How to Apply
Our priority application deadline for admission in the fall is February 1.
Application for Admission
Apply for acceptance into Wichita State University's Graduate School and into its MFA Program.
- Submit your application and application fee online. Apply in either fiction or poetry and upload a sample of original creative writing in your genre.
- For fiction, select about 20 pages. Use 12 point type, one-inch margins, double-spaced.
For poetry, select four to six poems. - Upload an unofficial transcript of all the colleges and universities you attended as part of the online application. If you are admitted, the Graduate School will email you to ask you to send one (1) official transcript.
- Important: If you want to be considered for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship, you must also upload your completed GTA application to your university application.
Graduate Teaching Assistant Application
If you want to be considered for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship, you must also upload your completed GTA application to your university application. Your GTA application consists of three parts.
- You will find the GTA Application here. Download and fill it out and then upload it to your university application.
- Also, upload a sample of your original expository prose. You may send either:
- an academic paper of five or more double-spaced pages (preferably one that has been graded), OR
- an essay of three to five double-spaced pages, which might include the following: why you would be an effective teacher; why it is important for a person today, in the era of cell phones and email, to write effectively, and how teaching expository writing might benefit you as a creative or scholarly writer.
- Make sure that your letters of recommendation address your suitability and preparedness to be a Graduate Teaching Assistant. This might even be the primary focus of their letters. You do not need to send a separate set of recommendation letters for the GTA position as long as your recommenders address it in their letters in support of your application to the university.
GTA Enrollment Requirement
To be a Graduate Teaching Assistant, students must enroll full time, which is nine hours per semester. Our MFA students who are GTAs receive support for three years, as long as their academic record and teaching are satisfactory.
Admissions Decisions
Students admitted into the MFA program will hear by April 1 and are expected to respond by April 15. If a student does not answer by April 15, we assume the offer has been declined. We often develop a wait list, so it’s possible for an applicant to hear after April 1.
Applicants should know that the Council of Graduate Schools policy is that no student should be obliged to accept an offer of financial support before April 15. More details on that policy can be found at the Council of Graduate Schools website.