Kiley Reid, Brandon Taylor, Eula Biss, Yiyun Li, Jennifer Croft

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs (Continued) 

4) university of michigan.

Anne Carson famously lives in Ann Arbor, as do the MFA students in UMichigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. This is a big university town, which is less damaging to your social life. Plus, there’s lots to do when you have a $25,000 stipend, summer funding, and health care.

This is a 2-3-year program in either fiction or poetry, with an impressive reputation. They also have a demonstrated commitment to “ push back against the darkness of intolerance and injustice ” and have outreach programs in the community.

• Location: Ann Arbor, MI
• Incoming class size: 18 (9 in each genre)
• Acceptance rate: 2%
• Alumni: Brit Bennett, Vievee Francis, Airea D. Matthews, Celeste Ng, Chigozie Obioma, Jia Tolentino, Jesmyn Ward

5) Brown University

Brown offers an edgy, well-funded program in a place that only occasionally dips into arctic temperatures. All students are fully funded for 2 years, which includes tuition remission and a $32k yearly stipend. Students also get summer funding and—you guessed it—that sweet, sweet health insurance.

In the Brown Literary Arts MFA, students take only one workshop and one elective per semester. It’s also the only program in the country to feature a Digital/Cross Disciplinary Track.  Fiction and Poetry Tracks are offered as well.

• Location: Providence, RI
• Incoming class size: 12-13
• Acceptance rate: “highly selective”
• Alumni: Edwidge Danticat, Jaimy Gordon, Gayl Jones, Ben Lerner, Joanna Scott, Kevin Young, Ottessa Moshfegh

6) University of Arizona

This 3-year program with fiction, poetry, and nonfiction tracks has many attractive qualities. It’s in “ the lushest desert in the world, ” and was recently ranked #4 in creative writing programs, and #2 in Nonfiction. You can take classes in multiple genres, and in fact, are encouraged to do so. Plus, Arizona’s dry heat is good for arthritis.

This notoriously supportive program is fully funded. Moreover, teaching assistantships that provide a salary, health insurance, and tuition waiver are offered to all students. Tucson is home to a hopping literary scene, so it’s also possible to volunteer at multiple literary organizations and even do supported research at the US-Mexico Border.

• Location: Tucson, AZ
• Incoming class size: usually 6
• Acceptance rate: 1.2% (a refreshingly specific number after Brown’s evasiveness)
• Alumni: Francisco Cantú, Jos Charles, Tony Hoagland, Nancy Mairs, Richard Russo, Richard Siken, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, David Foster Wallace

7) Arizona State University 

With concentrations in fiction and poetry, Arizona State is a three-year funded program in arthritis-friendly dry heat. It offers small class sizes, individual mentorships, and one of the most impressive faculty rosters in the game. Moreover, it encourages cross-genre study.

Funding-wise, everyone has the option to take on a teaching assistantship position, which provides a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a yearly stipend of $25k. Other opportunities for financial support exist as well.

• Location: Tempe, AZ
• Incoming class size: 8-10
• Acceptance rate: 3% (sigh)
• Alumni: Tayari Jones, Venita Blackburn, Dorothy Chan, Adrienne Celt, Dana Diehl, Matthew Gavin Frank, Caitlin Horrocks, Allegra Hyde, Hugh Martin, Bonnie Nadzam

FULL-RESIDENCY MFAS (UNFUNDED)

8) new york university.

This two-year program is in New York City, meaning it comes with close access to literary opportunities and hot dogs. NYU also has one of the most accomplished faculty lists anywhere. Students have large cohorts (more potential friends!) and have a penchant for winning top literary prizes. Concentrations in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction are available.

• Location: New York, NY
• Incoming class size: ~60; 20-30 students accepted for each genre
• Acceptance rate: 6-9%
• Alumni: Nick Flynn, Nell Freudenberger, Aracelis Girmay, Mitchell S. Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, John Keene, Raven Leilani, Robin Coste Lewis, Ada Limón, Ocean Vuong

9) Columbia University

Another 2-3 year private MFA program with drool-worthy permanent and visiting faculty. Columbia offers courses in fiction, poetry, translation, and nonfiction. Beyond the Ivy League education, Columbia offers close access to agents, and its students have a high record of bestsellers. Finally, teaching positions and fellowships are available to help offset the high tuition.

• Incoming class size: 110
• Acceptance rate: not publicized (boo)
• Alumni: Alexandra Kleeman, Rachel Kushner, Claudia Rankine, Rick Moody, Sigrid Nunez, Tracy K. Smith, Emma Cline, Adam Wilson, Marie Howe, Mary Jo Bang

10) Sarah Lawrence 

Sarah Lawrence offers a concentration in speculative fiction in addition to the average fiction, poetry, and nonfiction choices. Moreover, they encourage cross-genre exploration. With intimate class sizes, this program is unique because it offers biweekly one-on-one conferences with its stunning faculty. It also has a notoriously supportive atmosphere, and many teaching and funding opportunities are available.

• Location: Bronxville, NY
• Incoming class size: 30-40
• Acceptance rate: not publicized
• Alumni: Cynthia Cruz, Melissa Febos, T Kira Madden, Alex Dimitrov, Moncho Alvarado

LOW RESIDENCY

11) bennington college.

This two-year program boasts truly stellar faculty, and meets twice a year for ten days in January and June. It’s like a biannual vacation in beautiful Vermont, plus mentorship by a famous writer. The rest of the time, you’ll be spending approximately 25 hours per week on reading and writing assignments. Students have the option to concentrate in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Uniquely, they can also opt for a dual-genre focus.

The tuition is $23,468 per year, with scholarships available. Additionally, Bennington offers full-immersion teaching fellowships to MFA students, which are extremely rare in low-residency programs.

• Location: Bennington, VT
• Acceptance rate: 53%
• Incoming class: 25-35
• Alumni: Larissa Pham, Andrew Reiner, Lisa Johnson Mitchell, and others

12)  Institute for American Indian Arts

This two-year program emphasizes Native American and First Nations writing. With truly amazing faculty and visiting writers, they offer a wide range of genres, including screenwriting, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. In addition, each student is matched with a faculty mentor who works with them one-on-one throughout the semester.

Students attend two eight-day residencies each year, in January and July, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At $12,000 in tuition a year, it boasts being “ one of the most affordable MFA programs in the country .”

• Location: Santa Fe, NM
• Incoming class size : 21
• Alumni: Tommy Orange, Dara Yen Elerath, Kathryn Wilder

13) Vermont College of Fine Arts

VCFA is the only graduate school on this list that focuses exclusively on the fine arts. Their MFA in Writing offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; they also offer an MFA in Literary Translation and one of the few MFAs in Writing for Children and Young Adults . Students meet twice a year for nine days, in January and July, either in-person or online. Here, they receive one-on-one mentorship that continues for the rest of the semester. You can also do many travel residencies in exciting (and warm) places like Cozumel.

VCFA boasts amazing faculty and visiting writers, with individualized study options and plenty of one-on-one time. Tuition for the full two-year program is approximately $54k.

• Location : Various; 2024/25 residencies are in Colorado and California
• Incoming class size: 18-25
• Acceptance rate: 63%
• Alumnx: Lauren Markham, Mary-Kim Arnold, Cassie Beasley, Kate Beasley, Julie Berry, Bridget Birdsall, Gwenda Bond, Pablo Cartaya

ONLINE MFAS

14) university of texas at el paso.

UTEP is considered the best online MFA program, and features award-winning faculty from across the globe. Accordingly, this program is geared toward serious writers who want to pursue teaching and/or publishing. Intensive workshops allow submissions in Spanish and/or English, and genres include poetry and fiction.

No residencies are required, but an optional opportunity to connect in person is available every year. This three-year program costs about $25-30k total, depending on whether you are an in-state or out-of-state resident.

• Location: El Paso, TX
• Acceptance rate: “highly competitive”
• Alumni: Watch alumni testimonies here

15) Bay Path University

This 2-year online, no-residency program is dedicated entirely to nonfiction. Featuring a supportive, diverse community, Bay Path offers small class sizes, close mentorship, and an optional yearly field trip to Ireland.

There are many tracks, including publishing, narrative medicine, and teaching creative writing. Moreover, core courses include memoir, narrative journalism, food/travel writing, and the personal essay. Tuition is approximately $31,000 for the entire program, with scholarships available.

• Location: Longmeadow, MA
• Incoming class size: 20
• Alumni: Read alumni testimonies here

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs — Final Thoughts

Whether you’re aiming for a fully funded, low residency, or completely online MFA program, there are plenty of incredible options available—all of which will sharpen your craft while immersing you in the vibrant literary arts community.

Hoping to prepare for your MFA in advance? You might consider checking out the following:

• Best English Programs
• Best Colleges for Creative Writing
• Writing Summer Programs
• Best Writing Competitions for High School Students

Inspired to start writing? Get your pencil ready:

• 100 Creative Writing Prompts 
• 1 00 Tone Words to Express Mood in Your Writing
• 60 Senior Project Ideas
• Common App Essay Prompts

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs – References:

• https://www.pw.org/mfa
• The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students , by Tom Kealey (A&C Black 2005)
• Graduate School Admissions

Julia Conrad

With a Bachelor of Arts in English and Italian from Wesleyan University as well as MFAs in both Nonfiction Writing and Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, Julia is an experienced writer, editor, educator, and a former Fulbright Fellow. Julia’s work has been featured in  The Millions ,  Asymptote , and  The Massachusetts Review , among other publications. To read more of her work, visit  www.juliaconrad.net

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Goddard College MFA in Creative Writing

Plainfield, VT

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• MFA in Creative Writing

Goddard College - MFA in Creative Writing is an online school located in Plainfield, VT.

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Public
School Accreditation	New England Association of Schools and Colleges
Program Accreditation	Not Reported

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Instructors	Teach both online and on-campus
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Goddard College MA in Creative Writing

How much does a master’s in creative writing from goddard college cost, goddard college graduate tuition and fees.

	In State	Out of State
Tuition	$20,028	$20,028

Does Goddard College Offer an Online MA in Creative Writing?

Goddard college master’s student diversity for creative writing, male-to-female ratio.

Of the students who received their master’s degree in creative writing in 2019-2020, 77.8% of them were women. This is higher than the nationwide number of 66.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

Of those graduates who received a master’s degree in creative writing at Goddard College in 2019-2020, 22.2% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 24%.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	0
Native American or Alaska Native	0
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	0
White	7
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

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Ellen Bryant Voigt speaking at the MFA Program’s 40th Anniversary Gala

The mfa program for writers.

In 1976, Ellen Bryant Voigt, renowned poet and master teacher, founded the nation’s first low-residency creative writing program. In 1981, the program relocated from Vermont’s Goddard College to one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, Warren Wilson College.  Today, forty-five years after its inception, the prestigious MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College remains one of the top writing programs in the nation.  Students of the program range in age from their early twenties to mid-sixties, in profession from teacher and journalist, doctor and bartender, to lawyer and lumberjack, and join us from all over North America, Europe, and Asia.  Our faculty have won virtually every major honor in the country, including MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, Pulitzer Prizes, and the National Book Award.  Several have served as state poets laureate, and two have been named national poets laureate.  Our alumni have published hundreds of books, and their work has been featured in The New Yorker  and on the front page of  The New York Times   Book Review .

About the Program

An alternative to the wholly residential workshop, the program is structured to meet students’ needs, to help them recognize specific strengths and address specific weaknesses in their work, and to encourage them to see themselves as active participants in the creation and study of literature.

Every six months, students from across the globe gather here on campus to form a cohesive, non-competitive community that offers camaraderie, direction, and inspiration. The four-semester course of study toward the Master of Fine Arts degree is carried out by alternating on-campus residency sessions with semesters of independent study under close faculty supervision.  The residencies, attended by all faculty and students, are ten days long and take place two times a year, once in early January, and once in early July.

Readings, lectures, classes, workshops, meetings, informal exchange, and conferences all aide in fostering a strong sense of community among peers.  In the classes and team-taught workshops, students will find an environment that is non-competitive, while our low student-faculty ratio (never more than 5:1) ensures that each student will receive personalized attention that will help provide direction for the semester.

Following the residency, correspondence between the student and  the faculty supervisor occur at regular, contracted intervals. This individualized course of study and thorough engagement with faculty, occurring within the context of one’s ongoing adult life, make the Program useful to writers at all stages of their development.

The Master of Fine Arts degree at Warren Wilson represents the study of literature from within the writer’s perspective.  It is not, however, a technical or narrow degree.  The reading and analytical components of each Semester Project, and the variety of classes and workshops offered during the residency periods, provide opportunities for unusually well-integrated, humanities-based curricula–without sacrifice of direct manuscript, work, and criticism.

The Program’s commitment to active teaching and active learning is unshakeable.  While the balanced study of literature and the craft of writing does make its graduates attractive candidates for teaching positions, no one should apply to the program if he/she seeks the degree mainly for employment purposes.  Likewise, while our graduates publish their work widely, no one should apply seeking only an editor for projects in progress.  Our goal is not to supply credentials or technical support but to assist students with their education and their development as writers.

Degree Requirements

The student’s record must indicate the following:.

• Full participation in five residency sessions
• Successful completion of four semester projects, with a minimum accumulation of 60 graduate hours
• Work with at least four different faculty supervisors
• Broad reading in literature and contemporary letters, as demonstrated by a comprehensive bibliography of usually at least 50-60 entries
• The ability to write clear prose, and to articulate cogent response to work by other writers, as demonstrated every semester in brief bibliographical annotations or their approved equivalent
• A substantial analytical essay (30-50 pp.) of intelligence and insight
• A Thesis Manuscript of poetry (30-50 pp.) or fiction (70-100 pp.) of high quality
• An objective assessment of that manuscript by faculty and peers in a one-hour Thesis Interview
• A one-hour graduate class taught to peers during a residency period
• A public reading of his/her work during residency

The MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College

701 Warren Wilson Rd. Swannanoa, NC 28778 [email protected]     (828) 771-3715

STUDENT ACCOUNTS       STUDENT ACCESS       FACULTY ACCESS

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Low-Residency Model

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Residencies

Correspondence quarters.

The low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing has become a relatively commonplace format in American higher education. The nation’s first low-residency MFA program in creative writing was inaugurated at Goddard College in 1976. Since then, more than a dozen other low-residency MFA programs have been launched, some of which are now considered among the finest MFA programs in the nation. While the SPU MFA is logistically modeled upon these prior programs, our approach to content combines their studio approach with a substantive engagement with literary tradition and scholarship.

Each student will choose a specialization in one of four genres— Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, or Spiritual Writing: Open Genre —and complete a thesis under the direction of a faculty mentor.

The heart of the program involves the longstanding relationship between mentor and apprentice. Writing is ultimately a solitary experience, so the rhythm of students sending packets of completed material and receiving detailed feedback from their mentors is both appropriate and highly-effective.

Over the course of two years, students will correspond with their mentors during six academic quarter and attend five residences.  The particular advantage of a low-residency program is that it allows students to maintain their current jobs and locations—and also to continue meeting their various personal obligations where they live. The particular advantage of the SPU MFA program is realized during the two, ten-day intensive residency periods, with a March residency at Camp Casey, a stunning location on Whidbey Island in the north Puget Sound of Washington State, and an August residency on the SPU campus in the lovely Queen Anne district of Seattle, adjacent to the districts of Fremont, Wallingford, and Ballard.

The residency periods are essential to this MFA program. They provide necessary interpersonal contact, the opportunity for extended conversations with mentors and fellow students, experience of face-to-face workshops and craft classes, and an intimate setting for readings, lectures, performances, and daily worship.

Students are required to attend a total of five residencies over the course of two academic years. Each residency lasts ten days. They take place in the months of March and August, allowing for the passage of two academic quarters between residencies. A residency room and board fee covers the cost of your stay.

Residencies are intensive, packing in a great deal into just ten days. Faculty at each residency generally includes all current mentors as well as two or three invited guest speakers, including some of America’s most celebrated writers. Here is a day-to-day look at our 2019 Summer Residency.

2023 Residencies:  

• Thursday, March 16 - Sunday, March 26, 2023 
• Thursday, August 3 - Sunday, August 13, 2023

2024 Residencies: 

• Thursday, March 14 - Sunday, March 24, 2024 
• Thursday, August 1 - Sunday, August 11, 2024

Our March Venue: Camp Casey, Whidbey Island, Washington:

In the 1890s, the newly built Fort Casey on Whidbey Island guarded the entrance to Puget Sound. By 1908, Fort Casey was in full operation and ranked as the fourth largest military post in the state, having a staff of ten officers and 428 men. The big guns at the fort were first fired on September 11, 1901. Today, Camp Casey Conference Center, owned and operated by Seattle Pacific University, offers versatile facilities and beautiful surroundings, making it an ideal location for an intensive 10-day residency.

MFA students have the opportunity to sample the many cultural and recreational possibilities in the area, including regular visits to historic Coupeville, the second-oldest town in the entire state of Washington, with more than 100 buildings listed in the National Historic Register. Coupeville is home to friendly pubs, quaint shops, and fine restaurants. Students will also be able to take a short ferry ride to Port Townsend, a beautiful town with used bookstores, antiques shops, restaurants, and more.

Learn more about Camp Casey.

Discover more about historic Coupeville and central Whidbey Island.

OUR AUGUST VENUE: SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON:

Seattle Pacific University was founded in 1891 by Free Methodist pioneers who valued a non-sectarian approach to education that welcomed all those seeking scholarly accomplishment informed by faith.

Today, skirting the northern slope of metro Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill and bordering the scenic Fremont Canal and the Burke-Gilman Trail, SPU’s campus is both tranquil and energized, an ideal setting for your MFA residency experience. When you are not actively engaged in your residency sessions, you and your MFA family are free to savor the beauties of “the Emerald City.” We are in walking distance of the exhilarating neighborhoods of Queen Anne, Fremont, Ballard, and Wallingford, and steps away from Seattle’s exemplary transit system that will open up the rest of our city—Seattle Center, Pike Place, Capitol Hill, all their cultural riches to your exploration. Discover Queen Anne , Fremont , Ballard , and Wallingford . 

The heart of the low-residency MFA program is comprised of the dialogue between the student and his or her faculty mentor. Each student is expected to correspond on schedule with the mentor, submitting annotations (engaged articulations regarding the books on the student's reading list), new and revised creative work, a short, quarterly critical paper, and eventually, an expanded critical paper and a creative thesis. 

After a student's first residency, they will begin exchanging packets with the following correspondence quarter. 

Quarter Packet Exchange

During the academic quarter, the student will be responsible for generating three packets (at approximately three-week intervals). Each packet will consist of a cover letter, in which the student might share thoughts about the creative challenges he or she is facing, a segment of new or revised creative writing, and annotations of three or four of the books from the student’s reading list. One packet each quarter will include a short critical paper. Mentors will respond with detailed critical comments on the work submitted, pointing out strengths and weaknesses, and suggesting fruitful avenues for further development. The norm for low-residency MFA courses is for students to devote 25 hours per week on their work.

Annotations Reading List & Critical Papers

In close consultation with their faculty mentors, students will formulate a course of reading. Readings will be chosen from two categories: exemplary works from literary tradition and contemporary works that may serve as models and inspiration for students’ immediate creative needs and gifts. Special emphasis will be placed on gaining a deeper understanding of the classic works in the student’s chosen genre. By the end of the two-year program, students will have read 60 books.

Students will write one short critical paper (approximately seven pages in length) per quarter in preparation for their final critical essay (20 pages) due with their graduating work.

The following is a far-from-exhaustive selection of classic literary works from the tradition. Every MFA student in this program will be expected to read several titles from this list:

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Goddard College: The History of a Self-Sufficient, Anti-Fascist Institution

Editor's note: After this story was completed, the author was hired to join Goddard's MFA creative writing department.  

In 1938, before most of the world knew the scope of the atrocities to be committed by Adolf Hitler, a small, idyllic college tucked away in the forests of Vermont was founded. Disturbed by the looming threat of fascism, the college leadership intended to create a truly democratic learning institution through interactive, self-directed education. Eighty-four years later, Goddard College, America’s first “ college for living ,” is still going strong.

A Goddard Design-Build building constructed by students

Goddard was originally founded in 1863 as a seminary, but in the 1930s the school moved to a farm outside of Plainfield, Vermont, and, under the guidance of the progressive educator Tim Pitkin, began a radical experiment in higher education: a self-governing campus in which the lives and experiences of each student were considered part of the curricula. 

Among their credit requirements, students were required to work: They literally built part of the campus by designing and constructing buildings; in time they came to grow their own food; help run the school switchboard; work in the kitchen, the president’s office, and the maintenance shop; found their own food co-op; bake their own bread; and create their own fire department, responsible for fire safety on campus as well as assisting emergency calls in town. The Goddard College Fire Department (GCFD) occupied a separate dormitory and had its own truck — a 1950s Navy-surplus pumper.

“I don’t think we ever slept,” says playwright Darrah Cloud , part of the fire crew, graduated in 1978, now teaching in Goddard’s MFA program. “We were just so excited. The whole campus was ours and we could go learn something at anytime.”

Cloud’s father once asked her why he was paying tuition if she was working at Goddard for free. Her reply? “I can’t tell you — all I know is I can drive an ambulance now.”

The GCFD truck

Goddard students put out a fire.

Pitkin’s idea was that creating a democratic community based in “plain living and hard thinking” would build a new, self-reliant, anti-authoritarian society from the bottom up. There would be no grades, no honor roll. The student would be responsible for their own progress. Goddard admitted students who came from poverty and expected that everyone, regardless of class, would do manual work to maintain the campus itself.

“Radical learner-centered pedagogy: ‘What do you need to learn? How can I help you learn it?’ [It] puts the responsibility to think hard on the learner,” says Lucinda Garthwaite, who served on Goddard staff and faculty through the aughts and later became an academic dean. “And thinking hard is a bulwark against fascism.”

Cloud remembers a bone-chilling winter when the GCFD fought a warehouse blaze: “Ice formed on the hose and on our gloves. We fought the fire all night, working side by side with the county fire department, who were happy to have us there. Then I was up again bright and early to attend a lecture on [French novelist Émile] Zola.”

Goddard has a reputation for academic rigor. Then as now, students work one-on-one with an advisor and in small classes, with just seven students to an instructor, similar to the system used at the University of Oxford. In the 1970s, according to Cloud, a student's advisor could be any adult employed on campus, whether a school groundskeeper or the head of the philosophy department. Today advisors must be faculty members, and, while most students have jobs and professions, work for credit is relegated to a special practicum or service-learning semester. There’s no more Goddard College Fire Department, but students still create their own study plans and help build the curricula.

And Goddard remains the campus that never sleeps.

“The buildings were always open,” says Charles Hale, class of 2009, and now owner of Driver 8 Records in Fort Collins, Colorado. “If you wanted to play the piano or study, rehearse a performance onstage at 3 a.m., or make a bonfire with friends, hunt for ghosts in the Manor House, or start a ski expedition or run that ends at dawn, there’s nothing stopping you.”

A Goddard ISE student works on a printing press.

Goddard student dancers in the 1950s

Goddard students protesting the Vietnam War approach the Vermont Statehouse.

An Institute for Social Ecology student gardens.

Among Goddard’s innovations was establishing an adult degree program (ADP), originally for women who had been denied an education. The concept was created by Evalyn Bates , who graduated in 1943 and worked as an assistant to the school’s founder. She wanted people like her mother to have a chance for an education. Through this program, older people could receive credit for the things they had learned and experienced, such as giving birth, running household finances, working in a factory, or study they’d done independently. Students admitted to the ADP would come to campus for short residency periods, then go back to their work and lives.

“Faculty here not only help us develop our craft but also foreground the social and political contexts of our writing, and create the conditions for risk and vulnerability,” says Suparna Choudhury , a single mother, neuroscientist, and professor of transcultural psychiatry at McGill University; she is currently studying in Goddard’s MFA program under best-selling science writer Richard Panek .

From the school's beginning, Goddard students were also involved in radical actions off campus — many of which counted toward their education. Goddard supported the Civil Rights Movement, opposed the Vietnam War, and rallied for the Equal Rights Amendment and in support of reproductive rights. 

The campus shared land with the environmental group Institute for Social Ecology , founded by anarchist and Goddard professor Murray Bookchin , where students could engage in study and environmental direct action. Goddard also hosted the 1970 Alternative Media Conference , with counterculture icon Jerry Rubin and famous guru Ram Dass , stood against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, helped with rescue and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, and was one of the first colleges in the US to divest from fossil fuels.  

And, unlike many schools and colleges in America, admissions were unrestricted from the beginning for women, students of color, adult learners, and LGBTQ+ students. The current student body comprises about 400 members, studying in 16 different disciplines. The majority are women, and more than 25% are people of color.

A Goddard brochure

“A lot of the professors were considered troublemakers in other places, but on our campus,” says Cloud, “they were celebrated.”

The science fiction author Rachel Pollack , who created DC Comics’ first trans comic book character, taught in Goddard’s MFA writing program for a decade. She recalls a time when the program had only one straight white man on the faculty — and wanted to hire another for “diversity’s sake.” Pollack jokes that Paul Selig, the program director, finally hired a straight white man, only to find out after he arrived on campus that the new hire’s partner was a husband.

Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith , who became an iconic figure in the Civil Rights Movement when he raised his fist in a Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics, received his masters in social work from Goddard College in 1974, while facing a backlash of criticism in American media . Smith said he was able to express himself freely at Goddard and develop his understanding of the impact of racism on all aspects of the human experience. “It was necessary for me…[with] my ideas, my ideals, to go further,” Smith explained in a 2013 interview with Vermont’s NBC affiliate . “I couldn't go into mainstream America and get the degree that I thought was necessary.”

Goddard students and faculty hold an anti-racism protest at Woolworth's in 1960.

Smith is among a long list of artists, revolutionaries, and controversial figures to graduate from Goddard, including memoirist Mary Karr , poet Mark Doty, musician Jon Fishman, and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet , who graduated in 1964, later returned as a writer in residence and founded the St. Nicholas Theater Company while he was on campus. 

Fishman told the school’s alumni magazine, Clockworks , in 2016, “I showed up at the admissions office one day and I said, ‘Look, if I come here, can I lock myself in a room and play drums 12 hours a day for the next three years and get credit for it?’ They said yes.” Soon the earliest incarnation of the band Phish was practicing in Goddard’s Garden House, six hours a day, and Fishman, in addition to founding one of the most famous bands of the 1990s, got a degree in alternative education.

Goddard students dancing in 1960 (Phebe and Sirius)

Black Panther and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal , a member of the black liberation group MOVE , studied at Goddard in the late 1970s, before his arrest for allegedly killing a police officer. Abu-Jamal — whose conviction has long been questioned by Human Rights Watch, the PEN American Center, the NAACP, and Amnesty International — went on to receive his degree while in prison. “In one of the most repressive environments on Earth,” Abu Jamal said during a Goddard commencement address , “Goddard allowed me to study human liberation and anti-colonial struggles.”

In 2002, building on the adult degree program, and the success of the nation’s first low-residency MFA in 1963, Goddard established the first low-residency college in the nation, in which students from different programs occupy the campus on a rolling basis and complete their academic work in close, one-on-one correspondence with their advisors. The structure of the program is now the basis of low-residency programs throughout the world.

Goddard’s reputation as a place for radicals, intellectuals, and revolutionaries has left it unfettered by trends in political dogma. In an era when many campuses are shutting down speech under pressure, Goddard welcomes the chance to engage, to work, to debate, to accept. “The thing about a radical learner-centered pedagogy is that there's no room for rigid ideologies, from the left or the right,” says Garthwaite. “So, when progressive pedagogy becomes a required ‘social justice’ pedagogy, I think there's trouble.”

Owen Thomas, a high school teacher who first became a parent at 18, says he went to Goddard because it was “an institution where curiosity and creativity were placed at the center of life.” Thomas says further, “During residency, I saw not only curiosity and creativity spread across every corner of the campus, I saw community. Faculty and students come together to master their craft in deep connection with the world.”

And in deep connection with one another.

“A unique thing happens when you fully commit to an idea and you’re surrounded by others who make that same commitment,” notes Hale. “There are tight bonds formed that you don’t see in the rest of the world, because you’re committing to yourself and your craft, and you’re committing to better lives for everyone, not to personal accomplishment.”

“Goddard,” says Cloud, “was human above all else.”

Goddard students clean the library windows.

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I wonder is it possible to travel from Vilnius to Kaliningrad on a daytrip? Or would it be better to stay in Kaliningrad for a nigth or two? And if it's possible is it possible to get a Visa on the border to Kaliningrad or should I have fixed that before. (I think I saw something about that you colud get a 48-hours Visa for Kaliningrad if you arrived by boat I think- anyone who knows?) Thank you in advance.

If you can get visa on border then this is only if you enter Kaliningrad district from Poland, but i'm not sure about that. From LT you can't get visa on border.

"As a day trip from Vilnius" - it takes roughly 1 day to get from Vilnius to Kaliningrad city (the bus departs 13:15, arrives 20:35). How much you will stay there is another story.

Yes, to get visa take more time, than you think, especially to Russia. this is all information, use google translator http://www.lithuania.mid.ru/viz_vop.html . the cost is from 90-100 eur. depends on how much you can wait.

the bus tickets is much more cheaper: for example ecolines, very popular in eastern europe, chech there : http://ecolines.net/en/?l=2

Vilnius-kaliningard 20 eur.

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