Best online MA in Creative Writing ?

I want to begin an online MA in Creative Writing this year - but which one? I am a mature student and will absolutely need to continue working (I teach) to fund my studies. I would be hugely grateful for any information from someone who is currently completing, or has completed, this MA. How onerous is the full-time one year route / how sensible an option would a two-year part-time solution be? Does the taught content vary greatly from one university to the next - reading through the course outlines they seem terribly vague ( Bournemouth does a slightly better job). Any/all advice hugely appreciated. Thx

Reply 1

Universities Forum Helper, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Generally for a 1 year MA (assuming 52 weeks of study) you would need to dedicate 35 hours a week to studying (either scheduled or independent study). For 2 years you’d be looking at 17-18 hours a week. Again assuming zero weeks of breaks.

In reality if you factor in holidays/breaks then you would need 42 hours a week for full time and 21 hours a week for part time.

If you’re working full time I would absolutely not recommend attempting full time study at the same time.
Even for part time study it’s going to be difficult to balance with a full time job. Especially if there are interactive sessions scheduled during working hours

For something like creative writing I would try to set up a 1 2 1 session with the course leader to talk about the course and your interests and goals. That’s going to be the best way to get a feel for if a course is a good fit for you.

Reply 2

BU Official Rep

Official Rep

Original post

by SFCreative

Hello,

It is great to hear you're interested in a MA Creative Writing course, I work in our Future Students Enquiry Team at BU and although I have not completed this course, I have included some information below that will hopefully help with some of the points you've raised.

BU's MA Creative Writing & Publishing course offers the option to complete it:

•

1 year full-time (September start)

•

17 months full-time (January start)

•

2 years part-time (September start)

•

28 months part-time (January start)

The different lengths for the January and September start dates are just due to the academic timetable around academic breaks/holidays - both start dates will give you the same course content.

This course also offers flexible learning and therefore all durations of this course are available to study in-person or online. There is more information about this on the course page.

Typically for a full-time postgraduate programme, students can expect to be on campus around 2-3 days per week and for a part-time postgraduate programme, students can expect to be on campus around 1-2 days per week. However, this can differ from course to course.

For more details on the contact hours for your course, you can check the programme specification, which can be found in the “Course details” section on the course page and if you have any further questions, we do have a Postgraduate Virtual Open Day coming up on the 14th of May and you will be able to attend course talks and ask the academic staff any questions.

Ellen - Official BU Rep

(edited 1 year ago)