University of Virginia

MFA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
1981
Location: 
Charlottesville, VA
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction
Residency: 
Full
Duration: 
3 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
10
Application Deadline: 
December 15, 2023
Application Fee: 
$85
Contact Name: 
Jeb Livingood
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Rita Dove, Debra Nystrom, Kiki Petrosino, Lisa Russ Spaar, Brian Teare
Fiction: Rahib Alameddine, Jane Alison, Jeb Livingood, Micheline Marcom

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers full funding. All admitted students receive up to $30,000 in fellowships or wages each academic year in the standard three-year program. There is an option to graduate after two years. First-year students have no teaching obligations in their fall term but teach one creative writing course in the spring. Second-year students teach one section of intro poetry or fiction writing each term. Third-year students teach two courses per term, primarily composition.

Affiliated Publications/Publishers: 
Other Features: 

The program hosts the Kapnick Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Program and the Rea Writer Series, which includes visits and one-on-one conferences with notable writers. The program also awards the $15,000 Henfield Prize, given for the best work of fiction written by a student in the program.

Students are not required to take the GREs for admission.

Graduates: 

Adam Giannelli, Chad Harbach, Eleanor Henderson, Greg Jackson, Erika Meitner, Thomas Pierce, Hannah Pittard, Safiya Sinclair, Austin Smith