How to apply

The programme has its stated mission to provide the best education possible for aspiring creative writers and teachers of creative writing. The main criterion for admission is the quality of applicants' creative work, and applicants are advised to send their best work for consideration. Candidates are admitted to specialize in one of three genres: creative non-fiction, fiction or poetry. In exceptional cases, students may be admitted to study in more than one genre, but this will require additional work, and is subject to approval. The programme will accept applications once a year, from January to April of each year for entry into the summer residency of the same year.

To be eligible for admission, applicants must have a Bachelor's degree or equivalent from an accredited university with a minimum CGPA of 3.0 or equivalent*. Applicants also must submit the following as supplementary materials:

1. A sample of creative work consisting of 25 pages of creative non-fiction or fiction, or 10 pages of poetry.**
2. A personal essay of 3 to 5 pages on the applicant's desire to be a writer and creative philosophy.
3. A critical essay of 3 -5 pages on some aspect of writing craft.**
4. Two letters of recommendation, ideally from teachers, editors or established writers familiar with the candidate's writing ability. The letters of recommendation should ideally be uploaded together with the rest of the supplementary application materials, and include the name, contact information and affiliation of the recommender. If your recommender would prefer to send a letter or email directly to the department, please ask her or him to include your name and application ID number and send it either by mail to: Department of English, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Ave., Kowloon, Hong Kong, attn: MFA applications OR by email to mfawriting@cityu.edu.hk. However we strongly urge all applicants to upload the recommendation letters together with the rest of your application materials.

Applicants without the specified qualifications may still be considered for admission to the programme, if they are able to present equivalent qualifications and artistic credentials. All applicants must have a demonstrated capacity to pursue and complete the programme within the specified time span.

* Applicants whose entrance qualification is obtained from an institution where the medium of instruction is not English should also fulfill the following minimum English proficiency requirement:

• TOEFL score 550 (paper-based test) or 213 (computer-based test) or 79 (internet-based test); or
• Overall band 6 in International English Language Testing System (IELTS); or
• Score 450 in the new College English Test (CET-6) of Chinese mainland or a pass in the old CET-6 test; or
• Other equivalent qualifications.

** Page submissions for supplementary materials should be standard manuscript pages, i.e.: A-4 or letter-size, double spaced, 12 point font, with at least 1" margins on all sides. The only exception is poetry submissions which may be single spaced in the format required for the poems.

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