New England College Low Residency MFA Program in Poetry

2008/2009 Residency Dates

June 23 through July 3, 2008
January 5 through January 15, 2009

Program Director, James Harms
Administrative Director, Jacqueline Gens

We encourage all individuals interested in applying to the program to contact the directors to discuss the program, financial aid options, and other important details.

Phone: Toll free 1-866-387-6432
E-mail: jgens@nec.edu

Ready to apply? Link to our online application here.  Click here for  printable pdf.

Please visit the New England College MFA Program in Poetry web blog, http://www.tygerburning.blogspot.com for additional faculty, student and alumni news.

The New England College low residency Master of Fine Arts in Poetry Program joins a rigorous curriculum with a peripatetic style. Conversations among faculty and students on literary and craft topics are as integral to the program's pedagogy as the classroom teaching itself. More than just a graduate course of study, this program strives to teach its students how to become better poets by providing a transformative experience in the study of creative writing and poetry. Twice a year, students from around the country gather on the campus of New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire to form a close-knit, non-competitive community that fosters collegiality, guidance, and a practical way to meet graduate requirements for an MFA degree while carrying on vocational and familial responsibilities.

The New England College MFA Program offers not only a viable alternative to other wholly residential MFA programs, but important new curricular components as well, such as memorization and recitation. By combining short-term residencies with semester long regimen of faculty-student correspondence (once every month), the program is designed to help students develop strong poetic and critical skills, as well as to take bold risks in their writing.

The faculty student ratio is never more than five to one, allowing each student to study closely with his or her mentor]. During the correspondence semesters, students engage in rigorous craft discussions with faculty members who are both accomplished writers and experienced teachers.

Academic Semesters

The Master of Fine Arts in Poetry is a four-semester program (64

credits) with a final fifth residency for manuscript and thesis

preparation. Twice a year, students in January and June attend

ten-day on-campus residencies followed by a correspondence

semester. The winter residency in January is followed by a Spring

semester from February-May. The summer residency in June is followed by a fall semester from September-December. The residency course schedules, along with descriptions, are posted annually.

Residencies at New England College

Students gather every six months on the New England College

campus to study intensively with the faculty in an atmosphere of collaboration and focused work. During the two residencies in January and June, writers participate in a rigorous schedule of workshops, craft lectures, one-on-one conferences, readings and

informal discussion. Residencies offer opportunities for faculty and students to meet at length in individual settings, as well as in

workshops. While the semester long tutorials provide concentrated individualized study with a mentor off campus, the residential curriculum concentrates on manuscript critiques, craft lectures, writing workshops and poetry readings. During the residencies students meet with their assigned faculty mentors to design their study plans for the following correspondence semester.

Correspondence Semester

The semester-long correspondences during the academic year

adhere closely to the individual study plans that faculty advisers

and students have collaborated on during the previous residency.

In addition to their creative work each semester, students are

expected to read up to twenty books of poetry and criticism, write

eight critical papers, and memorize four poems (one each packet period). (Students recite all four of their memorized poems during the residency.) Every three weeks faculty respond to student packets with extensive comments and suggestions.

Study plans establish both curricular content and deadlines each

semester, providing a clearly designed individualized course of

study and contract between each student and faculty mentor. A

total of four packets are exchanged each semester--every three

weeks--with responses from faculty occurring no later than one

week after receiving the packets. Students commit to at least 24

hours of work each week in preparing their packets, which consist

of a two to three page cover letter, four to five new poems and

two critical papers. Students are assigned a different faculty

mentor each semester.

Graduation Requirements

A book-length manuscript of poems and a fifteen page critical thesis, represent the fruition of each student's course of study. Students take part in a senior symposium and give a reading during their final fifth residency. A New England College MFA indicates that a student has acquired the necessary mastery of his or her literary genre, developed a sharp critical acumen, and accrued a broad comprehension of literature.

Admission

Admission into the New England College MFA is based on a

combination of criteria including a manuscript of ten poems, a

personal essay, and references. A Bachelor's degree or substantial undergraduate work is required. It is expected that candidates already have a considerable body of creative work and literary background to indicate a capacity for mastery in the field. In

addition to this, candidates must possess a mature and proven

ability to function independently and harmoniously within the

program's non-competitive atmosphere. Students may choose to

enter the MFA program during the January or June residencies. All

applications are reviewed on a rolling admission basis for each

residency, although we ask applicants to send in their materials as soon as possible

Core Faculty

The MFA faculty are among the foremost poets writing today.

Each faculty member is also selected in recognition of his or her teaching mastery.  Due to our low faculty-student ratio, all students in the program will have an opportunity to work with each core faculty during the  residencies or as a mentor at some point during their course of study in the program.