Low-residency MFAs are hybrid programs that allow for flexibility while earning your degree. Most programs consist of week-long residencies that take place in-person on the university’s campus and happen a few times a year. During these residencies, you’ll meet your professors, attend intensive seminars and workshops, and write alongside your cohort. When you aren’t meeting in-person, you’re writing from home towards deadlines set by a mentor or writing instructor, who may then meet with you virtually or send you a “packet” with feedback on your piece. Some low-res programs have you take online courses in between residencies, too, either synchronous or asynchronous, to round out your degree.
Because you only meet in-person a few times, attending a low-residency program means that you can still work full-time, raise a family, and live where you’re comfortable while earning your MFA—plus, you get to take a planned vacation from home life once or twice a year and talk about writing with likeminded people. Low-residency programs often accept less students than traditional MFAs, too, so you’ll have more individualized attention given to your manuscript by your mentor. And the hybrid structure of a low-res program forces you to incorporate your writing into your already busy schedule, which helps you create a writing routine that you can stick with after you receive your degree.
Have we sold you on low-residency programs? If so, here’s a list of low-res MFAs from all over the world (and their upcoming deadlines) that we think you should check out!
Low-Residency MFA Partner Programs
Find our full list of MFA Partners here.
Deadline: March 1
- Two year program focused in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and writing for children and young adults
- Offers five 10-day residencies that include workshops, seminars, readings, and more, “in which [you] explore the wide landscape of the writing life from practical advice to the subtleties of conceptual nuance”
- Mentors meet with students during residencies and also provide written feedback throughout the semester
Deadline: November 1
- One of only three faith-based low-residency MFA programs in the U.S.
- Offers five intensive 10-day residencies that take place in January and July/August in Spokane, Washington
- Personalized mentorship, reading, and writing will be completed over two years
Deadline: November 1
- Offers four 1-week residencies in New York City that take place in June and January, where you’ll attend on-campus classes, readings, and lectures led by exceptional faculty
- Independently, you’ll receive individualized monthly feedback from your workshop instructors and attend virtual discussion-based classes
- Takes two years to complete
Deadline: August 1
- Has concentrations in nature writing, genre fiction, poetry, publishing, and screenwriting
- Community-based format with live, synchronous online classes and workshops to “ensure you feel connected to a supportive literary home from your very first day”
- Summer residencies take place in the Colorado Rockies
Deadline: March 2
- Two year program with summer residencies in Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Emphasizes collaboration between writing and the visual arts by empowering you “to craft compelling narratives that resonate across print, digital, and emerging media”
- Prioritizes professional development to ensure you land a job post-MFA
Deadline: September 2
- The first low-residency MFA Program in the United States and the world
- Has the opportunity to work with at least four different faculty supervisors over the course of the program so that “no single aesthetic can dominate”
- Offers 10-day residencies in January and July that take place in Asheville, North Carolina
Low-Res Programs Around the World
Deadline: December 1
- Offers concentrations in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, spoken word, playwriting, screenwriting, writing for TV, or publishing
- Each thesis is evaluated by a working agent, editor, publisher, or producer
- Has week-long residencies that are “intense, motivating and rewarding”
Deadline: February 1
- Has the choice to complete the program in either two or three years
- Offers four 10-day residencies which take place in the Pacific Northwest
- Faculty includes acclaimed writers, such as Kelli Russell Agodon, Rick Barot, Barrie Jean Borich, and others
Deadline: June 26
- Offers an MFA in nonfiction only
- Winter residency meets in New York City, where you learn about the publishing world, meet agents and editors, and pitch your projects
- Faculty specializes in personal essay, literary journalism, memoir, lyric essay, biography, flash nonfiction, and genre hybrids
Deadline: August 1
- First grad program offered by an American college that includes residencies which take place exclusively in Europe
- Offers concentrations in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, travel writing, screenwriting, or dual-genre
- Residencies in Dublin, Barcelona, and Vienna are designed to inspire writing with a sense of place
Institute of American Indian Arts
Deadline: February 1
- Emphasizes the importance of Native writers and voicing the Native experience, but open to writers of all backgrounds
- Mentors include Native and non-Native writers who have won Lannan Literary Awards, Whiting Awards, the National Book Award, among others
- Week-long residencies happen twice a year in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Deadline: August 1
- Summer residencies can take place in both Kentucky and Portugal
- Offers publishing internships with the Appalachian Book Company, Jelly Bucket, Martin Sisters Publishing, and more
- Alumni have been finalists for or won several notable awards, such as The Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction, The Fulbright Scholars Program, The PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction, among others
Deadline: November 30
- Strong literature-based program
- Has 10-day residencies in England and Venice
- Students and alumni can compete to publish their manuscript with Running Wild Press
Deadline: November 30
- Offers concentrations in poetry, fiction, playwriting, prose poetry, screenwriting and graphic novels
- Honors Indigenous storytelling traditions during summer residencies
- Takes two years to complete
Deadline: October 1
- The only low-residency program in South Carolina
- Offers the opportunity to study a second genre during the program
- Have the flexibility to take up to 5 years to complete your degree
NYU’s MFA Writers Workshop in Paris
Deadline: September 1
- Offers five 10-day intensive residencies in Paris
- Mentorships done by a different professor each term according to your interests
- Faculty and visiting writers include internationally-acclaimed authors, such as Hala Alyan, Kevin Young, Maggie Nelson, among others
Deadline: September 1
- Has concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for young people, writing for the screen, and playwriting
- Offers the opportunity to work for the literary magazine, Lunch Ticket
- Devoted to community engagement and social justice, specifically through a Field Study course where students work in service of their local communities
Deadline: November 1
- Offers concentrations in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, or young adult
- Has many fellowships and grants to help fund your MFA
- Takes two years to complete
Deadline: Rolling
- Takes two years to complete
- Offers career concentrations that allow students to better prepare for jobs in teaching, translation, and publishing
- Can work for Howling Bird Press to gain publishing experience
Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing
Deadline: September 1
- Dedicated to inclusivity and social justice through the Writing for Inclusivity and Social Equity (WISE) initiative
- Offers the opportunity to work for the literary journal, Stonecoast Review
- Biannual residencies take place on the Maine coast
Deadline: February 1
- Has an open-genre focus, where you can study a mix of poetry, fiction, memoir, playwriting, hybrid forms, or something entirely your own
- Based in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, the program has a long tradition of literary activism
- Provides professional development through writing pedagogy and author branding courses
Deadline: September 1
- Offers concentrations in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or dual genre
- Has a full-immersion teaching fellowship for MFA students
- Committed to inclusion and equity, as seen through the World Lit Café, where students come together to read and discuss global works
Deadline: May 1
- Takes two years to complete
- Offers a specialized concentration in Landscape, Ecology, and Community
- Partners with the Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers during summer residencies
Deadline: September 1
- Has access to optional writing retreats in the Pocono Mountains, the Veneto region in Italy, or in the Mediterranean coast of southern France
- The final residency takes place in NYC and has the opportunity to meet and pitch agents, editors, and other publishing professionals
- Faculty includes award-winning writers such as Sadeqa Johnson, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jason Rekulak, and Heather Webb
Solstice MFA In Creative Writing
Deadline: October 12
- Offers concentrations in fiction (both literary & genre), creative nonfiction, poetry, comics & graphic narratives, and writing for young people
- Has pedagogy and social justice writing tracks for students interested in teaching or using their writing for activism
- Can intern with Solstice Literary Magazine while studying
Deadline: October 1
- Offers the opportunity to study prose and poetry in the “expanded field,” allowing for a mixed media approach to your writing
- Partners with Burrow Press and the Burrow Press Review to help students learn about publishing
- Biannual residencies take place at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, a prize-winning ecological preserve
Queens University of Charlotte
Deadline: August 15
- Offers the opportunity to work with the literary magazine, Qu, or with the Southern Review of Books
- Has a Book Development Program, which allows you to work one-on-one with a top New York editor
- Residencies are a week long and take place in Charlotte each year, or you could do one two-week residency in Latin America instead
Newport MFA in Creative Writing
Deadline: November 15
- Offers concentrations in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and historical fiction
- Faculty includes acclaimed writers such as Jennifer DeLeon, Alden Jones, and Edgar Kunz
- Has a strong emphasis on publishing, which includes meeting agents and editors
Deadline: September 1
- Takes two years to complete
- Offers graduate assistantships with Ashland Poetry Press and the opportunity to edit Black Fork Review
- Has a Pedagogy track and graduate teaching assistantships for those interesting in teaching post-MFA
Deadline: Rolling
- Offers concentrations in poetry, fiction, creative-nonfiction/memoir, and scriptwriting (film, TV, and stage)
- Emphasizes writing that’s story-driven and interested in place, whether rural or urban
- Residencies take place in the Appalachian foothills of Northern Georgia
Deadline: May 1
- Offers study in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or writing for stage and screen, and concentrations in publishing/editing, spiritual writing, social justice, and literary health and healing
- Gives students the opportunity to win a book contract with Woodhall Press through the Fairfield Book Prize
- Biannual residencies take place on Enders Island in Mystic, Connecticut
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Deadline: October 15
- Allows students to work in two genres while earning their degree
- Residencies take place in the heart of central Appalachia
- Offers the post-MFA opportunity to work with the literary magazine, HeartWood
Deadline: Rolling
- Offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, dramatic screenwriting/playwriting, and graphic writing
- Residencies take place in NYC and consist of intensive workshops, lectures, and publishing panels with agents, editors, and publishers
- Hosts the Write in Brooklyn event series, which has previously included acclaimed authors like Stephen King, Margaret Awtood, and Emma Straub
Deadline: August 1
- Offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, and writing for TV, screen, and stage
- Gives students the chance to work for Good River Review
- Has the option to study abroad each September
Deadline: November 1
- Offers concentrations in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for stage and screen, and dual genre
- Faculty and visiting writers includes acclaimed authors such as Jennifer Militello, Jericho Brown, and Ocean Vuong
- Has full and partial teaching assistantships, as well as the Joel Oppenheimer Scholarship for a student whose writing sample “demonstrates outstanding literary achievement and exceptional promise”
Ciera Miller
Institutional Partnership Coordinator, Chill Subs
Ciera Miller recently earned her Master’s in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College. She was previously the Editor in Chief of Redivider and Marketing Associate at Ploughshares, who she now reads for. She’s also a Prose reader for The Adroit Journal. Her monologue, “So Be Brave” was performed in GOOD TROUBLE (dir. Jayne Decker, 2020), and her essay, “Dear France,” won second place in The River’s Nostalgia Contest. She believes that coffee is the best of all the food groups, and the way to her heart is through a cold brew (regular cream, French Vanilla).