Good Colleges For Writers

Hey! I'm trying to find some of the best colleges for people who want writing degrees! I've been doing a lot of research, but alas, I have failed. So now I'm throwing this to you guys. Any suggestions?

If you post a college, make sure to put it's name, and it's location if you can. Also, maybe you have a link to it's site, or a blurb about it, or whatnot. Any information could help a lot of people!

~Bella~

Just a little snippet of information I've picked up...somewhere...

The University of Maine is where Stephen King went to College. So I guess it could be considered good for writers, since one of the most successful writers out there today went there...

Sorry, I don't know really much about it. *blushes*

-May

I, too, am slowly being buried alive by the college search process.

Sarah Lawrence College (which is near NYC, I believe) is known for its writing program. I don't know much about it, but its website is probably something along the lines of sarahlawrence.edu. Basically if you want to see any college's website, write the name of the school and put ".edu" after it.

Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio - kenyon.edu) is one that I'm interested in. It's a gorgeous small liberal arts college that's known for encouraging writers. It doesn't have a creative writing degree, but like many liberal arts colleges it allows you to fulfill an English degree by taking creative writing classes. It also offers the opportunity to intern at the Kenyon Review (kenyonreview.org), a nationally recognized literary magazine.

Erm, yes, so both of those were small, expensive liberal arts colleges, which are for the most part what I'm interested in. You'll get a lot of different opinions on what makes a good writing college, but consider the college itself, too, and how good of a match it is for you! You don't necessarily have to go to a college known for its writing program to have a good experience. Also, look up where some of your favorite writers attended college, if they went, and how they were influenced by the college experience if you can find information on that.

EDIT: And don't be afraid of more expensive schools...lots of places have great financial aid programs, so look those up too!

Also see what sort of opportunities colleges have for writers, like the Kenyon Review internships. At Swarthmore, which I recently visited, they have a "Writing Associates" program where, if you're selected, you help other people with writing papers and stuff. On a college website you might look for their English department page or search "writing."

Best of luck! Let me know how your college search goes.
-Colleen

University of Houston boasts a pretty strong writing program.

In all honesty, though, where you go to college doesn't affect how good a writer you are. You won't learn it from other people; just from doing it yourself. So don't put too much weight in where you get your degree.

Also, something that an author I met once said, when I was telling him about my creative writing class, said that the last thing you want to study is writing because you have to know stuff. Go to school and study something that will help you get a career that will pay the bills until you can make it full time as a writer.

Rei, you said the exact same thing that I was thinking. I'm not planning on getting a degree in creative writing, instead in computer engineering, because I want something that I can do if I don't become a successful writer.

I don't think that having someone teach you will really help you become a better writer. It's already in you...

Maybe it'll help you get published if you show your publisher your degree.

I don't know...

Just my opinion...

Teh Wozzinator

I disagree...you shouldn't go into something else just to pay the bills, especially if you're not going to like it.

I mean, as much as I like writing, I also like having a roof over my head, so I'm unlikely to go into it. But I'd still like to go to a college where I could get great instruction in the art and in the study of literature, because it's what I love. Studying English or writing doesn't just mean you'll end up a starving artist writing novels on napkins. You could become an editor, literary agent, teacher/professor, journalist, technical writer, screenwriter...the list goes on and on. I think there's this misconception about college today that you have to have a career in mind when you go there, and that the only reason to study something in college is to get a job in that field.

A small thing to note about Cade's comment, which I mostly agree with--to be a literary agent (or considered a serious one, at any rate) you must often go to law school or have some form of post-graduate training in business administration and legal affairs.

Well, I do want to become a computer engineer... mostly programming and robots and things... but I also want to become a writer. So I have a career choice that I like... and if I become a successful writer, I have a career that I love.

It's funny, I had a very similar conversation the other day.

Arizona State University has an amazing journalism programme. Specifically speaking, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism is a great destination for aspiring journalists. Not to mention ASU has a great all-around liberal arts programme, which is what writing is a part of.

Er... I haven't really looked into any other schools at this point. I just know about ASU. And they have good engineering programmes, for those who aren't interested in writing degrees.

Maroon & gold for the win!

Er, ASU is basically all over Arizona. The main campus is down in Tempe, there's a campus in Downtown Phoenix, there's a campus in Glendale, and there's a Polytech campus that I dunno where it is. I'm sure you could look all of that up at www.asu.edu

-:pirate3:

You're totally right, Cade. Study what you're interested in. You shouldn't be stuck with a job you don't like. If you can avoid it. However, being finished with school, I have a somewhat different perspective on that. I know what it's like to be afraid of being evicted because rent isn't paid and being the one responsible for getting the money to pay that rent.

I'm attending Truman State University (Kirksville, Missouri), and I love it here. I am majoring in English, with my focus on composition (writing) and Truman has both a really great English program and (generally ) really great professors who help you out. While I agree that the talent for writing does have to be there first, I don't think that studying writing is a bad idea at all--how are you going to improve unless you're writing on a regular basis and having that writing critiqued and improved upon by people (even better: professionals) who really know what they're doing? Why else are you on YWS, for example?

I've come to terms with the fact tat I'm probably not going to make a lot of money at what I do, as well as the fact that I'm probably going to have to compliment my income somehow. But, to be honest, any college degree is going to get you points at a job, and my English degree could help me, for example, get a job at a publishing house or literary magazine where I could still be doing while I love.

website: www.truman.edu

Cade wrote:I, too, am slowly being buried alive by the college search process.

Sarah Lawrence College (which is near NYC, I believe) is known for its writing program. I don't know much about it, but its website is probably something along the lines of sarahlawrence.edu. Basically if you want to see any college's website, write the name of the school and put ".edu" after it.

Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio - kenyon.edu) is one that I'm interested in. It's a gorgeous small liberal arts college that's known for encouraging writers. It doesn't have a creative writing degree, but like many liberal arts colleges it allows you to fulfill an English degree by taking creative writing classes. It also offers the opportunity to intern at the Kenyon Review (kenyonreview.org), a nationally recognized literary magazine.

I grew up in Gambier! Kenyon College IS a nice little place, basically the entire town is the college, a few college-esque restaurants, a small grocery store (for collegians) and a book shop =P.

Then I moved to Kansas City, and now I'm thinking about going BACK.

I don't know any colleges, but I do know that you can buy books (I know of one, but I forgot the title) that have a lot of information on colleges. It might help to look at these.

Well, I do want to become a computer engineer... mostly programming and robots and things... but I also want to become a writer. So I have a career choice that I like... and if I become a successful writer, I have a career that I love.

Yeah, as much as I'd love to only study about writing, I still have to be smart - which is why I'm probably going to go to college for a good paying job and be able to write on the side.

Also, for those people who don't think they need to go to college and that they can live off the money they earn from writing, I have some really bad news, but I don't think that Micky D's will really help much when you need to pay the bills and you're not making it big like you thought you would.