2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
There are about 21,191 students enrolled in Creative Writing in the USA.
Menu: summary
popularity
Above Average
Compared to national avg.
Diplomas received last year
7,117
Vs. National Avg.
-55%
popularity Rank
#119
cost
Average
Compared to national avg.
Median degree cost
$31K
Vs. National Avg.
27%
cost Rank
#131
salary
Average
Compared to national avg.
Average Salary Two Years Out of School
$43K
Vs. National Avg.
8%
salary Rank
#169
professors
Average
Compared to national avg.
Professor Rating
C+
Vs. National Avg.
6%
professors Rank
#176
students
Average
Compared to national avg.
Diversity Rating
B-
Vs. National Avg.
6%
students Rank
#123
SUMMARY
Choosing to study Creative Writing is not only a valuable choice, but generally a requisite first step for students trying to enter a career as a creative content writer, a novel author, or a children's book author. Interestingly, creative writing is fairly common coming in at the 110th most popular area of study. Last academic year alone, there were 3,226 creative writing graduates. In-state tuition for creative writing at private colleges is, on average, 4.3 times more costly than their public counterparts.
There are 256 schools which offer creative writing. 256 institutions is fairly average in terms of the number of institutions which offer each degree. If you're looking to immerse yourself with other creative writing undergrads, consider colleges in New Hampshire which have more students admitted to creative writing than any other state. less precisely, the top region to pursue creative writing is in the New England region with Emerson College, Southern New Hampshire University, and Brown University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick of the best conference to study creative writing is the Northeast 10 Conference with Southern New Hampshire University representing the conference. That being said, our choice for the best school for creative writing is Johns Hopkins University. You may also want to check out our list of best colleges.
The objectively best school might not actually be the best school for every student. There can be many more perspectives to weigh when choosing college. Stuff like campus amenities, transportation services, and food might sway one's feelings on where to go to college. At Authority, we've weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you want to know which creative writing school has the top campus, the answer is Columbia University in the City of New York. If you are primarily interested in which university has the best campus, we have a whole page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, professor reviews, government databases, and more in order to evaluate each major in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our comprehensive list for the colleges with the best student life here and our choice for the college with the best student life for creative writing is University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Are you curious why? Continue reading to find out more about Authority's top choices. Many of our picks might surprise you.
If expense is a primary factor in your decisions, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York appears to be the most expensive college for creative writing, at least regarding out of state students. That being said, we have an entire page for the most expensive colleges that could put the price tag at Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. Additionally, you could want to know that creative writing is the 41st most expensive major in the nation, with an average cost of $50,600. On a broader scale, the most costly state for creative writing in the nation is Colorado with tuition and fees at the primary university, Colorado College, of $57,612. To zoom out even further, the most expensive region for creative writing is the Far West region which is best demonstrated with Chapman University with a cost of $54,540, Pepperdine University with a cost of $55,640, and University of Southern California with a cost of $57,256.
Our cheapest region for creative writing is the Southwest region which is represented by University of Central Oklahoma with a cost of $17,573, Stephen F Austin State University with a cost of $16,224, and The University of Texas at El Paso with a cost of $22,556. More optimistically, the most affordable college for creative writing is University of Cincinnati-Main Campus. Authority's entire list of the most affordable colleges can be found here.
In-state attendees can anticipate paying around $10,500 for a degree in creative writing. The price swells significantly to a median of $23,300 for the out-of-state public-school student. As such, you might be interested in our pick for the college constituting the best value for creative writing: Columbia University in the City of New York. Through this link you will see our comprehensive list for the colleges we believe to be the best value overall. With that said, this discussion is based on the assumption that you are an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition is considered, but we do not know in which states any one student has residency.
Earnings for creative writing students can differ, but two years after graduation graduates will often earn around $48,000. While there can be a lot of variation in pay; top earners can enjoy pay up to $80,900. Right out of school, the lowest earning positions within the creative writing field earn $28,100, which is an alright wage. The highest earning grads for creative writing come from Carnegie Mellon University and if you want to find the universities with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.
The general diversity of creative writing ranks subpar, ranking in the 27th percentile of majors nationally. The school with the highest composite diversity for creative writing is Carnegie Mellon University and here you can find our comprehensive list for the schools with the most diversity. The financial diversity of Creative Writing ranks only in the 23rd percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is even less in the 23rd percentile. White collegians make up the largest proportion, 74%, of those majoring in creative writing. Additionally, 70% of scholars pursuing a creative writing major are women.
The median ranking of creative writing's professors is 4.3 stars, a ranking which is 8% better than the median score for all majors; which is a fairly good score. If you want to find the most popular creative writing instructor in the nation, take a look at Kate Bligh from Concordia University-Chicago. This might be surprising, but the highest rated instructors of creative writing by student come from San Francisco State University. As we incorporate data other than just rankings it becomes clear that the school with comprehensively the best instructors for creative writing is Johns Hopkins University. One will find more detail on our evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as many of the best professors in the country.
Finally, the hardest school to get into for creative writing is Hampshire College. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we have a general list of the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we hope you believe that looking at college from examples primarily formed from superlatives could cause issues. We at Authority hope you read our more nuanced pages on different universities and read a few of our background articles on beneficial details to look out for as your school search develops.
Top 25 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
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#2 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL | www.northwestern.edu/
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#3 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA | web.mit.edu/
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#5 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA | www.upenn.edu/
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#6 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY | www.columbia.edu/
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#9 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI | https://umich.edu/
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#10 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX | https://www.utexas.edu/
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#11 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO | www.wustl.edu/
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#13 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA | www.usc.edu/
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#14 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Haverford College
Haverford, PA | https://www.haverford.edu/
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#16 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
University Park, PA |
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#21 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX | https://www.smu.edu/
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#23 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA | www.washington.edu/
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#24 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY | https://www.rochester.edu/
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#25 2024 Best Colleges for Creative Writing
Purdue University-Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN | https://www.purdue.edu/