FASTFACTS
- More state Professors of the Year – including two English professors – have taught at PC than at any other institution in South Carolina.
- PC’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta Honor Society connects you with fellow English enthusiasts through academic and social events.
- Julia Koets ’05 is an award-winning author and poet, and holds both an MFA and a PhD in Creative Writing.
- Every year PC recognizes a student with the Creative Writing Award, which includes a monetary prize.
What You’ll Study When You Concentrate in Creative Writing
Your experience as a creative writing student centers on class workshops. Here your writing is shaped and refined through class readings and critiques. Your classmates offer constructive criticism as a whole class and sometimes in small groups. If this process sounds intimidating to you, remember that class sizes are small – they are capped at 10. These workshops are safe spaces for sharing your work, where feedback is honest but always respectful. And here you’re free to explore topics and develop your work in a safe, non-judgmental environment.
The creative writing concentration requires 33 hours of coursework, including 18 hours from the English major curriculum. Concentration courses begin with foundational workshops in Poetry, Short Fiction or Creative Nonfiction. You may also explore other Topics in Creative Writing, like children’s lit, fantasy, worldbuilding and fairy tales. While these courses focus on reading and responding to original student work, representative pieces from contemporary writers are also studied. Each 2000-level course culminates in a portfolio. During your final two years you’ll create a large-scale project in an Advanced Creative Writing Workshop or Honors Research course. In your Senior Portfolio, you’ll be asked to take pieces from different courses to revise substantially for a professional-level portfolio of writing.
MORE INFORMATION
- Course Requirements »
- COMM Course Descriptions »
- CRWR Course Descriptions »
- ENGL Course Descriptions »
- WGST Course Descriptions »
- CO = Co-requisite
- POI = Permissions of Instructor
- PR = Pre-requisite
- RE = Recommended
- XL = Cross-listed
Careers in Creative Writing
If you’ve heard that humanities degrees are impractical and not valued in the job market, you can put those rumors to rest. Your English degree, with its emphasis on creativity and written communication, prepares you for employment in a variety of sectors. While English majors make great writers and professors, many also follow career paths into advertising, business and law.
According to PayScale’s College Salary Report, a bachelor’s degree in English can earn you a mid-career salary of $69,000 or more. Many English majors find high-paying positions with titles like Content Marketing Manager and Communications Director.
Graduates from PC’s creative writing program have pursued advanced degrees in creative writing, law, medicine and theology. They teach at primary and secondary schools in the US, and internationally in places like Thailand and Hong Kong. And alumni have gone on to careers in public relations and financial services. No matter your major, PC’s liberal arts education prepares you with problem-solving, communication and other soft skills employers look for.
CAREER PROFESSIONS
- Writer
- Screenwriter
- Freelance Writer
- Journalist
- Teacher
- Public Relations
- Broadcast
FACULTY
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