Overview

About this Degree

Our alumni include national and international best-selling authors, Emmy Award winners, PEN USA finalist playwrights, acclaimed journalists and memoirists, award-winning poets, top television and film producers, and even a member of Congress.

You can choose from program tracks in fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, poetry, and writing for both television and the big screen. Select a secondary genre as a minor, or try something new every term. In seven quarters over two years, you will complete a full creative project while working one-on-one online with our acclaimed writing faculty, and in-person at five 10-day residencies* at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa near sunny Palm Springs, California. You’ll meet some of the best writers, agents, editors, producers, and showrunners in the business. At your final residency, they’ll read your work. Past guests include editors from every major New York publishing house; Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning writers, producers, and showrunners; plus studio executives from Amazon, Netflix, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Disney, and some of the top indie voices in the business.

While we do not accept international students at this time, our students do come from all over the world — the benefit of the Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA at University of California, Riverside is that you can receive a University of California education no matter where you live — and that means we have students who’ve lived in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America…and of course, all over the United States. A great number of our students have also been current and ex-military.

Programme Structure

Courses include:

Six low-residency workshop courses

Six low-residency seminars

Six low-residency cross-genre workshops

Seven units of thesis and one unit of professional development

Five in-person residencies

Key information

Duration

Full-time
- 24 months

Start dates & application deadlines

Starting 2026-09-25 00:00:00
- Apply before 2026-08-01 00:00:00
Starting 2027-03-24 00:00:00
- Apply before 2027-02-01 00:00:00

Language

English

TOEFL^® IBT

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IELTS

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Credits

56 SCH

Delivered

On Campus

Campus Location

Riverside, United States

Disciplines

Visual Arts Creative Writing Fine Arts View 434 other Masters in Visual Arts in United States

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Academic requirements

GPA

English requirements

TOEFL^® IBT

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IELTS

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Cathoven AI IELTS Preparation

Learn your IELTS Score

AI-powered IELTS feedback. Clear, actionable, and tailored to boost your writing & speaking score. No credit card or upfront payment required.

Trusted by 300k learners
98 accuracy using real exam data
4.9/5 student rating

Other requirements

General requirements

An application fee

A statement of purpose

A personal history statement

A 25-page writing sample for your intended major (fiction, playwriting, poetry, nonfiction, or screenwriting). Your writing sample must be for your major. Do not send work outside of your intended major. A faculty committee will read your submission. It will be evaluated on the grounds of quality, originality, academic prowess, and creative potential.

Three letters of recommendation. Non-academic recommendations are accepted. Your referrers will submit their letters of recommendation for you online, after you submit your application.

Original transcripts from all institutions. You should mail these. Your transcripts are the only material that may arrive after the deadline.

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are shown in and the most likely applicable fee is shown based on your nationality.

International Applies to you

Applies to you

Non-residents

24010 USD / year

≈ 24010 USD / year
Out-of-State

24010 USD / year

≈ 24010 USD / year
Domestic

Applies to you

In-State

8980 USD / year

≈ 8980 USD / year

Living costs

Riverside

United States

1100 - 1600 USD / month

The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.

Financing

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Free visa & career support through our Path2Success program

Funding

Win a €10000 Scholarship! Deadline: 30 June 2020

Embark on your journey with the Studyportals Scholarship! We're giving away a total of 20,000 euros to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad.

Win a €10000 Scholarship! Deadline: 30 June 2020

Embark on your journey with the Studyportals Scholarship! We're giving away a total of 20,000 euros to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad.

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Scholarships Information

Below you will find Master's scholarship opportunities for Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA.

Available Scholarships

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On this page

About

Overview

About this Degree

Programme Structure

Key information

Duration

Start dates & application deadlines

Language

Prepare for Your English Test

Credits

Delivered

Campus Location

Disciplines

What students do after studying

Academic requirements

English requirements

Prepare for Your English Test

Other requirements

General requirements

Tuition Fees

International Applies to you

Domestic

Living costs

Riverside

Financing

Funding

Scholarships Information

Available Scholarships

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