Accent Masterclass I Matthew Zapruder: Creative Writing MFA Application Info Session
Thinking about applying to a creative writing MFA but not sure where to start? This session is led by someone who has sat on both sides of the table: a poet, editor and professor who has served as an MFA program director and headed several admissions committees.
Poet and professor Matthew Zapruder will walk you through BFA and MFA programs in creative writing: what they are, what they do, how to decide where to apply, how to structure your application, and what questions to ask once you are accepted.
What we’ll cover
BFA vs. MFA: what’s the difference, and what does each offer?
Full residency or low residency: which fits your life and your writing?
Writing sample, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation: what are admissions committees looking for?
Funding: what kinds of support programs offer, and how to pursue a fully funded offer. How are international students best supported?
Once you’re admitted: the questions to ask a program before you say yes.
Professor Zapruder brings many years of experience teaching in several MFA programs in creative writing. He will share tips and strategies that can save you time and give you the greatest chance of a successful outcome. There will be plenty of time for questions, and participants will be directed to helpful resources.
Why an MFA?
Two to three years of dedicated writing time: many programs cover tuition and provide a living stipend through fellowships or teaching assistantships.
A community that reads your work closely: in weekly workshops, faculty and peers respond to your writing in detail.
Teaching experience: many programs give graduate students the chance to teach undergraduate writing courses.
A way into the literary world: readings, residencies, internships at magazines and presses, and a network of mentors and peers.
A finished manuscript: many writers’ first books grew out of their MFA thesis.
Who should attend
Poets, fiction writers and nonfiction writers planning to apply to a BFA or MFA this cycle or in the next few years
Anyone weighing full-residency against low-residency programs
Applicants who want to understand funding and aim for a fully funded program
International applicants, including writers working in a second language
Anyone curious about how creative writing programs in the U.S. work
About Matthew Zapruder
Matthew Zapruder is a poet, editor, translator and professor, and a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. He is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently I Love Hearing Your Dreams (Scribner, 2024), as well as the chapbook How to Continue (The Economy Press, 2025) and two books of prose, Why Poetry (Ecco, 2017) and Story of a Poem (Unnamed Press, 2023). His second collection, The Pajamaist, was selected by Tony Hoagland for the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and his honors also include the May Sarton Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
With Brian Henry, he co-founded Verse Press, which later became Wave Books, where he is editor at large and edits contemporary poetry, prose and translations; he was the editor of Tyehimba Jess’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Olio. From 2016 to 2017 he was Editor of the Poetry Column for The New York Times Magazine, and he was the guest editor of The Best American Poetry 2022. He has taught at New York University, The New School, the University of Houston and UC Berkeley, and teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing at Saint Mary’s College of California. He also plays lead guitar in the band The Figments. You can find him on Substack or at matthewzapruder.com.
Good to know
Some fully funded programs have early deadlines: Cornell University’s MFA and the Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin both close on December 1. Most other programs’ deadlines fall between mid-December and mid-January.
Under the Council of Graduate Schools’ April 15 Resolution, participating schools cannot require you to accept an offer of financial support before April 15.
Stipend amounts change every year; please check each program’s official website.