Creative Writing

Gain practical writing skills and the confidence to engage your wildest imagination when you major in creative writing. Encouraged by your professors and peers in small classes, you'll create original works of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama.

Your creative writing education begins by reading the best of classic and contemporary literature. As you discuss readings in class, you'll learn fundamental writing techniques that will form the basis of all you create. You'll receive constant feedback in peer-review sessions and support from one-on-one conferences with professors, not to mention workshops with distinguished visiting writers like George Saunders and Kim Addonizio.

Apply what you've learned in the classroom to meaningful projects by completing a praxis course working with local publishers or facilitating a community writing workshop. No matter what you want to create, a creative writing degree will help you make it.

In order to be accepted into either an undergraduate or graduate program, you must fulfill the English language proficiency requirements, unless you are from a TOEFL-exempt country. If you have successfully completed an English proficiency program and received a certificate of advanced-level completion, you are exempt from the English language proficiency requirement. This exemption excludes School of Nursing applicants.*

• Complete your free online application (If you are attending a secondary school, or if you have taken fewer than 12 credits at a college or university, complete the freshman application. If you have attempted at least 12 credits at a college or university, complete the transfer application.)
• Submit your official transcripts from all high school and college/university institutions you have attended. A course-by-course credential evaluation completed by a NACES certified organization will be accepted if the transcript is not in the English language.
• Testing requirements: 
  For the 2021 application cycle, Widener University has implemented an SAT/ACT-optional admission policy for domestic students. The testing policy for international students is best described as "test flexible" rather than "test optional". If an applicant does not have SAT/ACT scores, the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test scores will be required of all international applicants, with the exception of:
  • First-year applicants who have completed two or more years of high school in the United States or who have completed an English language-based curriculum (IB and A-Levels)
  • Transfer applicants who have completed two years of university-level English coursework in the United States
  • Applicants who have completed an approved ESL course in the United States at the Advanced Level
  • Applicants who come from one of the US Government English proficiency test-exempt countries (see English Proficiency tab for list)
• Fulfill the English Proficiency requirements (see tab for more details and a list of country exemptions)
• Additional program-specific requirements apply for students seeking admission into an engineering or nursing program.