Our cozy, quiet campus is the perfect workshopping environment for creative writers wanting to develop a book-length manuscript. Our PhD in Creative Writing is one of very few offered in Canada. In the academic streams, students examine important works of literature, undertake original research, and build their critical vocabularies. Their research is supported by excellent library resources. Graduate students in English acquire strong research, writing, editing and communication skills and develop connections with other academics, writers and publications across Canada. Doctoral students also gain exceptional applied teaching experience through the Teaching Apprenticeship Program.

All applicants to the MA program should hold an honours Bachelor of Arts degree (or a similar program with intensive specialization) in English with a minimum 3.5 average. The same level of degree with at least B average (North American System) or upper class standing (British System) is normally required for graduates of other universities. MA applicants are required to submit the following: A complete application; A statement of interest, at least one page long, outlining their preferred area of study; An academic writing sample, ideally a research essay (of at least 8 pages) from an upper-level undergraduate English literature course. The writing sample should be a clean (unmarked) essay, involving literary analysis and research. Applicants to the Creative Writing stream should also submit a recent and representative creative writing sample of at least 10 pages. A GPA of at least 3.7 (A-) in an MA in English or MFA in Creative Writing is required for admission to the PhD program. Applicants to the Direct-Entry PhD must have a GPA of at least 4.0 in the final two years of the BA Honours English. Applicants to both MA and PhD programs are to include 3 references (at least 2 Academic) on the application. International applicants whose first language is not English must submit language scores that meet or exceed: International English language testing system (Academic IELTS) = Band 7, Paper-based TOEFL = 600, Internet-based TOEFL = 100, TWE = 4.0, Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB)= 85, Canadian Test of English for Scholars and Trainees (CanTest)= 4.5.