Creative Writing Concentration

The Literature faculty welcomes an application for the Creative Writing concentration of the Literature major from any currently enrolled student at UC Santa Cruz. Students are encouraged to apply at the end of the sophomore year or during the junior year, and to complete both introductory and intermediate creative writing courses at UCSC before applying to the concentration. Students are required to take only one creative writing course at UCSC before applying to the concentration. 

Applications are due the second Friday of instruction in fall, winter, and spring quarters, and must be submitted via this application form by 3:00 p.m. on that day. Writing sample should be titled (your name and which concentration fiction or poetry):

LastName_FirstName_Concentration.pdf

For assistance with file submission, please reach out to litdept@ucsc.edu a minimum of 1 business day before the application deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTES: The Creative Writing concentration requires a substantial amount of reading as well as writing. Please apply only if you are committed to reading as well as writing. Submissions containing gratuitous violence, unnecessarily gruesome violence, and/or stories which appear to rely on violence to create narrative tension are unlikely to be accepted for the creative writing concentration.

The application form will ask for the following, in this order:

1. Student information, including:
   • Name
   • Student identification number
   • Email address
   • Present class standing, e.g. frosh, sophomore, junior, junior transfer, senior
   • Anticipated quarter of graduation
   • Concentration to which you’re applying: Fiction or Poetry
   • Creative writing courses you’ve taken at UCSC or elsewhere, including course title, quarter, and instructor’s name

2. In 125 words or less total, reply to the following prompt:

• Describe your childhood kitchen

3. Submit Writing Sample: up to ten pages of poetry or five to seven pages (1,250 to 1,750 words) of fiction.

• Writing samples must:
  • be typed using a 12-point font, and fiction must be double spaced.
  • be submitted in .pdf format using the file name format: LastName_FirstName_Concentration.pdf
  • For assistance with file formats, please reach out to litdept@ucsc.edu a minimum of 1 business day before the application deadline.

Additionally, you must ask for an evaluation from all Creative Writing instructors you’ve had at UCSC. Email your request to your instructors; they will upload evaluations to a confidential site used by the portfolio review committee. (Students will not receive copies of these evaluations.)

Students applying to both the fiction and poetry concentrations must submit two separate applications. Students may apply to both fiction and poetry; however, if accepted into Creative Writing, they will be accepted into fiction or poetry due to space constraints.

All students applying to the Creative Writing concentration of the Literature major will be notified of their application status by email on the Monday following the Friday that falls one week after the application deadline. Students accepted into the Creative Writing concentration and who have completed LIT 1 or its transfer equivalent are encouraged to immediately declare the Creative Writing concentration in order to be able to enroll in advanced Creative Writing courses. 

Applications must be submitted using this application form.

Please contact the Literature Department (litdept@ucsc.edu) for additional information.