University of Wisconsin-Madison

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
Two-year program (42 credits)
(Admits genres in alternating years: poetry only 2017; and fiction only 2018)

Funding: All accepted MFA candidates regardless of residency or nationality receive tuition remissions (i.e., free tuition), teaching assistantships, generous health insurance (the same as faculty) and other financial support. In addition to the approximately $12,500 paid to each MFA annually in exchange for teaching, every MFA candidate will receive another $9,500 in scholarships each year (paid out in early September, early February, and late May), for an annual total of $22,000.

Faculty: Amy Quan Barry, Sean Bishop, Danielle Evans, Amaud Jamaul Johnson, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Ron Kuka, Judith Claire Mitchell, Ronald Wallace, Lynda Barry, Anne McClintock, Rob Nixon

Application (Deadline Dec. 15):

• Manuscript: up to 10 single-spaced pages with each new poem on a separate page for poetry
• Personal statement: approximately 500 words explaining reasons for pursuing this graduate degree
• Three letters of recommendation
• Official transcripts with undergraduate GPA minimum of 3.00
• $75 application fee

Admission rate: “We admit poets and fiction writers in alternating years . . . we’ve just admitted our newest class of 6 poets, who were selected from about 300 applications. The year before was a fiction year, and we received about 650 applications for our 6 spots. These numbers have been pretty consistent over the past several years and seem to suggest that if we admitted poets and fiction writers in the same year we’d be receiving about 900 applications per year for 12 spots.” -Judith Claire Mitchell, MFA Director [May 6, 2015]

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