The 2025-26 Graduate Admissions Application is open
Apply | UC Davis Graduate Studies
The deadline to apply to our program is January 5, 2026.
Graduate Studies' Applications Page covers most campus-level admissions questions, but feel free to contact our graduate program staff for more details and specific guidance. Applications are reviewed once all supporting materials have been received. For more information about your application status, please check online or contact our graduate program staff.
Application Requirements:
- Writing sample (see below for details)
- Admissions Essays:
- Personal Statement
- Statement of Purpose
- Three letters of recommendation
- TOEFL or IELTS scores, if applicable
- Copies of transcripts
- Pay the application fee
- Admissions Requirements and Eligibility as set by UC Davis Graduate Studies
- Writing sample in your preferred genre
- To apply for admission to our Creative Writing MFA program, you are encouraged to submit your very best creative writing. Either ten to twelve poems (maximum of fifteen pages) or up to thirty pages (double-spaced) of prose. Hybrid-form work must not exceed thirty pages.
- Three Letters of Recommendation
- Letters should be from professors or other persons situated to speak about your potential for graduate Creative Writing study. You might also think of potential letter-writers in terms of their ability to speak to your participation in a dedicated community.
- TOEFL or IELTS scores, if applicable
- Applicants must submit TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo scores unless they have earned or will be earning a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree from either a regionally accredited or foreign college/university which provides instruction solely in English. See the English Language Requirement section for details.
- Transcripts
- Transcripts are required from each post-secondary institution you have attended.
Copies or unofficial transcripts are allowed. If admitted, you’ll be required to send official transcripts for every institution listed on your application. - Application fee
- The application fee is set by the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies. Waivers of this fee are only available to participants in one of several graduate preparatory programs. The MFA program has no ability to grant application fee waivers.
- Funding your MFA
- We aim to fully fund both years of your MFA through teaching. For first year students, funding generally comes in the form of TAships in literature courses in the English Department. For the second year, students generally work as an AI (Associate Instructor) for ENL 5, an introductory creative writing workshop.
For in-state students, tuition is covered as part of the terms of employment. For out-of- state students, a limited number of tuition waivers are available. Out-of-state students who come to UC-Davis are expected to establish residency in their first year.
Though teaching support is the program norm, there are university-wide fellowships for which incoming students are eligible. In recent years, MFA first years have been awarded University fellowships – the Provost’s Fellowship, which funds the first year with a stipend (without teaching) and the Cota-Robles Fellowship, which funds both years with a stipend (without teaching).
For additional information, please contact: