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A. Foremost, we require a portfolio of your creative work. If you are applying in poetry, you should submit approximately fifteen poems. If you are applying in fiction, you should submit two to three short stories that total no more than thirty pages, or thirty pages of a novel. Note that application materials will not be returned or critiqued.

We require three copies of your creative portfolio for admission consideration. Your creative portfolio will be reviewed by our graduate MFA faculty. Its assessment of your work determines your admission to the program. Response time is generally six to eight weeks.

The deadline for fall admission is January 15th, for spring November 1st.

If you are interested in ADMISSION ONLY to the program, please send your portfolio along with three letters of recommendation that address your ability as a writer to the attention of Tom Grimes.

B. If you are interested in a Teaching Assistantship, please send your portfolio, three letters of recommendation, your applications for a teaching assistantship, and copies of your transcripts. Please make sure that you send all materials listed on the departmental teaching assistantship form. This material must be postmarked by January 15th and mailed with your portfolio to Tom Grimes.

No special forms need accompany letters of recommendation. But, if you are applying for a Teaching Assistantship, please have your letter writers address your potential as a teacher, as well as your potential as a writer and student.

For a Teaching Assistantship, include a 500 word Statement of Purpose explaining your desire to teach and your qualifications for doing so. The TA Committee considers this statement extremely important. Please stress your talents for working in the classroom and for teaching literature.

C. At the time you submit your portfolio, you must also file a separate application with the Texas State Graduate College.

You also need to have your degree-granting institutions send one official copy of your transcript directly to the Graduate College, along with a $40.00 application fee (please make checks payable to Texas State University). The MFA Program can not evaluate your portfolio until we receive confirmation of your application to the Graduate College. Effective for Fall 2007, the GRE/GMAT will no longer be a Graduate College requirement for admission to the MFA Program in Creative Writing. 

Scholarships: January 15th applicants will automatically be considered for the W. Morgan and Lou Claire Rose Fellowship. This fellowship awards $37,500 to an incoming MFA student. The $37,500 is spread over three years and may be complemented by a teaching assistantship if you choose to apply and are successful in obtaining one. The assistantship's salary will be added to the fellowship.

You will also be considered for all other MFA scholarships - the McCormick, the Mosley, the Peterson.

D. Application Checklist

To insure that we receive all application material - your portfolio, your teaching assistantship application, your Graduate School application, your transcripts and application fee - please fill out and enclose with your MFA application material the enclosed Application Checklist. Then mail your portfolio, your teaching application, your letters of recommendation, and copies of your transcripts to:

Tom Grimes, MFA Director
Department of English
Texas State University
601 University Drive
San Marcos, TX 78666

Send the Graduate School application, official transcripts, and application fee to:

The Graduate School
 Texas State University
601 University Drive
San Marcos, TX 78666