university of denver creative writing phd

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University Writing Program

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With our students and partners on and off campus, the Writing Program fosters inclusive, accessible, collaborative, and ethical writing and literacy practices needed in diverse rhetorical contexts. 

The Writing Program promotes an understanding of writing as a complex set of rhetorical, multi-modal, and multilingual concepts and practices. We facilitate engagement with diverse audiences, genres, epistemologies, and research methods to support ethical, accessible, and culturally sustaining communication in academic, professional, public, and personal contexts.​ 

Seven Points of Distinction

• Our students get extraordinary attention.
• Our writing faculty have exceptional expertise and focus.
• The DU Writing Center cultivates a strong culture of writing, both on campus and beyond.
• The Writing Program energizes writing across the whole campus.
• Our students master approaches that are vital for writing in school, work, and life.
• Our students write for a digital age.
• Our students write impressively.

Program Components

First-year writing sequence.

After new students complete the first-year seminar, a fall term seminar taught by a faculty member on a subject of his or her passion, they enroll in a two-course sequence in winter and spring terms, in classes of 15.

Writing Center

Located in the Shopneck Family Writing Center in Anderson Academic Commons, the University Writing Center promotes and supports effective student writing by providing consultations to undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty. The Center is staffed by trained students (grad and undergrad) and offers scheduled and drop-in consultations, workshops, and more.

Writing Minor

Open to all undergraduates, this 20-credit sequence develops writing proficiencies and knowledge at a time when employers assert that writing abilities are paramount, when writing shapes civic thought and action, when writing is a means of personal development and social interaction, when writing is inflected by evolving technologies.

Students must complete a writing-intensive Advanced Seminar Course. The Writing Program provides faculty development and support for these classes.

Writing in the Disciplines

The Program offers development opportunities and support for faculty in every department, from informal consultations to extended workshops. The goal is to teach students the ways of writing vital to specific disciplines and professions.

Assessment and Research

Through both focused and longitudinal studies of student writing, the Program regularly assesses its effectiveness and contributes to the professional literature in rhetoric and composition studies. A four-year longitudinal study of 10% of the class of 2010 began in spring 2007.

The Writing Center provides support for any DU student, faculty, or staff members on any form of writing. You may make an appointment for a consultation by calling us at 303-871-7456 or by using our online scheduling system . DU Faculty and staff can make appointments by calling the Writing Center at 303-871-7456. We will happily see writers on a walk-in basis if a consultant is available.

For more information, view the Writing Center page.

Please view the Writing and Rhetoric requirement. Most students take FSEM 1111 in the fall, WRIT 1122 in the winter, and WRIT 1133 in the spring.

While students are encouraged to take the required writing courses the first year, if students are off sequence they can take the courses during the summer or fall. We encourage students to take them as soon as possible, because you must have passed these classes to take the ASEM course, and all are required for graduation. For questions about your individual situation, contact Richard Colby.

Students should feel free to discuss both positive and negative experiences with the Assistant Director for First Year Writing, Richard Colby.

The Writing Program reports to the Provost of the University and is located in offices in the Anderson Academic Commons. Sheila Carter-Tod is Executive Director of Writing and Professor of English, Juli Parrish is Director of the University Writing Center, Olivia Tracy is the Assistant Director of the Writing Center, Richard Colby is the Director of First Year Writing and Faculty Director of General Education, and Amanda Thompson is the Writing Program Manager. The program has 29 teaching faculty, all with professional and academic expertise and experience in the teaching of writing.

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English and Literary Arts - Creative Writing

As one of the top creative writing doctoral programs in the country, we offer motivated poetry and fiction writers the chance to refine their creative work while building a portfolio of literary criticism and scholarly writing. Our workshops integrate contemporary literature with creative exploration. In addition to poetry and fiction, we offer workshops and literature courses in areas such as nonfiction, travel writing, oral literature and narratology.

Our PhD is a theoretical doctorate: an experience that builds creative thinking alongside critical reading and research. Writers go on to publish novels, poetry collections and critical literary works. They hold tenure track positions at notable universities, edit long-standing journals and are represented by major presses. 

Learn more about the program .

Our Program Offers:

A small community of engaged writers selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants. We accept six or seven writers per year, totaling about 20 writers in the program at a time.

Creative dissertation options that allow writers to spend time working toward a book-length manuscript of publishable quality as part of their time in the program.

Teaching opportunities in creative writing workshops and literature courses as part of the Graduate Teaching Assistant Professional Development Sequence.

Editing opportunities with the Denver Quarterly , a premier journal for American and international poetry, fiction, reviews, essays and cross-genre works.

A core group of actively publishing creative writing faculty, as well as a dedicated group of literary faculty who specialize in areas such as African American literature, Latin@/x literature, Native American literature and Digital Humanities.

Explore contemporary and historical literatures while refining your own creative voice.

Are you ready to learn more about the Creative Writing concentration at DU?

Request Information

Degree Requirements

• Students in the Creative Writing concentration will complete 90 graduate-level quarter hours. 
• 48 of these hours will be in formal classes (excluding tutorials, independent study and independent research courses).
• Non-coursework includes comprehensive exams, dissertation proposal and prospectus, a dissertation of publishable quality that makes a significant contribution to its field, and an oral defense.

See the DU Graduate Bulletin  for full requirements. 

Featured Faculty

Graham Foust

Associate Professor

Joanna Howard

Assistant Professor

Professor and Phipps Chair

Application Information

Financial Aid

Application Requirements

• Enroll & Pay
• Prospective Undergraduate Students
• Prospective Graduate Students
• Current Students

Ph.D. Creative Writing

Ph.d. in creative writing.

A rigorous program that combines creative writing and literary studies, the Ph.D. in Creative Writing prepares graduates for both scholarly and creative publication and teaching. With faculty guidance, students admitted to the Ph.D. program may tailor their programs to their goals and interests.

The creative writing faculty at KU has been widely published and anthologized, winning both critical and popular acclaim. Faculty awards include such distinctions as the Nebula Award, Hugo Award, Osborn Award, Shelley Memorial Award, Gertrude Stein Award, the Kenyon Review Prize, the Kentucky Center Gold Medallion, and the Pushcart Prize.

Regarding admission to both our doctoral and MFA creative writing programs, we will prioritize applicants who are interested in engaging with multiple faculty members to practice writing across genres and forms, from speculative fiction and realism to poetry and playwriting/screenwriting, etc.

The University of Kansas' Graduate Program in Creative Writing also offers an  M.F.A degree .

Opportunities

A GTA appointment includes a tuition waiver for ten semesters plus a competitive stipend. In the first year, GTA appointees teach English 101 (first year composition) and English 102 (a required reading and writing course). Creative Writing Ph.D. students may have the opportunity to teach an introductory course in creative writing after passing the doctoral examination, and opportunities are available for a limited number of advanced GTAs to teach in the summer.

Department Resources

• Graduate Admissions
• Graduate Contacts
• Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

Affiliated Programs

• LandLocked Literary Magazine
• The Project on the History of Black Writing
• Center for the Study of Science Fiction
• Ad-Hoc African/Americanists and Affiliates

Degree Requirements

• At least 24 hours of credit in appropriate formal graduate courses beyond the M.A. or M.F.A. At least 15 hours (in addition to ENGL 800 if not taken for the M.A.) of this course work must be taken from among courses offered by the Department of English at the 700-level and above. English 997 and 999 credits cannot be included among the 24 hours. Students may petition to take up to 6 hours outside the Department.
• ENGL 800: Methods, Theory, and Professionalism (counts toward the 24 required credit hours).
• The ENGL 801/ENGL 802 pedagogy sequence (counts toward the 24 required credit hours).
• Two seminars (courses numbered 900 or above) offered by the Department of English at the University of Kansas, beyond the M.A. or M.F.A. ENGL 998 does not fulfill this requirement.
• ENGL 999, Dissertation (at least 12 hours).

If the M.A. or M.F.A. was completed in KU’s Department of English, a doctoral student may petition the DGS to have up to 12 hours of the coursework taken in the English Department reduced toward the Ph.D.

For Doctoral students,  the university requires completion of a course in responsible scholarship . For the English department, this would be ENGL 800, 780, or the equivalent). In addition, the Department requires reading knowledge of one approved foreign language: Old English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Greek, Latin, or Hebrew. Upon successful petition, a candidate may substitute reading knowledge of another language or research skill that is studied at the University or is demonstrably appropriate to the candidate’s program of study.

Doctoral students must fulfill the requirement  before  they take their doctoral examination, or be enrolled in a reading course the same semester as the exam. Students are permitted three attempts at passing each foreign language or research skill. Three methods of demonstrating reading knowledge for all approved languages except Old English are acceptable:

• Presenting 16 hours, four semesters, or the equivalent of undergraduate credit, earned with an average of C or better.
• Passing a graduate reading course at the University of Kansas or peer institution (e.g., French 100, German 100, etc.) with a grade of C or higher. In the past, some of these reading courses have been given by correspondence; check with the Division of Continuing Education for availability.
• Passing a translation examination given by a designated member of the English Department faculty or by the appropriate foreign language department at KU. The exam is graded pass/fail and requires the student to translate as much as possible of a representative text in the foreign language in a one-hour period, using a bilingual dictionary.
• Passing a translation examination given by the appropriate foreign language department at the M.A.-granting institution. Successful completion must be reflected either on the M.A. transcript or by a letter from the degree-granting department.

To fulfill the language requirement using Old English, students must successfully complete ENGL 710 (Introduction to Old English) and ENGL 712 (Beowulf).

Post-Coursework Ph.D. students must submit, with their committee chair(s), an annual review form to the DGS and Graduate Committee.

Doctoral students must take their doctoral examination within three semesters (excluding summers) of the end of the semester in which they took their final required course. If a student has an Incomplete, the timeline is not postponed until the Incomplete is resolved. For example, a student completing doctoral course work in Spring 2018 will need to schedule their doctoral exam no later than the end of Fall semester 2019. Delays may be granted by petition to the Graduate Director in highly unusual circumstances. Failure to take the exam within this time limit without an approved delay will result in the student’s falling out of good standing. For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices.

A student may not take their doctoral exam until the university’s Research Skills and Responsible Scholarship requirement is fulfilled (ENGL 800 or equivalent and reading knowledge of one foreign language or equivalent).

Requirements for Doctoral Exams

Reading Lists: 

All students are required to submit three reading lists, based on the requirements below, to their committee for approval. The doctoral exam will be held on a date at least twelve weeks after the approval from the whole committee is received. To facilitate quick committee approval, students may copy the graduate program coordinator on the email to the committee that contains the final version of the lists. Committee members may then respond to the email in lieu of signing a printed copy. Students should work with their committee chair and graduate program coordinator to schedule the exam at the same time as they finalize the lists.

During the two-hour oral examination (plus an additional 15-30 minutes for a break and committee deliberation), a student will be tested on their comprehension of a literary period or movement, including multiple genres and groups of authors within that period or movement. In addition, the student will be tested on two of the following six areas of study:

• An adjacent or parallel literary period or movement,
• An author or group of related authors,
• Criticism and literary theory,
• Composition theory, and
• English language.

No title from any field list may appear on either of the other two lists. See Best Practices section for more details on these six areas. See below for a description of the Review of the Dissertation Proposal (RDP), which the candidate takes the semester after passing the doctoral exam. 

While many students confer with the DGS as they begin the process of developing their lists, they are also required to submit a copy of their final exam list to the DGS. Most lists will be left intact, but the DGS might request that overly long lists be condensed, or extremely short lists be expanded.

Review of Literature

The purpose of the Review of Literature is to develop and demonstrate an advanced awareness of the critical landscape for each list. The student will write an overview of the defining attributes of the field, identifying two or three broad questions that animate scholarly discussion, while using specific noteworthy texts from their list ( but not all texts on the list ) as examples.

The review also must accomplish the following:

• consider the historical context of major issues, debates, and trends that factor into the emergence of the field
• offer a historical overview of scholarship in the field that connects the present to the past
• note recent trends and emergent lines of inquiry
• propose questions about (develop critiques of, and/or identify gaps in) the field and how they might be pursued in future study (but not actually proposing or referencing a dissertation project)

For example, for a literary period, the student might include an overview of primary formal and thematic elements, of the relationship between literary and social/historical developments, of prominent movements, (etc.), as well as of recent critical debates and topics.

For a genre list, the Review of Literature might include major theories of its constitution and significance, while outlining the evolution of these theories over time.

For a Rhetoric and Composition list, the review would give an overview of major historical developments, research, theories, methods, debates, and trends of scholarship in the field.

For an English Language Studies (ELS) list, the review would give an overview of the subfields that make up ELS, the various methodological approaches to language study, the type of sources used, and major aims and goals of ELS. The review also usually involves a focus on one subfield of particular interest to the student (such as stylistics, sociolinguistics, or World/Postcolonial Englishes).

Students are encouraged to divide reviews into smaller sections that enhance clarity and organization. Students are not expected to interact with every text on their lists.

The review of literature might be used to prepare students for identifying the most important texts in the field, along with why those texts are important to the field, for the oral exam. It is recommended for students to have completed reading the bulk of (if not all) texts on their lists before writing the ROL.

The Reviews of Literature will not be produced in an exam context, but in the manner of papers that are researched and developed in consultation with all advisors/committee members,  with final drafts being distributed within a reasonable time for all members to review and approve in advance of the 3-week deadline . While the Review of Literature generally is not the focus of the oral examination, it is frequently used as a point of departure for questions and discussion during the oral examination.

Doctoral Exam Committee

Exam committees typically consist of 3 faculty members from the department—one of whom serves as the Committee Chair—plus a Graduate Studies Representative.  University policy dictates the composition of exam committees . Students may petition for an exception for several committee member situations, with the exception of  the Graduate Studies Representative .

If a student wants to have as a committee member a person outside the university, or a person who is not in a full-time tenure-track professorship at KU, the student must contact the Graduate Secretary as early as possible. Applications for special graduate faculty status must be reviewed by the College and Graduate Studies. Requests for exam/defense approval will not be approved unless all committee members currently hold either regular or special graduate faculty status

Remote participation of committee members via technology

Students with committee members who plan to attend the defense via remote technology must be aware of  college policy on teleconferencing/remote participation of committee members .

A majority of committee members must be physically present for an examination to commence; for doctoral oral examinations this requirement is 2 of the 4 members, for master’s oral examinations the requirement is 2 of the 3 members. In addition, it is required that the student being examined, the chair of the committee, and the Graduate Studies Representative all be physically present at the examination or defense. Mediated attendance by the student, chair and Grad Studies Rep is prohibited.

The recommended time between completion of coursework and the doctoral examination is two semesters.

Final exam lists need to be approved and signed by the committee at least 12 weeks prior to the prospective exam date. This includes summers/summer semesters. The lists should then be submitted to the Graduate Program Coordinator. Reviews of Literature need to be approved and signed by the committee at least 3 weeks prior to the exam date. Failure to meet this deadline will result in rescheduling the exam. No further changes to lists or Reviews of Literature will be allowed after official approval. The three-week deadline is the faculty deadline--the last date for them to confirm receipt of the ROLs and confer approval--not necessarily the student deadline for submitting the documents to the faculty. Please keep that timing in mind and allow your committee adequate time to review the materials and provide feedback.

Students taking the Doctoral Exam are allowed to bring their text lists, the approved Reviews of Literature, scratch paper, a writing utensil, and notes/writing for an approximately 5-minute introductory statement to the exam. (This statement does not need to lay out ideas or any aspect of the dissertation project.)

Each portion of the oral examination must be deemed passing before the student can proceed to the Review of the Dissertation Proposal. If a majority of the committee judges that the student has not answered adequately on one of the three areas of the exam, the student must repeat that portion in a separate oral exam of one hour, to be taken as expeditiously as possible.  Failure in two areas constitutes failure of the exam and requires a retake of the whole.  The doctoral examining committee will render a judgment of Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory on the entire examination. A student who fails the exam twice may, upon successful petition to the Graduate Committee, take it a third and final time.

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the exam. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student exams but not others.

The doctoral oral examination has the following purposes:

• To establish goals, tone, and direction for the pursuit of the Ph.D. in English for the Department and for individual programs of study;
• To make clear the kinds of knowledge and skills that, in the opinion of the Department, all well-prepared holders of the degree should have attained;
• To provide a means for the Department to assess each candidate’s control of such knowledge and skills in order to certify that the candidate is prepared to write a significant dissertation and enter the profession; and
• To enable the Department to recommend to the candidate areas of strength or weakness that should be addressed.

In consultation with the Graduate Director, a student will ask a member of the Department’s graduate faculty (preferably their advisor) to be the chairperson of the examining committee. The choice of examination committee chair is very important, for that person’s role is to assist the candidate in designing the examination structure, preparing the Review of Literature (see below), negotiating reading lists and clarifying their purposes, and generally following procedures here outlined. The other three English Department members of the committee will be chosen in consultation with the committee chair. (At some point an additional examiner from outside the Department, who serves as the Graduate School representative, will be invited to join the committee). Any unresolved problems in negotiation between a candidate and their committee should be brought to the attention of the Graduate Director, who may choose to involve the Graduate Committee. A student may request a substitution in, or a faculty member may ask to be dismissed from, the membership of the examining committee. Such requests must be approved, in writing, by the faculty member leaving the committee and by the Graduate Director.

Reading Lists

Copies of some approved reading lists and Reviews of Literature are available from the Graduate Secretary and can be found on the U: drive if you are using a computer on campus. Despite the goal of fairness and equity, some unavoidable unevenness and disparity will appear in the length of these lists. It remains, however, the responsibility of the examining committee, and especially the student’s chair, to aim toward consonance with the most rigorous standards and expectations and to insure that areas of study are not unduly narrow.

To facilitate quick committee approval, students may copy the graduate secretary on the email to the committee that contains the final version of the lists and reviews of literature. Committee members may then respond to the email in lieu of signing a printed copy.

Comprehension of a literary period (e.g., British literature of the 18th century; Romanticism; US literature of the 19th century; Modernism) entails sufficient intellectual grasp of both the important primary works of and secondary works on the period or movement to indicate a student’s ability to teach the period or movement and undertake respectable scholarship on it.

Comprehension of an author or group of related authors (e.g., Donne, the Brontës, the Bloomsbury Group, the Black Mountain Poets) entails knowledge, both primary and secondary, of a figure or figures whose writing has generated a significant body of interrelated biographical, historical, and critical scholarship.

Comprehension of one of several genres (the short story, the lyric poem, the epistolary novel). To demonstrate comprehension of a genre, a student should possess sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge, both primary and secondary, of the genre to explain its formal characteristics and account for its historical development.

Comprehension of criticism and literary theory entails a grasp of fundamental conceptual problems inherent in a major school of literary study (e.g., historicist, psychoanalytic, feminist, poststructuralist, etc.). To demonstrate comprehension of that school of criticism and literary theory, a student should be able to discuss changes in its conventions and standards of interpretation and evaluation of literature from its beginning to the present. Students will be expected to possess sufficient depth and breadth of theoretical knowledge to bring appropriate texts and issues to bear on questions of literary study.

Comprehension of composition theory entails an intellectual grasp of fundamental concepts, issues, and theories pertaining to the study of writing. To demonstrate comprehension of composition theory, students should be able to discuss traditional and current issues from a variety of perspectives, as well as the field’s historical development from classical rhetoric to the present.

Comprehension of the broad field of English language studies entails a grasp of the field’s theoretical concepts and current issues, as well as a familiarity with significant works within given subareas. Such subareas will normally involve formal structures (syntax, etc.) and history of the English language, along with other subareas such as social linguistics, discourse analysis, lexicography, etc. Areas of emphasis and specific sets of topics will be arranged through consultation with relevant faculty.

Ph.D. candidates must be continuously enrolled in Dissertation hours each Fall and Spring semester from the time they pass the doctoral examination until successful completion of the final oral examination (defense of dissertation).

• Students enroll for a minimum of 6 hours each Fall and Spring semester until the total of post-doctoral exam Dissertation hours is 18. One hour each semester must be ENGL 999. In order to more quickly reach the 18-hour minimum, and to be sooner eligible for GRAships, it is highly recommended that students enroll in 9 hours of Dissertation in the Spring and Fall semesters. 
• Once a student has accumulated 18 post-doctoral exam  hours, each subsequent enrollment will be for a number of hours agreed upon as appropriate between the student and their advisor, the minimal enrollment each semester being 1 hour of ENGL 999.
• A student must be enrolled in at least one hour of credit at KU during the semester they graduate. Although doctoral students must be enrolled in ENGL 999 while working on their dissertations, per current CLAS regulations, there is no absolute minimum number of ENGL 999 hours required for graduation.
• Students who live and work outside the Lawrence area may, under current University regulations, have their fees assessed at the Field Work rate, which is somewhat lower than the on-campus rate. Students must petition the College Office of Graduate Affairs before campus fees will be waived.

Please also refer to  the COGA policy on post-exam enrollment  or the  Graduate School’s policy .

As soon as possible following successful completion of the doctoral exam, the candidate should establish their three-person core dissertation committee, and then expeditiously proceed to the preparation of a dissertation proposal.  Within the semester following completion of the doctoral exam , the student will present to their core dissertation committee a written narrative of approximately  10-15 pages , not including bibliography, of the dissertation proposal. While the exam schedule is always contingent on student progress, in the first two weeks of the semester in which they intend to take the review , students will work with their committee chair and the graduate program coordinator to schedule the 90-minute RDP. Copies of this proposal must be submitted to the members of the dissertation committee and Graduate Program Coordinator no later than  three weeks prior  to the scheduled examination date.

In the proposal, students will be expected to define: the guiding question or set of questions; a basic thesis (or hypothesis); how the works to be studied or the creative writing produced relate to that (hypo)thesis; the theoretical/methodological model to be followed; the overall formal divisions of the dissertation; and how the study will be situated in the context of prior scholarship (i.e., its importance to the field). The narrative section should be followed by a bibliography demonstrating that the candidate is conversant with the basic theoretical and critical works pertinent to the study. For creative writing students, the proposal may serve as a draft of the critical introduction to the creative dissertation. Students are expected to consult with their projected dissertation committee concerning the preparation of the proposal.

The review will focus on the proposal, although it could also entail determining whether or not the candidate’s knowledge of the field is adequate to begin the composition process. The examination will be graded pass/fail. If it is failed, the committee will suggest areas of weakness to be addressed by the candidate, who will rewrite the proposal and retake the review  by the end of the following semester . If the candidate abandons the entire dissertation project for another, a new RDP will be taken. (For such a step to be taken, the change would need to be drastic, such as a move to a new field or topic. A change in thesis or the addition or subtraction of one or even several works to be examined would not necessitate a new proposal and defense.)  If the student fails to complete the Review of the Dissertation Proposal within a year of the completion of the doctoral exams, they will have fallen out of departmental good standing.  For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices.

After passing the Review of the Dissertation Proposal, the student should forward one signed copy of the proposal to the Graduate Program Coordinator. The RDP may last no longer than 90 minutes.

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the review. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student exams but not others.

The Graduate Catalog states that the doctoral candidate “must present a dissertation showing the planning, conduct and results of original research, and scholarly creativity.” While most Ph.D. candidates in the Department of English write dissertations of a traditional, research-oriented nature, a creative writing candidate may elect to do a creative-writing dissertation involving fiction, poetry, drama or nonfiction prose.  Such a dissertation must also contain a substantial section of scholarly research related to the creative writing.  The precise nature of the scholarly research component should be determined by the candidate in consultation with the dissertation committee and the Graduate Director. Candidates wishing to undertake such a dissertation must complete all Departmental requirements demanded for the research-oriented Ph.D. degree.

Scholarly Research Component (SRC)

The Scholarly Research Component (SRC) of the creative-writing dissertation is a separate section of the dissertation than the creative work. It involves substantial research and is written in the style of academic prose. It should be 15-20 pages and should cite at least 20 sources, some of which should be primary texts, and many of which should be from the peer-reviewed secondary literature. The topic must relate, in some way, to the topic, themes, ideas, or style of the creative portion of the dissertation; this relation should be stated in the Dissertation Proposal, which should include a section describing the student’s plans for the SRC. The SRC may be based on a seminar paper or other work the student has completed prior to the dissertation; but the research should be augmented, and the writing revised, per these guidelines. The SRC is a part of the dissertation, and as such will be included in the dissertation defense.

The SRC may take two general forms:

1.) An article, publishable in a peer-reviewed journal or collection, on a specific topic related to an author, movement, theoretical issue, taxonomic issue, etc. that has bearing on the creative portion. The quality of this article should be high enough that the manuscript could be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication, with a plausible chance of acceptance.

2.) A survey . This survey may take several different forms:

• A survey of a particular aspect of the genre of the creative portion of the dissertation (stylistic, national, historical, etc.)
• An introduction to the creative portion of the dissertation that explores the influences on, and the theoretical or philosophical foundations or implications of the creative work
• An exploration of a particular technical problem or craft issue that is salient in the creative portion of the dissertation
• If the creative portion of the dissertation includes the results of research (e.g., historical novel, documentary poetry, research-based creative nonfiction), a descriptive overview of the research undertaken already for the dissertation itself
• A combination of the above, with the prior approval of the student’s dissertation director.

The dissertation committee will consist of at least four members—two “core” English faculty members, a third faculty member (usually from English), and one faculty member from a different department who serves as the Graduate Studies representative. The committee may include (with the Graduate Director’s approval) members from other departments and, with the approval of the University’s Graduate Council, members from outside the University. If a student wants to have a committee member from outside the university, or a person who is not in a full-time tenure-track professorship at KU, the student must contact the Graduate Secretary as early as possible. Applications for special graduate faculty status must be reviewed by the College and the Office of Graduate Studies. Requests for defense approval will not be approved unless all committee members currently hold either regular or special graduate faculty status.

The candidate’s preferences as to the membership of the dissertation committee will be carefully considered; the final decision, however, rests with the Department and with the Office of Graduate Studies. All dissertation committees must get approval from the Director of Graduate Studies before scheduling the final oral exam (defense). Furthermore, any changes in the make-up of the dissertation committee from the Review of the Dissertation Proposal committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Once the dissertation proposal has passed and the writing of the dissertation begins, membership of the dissertation committee should remain constant. However, under extraordinary circumstances, a student may request a substitution in, or a faculty member may ask to be dismissed from, the membership of the dissertation committee. Such requests must be approved, in writing, by the faculty member leaving the committee and by the Graduate Director.

If a student does not make progress during the dissertation-writing stage, and accumulates more than one “Limited Progress” and/or “No Progress” grade on their transcript, they will fall out of good standing in the department. For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices

Final Oral Exam (Dissertation Defense)

When the dissertation has been tentatively accepted by the dissertation committee (not including the Graduate Studies Representative), the final oral examination will be held, on the recommendation of the Department. While the exam schedule is always contingent on student progress, in the first two weeks of the semester in which they intend to defend the dissertation, students should work with their committee chair and graduate program coordinator to schedule it.

Although the dissertation committee is responsible for certification of the candidate, any member of the graduate faculty may be present at the examination and participate in the questioning, and one examiner—the Graduate Studies Representative—must be from outside the Department. The Graduate Secretary can help students locate an appropriate Grad Studies Rep. The examination normally lasts no more than two hours. It is the obligation of the candidate to advise the Graduate Director that they plan to take the oral examination; this must be done at least one month before the date proposed for the examination.

At least three calendar weeks prior to the defense date, the student will submit the final draft of the dissertation to all the committee members (including the GSR) and inform the Graduate Program Coordinator. Failure to meet this deadline will necessitate rescheduling the defense.  The final oral examination for the Ph.D. in English is, essentially, a defense of the dissertation. When it is passed, the dissertation itself is graded by the dissertation director, in consultation with the student’s committee; the student’s performance in the final examination (defense) is graded by the entire five-person committee

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the defense. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student defenses but not others

These sets of attributes are adapted from the Graduate Learner Outcomes that are a part of our Assessment portfolio. “Honors” should only be given to dissertations that are rated “Outstanding” in all or most of the following categories:

• Significant and innovative plot/structure/idea/focus. The writer clearly places plot/structure/idea/focus in context.
• Thorough knowledge of literary traditions. Clear/flexible vision of the creative work produced in relation to those literary traditions.
• Introduction/Afterword is clear, concise, and insightful. A detailed discussion of the implications of the project and future writing projects exists.
• The creative dissertation reveals the doctoral candidate’s comprehensive understanding of poetics and/or aesthetic approach. The application of the aesthetic approach is innovative and convincing.
• The creative dissertation represents original and sophisticated creative work.
• The creative dissertation demonstrates thematic and/or aesthetic unity.

After much discussion about whether the “honors” designation assigned after the dissertation defense should be for the written product only, for the defense/discussion only, for both together, weighted equally, or eradicated altogether, the department voted to accept the Graduate Committee recommendation that “honors” only apply to the written dissertation. "Honors" will be given to dissertations that are rated "Outstanding" in all or most of the categories on the dissertation rubric.

Normally, the dissertation will present the results of the writer’s own research, carried on under the direction of the dissertation committee. This means that the candidate should be in regular contact with all members of the committee during the dissertation research and writing process, providing multiple drafts of chapters, or sections of chapters, according to the arrangements made between the student and each faculty member. Though accepted primarily for its scholarly merit rather than for its rhetorical qualities, the dissertation must be stylistically competent. The Department has accepted the MLA Handbook as the authority in matters of style. The writer may wish to consult also  the Chicago Manual of Style  and Kate L. Turabian’s  A Manual for Writers of Dissertations, Theses, and Term Papers .

Naturally, both the student and the dissertation committee have responsibilities and obligations to each other concerning the submitting and returning of materials. The student should plan on working steadily on the dissertation; if they do so, they should expect from the dissertation committee a reasonably quick reading and assessment of material submitted.

Students preparing their dissertation should be showing chapters to their committee members as they go along, for feedback and revision suggestions. They should also meet periodically with committee members to assess their progress. Prior to scheduling a defense, the student is encouraged to ask committee members whether they feel that the student is ready to defend the dissertation. Ideally, the student should hold the defense only when they have consulted with committee members sufficiently to feel confident that they have revised the dissertation successfully to meet the expectations of all committee members.

Students should expect that they will need to revise each chapter at least once. This means that all chapters (including introduction and conclusion) are shown to committee members once, revised, then shown to committee members again in revised form to assess whether further revisions are needed, prior to the submitting of the final dissertation as a whole. It is not unusual for further revisions to be required and necessary after the second draft of a chapter; students should not therefore simply assume that a second draft is necessarily “final” and passing work.

If a substantial amount of work still needs to be completed or revised at the point that the dissertation defense is scheduled, such a defense date should be regarded as tentative, pending the successful completion, revision, and receipt of feedback on all work. Several weeks prior to the defense, students should consult closely with their dissertation director and committee members about whether the dissertation as a whole is in a final and defensible stage. A project is ready for defense when it is coherent, cohesive, well researched, engages in sophisticated analysis (in its entirety or in the critical introduction of creative dissertations), and makes a significant contribution to the field. In other words, it passes each of the categories laid out in the Dissertation Rubric.

If the dissertation has not clearly reached a final stage, the student and dissertation director are advised to reschedule the defense.

Prior Publication of the Doctoral Dissertation

Portions of the material written by the doctoral candidate may appear in article form before completion of the dissertation. Prior publication does not ensure the acceptance of the dissertation by the dissertation committee. Final acceptance of the dissertation is subject to the approval of the dissertation committee. Previously published material by other authors included in the dissertation must be properly documented.

Each student beyond the master’s degree should confer regularly with the Graduate Director regarding their progress toward the doctoral examination and the doctorate.

Doctoral students may take graduate courses outside the English Department if, in their opinion and that of the Graduate Director, acting on behalf of the Graduate Committee, those courses will be of value to them. Their taking such courses will not, of course, absolve them of the responsibility for meeting all the normal departmental and Graduate School requirements.

Doctoral students in creative writing are strongly encouraged to take formal literature classes in addition to forms classes. Formal literature classes, by providing training in literary analysis, theory, and/or literary history, will help to prepare students for doctoral exams (and future teaching at the college level).

FALL SEMESTER            

• GTAs take 2 courses (801 + one), teach 2 courses; GRAs take 3 courses.
• Visit assigned advisor once a month to update on progress & perceptions. 1st-year advisors can assist with selecting classes for the Spring semester, solidifying and articulating a field of specialization, advice about publishing, conferences, professionalization issues, etc.

SPRING SEMESTER

• GTAs take 2 courses (780/800/880 + one), teach 2 courses. GTAs also take ENGL 802 for 1 credit hour. GRAs take 3 courses.
• Visit assigned advisor or DGS once during the semester; discuss best advisor choices for Year 2.

SUMMER SEMESTER

• Enroll in Summer Institute if topic and/or methodology matches interests.
• Consider conferences suited to your field and schedule; choose a local one for attendance in Year 2 and draft an Abstract for a conference paper (preferably with ideas/materials/ writing drawn from a seminar paper).  Even if abstract is not accepted, you can attend the conference without the pressure of presenting.
• Attend at least one conference to familiarize yourself with procedure, network with other grad students and scholars in your field, AND/OR present a paper.

FALL SEMESTER

• Take 2 courses, teach 2 courses.
• Visit advisor in person at least once during the semester.

WINTER BREAK

• Begin revising one of your seminar papers/independent study projects/creative pieces for submission to a journal; research the journals most suited to placement of your piece.
• Begin thinking about fields and texts for comprehensive examinations.
• Choose an advisor to supervise you through the doctoral examination process.
• Visit assigned 1st-year advisor in person at least once during the semester (at least to formally request doctoral exam supervision OR to notify that you are changing advisors).
• Summer teaching, if eligible.
• Continue revising paper/creative writing for submission to a journal.
• Begin reading for comprehensive exams.
• Attend one conference and present a paper. Apply for one-time funding for out-of-state travel  from Graduate Studies .
• Teach 2 courses; take 997 (exam prep).
• Finalize comps list by end of September; begin drafting rationales.
• Circulate the draft of your article/creative piece to your advisor, other faculty in the field, and/or advanced grad students in the field for suggestions.
• Revise article/creative piece with feedback from readers.
• Teach 2 courses; take 997 or 999 (dissertation hours). Enroll in 999 if you plan to take your comps this semester, even if you don’t take them until the last day of classes.
• Take comps sometime between January and May.
• Summer teaching, if available.
• Submit article/creative work for publication.
• Continuous enrollment after completing doctoral exam (full policy on p. 20)
• Research deadlines for grant applications—note deadlines come early in the year.
• Attend one conference and present a paper.
• Teach 2 courses, take 999.
• Compose dissertation proposal by November.
• Schedule Review of Dissertation Proposal (RDP—formerly DPR).
• Apply for at least one grant or fellowship, such as a departmental-level GRAship or dissertation fellowship. (Winning a full-year, non-teaching fellowship can cut down your years-to-degree to 5 ½, or even 5 years.)
• Conduct research for and draft at least 1 dissertation chapter.
• Conduct research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter.
• Revise & resubmit journal article, if necessary.
• Attend 1st round of job market meetings with Job Placement Advisor (JPA) to start drafting materials and thinking about the process.
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter, if teaching (1-2 chapters if not).
• Visit dissertation chair  and  committee members in person at least once during the semester.
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter (1-2 chapters if not teaching).
• Apply for a departmental grant or fellowship, or, if already held, try applying for one from outside the department, such as those offered by KU’s Hall Center for the Humanities or the Office of Graduate Studies. For  a monthly list of funding opportunities , visit the Graduate Studies website.
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter.
• Attend job market meetings with JPA in earnest.
• Apply for external grants, research fellowships, postdoctoral positions with fall deadlines (previous fellowship applications, your dissertation proposal, and subsequent writing should provide a frame so that much of the application can be filled out with the “cut & paste” function).
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter (1-2 if not teaching).
• Visit dissertation chair and committee members in person at least once during the semester.
• Polish dissertation chapters.
• Apply for grants and fellowships with spring deadlines.
• Defend dissertation.

Creative Writing Faculty

• Associate Professor

• Professor of English & Environmental Studies

• Assistant Professor

Graduate Student Handbook

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PhD Program

Poetry: Graham Foust, Bin Ramke, Jennifer Soong Prose: Patrick Cottrell, Poupeh Missaghi, Selah Saterstrom, Joanna Howard (Director)

The program offers full funding through teaching fellowships.

Denver Quarterly

In addition to poetry and fiction, the program offers workshops and literature courses in areas such as nonfiction, travel writing, oral literature, and narratology.

Mona Awad, Jen Bervin, Dan Beachy-Quick, Jen Denrow, Danielle Dutton, Jennifer Foerster, Richard Greenfield, Joanna Howard, Christine Hume, Kristen Iversen, Poupeh Missaghi, TaraShea Nesbit, Martin Riker, Joanna Ruocco

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Think Creatively

Creative writing.

This course of study offered by the Department of English is designed to develop a student’s ability to read literature responsibly and imaginatively, to foster an understanding and appreciation of our literary inheritance, and to provide the historical perspective from which to evaluate contemporary writing and to produce it.

Program Learning Goals

English Major Creative Writing Requirements

General Requirements:   Students majoring in English must complete a minimum of 39 hours in English. A minimum of 27 hours must be earned in upper-division courses.  None of the required 39 hours may be taken Pass/Fail.  Only courses completed with a grade of C- (1.7) or better may be counted toward the major.  Students must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 2.0. All graded attempts in required and elective courses are calculated in the major GPA.  A minimum of 15 upper-division (3000-level and above) credit hours of work in the English Major must be taken with the CU Denver English faculty. Core composition courses ENGL 1010, 1020, and 2030 do not count toward the English Major. 

NOTE :  Double majors in English and English Writing must complete 63 hours total for both majors.

Advanced Standing:   CLEP and AP credit will not count toward the English Major or the English Writing Major.  Such credit may apply toward the College writing requirement (ENGL 1020 and 2030) or be counted as general electives. Check with CLAS Advising for details.

Minors: The English Department also offers minors in Literature, Film Studies, and English Writing, Rhetoric and Technology.  Courses counted in a minor cannot be counted toward the major. 

Honors Program:   Latin Honors may be earned by participating in the department’s Honors Program.  You are encouraged to begin the program in your junior year.  The program requires additional coursework and affords you the opportunity to work individually with the professor of your choice.  Speak to a professor or click on this link ( https://clas.ucdenver.edu/english/latin-honors ) for more information on honors in the English Department.

Internships: Internships are also available to students who have completed over 60 credit hours; for information, contact The Experiential Learning Center at 303-315-7258 in the Tivoli, Suite 260.  Internships count as upper-division electives.

I.  Required Courses (15 credit hours)

• ENGL 2450 Introduction to Literature
• ENGL 3020 Poetry Workshop
• ENGL 3050 Fiction Workshop
• ENGL 4025 Advanced Poetry Workshop
• ENGL 4055 Advanced Fiction Workshop

II. Area Requirements (9 hours) Choose 1 track:

A. fiction or b. poetry, a.  fiction.

• ENGL 4610 Narrative: Form & Theory 
• ENGL 4850 Senior Fiction Workshop  

Choose 1 course

• ENGL 4200 Survey of the English Novel to 1900 
• ENGL 4220 African-American Literature 
• ENGL 4230 The American Novel 
• ENGL 4236 The American Short Story 
• ENGL 4802 Special Topics in Creative Writing (Emphasis in Fiction) 

B.  Poetry 

• ENGL 4160 Poetics  
• ENGL 4820 Senior Poetry Workshop 

Choose 1 course. 

• ENGL 4166 History of American Poetry 
• ENGL 4801 Special Topics in Creative Writing (Emphasis in Poetry) 

III. Required Electives (15 hours) Choose 5 courses.  

The first seven courses below are strongly recommended. However, any upper division ENGL course not  already completed for another major requirement can be applied as an elective. *Courses with an asterisk may be taken more than once, if the topic/titles differ. 

• ENGL 3001 Critical Writing   
• ENGL 3106 Writing for Print Media 
• ENGL 3416 Magazine Writing 
• ENGL 4800 Special Topics in Creative Writing* 
• ENGL 4801 Special Topics in Creative Writing: Poetry*
• ENGL 4802 Special Topics in Creative Writing: Fiction* 
• ENGL 4810 Literary Editing Practicum 
• ENGL _______ Any 3000 or 4000 level 

To complete this major: 39 Credit Hours

• Major - Creative Writing
• Major - English Film Studies
• Major - English Writing, Rhetoric and Technology
• Major - Literature
• Minor - Creative Writing
• Minor - English Writing, Rhetoric, and Technology
• Minor - Film Studies
• Minor - Literature
• Certificate - Proposal and Grant Writing (PGW)
• Certificate - Technical and Professional Writing Certificate (TPW)
• Certificate - Undergraduate Certificate in Teaching English Language Learners (CTELL)

Don't miss the Creative Writing Reading Series! Past guest readers for the annual Jake Adam Yorke Memorial Reading have included: 

• Alexander Chee
• Tarfia Faizullah
• Manuel Muñoz
• Natalie Diaz
• Danielle Evans
• Eduardo Corral  
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Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

Get a ph.d. in creative writing and literature.

Admission to the creative writing program is extremely competitive, with up to 20 new students across the two genres selected each year from the hundreds of applications received from around the world. The curriculum for Ph.D. students emphasizes creative writing and literary study. The city of Houston offers a vibrant, multi-cultural backdrop for studying creative writing at the University of Houston. With a dynamic visual and performing arts scene, the Houston metropolitan area supplies a wealth of aesthetic materials.

Overview of Admissions Requirements

Minimum requirements for admission.

• M.A. in English or M.F.A. in Creative Writing  
• 3.5 GPA in graduate studies 

Application Deadline

The admissions deadline for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature is January 15.

For more admissions information, visit the How to Apply web page for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature.  

History of the Creative Writing Program

Over the years many more internationally acclaimed writers have made the Program their home, including Mary Gaitskill, Richard Howard, Howard Moss, Linda Gregg, Adam Zagajewski, Daniel Stern, David Wojahn, Edward Hirsch, Alan Hollinghurst, Mark Strand, David Wagoner, Philip Levine, Charles Wright, Claudia Rankine, Kimiko Hahn, Mark Doty and Ruben Martinez.

Current faculty includes Erin Belieu, Robert Boswell, Audrey Colombe, Chitra Divakaruni, Nick Flynn, francine j. harris, Antonya Nelson, Alex Parsons, Kevin Prufer, Brenda Peynado, Martha Serpas, Roberto Tejada, and Peter Turchi.

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The Department of English has moved from Hellems and Denison to Muenzinger . The main office is in Muenzinger D110.

• PhD in Literature

The PhD program is a five-year curriculum that comprises a language requirement and three basic components: coursework, a Comprehensive Examination, and a dissertation.

• Complete and up-to-date admission requirements can be found on our  Admissions  page. 
• Complete and submit an online application . Please do not send application materials to the English Department.

PhD students receive  five years of funding  to complete the curriculum. In years one and five, students hold a Research Assistantship (RA) appointment which does not require any teaching. In years two through four, students hold a Graduate Part-Time Instructor (GPTI) appointment and teach undergraduate English literature courses each Fall and Spring semester. In year two, GPTIs teach one section of an undergraduate literature course in each semester. In years three and four GPTIs teach two sections of an undergraduate course in each semester. Both the RA and the GPTI appointments provide a monthly stipend, full tuition remission, and a 90% contribution toward the premium cost of the Student Gold Health Insurance Plan. A summer stipend is also provided every summer for four consecutive summers following the completion of the first year.

Years 1 & 2

Coursework prepares PhD students to write a successful dissertation and to teach effectively in their area of specialty. You should enroll in graduate seminars serving those ends in English or related fields. The sole requirement for coursework for the PhD is that students take a minimum of 30 credits of graduate study. All courses must be at the 5000 level or above. As a PhD student, you should plan your coursework in close consultation with your Dissertation Director or the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies. The first and second years in the PhD program are usually dedicated to coursework.

Students with a Master's degree can transfer up to 15 credit hours of coursework from their Master's toward the 30 credit hours required for the PhD. Please direct questons about transfer credits to the Graduate Program Assistant.

Year 3: Comprehensive Examination

The Comprehensive Examination is a two-hour oral exam. The exam will be conducted by your Director and the rest of your Examining Committee. You will be tested on the Reading Lists and the dissertation Prospectus. Typically, one hour of the exam is devoted to the Prospectus and one to the reading lists. The order will be decided by your Examining Committee prior to the exam.

For additional inforamtion about the Comprehensive Exam, please see the  English Department Graduate Student Handbook .

Years 4 & 5: Dissertation

The dissertation, which should be work of professionally viable scholarship, will typically take the form of a monograph. It is a work of original scholarship that makes a significant contribution to a given field and may contain such elements as practice-based research, curatorial or Internet exhibition, fieldwork, etc. The dissertation is written in close consultation with your Director and Dissertation Committee.

For additional information about the Dissertation, please see the  English Department Graduate Student Handbook .

Students earning the PhD in Literature must complete a foreign language requirement demonstrating proficiency in one foreign language. There are four ways in which they may meet this requirement:

• by taking a language proficiency exam in the language of their choice,
• by taking two semesters of a 2000-level language course for credit and completing it with a grade of B or better. In the second instance, courses would be in excess of the thirty hours required for the degree. Summer language intensive programs at other universities can be substituted for the 2000-level course with the approval of the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies,
• by taking two semesters of Old English (ENGL 5003, ENGL 5013, ENGL 5023).
• by transferring two language courses taken at another college or university. In order to qualify, the courses (i) must have been taken within the last three years, (ii) must be equivalent to a 2000-level language course at the University of Colorado Boulder, and (iii) must have been passed with a grade of B or better.                         

For additional information about satisfying the language requirement, see the English Department Graduate Student Handbook .

For additional information about the language exam,  see the FAQ for the Language Proficiency Exam .

PhD students are expected to complete all degree requirements within five years from the semester in which they are admitted and begin coursework in the doctoral program. The Graduate School allows for up to six years of study for the completion of doctoral degrees. To continue beyond six years, the student must file a petition for an extension of the time limit with the Dean of the Graduate School. The Dissertation Director and the English Department Associate Chair for Graduate Studies must endorse such petitions. Extensions may be granted for up to one year. For additional time, you must file another petition for extension. Please note that there is no guarantee of department funding after the fifth year.

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College of Arts and Sciences » Academic Units » English » Creative Writing » Graduate Program » PhD in Creative Writing

PhD in Creative Writing

Program overview.

The PhD in Creative Writing and Literature is a four-year course of study. Following two years of course work that includes workshop, forms classes, pedagogical training, and literature, students take exams in two areas, one that examines texts through the lens of craft and another that examines them through the lens of literary history and theory. Recent examples of the genre area include Comic Fiction, History of the Love Lyric, and Fantasy; recent examples of the scholarly area include History of the Novel, 20th Century American Poetry, and Modern & Contemporary British Fiction. In the first two years, students take three courses per semester; the teaching load throughout the program is one class per semester. Every PhD student has the opportunity to teach creative writing, with many also teaching literature classes. Most students are funded by teaching, with two or three at a time funded by editorial work at  The Cincinnati Review or Acre Books, and others funded in their dissertation year by college- or university-level fellowships. Fifth-year support, while not guaranteed, has generally been available to interested students in the form of student lecturerships, which carry a 2-2 load. The Creative Writing PhD at the University of Cincinnati has maintained over the last decade more than a 75% placement rate into full-time academic jobs for its doctoral graduates. Two-thirds of these positions are tenure-track.

Application Information

• Exam Areas and Committee
• Doctoral Candidacy Form
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• Dissertations
• Applying for Fifth-Year Funding
• Working for The Cincinnati Review
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DU’s Creative & Liberal Arts Graduate Programs Ranked Among Top in Nation

Annetta crecelius.

Director of Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

The doctoral program in English & Literary Arts within the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences at the University of Denver has been ranked at No. 99 among the top 100 graduate programs in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 rankings.

U.S. News & World Report ranks programs on alternating years. This year’s rankings include social sciences and humanities doctoral programs, among others. In addition, the College has three other rankings among the nation’s top graduate programs. 

Last year, the College’s MFA in Emergent Digital Practices ranked No. 124 (tie) in Best Fine Arts Programs, while our Department of Psychology’s PhD in Clinical Psychology ranked highly among top health schools at No. 50 (tie).

All U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate programs within the Colleges of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences include:

• Department of English & Literary Arts  (doctoral program), No. 99
• MFA in Emergent Digital Practices , No. 124
• PhD in Clinical Psychology , No. 50
• Department of Psychology  (overall program), No. 81

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Create an Account

• Click the Apply button above and the gold Apply Now button on the next page. 
• If you already have a University of Colorado Denver or Anschutz Medical Campus username and password, select sign up with your university credentials . 
• Complete the “Create Account” form by filling in your first and last name, email address, cell phone number, birthdate, and password (remember this password for future use). Click Next . 

A notice will be displayed instructing you to check the email associated with the address you provided. Check your email . A username will be provided to you, along with your prospective student ID number and where to direct technical questions. 

Select Your Program on the Application

• Log into your application using the username sent to you via email and the password you saved when creating your account. 
• You will see the application homepage , which will eventually show any and all applications you start and submit. 
• Click Start New Application at the bottom of the page. 
• A box will appear with a University of Colorado Denver Graduate Admissions option. Select this option and click Create Application . Another box will appear with Application Details . Select Open Application . 
• You can navigate to different pages on the application using the menu with blue hyperlinks at the left side of the page (or at the top if you are on a mobile device). The application is not sequential, which means that you may jump from page to page. You do not need to complete the pages in order. 
• Click Academic Interest in the menu to select your program. 
• Select whether you are applying to a Doctorate , Licensure and/or Endorsement , or Master’s (additional variations of these options are listed on the page). Selecting an option will show a drop-down box with filtered programs based on your answer to the previous question. 
• Select the program to which you are applying, which is listed under the school or college where the program is housed. 
• If your program offers a fully online or 4+1 (concurrent enrollment for current CU Denver undergraduate students) option and you intend to apply under this option, complete the questions for further details. 
• Another drop-down box will appear for information about your entry term. Select the term you plan to enroll. 
• Click Continue at the bottom of the page. You have successfully selected your program of interest and the application will expand to ask you questions specific to your program. You may now navigate around the application. 

First, check the status of your application by l ogging back into your account. In many cases, this checklist will answer your questions. If you need to speak to someone, please refer to the list below and make sure you include your full name and applicant ID in all communication requests. 

Contact your program, school, or college contact with questions related to: 

• Your application status, decision letter, or accepting your offer of admission. 
• Program-specific application requirements, such as a statement of purpose or an essay question. 
• Curriculum and other details about the program. 
• Scholarships and other funding sources originating at the school/college level. 

Contact the Office of Admissions with questions related to: 

• A technical issue with your application. 
• Application fee waivers. 

Contact International Admissions with questions related to: 

• The English Proficiency Requirement. 
• The External Credential and Evaluation (ECE) requirement. 

Documentation Retention

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