The Creative Writing Bachelor of Arts degree encourages students to pursue both specialization and breadth. Students choose to specialize in one of three concentrations (Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry) while also exploring broad, cross-genre writing opportunities in creative writing courses outside their chosen concentration. Creative Writing majors take 18 hours of Core workshop courses – at least 12 of which are in their chosen concentration. The Writer’s Portfolio, a required junior-year course, gives students the opportunity to reflect on the body of work they’ve produced at Columbia (in preparation for their Thesis Workshop), while also helping them explore options for applying their writing skills to the workplace after graduation.

Work in the major culminates in the capstone Thesis Workshop, in which students write, revise, and compile a portfolio that can serve as a potential publication, a demonstration of work for employers, or as a graduate school writing submission. Craft and Process Seminars, along with a series of Literature courses (designed for Creative Writers), allow students to explore the history of their chosen genre while creating original and innovative work of their own.

The wide range of course offerings in the Creative Writing Bachelor of Arts degree program helps prepare students to be competitive for an expansive range of careers, both in creative writing and in fields where effective communication, creative problem-solving, critical analysis, editing, and group relationship skills are crucial factors.