University of Massachusetts, Amherst

MFA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
1964
Location: 
Amherst, MA
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Residency: 
Full
Duration: 
3 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
20
Application Deadline: 
December 15, 2022
Application Fee: 
$85
Website: 
http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/
Contact E-mail: 
mfapoetsandwriters@hfa.umass.edu
Contact Name: 
Francis Lo
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Abigail Chabitnoy, Peter Gizzi
Prose: Noy Holland, Edie Meidav, Sabina Murray, Jeff Parker

Visiting faculty for 2022-23 are CA Conrad and Hoa Nguyen.

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers partial funding through teaching associateships, which include a full tuition waiver, health benefits, and a stipend of approximately $24,000. Some students receive non-working Rose Fellowships or MFA Fellowships, which carry stipends of approximately $26,000. Since 2019, 100 percent of matriculated students have received either associateships or fellowships for the duration of the three-year program. Paid internship opportunities are also available.

Affiliated Publications/Publishers: 

Massachusetts Review, Paperbark Literary Magazine, University of Massachusetts Press

Other Features: 

The program hosts a visiting writers series, the Writers Work career forum series, the Juniper Literary Festival, and the Juniper Summer Writing Institute, in which students have the opportunity to participate as instructors at the Juniper Institute for Young Writers and Juniper Young Writers Online teen programs.

Graduates: 

Callum Angus, Mira Bartok, Gabriel Bump, Madeline ffitch, Rachel B. Glaser, Nathan Hill, Jeannie Hoag, Joy Ladin, Dorothea Lasky, Andrea Lawlor, Okey Ndibe, Lisa Olstein, Seth Parker, Greg Purcell, Lev Raphael, Andrew Michael Roberts, Karen Skolfield, Natasha Trethewey, Arisa White, Wendy Xu, Jung Yun, Matthew Zapruder, Leni Zumas