The MFA in Poetry requires that each student working on an M.F.A. in Poetry or in Poetry in Translation attend five residencies and complete four mentorship semesters for a total of 64 credits in order to graduate. Students earning an M.F.A. in Poetry and Poetry in Translation attend six residencies and complete five mentorship semesters for a total of 80 credits in order to graduate.
Residencies
During the MFA program students and faculty gather twice a year for ten days to learn, listen, and write together. During the residencies, students will participate in poetry workshops, craft seminars, and readings. The residency is designed as an incubation period, an intense immersion into poetry.
At each residency students will attend workshops in the mornings, lectures in the afternoons, and readings most evenings. Students will also meet with their mentors to create their study plans for the coming mentorship semester.
Graduating students attending their fifth residency will give a panel presentation and a reading of their own work.
Housing for Residencies
MFA students will live in dormitories on Drew’s campus during their residencies. While housing arrangements may vary, students can expect to be housed in suite-style accommodations, with their own bedroom and a bathroom shared by other MFA students occupying the suite. Three meals per day are included during residencies.
Mentorship Semesters
During the semesters between the ten day residencies students return home and correspond with a faculty-mentor. Mentorship semesters offer periods in which students are engaged in the solitary work of writing poetry, and of reading and writing critically. Study plans devised at the residencies are fulfilled, and the challenge of sending packets back and forth between student and mentor creates excitement, energy, and growth. Requirements for mentorship semesters change as students progress through the program.
