Admissions and Applying

Admission Information and Forms

The web site at www.nila.edu/mfa provides detailed information, including the catalog of courses and requirements, e-mail contact information and downloadable application forms. The office staff also provide information and application forms to prospective students and may be contacted at mfa@nila.edu.

Eligibility for Admission

Students will hold a Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution. Most importantly, the portfolio of writing samples will demonstrate both achievement and potential for growth as a writer.

Applying

Applications will be accepted at any time of the year but may not be considered for the upcoming term if they arrive after the deadline for applying for that term as published in the catalog and on the web site. An application must be accompanied by a nonrefundable $50.00 application fee.

Admission Package

Applicants are to submit the following (applications will be considered complete only when all elements have arrived):

• $50 application fee (nonrefundable)
  
  
• Typewritten or computer-printed manuscript of your original work (two copies). Send work only in the genre in which you plan to focus (fiction, poetry, non-fiction or writing for children/young adults. 20 pages maximum). Fiction candidates may send short stories or chapters; non-fiction candidates may send short pieces or chapters of longer works. Double-space prose; single-space poetry (one poem per page). To facilitate distribution of this material to faculty, please also send one copy as an attachment to an e-mail to mfa@nila.edu.
  
  
• Short essay (up to 1,500 words) which discusses your background in writing and literature courses, workshops, conferences and other experiences relevant to study for the MFA Program. Explore your own writing: themes, strengths and weaknesses, future goals and so on. Mention any problems which might prevent you from spending at least 25 hours a week on your writing, reading and participation in online courses. Are you a self-starter who will participate effectively in a low-residency program? Are your computer and online skills adequate for participation in the program?
  
  
• Official college transcripts from all schools attended should be sent directly to the Whidbey Writers Workshop, Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, P.O. Box 639, Freeland, WA 98249
  
  
• Applicants who do not possess a degree from a postsecondary institution where English is the principal language of instruction must submit evidence of achieving a minimum score of 550 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or 80 on the IBT or its equivalent.
  
  
• Transcripts from institutions where instruction and the transcript are not in English must be evaluated by (a) an appropriate, competent third party service; or (b) translated into English by a trained, qualified transcript evaluator fluent in the original language on the transcript.
  
  
• Three letters of recommendation should be sent directly to the Whidbey Writers Workshop, Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, P.O. Box 639, Freeland, WA 98249

Click to download an Admission Application Form (PDF)

Send completed application to:

Whidbey Writers Workshop
Northwest Institute of Literary Arts
Whidbey Island Writers Association
P.O. Box 639
Freeland, WA 98249

Or you are welcome to use our on-line Admission Application Form.

Orientation and Advising

The MFA program director is available through e-mail for preliminary orientation and advising. Formal advising will take place each term during the 10-day residency period.

Provisional Admission

Individuals who have applied for residency-only status, been accepted, are attending a residency and in the opinion of the faculty are prepared to undertake MFA study may apply for provisional admission prior to the end of that residency. With the approval of the program director and the faculty in the genre applied for, that person may be granted provisional admission for the semester which begins with that residency and may continue in classes during the online portion of the semester. Such provisionally accepted students are then allowed 45 days from the end of the residency in which to apply formally to the program. Once the provisional student’s entire application package has been reviewed, the program director will determine whether the student is eligible to continue the program and if so will admit the student. If the program director determines based on the application materials that the student is not eligible to continue the program, the student will not be allowed to register for the coming semester.

Re-enrollment of Former Students

Former students in good standing who have not attended the MFA program during the previous semester may re-enroll by registering for residency and courses in the coming term. Students not in good standing (e.g., those who have stopped attending in the middle of a term without withdrawing from courses, those who have failed to maintain the required 3.00 or higher grade point average, or those who have been dismissed from the program for other reasons) must formally re-apply using the same application form as would new students.

Transfer Credit Policies

Because this program's focus is on continuously improving the student's performance as a writer, it is not appropriate to transfer credit for creative writing workshops from other MA, MFA or PhD programs in creative writing. Credits in graduate-level literature courses will be considered on a case-by-case basis for transfer as directed reading courses, and credits in graduate-level craft courses will be considered on a case-by-case basis for transfer as craft courses. Official graduate transcripts and syllabi must be provided for all courses for which a student requests consideration for transfer credits. A request for transfer credits will be considered at any time after a student's acceptance into and enrollment in the MFA program. A request for transfer credit does not automatically guarantee that transfer credit will be granted.

Transferring Credits to Other Programs

The transfer of credits from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts to other MFA or MA programs is entirely at the discretion of the receiving institution. At the request of any student seeking to transfer credits to another program, the Institute will provide a copy of that student's transcript as well as course descriptions for any courses for which that student seeks transfer credit. However, this does not mean that the receiving institution will allow transfer credit.

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