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Is a Creative Writing Degree Worth It? Let’s Get Into It.

In my day—by which I mean the early 2000s—a creative writing degree was considered one of the less practical academic pursuits, only a little more reasonable than a philosophy degree and a theatre arts degree (which, incidentally, is what I have).

These days, we have a bit more appreciation for what a person can do with some well-rounded creative writing skills. Such a person can write novels and poetry, sure, but they can also compose speeches for politicians, create written content to refresh a major corporation’s brand, and craft compelling ad copy.

There’s no question about it. Creative writing is a skill that earns , depending on how you use it.

But as is the case in a lot of modern industries, we’re starting to see that a degree doesn’t carry the weight it used to. And not having a degree isn’t always a barrier to entry.

So where does that leave aspiring writers? Should you bother to pursue a creative writing degree? If so, what should you be trying to get out of it?

We’re about to go over all the ins and outs of this educational path. We’ll talk about:

• The advantages of pursuing a degree in creative writing
• The different types of creative writing programs
• How to choose the program that’s best for you
• How creative writing is taught
• The career opportunities that come with a creative writing degree

Let’s start by looking at the perks.

Benefits of Pursuing a Creative Writing Degree

I’m about to list the four biggest benefits of attending a creative writing program. But I want to be clear about something:

Every one of these perks is something you can also get without a degree in creative writing.

I don’t say that to discourage you from taking this path. This might still be the best next step for your career. See, the biggest difference between getting a formal education and DIY-ing one isn’t what you learn but how you learn it.

That’s why we’re not just looking at what these four benefits are but also how you achieve them in a creative writing program.

Develop Strong Writing Skills

This is the reason most creative writing students pursue a degree. A good program offers a range of courses to help you sharpen your skills, faculty members who have real-life experience with the publishing industry, and access to visiting writers who can offer additional inspiration and insight .

Most programs incorporate writing workshops where you and your fellow students share and give feedback on your work, all under the guidance of a professor. Many universities also put out literary journals, giving students the opportunity to participate in the publishing process .

And of course, enrolling in a creative writing program ensures that you’ll be constantly writing , which is the best way to sharpen your skills.

Explore Diverse Genres and Styles

A self-guided learner has full authority to choose which areas of writing and literature they’ll explore. This is mostly a good thing, but the benefit of pursuing a creative writing degree is that your professors will see to it that you get familiar with a range of formats, genres , and styles .

This is especially true in undergraduate creative writing programs. Expect to read and analyze a wide spectrum of literature, from ancient epic poems to modern mainstream novels.

Build Your Network

This is such a notable perk that many of my friends who went to graduate school for screenwriting highlight this as the number one benefit.

Of course, you can build a network of peers and mentors without shelling out a ton of money for a formal education. But in a creative writing program, you spend all your time with other writers. You read each other’s work, struggle through the same coursework, and connect on a personal level.

Plus, if you happen to go to a school with a robust alumni network, you might find it easier to connect with those in your industry who share your alma mater after you graduate.

Widen Career Options

There are plenty of writers who don’t have a degree in creative writing—or don’t have a degree at all —who are making a decent living off of their words.

Nevertheless, a formal education can offer a wider range of options. It will give you a better shot with employers who place high value on college degrees or want to know that you have specialized knowledge regarding a specific type of writing.

And if you think you might enjoy teaching creative writing, a degree is a must. 

Types of Creative Writing Degrees

Intrigued? Then let’s explore your options more in depth.

There are several different types of creative writing degrees you can pursue, each with a slightly different focus and different opportunities once you leave school to practice your craft in the real world.

We’ll break this down one by one.

Undergraduate Degrees

It typically takes four years to complete an undergraduate creative writing program, though the timeline can be longer or shorter depending on your schedule and any credits you’ve already earned and transferred over.

We’re covering some general creative writing degrees available at the undergraduate level, but I highly recommend doing additional research. There are several more specific degrees that zero in on a particular aspect of writing, like a Bachelor of Arts in Communication or Journalism.

If you have a clear-cut vision for your writing career, start there and work backward to find the degree that makes sense for you. If you only know that you want to be writing one way or another, start by looking at these three options:

Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Creative Writing

When you pursue a Bachelor of Arts, you can expect to get a well-rounded education that includes writing instruction as well as a balanced emphasis on the sciences and humanities.

It’s a liberal arts degree, basically, and it’s the most common choice for students seeking a creative writing education. 

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Creative Writing

BFA programs are much rarer than BA programs, but it’s worth considering one if you want an education that puts a heavy emphasis on the “arts” part.

This type of program focuses less on sciences and humanities. It often includes hands-on writing workshops (more on those in a bit) and is favored by students who fully intend to become authors, playwrights, screenwriters, or poets.

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Writing

If you think you might enjoy applying your creative writing skills to something more scientific or analytical, a BS might be the best option for you.

This is a popular option for students who see themselves getting into technical writing, cultural studies, or communication.

Graduate Degrees

Postgraduate education—or grad school, as the cool kids call it—comes after you’ve earned an undergraduate degree. The most common reasons to seek out a graduate degree in creative writing include:

• You think you might like to teach creative writing at the college level one day
• You earned an undergraduate degree in a different field and now you want to study writing
• You just really want to go deep on this subject

Just as with undergrad degrees, there are highly specific grad programs you can explore. Or you can dive into one of these:

Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing

While an MA program doesn’t have the humanities and sciences components of a BA program, it still maintains a balance between participating in the arts and observing them. 

That is to say, you’ll do a ton of writing in this program, but you’ll also read and analyze a fair amount of literature.

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing

MFA programs tend to be super hands-on, with workshops in which students share and give feedback on each other’s writing. Over the course of the program, you’ll complete a book-length work like a novel or poetry collection.

You also might find that you need more credits to earn an MFA degree than an MA in creative writing. 

PhD in Creative Writing

Now you’re just stalling. Write your book already.

I’m kidding. A PhD is a perfectly reasonable option if you want to study literature and creative writing in great depth. Most students who take their writing education this far are also planning to build a career in academia in addition to being a published author.

PhD programs are extremely rigorous, can last four years, and conclude with a dissertation project.

Writing Workshops vs. Writing Courses

At this point, we should probably discuss the difference between writing courses and workshops in an academic setting. You’ll find both in many programs, but the balance between these two educational experiences will depend on which type of creative writing degree you pursue.

It will also influence your entire learning experience.

What Makes a Course a Course?

A creative writing course is exactly what you think of when you imagine any class in a formal education setting.

In a course, a professor lectures on specific topics, assigns projects, and grades students on their performance. There may be class discussions and even opportunities for students to share and engage with each others’ writing. But the overall structure of a course focuses on conveying information.

What Makes a Workshop a Workshop?

A creative writing workshop is more hands-on. While the professor will share insights and guide discussions, the primary purpose of a workshop is to help students refine their craft. They share their work and give each other feedback.

You see much more of this learning style in BFA and MFA programs, which put greater emphasis on honing creative skills. If you want your writing education to include analyzing literature or studying the business end of publishing, you’ll probably want to look into more course-heavy BA or MA programs.  

Renowned Creative Writing Programs

This is usually when a person wants to know where they should go to get these degrees. What are the best creative writing programs out there?

Really, the best program is the one that fits you. Reputation is just one of many factors you should consider when you decide where to pursue a degree in creative writing. 

That said, it’s always a good move to know the respected institutions in your field. It helps you sound informed at cocktail parties. To that end, here are some of the most revered schools in the world of creative writing (in the U.S., anyway):

• The Iowa Writers’ Workshop
• Brown University
• Columbia University
• Duke University
• Emory University
• Mizzou (Journalism)
• Northwestern University

Choosing the Right Creative Writing Program

If prestige shouldn’t be a top consideration when deciding where to earn a degree in creative writing, what should you prioritize?

Here are a few factors to keep in mind as you research your options:

Career goals - Do you want a program that’s going to prepare you for a job in marketing that pays the bills while you write poetry on the side? Do you want to become a globe-trotting journalist or a high-earning technical writer?

Decide what will be the best degree for you, then zero in on the schools that excel in that area of study.

And don’t forget to consider genre! If you want to earn an MFA but are interested in commercial fiction writing, make sure you find a program that matches your goals. Literary fiction tends to get all the love in higher education.

Faculty - Research who you’ll be learning from. Do they seem like the right folks to guide you on your professional journey?

Curriculum - Learn everything you can about a school’s course options and creative writing majors before you commit. Will you be able to focus on the area of writing that matters most to you? Will the skills you learn help you do fun things in the real world like eat and pay rent?

Location - There are accredited creative writing programs that are entirely online. However, many of your best options will be in-person or low residency . Not only is the location relevant for practical reasons—you have to be able to get there—it can also influence how much you pay to go. 

If you attend a state school in your own state, for example, you can expect to pay less than the out-of-state students.

Results - Do a little digging to find out what graduates say about their experience in the program. What did they like about it? What didn’t they like? Would they say it was worth it? What are they doing with their creative writing degree now?

Cost - You’re probably way ahead of me here, but I’ll mention it, anyway. The less you pay for a degree in creative writing, the greater your return on investment will be. Look at tuition costs, possible scholarships, out-of-state versus in-state expenses, and the local cost of living.

Career Opportunities with a Creative Writing Degree

Maybe you decided long ago that you definitely want to go to college. Maybe for you, the question isn’t whether you want a degree at all but whether a degree in creative writing is a good use of your college fund.

In that case, we should talk career opportunities. What exactly can you do with a creative writing degree?

A lot, as it turns out. In fact, we have this ridiculously long list of jobs that require strong creative writing skills. You can follow the link to explore them in depth, but here’s a quick sample of what’s in there:

• Proofreader
• Content writer
• Technical writer
• Social media writer
• Screenwriter
• Speechwriter
• Literary agent
• Brand strategist
• Corporate communications specialist

That’s really only scratching the surface, and it doesn’t even touch on the ways your writing skills might serve you in less creative professions. I know multiple lawyers with a creative writing degree they credit for making them significantly better at drafting legal arguments. (On the flip side, an alarming number of lawyers become screenwriters or novelists.)

The important thing is to consider different creative writing majors carefully. Between the different schools, degrees, and areas of concentration, you’ve got lots of options and plenty of opportunities to select the education path that leads to your ideal writing career.

Whatever You Do, Keep Learning

Only you can decide if a creative writing degree is the right move for you. Whether you go for it or not, remember that continuous learning is the best thing you can do to ensure a successful and fulfilling writing career.

Keep reading work that inspires you. Build and nurture your writer network. Proactively seek out workshops, seminars, conferences , books, articles… anything you can get your hands on that will help you sharpen your skills.

And while I wouldn’t claim it’s a one-to-one replacement for the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, remember that Dabble is always here for you with a shocking amount of free educational resources and a supportive community in the Story Craft Café .

Peruse the hundreds of articles, templates, and worksheets in DabbleU . Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly guidance delivered straight to your inbox. Download this free, 100-page ebook walking you through the entire novel-writing process.

Even if you need a little more time to decide if you want a degree in creative writing, you can start boosting your skills now.

So what are you waiting for?

Abi Wurdeman is the author of Cross-Section of a Human Heart: A Memoir of Early Adulthood, as well as the novella, Holiday Gifts for Insufferable People. She also writes for film and television with her brother and writing partner, Phil Wurdeman. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. When she’s not writing, Abi is most likely hiking, reading, or texting her mother pictures of her houseplants to ask why they look like that.

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Is a Degree in Creative Writing Worth it?

Exploring a Degree in Creative Writing

Do you love words and telling stories?

Creative writing could be the perfect career for you.

But before you dive into a degree in creative writing, it’s vital to understand what such a degree entails and other possible routes that can help you land your dream job in the creative writing field. Let’s look at various aspects of a degree in creative writing – so you can move forward with the clarity to craft your very own happy ending!

What Does a Creative Writing Degree Entail?

A degree in creative writing involves comprehensive study and practice of different writing forms , from prose to poetry, plays to scripts, and beyond. It explores the mechanics of language, the nuances of tone and style, and the art of storytelling.

Candidates learn to:

• develop plotlines
• create compelling characters
• craft engaging dialogue
• gain insights into literary theory and criticism , and become familiar with a wide range of literary works across different genres and periods.

In addition to writing, students typically engage in extensive reading, critique, and revision of their own and their peers’ work. This degree also teaches critical thinking , research skills , and the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly, which are valuable skills applicable beyond just the writing field.

For a more detailed breakdown of what creative writing encompasses, check out our article on what is creative writing .

The Different Types of Creative Writing Degrees

Creative writing degrees come in various types and levels, each catering to a range of aspirations and career goals.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing (BA or BFA): This undergraduate program offers a broad introduction to creative writing and is often combined with literature studies. It’s a good starting point for those interested in careers in writing, editing, publishing, or teaching.
• Master’s Degree in Creative Writing (MA or MFA): This is a more specialized program, often focusing on a particular genre of writing. The MFA is considered a terminal degree in this field and can lead to teaching positions at the college level.
• Ph.D. in Creative Writing: This advanced degree caters to those interested in scholarly research or teaching at the university level. It usually involves producing a significant original work and an accompanying critical analysis.

This is a brief overview of the common types of creative writing degrees. Depending on your career aspirations—whether you’re interested in becoming a novelist, a poet, a scriptwriter, a teacher , or exploring other creative writing jobs —you might choose one over the others.

Remember, the journey of a creative writer isn’t limited to formal education. There are numerous paths into the world of creative writing. The key is to find what suits your learning style , your career plans, and, most importantly, your passion for writing.

The Pros of a Creative Writing Degree

While the question, “is a degree in creative writing worth it?” can be subjective and dependent on individual career goals, there are undeniable benefits that come with such an educational pursuit. These benefits can be divided into three main categories:

1. Skill Development

One of the most significant benefits of obtaining a degree in creative writing is the enhancement of writing skills. Students are exposed to various forms of writing, genres, and techniques , expanding their repertoire and understanding of the craft. This direct, academic exploration of what is creative writing can provide a valuable foundation for budding writers.

Critique and feedback are also integral parts of a creative writing program. This structured environment allows students to receive constructive criticism on their work, improving their writing and editing skills. Moreover, students are also exposed to different perspectives and interpretations , which can broaden their thinking and contribute to the development of unique writing styles.

2. Networking Opportunities

A creative writing degree provides students with numerous opportunities to network with peers , professors, and industry professionals . These relationships can be instrumental in opening doors to internships, job opportunities, and collaborations.

Many creative writing programs also host guest lectures, workshops, and events where students can meet and learn from established writers and industry figures. These experiences provide valuable insights into the creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree .

3. Portfolio Building

A degree in creative writing aids in building a strong and diverse writing portfolio. The assignments and projects undertaken during the course of study can be honed and polished to form part of a professional portfolio. This collection of work is crucial when applying for writing jobs or freelance opportunities.

Furthermore, many programs offer opportunities for students to get their work published . Whether it’s through the university’s literary journal or connections with external publications, seeing their work in print can be a significant milestone for new writers.

A creative writing degree can provide valuable skill development, networking opportunities, and aid in the building of a robust portfolio. However, it’s crucial to consider these benefits in light of the financial and practical implications – which we will discuss in the following section.

As with any educational pursuit, it’s essential to weigh the pros and cons and consider your personal circumstances and career goals.

The Cons of a Creative Writing Degree

While the benefits of a creative writing degree are plentiful, it’s crucial to consider the potential drawbacks. These may include financial considerations , the realities of the job market , and the question of necessity in the writing field.

1. Financial Considerations

Studying for a creative writing degree can be a financial burden. Tuition fees, textbooks, and living expenses can add up, leading to a significant investment. Furthermore, the return on investment may not be immediate given the often competitive and unpredictable nature of the writing field.

It’s important to consider these costs and explore potential financial aid, scholarships, or part-time work opportunities to offset them.

2. Job Market Considerations

While a degree in creative writing can open doors to various creative writing jobs , it’s important to remember that these positions can often be competitive . The supply of creative writers tends to outweigh demand, which can make finding a job in the field challenging. Additionally, the pay for creative writing jobs can vary significantly, with many roles not offering a high salary.

3. Necessity in the Writing Field

When considering whether a creative writing degree is worth it, it’s essential to weigh these potential drawbacks against the benefits. Consider your personal circumstances, career goals, and other factors such as your passion for writing, your desire to improve your skills, and your willingness to navigate the challenges of the writing field.

For those who decide that a formal degree isn’t the right path, there are numerous other ways to pursue creative writing. From creative writing prompts to creative writing activities for kids , there are many resources available to help aspiring writers develop their skills and express their creativity.

Non-Degree Paths to Creative Writing

In some instances, having a diverse educational background outside of creative writing can be beneficial, providing a unique perspective and a wealth of material to draw from in your writing.

While a degree in creative writing can provide a structured learning path and networking opportunities, many successful writers have honed their skills through non-degree paths . These alternatives to formal education can be equally effective in developing your creative writing abilities.

Self-Study and Practice

Creative writing is a skill that can be developed through consistent practice. Self-study allows you to learn at your own pace and focus on the areas you find most interesting. Whether it’s poetry, short stories, or novels, you can cultivate your writing skills by studying the works of established authors, dissecting their style, and understanding their techniques.

Practicing consistently is key to improvement. Regular writing exercises, such as responding to creative writing prompts , can help you build your skills and explore a variety of writing styles. Over time, this regular practice can help you develop your unique voice and storytelling style.

Workshops and Writing Groups

Workshops and writing groups offer invaluable opportunities to receive feedback on your work, learn from others, and immerse yourself in a community of writers. Whether in person or online , these gatherings can provide constructive criticism, inspiration, and the chance to discuss writing techniques and challenges.

Writing groups also offer the benefit of accountability , as members often commit to sharing their work on a regular basis. This can motivate you to write consistently and push your creative boundaries.

Online Courses and Resources

The internet is a treasure trove of resources for aspiring writers. Online courses cover a wide range of topics, from the basics of what is creative writing to specialized genres and techniques.

These courses often include:

• video lessons
• writing assignments
• feedback from instructors

Additionally, there are countless blogs, podcasts, and forums dedicated to creative writing. These resources can provide advice on everything from crafting compelling characters to overcoming writer’s block. They also serve as platforms for writers to share their work and connect with a wider community.

While pondering the question, ‘is a degree in creative writing worth it’, it’s crucial to consider these non-degree paths. They can provide the flexibility, affordability , and personalized learning experiences that may better align with your personal goals and circumstances.

Making the Decision: Is a Degree in Creative Writing Worth It?

The question “Is a degree in creative writing worth it?” can be challenging to answer definitively as it largely depends on an individual’s personal and career goals.

Personal Considerations

From a personal perspective, a degree in creative writing can be immensely rewarding . It provides a structured environment to learn, experiment, and receive feedback on your writing. This can lead to substantial improvements in your writing ability and a deeper understanding of the craft. A creative writing degree also allows you to immerse yourself in literature and writing, which can be personally fulfilling if you have a passion for these areas.

However, you need to consider if you have the discipline and motivation to pursue a degree over several years. Many successful writers developed their craft through a combination of self-study, practice, and life experiences. They found their unique voice and style outside of an academic setting. You can explore more about what is creative writing in one of our previous articles.

Editor’s Note : Take your personality into account when deciding how to pursue creative writing. A degree is a formal approach that will involve exams and higher stress situations. If you didn’t enjoy school, a degree might sap the joy out of writing.

Career Considerations

Career-wise, a creative writing degree can open up a range of job opportunities. Many creative writing graduates work in fields such as:

• advertising

A degree can provide a competitive edge in these fields as it demonstrates a high level of writing ability and a strong understanding of narrative structures and literary techniques.

However, it’s important to note that writing jobs are often competitive, and a degree in creative writing is not always a prerequisite for these roles. You should also consider the financial implications of getting a degree, including tuition fees and potential student loans. For more insights on this topic, check out our article on creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree .

Is a Career in Creative Writing for You?

Determining if a degree in creative writing is worth it depends on your personal aspirations, career goals, and the value you place on a formal education in writing. By considering these factors and exploring the alternatives available, you can make an informed decision that best suits your needs and interests.

Remember, while a formal degree has it’s benefits, the path to becoming a successful writer isn’t confined to classrooms. With passion, practice, and persistence , you can hone your creative writing skills and create your unique literary footprint – with or without a degree.

Whatever path you choose, keep writing, keep dreaming, and don’t give up!

Brooks Manley

Creative Primer  is a resource on all things journaling, creativity, and productivity. We’ll help you produce better ideas, get more done, and live a more effective life.

My name is Brooks. I do a ton of journaling, like to think I’m a creative (jury’s out), and spend a lot of time thinking about productivity. I hope these resources and product recommendations serve you well. Reach out if you ever want to chat or let me know about a journal I need to check out!

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What to Know About Creative Writing Degrees

Many creative writing degree recipients pursue careers as authors while others work as copywriters or ghostwriters.

Tips on Creative Writing Degrees

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Prospective writing students should think about their goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Many people see something magical in a beautiful work of art, and artists of all kinds often take pride in their craftsmanship. Creative writers say they find fulfillment in the writing process.

"I believe that making art is a human need, and so to get to do that is amazing," says Andrea Lawlor, an author who this year received a Whiting Award – a national $50,000 prize that recognizes 10 excellent emerging authors each year – and who is also the Clara Willis Phillips Assistant Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

"We all are seeing more and more of the way that writing can help us understand perspectives we don't share," says Lawlor, whose recent novel "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl" addresses the issue of gender identity.

"Writing can help us cope with hard situations," Lawlor says. "We can find people who we have something in common with even if there's nobody around us who shares our experience through writing. It's a really powerful tool for connection and social change and understanding."

Creative writing faculty, many of whom are acclaimed published authors, say that people are well-suited toward degrees in creative writing if they are highly verbal and enjoy expressing themselves.

"Creative imaginative types who have stories burning inside them and who gravitate toward stories and language might want to pursue a degree in creative writing," Jessica Bane Robert, who teaches Introduction to Creative Writing at Clark University in Massachusetts, wrote in an email. "Through formal study you will hone your voice, gain confidence, find a support system for what can otherwise be a lonely endeavor."

Read the guide below to gain more insight into what it means to pursue a creative writing education, how writing impacts society and whether it is prudent to invest in a creative writing degree. Learn about the difference between degree-based and non-degree creative writing programs, how to craft a solid application to a top-notch creative writing program and how to figure out which program is the best fit.

Why Creative Writing Matters and Reasons to Study It

Creative writers say a common misconception about their job is that their work is frivolous and impractical, but they emphasize that creative writing is an extremely effective way to convey messages that are hard to share in any other way.

Kelly Caldwell, dean of faculty at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, says prospective writing students are often discouraged from taking writing courses because of concerns about whether a writing life is somehow unattainable or "unrealistic."

Although creative writers are sometimes unable to financially support themselves entirely on the basis of their creative projects, Caldwell says, they often juggle that work with other types of jobs and lead successful careers.

She says that many students in her introductory creative writing class were previously forbidden by parents to study creative writing. "You have to give yourself permission for the simple reason that you want to do it," she suggests.

Creative writing faculty acknowledge that a formal academic credential in creative writing is not needed in order to get writing published. However, they suggest, creative writing programs help aspiring authors develop their writing skills and allow space and time to complete long-term writing projects.

Working writers often juggle multiple projects at once and sometimes have more than one gig, which can make it difficult to finish an especially ambitious undertaking such as a novel, a play for the screen or stage, or a well-assembled collection of poems, short stories or essays. Grants and fellowships for authors are often designed to ensure that those authors can afford to concentrate on their writing.

Samuel Ace, a published poet and a visiting lecturer in poetry at Mount Holyoke, says his goal is to show students how to write in an authentic way that conveys real feeling. "It helps students to become more direct, not to bury their thoughts under a cascade of academic language, to be more forthright," he says.

Tips on Choosing Between a Non-Degree or Degree-Based Creative Writing Program

Experts note that someone needs to be ready to get immersed in the writing process and devote significant time to writing projects before pursuing a creative writing degree. Prospective writing students should not sign up for a degree program until they have reached that sense of preparedness, warns Kim Todd, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and director of its creative writing program.

She says prospective writing students need to think about their personal goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Aspiring writers who are not ready to invest in a creative writing degree program may want to sign up for a one-off writing class or begin participating in an informal writing workshop so they can test their level of interest in the field, Todd suggests.

How to Choose and Apply to a Creative Writing Program

In many cases, the most important component of an application to a writing program is the writing portfolio, writing program experts say. Prospective writing students need to think about which pieces of writing they include in their portfolio and need to be especially mindful about which item they put at the beginning of their portfolio. They should have a trusted mentor critique the portfolio before they submit it, experts suggest.

Because creative writing often involves self-expression, it is important for aspiring writing students to find a program where they feel comfortable expressing their true identity.

This is particularly pertinent to aspiring authors who are members of minority groups, including people of color or LGBTQ individuals, says Lawlor, who identifies as queer, transgender and nonbinary.

How to Use a Creative Writing Degree

Creative writing program professors and alumni say creative writing programs cultivate a variety of in-demand skills, including the ability to communicate effectively.

"While yes, many creative writers are idealists and dreamers, these are also typically highly flexible and competent people with a range of personal strengths. And a good creative writing program helps them understand their particular strengths and marketability and translate these for potential employers, alongside the more traditional craft development work," Melissa Ridley Elmes, an assistant professor of English at Lindenwood University in Missouri, wrote in an email.

Elmes – an author who writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction – says creative writing programs force students to develop personal discipline because they have to consistently produce a significant amount of writing. In addition, participating in writing workshops requires writing students "to give and receive constructive feedback," Elmes says.

Cindy Childress, who has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana—Lafayatte and did a creative writing dissertation where she submitted poetry, says creative writing grads are well-equipped for good-paying positions as advertising and marketing copywriters, speechwriters, grant writers and ghostwriters.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual compensation for writers and authors was $63,200 as of May 2019.

"I think the Internet, and writing communities online and in social media, have been very helpful for debunking the idea that if you publish a New York Times Bestseller you will have 'made it' and can quit your day job and write full time," Elmes explains. "Unless you are independently wealthy, the odds are very much against you in this regard."

Childress emphasizes that creative writing degree recipients have "skills that are absolutely transferable to the real world." For example, the same storytelling techniques that copywriters use to shape public perceptions about a commercial brand are often taught in introductory creative writing courses, she says. The ability to tell a good story does not necessarily come easily to people who haven't been trained on how to do it, she explains.

Childress says she was able to translate her creative writing education into a lucrative career and start her own ghostwriting and book editing company, where she earns a six-figure salary. She says her background in poetry taught her how to be pithy.

"Anything that we want to write nowadays, particularly for social media, is going to have to be immediately understood, so there is a sense of immediacy," she says."The language has to be crisp and direct and exact, and really those are exactly the same kind of ways you would describe a successful poem."

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Is a creative writing degree worth it?

Today I want to talk about whether or not a creative writing degree is worth it. In short, yes, yes it is. The thing to keep in mind though, is that the degree itself, the piece of paper you get at the end, has no bearing on whether or not you get that novel published or secure regular freelance work. That will always be based on the strength of your portfolio and the quality of the work itself.

What does a creative writing degree teach you?

So what exactly does a creative writing degree get you? It gets you unparalleled access to successful authors in all genres. To put this in perspective. I graduated from my undergraduate degree is 2011. My total course fees for three years were around $15, 000.

My creative writing major was made up of 10 units (my degree was 24 units in total). Each creative writing unit had 12 three-hour workshops and included an average of 3 assessments with personalised feedback. Some of the writers I learnt under included Julienne Van Loon ( The Thinking Woman , Road Story ) , David Whish Wilson ( The Coves , Old Scores  and AJ Betts ( Hive, Zac and Mia ) .

You also get to explore a wider range of genres than just the one you want to eventually work in. For me, these included travel writing, poetry, short fiction, writing for stage, writing for children and genre fiction. You can also be a Professional Ghostwriter if you want.

At the time, I was frustrated that I had to learn so many different genres. I thought they were irrelevant to me. Overall though, I found this syllabus actually improved the overall quality of my work. For example, I came into my degree as a poet and my prose suffered terribly for it. My stories had no plot, but there was always a lot of strong imagery. Every second sentence was a simile.

My lecturers taught me to balance the two so that the plot and the story [1] is enriched by more carefully selected poetic images. It’s the use of imagery that people comment on so often in Markus Zusak’s novels so, when used well, this becomes an asset instead of the disadvantage it started out to be. It took me my entire degree to perfect this, and I still struggle with it sometimes.

Is a creative writing degree worth the cost?

A creative writing degree is good for it’s longevity. You have three years to develop your practise alongside your mentors. But degrees are crazy expensive, right?

Well, yes and no. I’m not going to tell you that $15,000 is not a lot of money. But is it value for money?

Let’s compare the creative writing degree at Curtin University to some other services out there.

A two day creative writing essentials course with Annabel Smith through the Australian Writer’s Centre (AWC) is $450. Given the course is 12 hours in total, it’s quite affordable and bears a lot of similarities to the structure of university classes.

In financial terms, the AWC course works out to be $37.50 an hour. At this rate, the value of the Bachelor of Arts degree works out to nearly $30,000 [2].

The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) offers paid mentorships which cost $500 for 5 hours. These 5 hours include reading time of any work you provide. This is pretty expensive, but it’s one-on-one advice, catered specifically to your needs and is more akin to feedback on assessments.

The ASA mentor rate is $120 an hour, which makes the total for our university course 6 figures.

According to their website, the Bachelor of Arts at Curtin University is currently sitting at $6,570 a year, working out to $19,710 in total.

Even at the cheaper rate, you’re saving $10,000, and this doesn’t include the opportunities Curtin University provides, such as publication in magazines like GROK and Sitelines (and the chance to be the editor of GROK magazine, which rotates every year).

Now these shorter courses are absolutely worth pursuing (especially Annabel’s workshop), but it would be crazy expensive to get the same time that a creative writing degree offers. I use them as professional development to supplement my degree, not to replace it.

Will I get a job out of it?

Now I must confess, I haven’t done as much with my degree as I had wanted. I posted last week about having OCD and how that’s really held me back from sharing my work, or even writing it in some cases. I’m overcoming that. I’m writing my first novel.

My creative writing might not have gotten me a job, but I didn’t expect it to. I needed to put in a lot of hard work to make that a reality, and I got sidetracked. After further study (a PhD), I focused on diversifying my skills, rather than my writing. I now work as a design lecturer and a freelance web developer and motion graphics artist. My degree still did what I wanted it to, it gave me all the tools I needed to pursue a career in writing, at an exceptionally discounted price.

So what’s the verdict?

If your goal is to gain or improve your skills then, yes, a creative writing degree is worth it.

The attitude ‘p’s get degrees’ doesn’t belong here though. The piece of paper isn’t what gets your novel published. You have to actively put in effort and be willing to utilise the services and the experienced staff you’re paying for.

That doesn’t mean your learning has to stop when you get your degree. Continue with short courses for your professional development. I’m currently doing two Masterclass courses with James Patterson and Neil Gaiman. I’m getting certified by Google in content writing  and  inbound marketing . You can keep learning. These courses are still valuable, but, for me, they don’t come close to the time, resources and feedback I had access to during my degree.

[1] This is based on each module have 36 contact hours over 12 weeks and 1.5 hours of reading and marking time.

[2] E.M Forster explains that “‘The king died and then the queen died’ is a story. ‘The king died, and then the queen died of grief’ is a plot” (1990, p. 87). The plot is how the events are ordered to show emotional and dramatic significance. It’s how the narrator tells the story.

Forster, E. M. (1990).  Aspects of the Novel.  New York: Penguin.

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Is a creative writing degree worth the money?

When the University of East Anglia offered the first British MA in creative writing almost 35 years ago, it caused academic scandal. According to Malcolm Bradbury, the writer who helped set it up, "some thought writing couldn't be taught. Some thought, if it could be, it shouldn't be."

Despite this opposition there are now hundreds of creative writing courses, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. So are they worth the money?

A search on the Ucas website shows seventy eight institutions offer creative writing as an undergraduate subject, and course options get even wider at post-graduate level, with even Oxbridge getting in on the act. But the Cambridge MA , will set you back £10,000; double that figure if you are an overseas student.

Many suspect that degree courses cash in on the hopes and dreams of aspiring writers, or that such an apparently woolly subject fails to prepare students for the world of employment. In practice, course prospectuses carefully avoid setting up false expectations, and emphasise the transferable skills you acquire as a student of writing.

Julia Bell, novelist and tutor in creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London, argues that graduates of its programme "should have the critical and rhetorical skills to get a job in the creative industries, in education, editing, copywriting and so on".

But do employers feel the same way? Ellie Pike, HR adviser at Penguin, is keen to stress that applications are assessed on an individual basis. She says: "For positions in marketing and publicity as well as to some extent, editorial, the skills that come from creative writing degrees can be very valuable".

Jon Elsom, executive creative director of Bray Leino, a marketing and advertising company, is himself a graduate of the MA at Birkbeck. Although Jon speaks highly of his course he, like Pike, places more emphasis on the individual applicant:

"Academic background is less important than evidence of creative flair in a portfolio. It's never been the case that your academic qualifications are as important. That's why creative departments are such melting pots, because they're full of people from all sorts of different backgrounds."

But what of the experience itself? And will it really make you a better writer? Actor Sophie Ward decided to diversify her career and has now graduated from the National Academy of Writing.

She says: "Taking a creative writing course absolutely improved my writing. Taking part in workshops and being critical of my writing helped me not only to write better but also to understand the process of editing and rewriting."

Charlotte Barnes, currently studying a creative writing MA at Birmingham University, says: "The course has encouraged me to write, whether I feel like it or not. I've got out of this cliché of 'waiting for a muse', so if nothing else it's helped me to become a more prolific writer and student.

"It's also improved the quality of my writing by pushing me to try new things, or perhaps write familiar things but in different and experimental ways."

The reality is that publishing success may only come to a minority of creative writing graduates, but the most noted writers do often come from MA writing programmes.

Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro and Nathan Filer, the latest Costa book prize winner, are just some examples. Maybe you don't need to do a degree or a master's to be a successful writer, but the training you'll get could help you on your way.

What do you think? Are you studying a creative writing degree? Share your experiences in the comment section below.

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5 Reasons a Creative Writing Degree is Worth It

by Conner DiGiacomo | Jul 28, 2023 | Creative Writing

Getting a degree in creative writing can open opportunities in your career that you might not have ever imagined, even beyond the expected writing-related career positions. Leaving university with a creative writing degree casts a wider net both in the skills you’ll gain, as well as what you’ll have to offer than some may realize. There is more to creative writing than simply writing for the sake of creativity—developing short stories, poetry, personal nonfiction, etc. In fact, the skills creative writing students walk away with at the end of their education make them highly valuable in many areas of the job market. Having a mastery of language, and the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, can land a job with almost any employer who needs a creative outlook on their business. 

Here are 5 reasons a creative writing degree is worth it:

1. You’ll Tell Stories Like No One Else

A creative writing degree offers a unique opportunity to delve deeply into the art and craft of storytelling like no other college program will. It teaches you how to weave intricate narratives, develop compelling characters, and create immersive settings that captivate readers. You’ll learn to articulate your unique voice and perspective, enabling you to tell stories in a way no one else can. Having this ability to shape a narrative and captivate an audience is something that will benefit you in many situations including sales negotiations, business pitches, proposal writing, digital marketing, and so much more! Through consistent practice, feedback from experienced instructors, and exposure to a variety of literary styles and genres, you’ll acquire the skills to craft stories that are distinctively yours and extremely persuasive. This degree ultimately equips you with the tools to shape your imagination into narratives that resonate with readers, allowing you to make your book, products, services, corporate brands, and yourself stand out.

2. You’ll Learn How To Navigate The Publishing Industry

A creative writing degree can be like a backstage pass to the publishing industry. You learn the ropes on how to pitch your work, what editors are looking for, and how to deal with rejections (everyone gets them, seriously). You’ll get to study under professors who’ve been there and done that – they can share insider tips and maybe even hook you up with industry contacts. Plus, lots of programs bring in guest speakers, like published authors, literary agents, and editors, so you get a firsthand look at the publishing world. You’ll learn not only how to create awesome work, but also how to get that work out into the world. Many creative writing programs provide detailed courses about publishing such as bookbuilding (formatting, designing, and printing your book), and editing your book for publication.

3. You’ll Make Influential Contacts

Getting your degree in creative writing means you’ll find yourself submerged in a vibrant community of unique and gifted individuals who can help you navigate your writing career in ways you never thought possible. These peers of yours serve as a treasure trove of inspiration and potential collaboration—bridges to fresh ideas and possible publishing opportunities. Beyond your peers, you’ll find another rich vein of wisdom and opportunities through the creative writing professors. They can guide you to internships, campus engagements, and even lay down pathways to full-fledged careers.

4. You’ll Notice the Details and Think on Your Feet

Creative writing can be very personal in nature, but there is more to gain from the major than fleshing out your own ideas. A major facet of  creative writing is analyzing other works, whether you’re studying the classics or the work of your peers. Creative writing encourages you to become an observer of the world around you. Whether it’s capturing the nuances of human behavior or describing the intricacies of nature, you will learn to pay attention to details and extract meaning from themes that might be outside of your zone of comfort. This not only enriches your writing but translates it to real-life situations, where you can evaluate information and make well-informed decisions.

5. You’ll Develop Discipline and Drive

Immersing yourself into a creative writing degree program isn’t just about mastering the art of words—it’s also a journey of developing discipline and drive. Each writing assignment becomes a lesson in perseverance, pushing you to write, revise, and polish until your work shines. Meeting deadlines instills a sense of responsibility and trains you in time management, while overcoming writer’s block teaches you resilience. The consistent effort to improve your craft, the determination to create compelling narratives, and the drive to engage readers fosters a disciplined work ethic. Moreover, the relentless pursuit of finding your unique voice fuels your drive, inspiring you to write with authenticity and conviction. Ultimately, this degree is more than just an academic pursuit—it’s a transformative journey that shapes you into a committed, driven, and disciplined writer.

A BFA Creative Writing student at UNCW, Conner DiGiacomo is an author known for short stories and poetry in the realm of magical realism. He has won awards for his poetry since high school, written multiple published investigative articles, and is an active participant in the creative community at large. If you’re in Wilmington, you can find Conner volunteering at WHQR Public Radio, reading at open mics, and perusing local record stores.

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Is A Creative Writing Degree Worth Your Time (And Money)?

• by Hannah Collins
• March 20, 2017

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I got my Creative Writing degree by accident. My college, in the UK, was unusual in requiring first-year students to pick an additional subject in their first year – partly to widen their interests, and partly as an escape route if their first choice wasn’t everything they hoped . My major was Fine Art, so naturally I scanned down the list of related arts subjects that A) I was vaguely competent in and B) didn’t clash with anything else on my timetable. Out of everything, Creative Writing seemed the best answer. I figured it would be fun distraction from the studio during the first year of my degree. Little was I to know that I’d be graduating with both subjects emblazoned on my degree certificate.

For most people, a Creative Writing degree isn’t something you sleepily sign up to like I did. Since you’re reading this article, you’re obviously thinking a lot harder about the pros and cons than I ever did. I can tell you straight off the bat that a degree is not an iron-clad guarantee of career success, or even enhancement, nor an automatic ticket to fame and fortune as a writer.

That’s not to say that a Creative Writing degree won’t help your career (especially if you’ll need to pitch for work, like a ghost or travel writer ), but it’s far from a sure thing. Really, the best question isn’t where a Creative Writing degree can take you next , but what it can do for your craft and method.

To help you with this all-important decision, I’ll take you through the pros and cons, as well as some alternative paths that may meet your needs just as well (if not better).

Pros of a Creative Writing degree

1. you’ll be part of a community of writers.

Half (or more) of the appeal of college is socialization. Even if you study part-time; seminars, lectures, group study and extracurricular activities will keep you busy both socially and intellectually. Being regularly entrenched in a fertile learning environment with so many other like-minded people can develop and grow your skills – both writerly and socially – exponentially. You’ll encounter different people with vastly different experiences, tastes, and writing styles to you, and you’ll find unexpected sources influencing and evolving your work.

You’ll also be networking almost constantly, and without the usual unpleasant effort of finding a suitable event. This may sound trivial, but you’ll be learning alongside the influential writers, editors, agents, and reviewers of the future – people who are only going to grow in influence as time wears on. While there’s no guarantee you’ll meet the next huge publisher, you may well form a relationship that will benefit you down the line. Even passing acquaintance makes you a more known quantity when someone is checking manuscripts or organizing a literary fair down the line. And all that’s before the opportunities you’ll have to write for college newspapers, literary collections, and reading events.

2. You’ll be given regular feedback on your work

Criticism can be double-edged sword, but we’ll just focus on the positive side, for now. Unless you already have a bank of reliable and relatively unbiased alpha and beta readers at your disposal, it’s likely that, beyond school teachers, you’ve been relying on family and friends for feedback. The problem with that is that, no matter how much they swear to be as honest as possible, they’re going to be far more inclined to pull their punches when your work really needs beating into shape.

Now, there will be some in your seminars or critique groups who may show you similar kindness, but there will certainly be others who won’t – for better or worse. The thin-skinned may find this a rough ride, but they’ll also find that it almost unavoidably toughens them up. As well as your peers, you’ll of course have the opportunity to pick the brain of your tutors and lecturers, who can sometimes offer counsel worth the steep price of admission by itself.

You’ll also be asked to critique and evaluate the work of others, which not only sharpens your own skills and powers of observation, but will help you define your personal brand .

3. You’ll read. A lot

Bookworms, rejoice! It goes without saying that the key to great writing is reading great writing. A Creative Writing degree will have you reading for study as well as just pleasure, and reading a lot of things you might not normally choose.

A less obvious benefit is that you’ll also read a lot of poor-quality and early work from other writers. Nothing will help you catch lazy decisions, easy clichés, and damaging writing devices quicker than looking out for them in the work of others. Plus, seeing someone else’s work go from first-draft mess to fourth-draft promise will reassure you that your own early efforts can be redeemed.

4. You’ll also write. A lot

It seems almost redundant to say this, but doing a Creative Writing degree will have you doing, well, a lot of creative writing. Probably a good 1000+ words per week. Yes, it can be draining , but writing, like any other skill, needs a lot of practice, and you’ll certainly get that.

5.  You’ll learn discipline

The rigorous structure of education – whether full or part-time – can be ideal for those of us who thrive within that kind of environment, and you might be surprised to find yourself in that category. Actively receiving feedback, week after week, incentivizes good writing behavior, and having others depend on you for the same will hone your study of, and appreciation for, the craft.

Cons of a Creative Writing degree

1.  college is expensive.

Let’s talk about the gauche subject of money, shall we? America has both the most sought-after and most expensive colleges in the world, ranging at the time of writing between about $11,000 and about $45,000, depending on the length of the course and whether you need bed and board while you study. For many of us who are less financially fortunate, this changes the question from, ‘Should I get a degree?’ to ‘Is it really worth me getting a degree?’

Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, there’s no absolute guarantee that pouring your hard-earned savings into a costly course will yield tangible results, and if money is your biggest barrier, then you may want to consider the cheaper alternatives abroad (particularly Canada), or the other options I’ll be sharing soon.

2. Not all the feedback you receive will be useful or constructive

Remember that double-edged sword? Having your work regularly scrutinized can be hugely beneficial, but bear in mind that you’ll be getting a mixed bag each week. We creative people tend to also be a little precious with our work, so turning in something you’re proud of only to have it harshly savaged by your class in an unfriendly (possibly caffeine-deprived) attack can be hard to take, especially if your creative writing journey is in its infancy. The worst part is they might all be wrong, too, as sometimes the pressure of having to contribute something to the class can induce unnecessary opinions.

3. You might not be suited to college

We all learn differently and flourish in different environments. I started my Fine Art degree with a class of about 35—40. By graduation, that group had been whittled down to under 30. College isn’t for everyone, and I don’t mean that those people are in any way stupider or less motivated. The intensive, results-driven, traditional academic system doesn’t work for everyone.

4. The pressure to succeed could make or break you

This goes back to harsh critiquing and the college environment not being everyone’s cup of tea. The students that dropped out of my Fine Art course did so for many different reasons. Some felt they’d picked the wrong course, or even the wrong college. Some felt homesick. Others sadly crumbled under the pressure – which can feel substantial. A lot of that pressure comes from your tutors pushing you to succeed (sometimes to their definition of success), but a lot of it can come from yourself, which is far trickier to deal with.

5. Creative Writing may not be the best subject for your creative writing

Creative writing can be a beneficial degree for writers, but it’s often best as an accompaniment to another subject. It’s possible that the wider knowledge of a Literature degree, the expanded knowledge base of a History or Law degree, the non-fiction applications of a Journalism degree, or even the technical thinking of an Engineering degree will benefit your work more. Before settling on a Creative Writing degree as default, ask yourself what your writing (and your life) really needs.

Alternatives

There may have been a time when a college education was not only highly affordable, but reliably opened doors to well-paid and suitable jobs. Sadly, that’s just not the case anymore. Happily, there’s also more in the way of alternative (and cheaper) educational paths than ever before. To ensure you’re making a totally informed decision, it wouldn’t hurt to consider the other options available to you, such as:

• Joining a creative writing group ,
• Starting a creative writing group,
• Enrolling in a community college course,
• Getting a Writing Certificate ,
• Taking an online class ,
• Joining a low-residency creative writing program ,
• Starting a blog or becoming a journalist (learn on your feet!)

To degree or not to degree

It can be just as hard to decide against pursuing a degree as it is to start one. If you feel that something is holding you back from reaching your full potential as a writer, there’s a lot to be said for, well, just being a writer. Read a lot of books. Start a blog. Go out and experience the world. Meet new people. And write – as much as possible. If you’re still feeling stuck in a rut, maybe a degree – or one of the alternatives – could help you.

Ultimately, you get out of a degree what you put into it. Do thorough research, visit as many campuses as you can, listen to what others have to say about certain courses and/or tutors, and – most importantly – figure out exactly what you want.

If you’re committed to improving as a writer, a Creative Writing degree is one of the best places to do so. If you’re not, all you’re really getting is a really expensive piece of paper. Of course, the best way to find out more is to ask those who know. If you have a Creative Writing degree, are currently studying for one, or just want to find out what they’re like, let me know in the comments.

For more advice on honing your writing as part of a group, check out Why Joining A Writing Group May Be The Best Thing You Do All Year , or for a choice of non-college classes, try 10 Online Creative Writing Courses For Every Kind Of Writer .

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Hannah Collins

4 thoughts on “is a creative writing degree worth your time (and money)”.

As you said, a Creative Writing degree is no guarantee of success as a writer. But, here in the States, no degree is guarantee of anything, including employment in a degree field. I have friends with degrees that don’t come close to the jobs they have. With the exception of Law and Medicine, I don’t think there is a degree program (especially at what we call the undergrad level) that really prepares a student for a job in any particular area better than any other degree program. That is, Bachelor’s Degrees are all pretty much the same.

That said, I’m now in graduate school pursuing a Master’s Degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing/Fiction. It will allow me to teach, should I need or desire to go that route, or to write professionally (by virtue of the demands it makes on clarity and honing craft). Most of the writers I admire have Master’s degrees either in English or in Fine Arts/Creative Writing. Does that mean I’ll automatically make a spot beside them when I graduate? No. But, it just may be the deciding factor in whether or not I have the skill to do so. Are there successful writers with no college at all? Yes. Just as there are successful writers whose credentials read like alphabet soup. I think there is happy medium to be had and I think everybody needs to figure out where that is for themselves.

In the end, I think the decision of whether to attend grad school for a Creative Writing degree should depend almost entirely upon your skill level. If you’re satisfied taking a chance as you work through your learning curve, cool. If you want a bit more guidance in the most efficient way to do so, by all means enroll in a good writing program. At the very least, you’ll be employable by every company on the planet that fears putting their brand on poor grammar and lazy usage… which I’m still assuming is all of them.

My wife works for a company that demands a Master’s degree for their managers (they don’t specify a subject, which tells me that it isn’t really necessary, just a way to thin the herd of applicants). Increasingly, employers in the States are doing this. With this in mind, you may just as well get some real personal satisfaction out of your degree program. And what better way to do that than to spend all your time reading and writing?

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the comprehensive insight. That’s really interesting to hear in regards to Master’s requirements for recruitment. I wonder if that will sway opinion more in favour of getting a degree for those reading this.

You’re right – if you love doing something, doing it intensively and frequently while becoming more qualified in it sounds ideal. I certainly enjoyed it, but it was still quite draining at times. That being said, I was doing both a Fine Art AND Creative Writing course, so my creative juices were stretched to the limit!

I completely understand the challenges you faced! Congrats, by the way, for doing it! Too many people think of FA/CW degrees as easy. But I’ll match the work necessary to comprehend most philosophy with that of Quantum Physics, any day. It’s all the same process, just different signifiers. The result is, you’re really smart and the world, according to Cormac McCarthy, became personal to you. In the end, that’s the most compelling reason of all to pursue education.

I plan to do a Creative Writing degree, and reading this article and comments help me@

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Is a Creative Writing Degree Worth It?

For centuries, creative writing has been a profound and much-admired form of expression; bridging the gap between the inner workings of the human mind and the world around us. Words have the transformative power to provoke thought, stir emotion, increase understanding and ultimately inspire action. 

But in our rapidly evolving world where tech is transforming the way we communicate, work and live, lovers of the written word may wonder what place it holds in an ever-shifting future. Are creative writing degrees worth it? How can it impact your career trajectory? 

From honing the critical skill of creativity to unlocking unexpected opportunities, there are a number of doors creative writing can open. In the article below, we explore five reasons why a creative writing degree is worth it and how you can go about obtaining one. 

5 reasons why a creative writing degree is worth it

If you’re reading this wondering “should I study creative writing?”, you’re not alone. Each year, thousands of Australian students undertake postgraduate studies to bring them closer to their career and creative aspirations. Deciding which degree is right for you will depend on what dreams you’re aiming to fulfil. 

When it comes to creative writing degrees, there are a number of compelling advantages to obtaining a qualification. 

Creativity is still crucial

As AI becomes more prominent and infiltrates a wide range of industries, some Australians are concerned about job security and employment prospects in the future. But industry experts predict that the rise of generative AI will also increase the demand for - and value of - human creativity and originality, which can’t be replaced by machines. 

Already, the global creative economy is one of the largest sectors - worth an estimated US$985 billion - and it’s showing no signs of stopping. Deloitte has predicted that creative sectors will grow by 40% by 2030 . 

Not only will creativity be a strong differentiator, but a sought-after critical skill. And contrary to what some believe, creativity isn’t just something you’re born with - it’s a skill that can be honed and developed with the right training.

Apply your skills in a range of settings

The skills you obtain in a creative writing degree aren’t limited to the confines of novel-writing (though they will certainly come in handy for it). The ability to write creatively requires a number of sought-after skills that have far-reaching applications in both creative and professional settings - and beyond.  These skills include, but aren’t limited to:

Storytelling

The art of storytelling is more than crafting a compelling narrative; it’s the ability to perceive, understand and activate human emotions. It’s the ability to move people. This ability is incredibly valuable in many aspects of our everyday lives; from leveraging its power to drive action in professional settings , to campaigning for social change, to simply connecting with and engaging others to build and solidify relationships.

Creative thinking

Creative thinking is the ability to see and explore a situation from multiple perspectives and find unique, innovative solutions . This skill is undeniably essential when it comes to creative writing, but its uses don’t stop there. In a professional setting, creative thinking is a highly valuable asset that correlates to improved business performance and leadership . In a personal setting, the ability to see a situation from another’s perspective can be invaluable when it comes to fostering healthy relationships and understanding diverse points of view.

Empathy is essential for creating a realistic and multidimensional character in any story or narrative. It’s also essential to cultivating strong connections with others, navigating conflict in both personal and professional settings and improving our overall health and wellbeing . 

Someone who possesses strong empathy is not only able to understand the perspective of another, but able to respond in a helpful and healthy way. Empathy is highly valuable when it comes to workplace success as it is key to strong negotiation skills . Like creativity, empathy can be learned and mastered with the right training.

Compelling communication

Communicating your personal point of view is one thing; convincing others to share it is another. Compelling communication - or the art of persuasion - is a core component of creative writing to ensure readers buy into your story. It’s also a core component of various professional roles. Whether with clients, customers or internal stakeholders, effective communication is instrumental in strong leadership and stronger business results . It’s also essential in healthy relationships; as they say - communication is key.

Gain personal satisfaction

Don’t underestimate the value of creative expression and exploration. Studying an expansive course like creative writing can boost your creative, professional and personal fulfilment. The subjects provide strong opportunities for self-discovery, reflection, personal satisfaction and artistic growth. 

You’ll learn skills that benefit your personal development as well, such as contemplating nature and writing in response to the world around you. Further, learning itself has been linked to ongoing happiness and thriving; as it boosts self-determination, self-confidence, motivation and more.

Deepen your understanding of creative work

Creativity is often mistaken as something that is exclusively inherent - something that can’t be taught. But in fact, the art of creative work can be learned . A Master of Creative Writing is a great place to do this. The postgraduate course will help you gain a thorough understanding of the process behind various creative works and the difference between various genres - from ecopoetry to science fiction - and much more. The deeper your understanding of creative work, the stronger your own will be.

Unlock opportunities

The ability to write creatively opens a multitude of doors for both professional and creative progression. If you’re considering a Master of Creative Writing to explore opportunities outside of your current role, the degree will put you in a great position to participate in literary events, writing challenges, mentor aspiring writers - or, of course, write the novel you’ve been dreaming of.

It also provides great networking opportunities, according to ECU Online Associate Professor Donna Mazza.

“The ECU writing team is very supportive and students will become part of our network through the community we build in the course and later as one of our alumni,” she explains.

“Lots of the activities in the course are based on the things that writers do in the real world, so that learning can be applied right away by our students in their professional roles.”

If you do decide to apply your learnings professionally, there are a range of careers that benefit from creative writing - including copywriter, content writer, editor, English teacher, online author, literary agent - and many, many more.

Why study creative writing with ECU?

Is a master’s degree in creative writing worth it? If you study at the right institution, there’s a high chance that the answer will be yes. A Master of Creative Writing at Edith Cowan University (ECU) provides a tailored educational experience for the standout creative writers of tomorrow. There is also the option of Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate of Creative Writing for those who require an entry pathway.

The curriculum - which is completed online and can be fast tracked to suit your schedule - has a strong focus on storytelling that embraces diverse themes, genres and forms. Students benefit by learning from world-class and award-winning writers, who will equip you with the cutting-edge techniques and methodologies to thrive in a contemporary publishing environment. One such writer is Associate Professor Donna Mazza.

She says, “The ECU online Master of Creative Writing, as well as its Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate, take an approach that prepares students for a diverse range of writing opportunities and embraces a wide range of genres that readers love. The course includes lots of skill building but also prepares students to be a professional in the writing sector.”

Dr. Aksel Dadswell, course lecturer, agrees. He says, "ECU’s suite of online postgraduate creative writing courses give students a fresh approach to telling stories that they won’t find anywhere else, with content lovingly crafted by staff who have unique passion, expertise and publishing experience.”

Tell your story with ECU Online

Is there a story you want to tell? Whether you’re looking to hone your skills to advance your career or give yourself the gift of creative exploration and expression, learning the art and science of storytelling can open many doors.

With ECU’s Online Master of Creative Writing , you will discover how to enhance your creative skills and develop captivating narratives. To find out more, reach out to one of our Student Enrolment Advisors on 1300 707 760, email [email protected] , or download a brochure.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the 12 best creative writing colleges and programs.

College Info

Finding a dedicated creative writing program at a school you're excited about can be a real challenge, and that's even before you start worrying about getting in. Nonetheless, there are some great options. In order to help you find the best school for you, this list rounds up some of the best colleges for creative writing in the United States .

The Best Creative Writing Programs: Ranking Criteria

You should never take college rankings as absolute truth —not even the very official-seeming US News ones. Instead, use these kinds of lists as a jumping-off place for your own exploration of colleges. Pay attention not just to what the rankings are but to how the rankings are determined.

To help with that, I'll explain how I came up with this highly unscientific list of great creative writing colleges. I started by narrowing my search down to schools that offered a specific creative writing major. (If you don't see a school you were expecting, it's likely because they only have a minor.)

In ranking the schools, I considered five major criteria:

• #1: MFA Ranking —If a school has a great graduate creative writing program, it means you'll be taught by those same professors and the excellent graduate students they attract. Schools with strong MFA programs are also more likely to have solid alumni networks and internship opportunities. However, many schools with great undergrad programs do not offer MFAs, in which case I simply focused on the other four options.
• #2: General School Reputation —The vast majority of your classes won't be in creative writing, so it's important that other parts of the school, especially the English department, are great as well.
• #3: Extracurricular Opportunities —One of the key advantages of majoring in creative writing is that it can provide access to writing opportunities outside the classroom, so I took what kind of internship programs, author readings, and literary magazines the school offers into consideration.
• #4: Diversity of Class Options —I gave extra points to schools with a variety of genre options and specific, interesting classes.
• #5: Alumni/Prestige —This last criterion is a bit more subjective: is the school known for turning out good writers? Certainly it's less important than what kind of education you'll actually get, but having a brand-name degree (so to speak) can be helpful.

The Best Creative Writing Schools

Now, let's get to the good stuff: the list of schools! The exact numbering is always arguable, so look at it as a general trend from absolutely amazing to still super great, rather than fixating on why one school is ranked #3 and another is ranked #4.

#1: Northwestern University

Northwestern's undergrad creative writing program boasts acclaimed professors and an unparalleled track record of turning out successful writers (including Divergent author Veronica Roth and short-story writer Karen Russell).

Outside the classroom, you can work on the student-run literary journal, intern at a publication in nearby Chicago, or submit to the Department of English's yearly writing competition . The university is also home to a top journalism program , so if you want to try your hand at nonfiction as well, you'll have plenty of opportunities to do so.

#2: Columbia University

Like Northwestern, Columbia is home to both a world-class creative writing program and a top journalism school (plus one of the best English departments in the country), so you have a wide range of writing-related course options. Columbia also benefits from its location in New York City, which is bursting at the seams with publishing houses, literary journals, and talented authors.

#3: University of Iowa

The University of Iowa's big draw is the infrastructure of its graduate Writers' Workshop, which is often considered the best MFA program in the country.

As an English and Creative Writing major here, you'll take classes from great young writers and established professors alike, and get to choose from a wide range of topics. This major provides transferable skills important for a liberal arts major with a creative focus. You'll also have access to the university's impressive literary community, including frequent readings, writing prizes and scholarships, and the acclaimed literary journal The Iowa Review .

#4: Emory University

Emory is renowned for its dedicated undergrad creative writing program , which draws the very best visiting scholars and writers. Students here have the chance to attend intimate question-and-answer sessions with award-winning authors, study a range of genres, compete for writing awards and scholarships, and work closely with an adviser to complete an honors project.

#5: Oberlin College

A small liberal arts school in Ohio, Oberlin offers very different advantages than the schools above do. You'll have fewer opportunities to pursue writing in the surrounding city, but the quality of the teachers and the range of courses might make up for that. Moreover, it boasts just as impressive alumni, including actress and writer Lena Dunham.

#6: Hamilton College

Hamilton is another small college, located in upstate New York. It's known for giving students the freedom to pursue their interests and the support to help them explore topics in real depth, both inside and outside the classroom. Hamilton's creative writing program takes full advantage with small classes and lots of opportunities to intern and publish; it also has one of the best writing centers in the country.

#7: Brown University

Brown's Literary Arts program offers one of the top MFAs in the US as well as an undergraduate major . For the major, you must take four creative writing workshops and six reading-intensive courses, which span an array of departments and topics, from music and literature to Middle East studies and Egyptology.

#8: Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University has an excellent creative writing MFA program, lots of super specific class options, and a number of scholarships specifically earmarked for creative writing students. This school’s undergraduate English program also offers a concentration in creative writing that allows students to specialize in a specific genre: poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. If you’re interested in exploring your potential in a specific writing genre, Washington University could be a great pick for you.

#9: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT might not be a school you generally associate with writing, but it actually has an excellent program that offers courses in digital media and science writing, as well as creative writing, and provides plenty of guidance on how graduates can navigate the tricky job market.

Not to mention the school is located in Cambridge, a haven for book lovers and writers of all kinds. Though it probably isn’t a good fit for students who hate science, MIT is a great place for aspiring writers who want to build writing skills that are marketable in a wide range of industries.

#10: University of Michigan

University of Michigan is one of the best state universities in the country and has a top-notch MFA program. This school’s undergrad creative writing sub-concentration requires students to submit applications for admittance to advanced creative writing courses. These applications give students crucial practice in both building a writing portfolio and articulating their interest in creative writing to an audience who will evaluate their work. If you're looking to attend a big school with a great creative writing major, this is a fantastic choice.

#11: Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins is another school that's known more for engineering than it is for writing, but, like MIT, it has a dedicated writing program. As a major here, you must take not only courses in prose, poetry, and literature, but also classes on topics such as philosophy and history.

#12: Colorado College

Colorado College is a small liberal arts school known for its block plan , which allows students to focus on one class per three-and-a-half-week block. The creative writing track of the English major includes a sequence of four writing workshops and also requires students to attend every reading of the Visiting Writers Series.

Bonus School: New York University

I didn't include NYU in the main list because it doesn't have a dedicated creative writing major, but it's a great school for aspiring writers nonetheless, offering one of the most impressive creative writing faculties in the country and all the benefits of a Manhattan location.

How To Pick the Best Creative Writing School for You

Just because Northwestern is a great school for creative writing doesn't mean you should set your heart on going there. (The football fans are completely terrifying, for one thing.) So where should you go then?

Here are some questions to ask yourself when looking at creative writing programs to help you determine the best school for you:

Does It Have Courses You're Interested In?

Look at the course offerings and see whether they interest you. While you can't predict exactly what classes you'll love, you want to avoid a mismatch where what you want to study and what the program offers are completely different. For example, if you want to write sonnets but the school focuses more on teaching fiction, it probably won't be a great fit for you.

Also, don't forget to look at the English courses and creative writing workshops! In most programs, you'll be taking a lot of these, too.

What Opportunities Are There To Pursue Writing Outside of Class?

I touched on this idea in the criteria section, but it's important enough that I want to reiterate it here. Some of the best writing experience you can get is found outside the classroom, so see what kind of writing-related extracurriculars a school has before committing to it.

Great options include getting involved with the campus newspaper, working on the school's literary journal, or interning at the university press.

Who Will Be Teaching You?

Who are the professors? What kind of work have they published? Check teacher ratings on Rate My Professors (but make sure to read the actual reviews—and always take them with a grain of salt).

If you're looking at a big school, there's a good chance that a lot of your teachers will be graduate students. But that's not necessarily a bad thing: a lot of the best teachers I had in college were graduate students. Just take into consideration what kind of graduate program the school has. If there's a great creative writing MFA program, then the graduate students are likely to be better writers and more engaged teachers.

What Are the Alumni Doing Now?

If you have a sense of what you want to do after you graduate, see if any alumni of the program are pursuing that type of career. The stronger the alumni network is, the more connections you'll have when it comes time to get a job.

What About the Rest of the School?

Don't pick a school for which you like the creative writing program but dread everything else about it. Most of your time will be spent doing other things, whether hanging out in the dorms, exploring off campus, or fulfilling general education requirements.

Many schools require you to apply to the creative writing major, so make doubly sure you'll be happy with your choice even if you aren't accepted to the program.

What's Next?

Are you sure a creative writing major is the right fit for you? Read our post on the pros and cons of the major to help you decide what path to take in college.

For more general advice about choosing a college, check out our complete guide to finding the right school for you. Some major factors to consider include deciding whether you're interested in a small college or a big university , an in-state or out-of-state institution , and a public or private school .

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Alex is an experienced tutor and writer. Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from University of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, and then went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT.

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• 5 Steps to Getting Started with Llama 2
• The Llama Ecosystem: Past, Present, and Future
• Introducing Code Llama, a state-of-the-art large language model for coding
• Meta and Microsoft Introduce the Next Generation of Llama
• Today, we’re introducing Meta Llama 3, the next generation of our state-of-the-art open source large language model.
• Llama 3 models will soon be available on AWS, Databricks, Google Cloud, Hugging Face, Kaggle, IBM WatsonX, Microsoft Azure, NVIDIA NIM, and Snowflake, and with support from hardware platforms offered by AMD, AWS, Dell, Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm.
• We’re dedicated to developing Llama 3 in a responsible way, and we’re offering various resources to help others use it responsibly as well. This includes introducing new trust and safety tools with Llama Guard 2, Code Shield, and CyberSec Eval 2.
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Today, we’re excited to share the first two models of the next generation of Llama, Meta Llama 3, available for broad use. This release features pretrained and instruction-fine-tuned language models with 8B and 70B parameters that can support a broad range of use cases. This next generation of Llama demonstrates state-of-the-art performance on a wide range of industry benchmarks and offers new capabilities, including improved reasoning. We believe these are the best open source models of their class, period. In support of our longstanding open approach, we’re putting Llama 3 in the hands of the community. We want to kickstart the next wave of innovation in AI across the stack—from applications to developer tools to evals to inference optimizations and more. We can’t wait to see what you build and look forward to your feedback.

Our goals for Llama 3

With Llama 3, we set out to build the best open models that are on par with the best proprietary models available today. We wanted to address developer feedback to increase the overall helpfulness of Llama 3 and are doing so while continuing to play a leading role on responsible use and deployment of LLMs. We are embracing the open source ethos of releasing early and often to enable the community to get access to these models while they are still in development. The text-based models we are releasing today are the first in the Llama 3 collection of models. Our goal in the near future is to make Llama 3 multilingual and multimodal, have longer context, and continue to improve overall performance across core LLM capabilities such as reasoning and coding.

State-of-the-art performance

Our new 8B and 70B parameter Llama 3 models are a major leap over Llama 2 and establish a new state-of-the-art for LLM models at those scales. Thanks to improvements in pretraining and post-training, our pretrained and instruction-fine-tuned models are the best models existing today at the 8B and 70B parameter scale. Improvements in our post-training procedures substantially reduced false refusal rates, improved alignment, and increased diversity in model responses. We also saw greatly improved capabilities like reasoning, code generation, and instruction following making Llama 3 more steerable.

*Please see evaluation details for setting and parameters with which these evaluations are calculated.

In the development of Llama 3, we looked at model performance on standard benchmarks and also sought to optimize for performance for real-world scenarios. To this end, we developed a new high-quality human evaluation set. This evaluation set contains 1,800 prompts that cover 12 key use cases: asking for advice, brainstorming, classification, closed question answering, coding, creative writing, extraction, inhabiting a character/persona, open question answering, reasoning, rewriting, and summarization. To prevent accidental overfitting of our models on this evaluation set, even our own modeling teams do not have access to it. The chart below shows aggregated results of our human evaluations across of these categories and prompts against Claude Sonnet, Mistral Medium, and GPT-3.5.

Preference rankings by human annotators based on this evaluation set highlight the strong performance of our 70B instruction-following model compared to competing models of comparable size in real-world scenarios.

Our pretrained model also establishes a new state-of-the-art for LLM models at those scales.

To develop a great language model, we believe it’s important to innovate, scale, and optimize for simplicity. We adopted this design philosophy throughout the Llama 3 project with a focus on four key ingredients: the model architecture, the pretraining data, scaling up pretraining, and instruction fine-tuning.

Model architecture

In line with our design philosophy, we opted for a relatively standard decoder-only transformer architecture in Llama 3. Compared to Llama 2, we made several key improvements. Llama 3 uses a tokenizer with a vocabulary of 128K tokens that encodes language much more efficiently, which leads to substantially improved model performance. To improve the inference efficiency of Llama 3 models, we’ve adopted grouped query attention (GQA) across both the 8B and 70B sizes. We trained the models on sequences of 8,192 tokens, using a mask to ensure self-attention does not cross document boundaries.

Training data

To train the best language model, the curation of a large, high-quality training dataset is paramount. In line with our design principles, we invested heavily in pretraining data. Llama 3 is pretrained on over 15T tokens that were all collected from publicly available sources. Our training dataset is seven times larger than that used for Llama 2, and it includes four times more code. To prepare for upcoming multilingual use cases, over 5% of the Llama 3 pretraining dataset consists of high-quality non-English data that covers over 30 languages. However, we do not expect the same level of performance in these languages as in English.

To ensure Llama 3 is trained on data of the highest quality, we developed a series of data-filtering pipelines. These pipelines include using heuristic filters, NSFW filters, semantic deduplication approaches, and text classifiers to predict data quality. We found that previous generations of Llama are surprisingly good at identifying high-quality data, hence we used Llama 2 to generate the training data for the text-quality classifiers that are powering Llama 3.

We also performed extensive experiments to evaluate the best ways of mixing data from different sources in our final pretraining dataset. These experiments enabled us to select a data mix that ensures that Llama 3 performs well across use cases including trivia questions, STEM, coding, historical knowledge, etc.

Scaling up pretraining

To effectively leverage our pretraining data in Llama 3 models, we put substantial effort into scaling up pretraining. Specifically, we have developed a series of detailed scaling laws for downstream benchmark evaluations. These scaling laws enable us to select an optimal data mix and to make informed decisions on how to best use our training compute. Importantly, scaling laws allow us to predict the performance of our largest models on key tasks (for example, code generation as evaluated on the HumanEval benchmark—see above) before we actually train the models. This helps us ensure strong performance of our final models across a variety of use cases and capabilities.

We made several new observations on scaling behavior during the development of Llama 3. For example, while the Chinchilla-optimal amount of training compute for an 8B parameter model corresponds to ~200B tokens, we found that model performance continues to improve even after the model is trained on two orders of magnitude more data. Both our 8B and 70B parameter models continued to improve log-linearly after we trained them on up to 15T tokens. Larger models can match the performance of these smaller models with less training compute, but smaller models are generally preferred because they are much more efficient during inference.

To train our largest Llama 3 models, we combined three types of parallelization: data parallelization, model parallelization, and pipeline parallelization. Our most efficient implementation achieves a compute utilization of over 400 TFLOPS per GPU when trained on 16K GPUs simultaneously. We performed training runs on two custom-built 24K GPU clusters . To maximize GPU uptime, we developed an advanced new training stack that automates error detection, handling, and maintenance. We also greatly improved our hardware reliability and detection mechanisms for silent data corruption, and we developed new scalable storage systems that reduce overheads of checkpointing and rollback. Those improvements resulted in an overall effective training time of more than 95%. Combined, these improvements increased the efficiency of Llama 3 training by ~three times compared to Llama 2.

Instruction fine-tuning

To fully unlock the potential of our pretrained models in chat use cases, we innovated on our approach to instruction-tuning as well. Our approach to post-training is a combination of supervised fine-tuning (SFT), rejection sampling, proximal policy optimization (PPO), and direct preference optimization (DPO). The quality of the prompts that are used in SFT and the preference rankings that are used in PPO and DPO has an outsized influence on the performance of aligned models. Some of our biggest improvements in model quality came from carefully curating this data and performing multiple rounds of quality assurance on annotations provided by human annotators.

Learning from preference rankings via PPO and DPO also greatly improved the performance of Llama 3 on reasoning and coding tasks. We found that if you ask a model a reasoning question that it struggles to answer, the model will sometimes produce the right reasoning trace: The model knows how to produce the right answer, but it does not know how to select it. Training on preference rankings enables the model to learn how to select it.

Building with Llama 3

Our vision is to enable developers to customize Llama 3 to support relevant use cases and to make it easier to adopt best practices and improve the open ecosystem. With this release, we’re providing new trust and safety tools including updated components with both Llama Guard 2 and Cybersec Eval 2, and the introduction of Code Shield—an inference time guardrail for filtering insecure code produced by LLMs.

We’ve also co-developed Llama 3 with torchtune , the new PyTorch-native library for easily authoring, fine-tuning, and experimenting with LLMs. torchtune provides memory efficient and hackable training recipes written entirely in PyTorch. The library is integrated with popular platforms such as Hugging Face, Weights & Biases, and EleutherAI and even supports Executorch for enabling efficient inference to be run on a wide variety of mobile and edge devices. For everything from prompt engineering to using Llama 3 with LangChain we have a comprehensive getting started guide and takes you from downloading Llama 3 all the way to deployment at scale within your generative AI application.

A system-level approach to responsibility

We have designed Llama 3 models to be maximally helpful while ensuring an industry leading approach to responsibly deploying them. To achieve this, we have adopted a new, system-level approach to the responsible development and deployment of Llama. We envision Llama models as part of a broader system that puts the developer in the driver’s seat. Llama models will serve as a foundational piece of a system that developers design with their unique end goals in mind.

Instruction fine-tuning also plays a major role in ensuring the safety of our models. Our instruction-fine-tuned models have been red-teamed (tested) for safety through internal and external efforts. ​​Our red teaming approach leverages human experts and automation methods to generate adversarial prompts that try to elicit problematic responses. For instance, we apply comprehensive testing to assess risks of misuse related to Chemical, Biological, Cyber Security, and other risk areas. All of these efforts are iterative and used to inform safety fine-tuning of the models being released. You can read more about our efforts in the model card .

Llama Guard models are meant to be a foundation for prompt and response safety and can easily be fine-tuned to create a new taxonomy depending on application needs. As a starting point, the new Llama Guard 2 uses the recently announced MLCommons taxonomy, in an effort to support the emergence of industry standards in this important area. Additionally, CyberSecEval 2 expands on its predecessor by adding measures of an LLM’s propensity to allow for abuse of its code interpreter, offensive cybersecurity capabilities, and susceptibility to prompt injection attacks (learn more in our technical paper ). Finally, we’re introducing Code Shield which adds support for inference-time filtering of insecure code produced by LLMs. This offers mitigation of risks around insecure code suggestions, code interpreter abuse prevention, and secure command execution.

With the speed at which the generative AI space is moving, we believe an open approach is an important way to bring the ecosystem together and mitigate these potential harms. As part of that, we’re updating our Responsible Use Guide (RUG) that provides a comprehensive guide to responsible development with LLMs. As we outlined in the RUG, we recommend that all inputs and outputs be checked and filtered in accordance with content guidelines appropriate to the application. Additionally, many cloud service providers offer content moderation APIs and other tools for responsible deployment, and we encourage developers to also consider using these options.

Deploying Llama 3 at scale

Llama 3 will soon be available on all major platforms including cloud providers, model API providers, and much more. Llama 3 will be everywhere .

Our benchmarks show the tokenizer offers improved token efficiency, yielding up to 15% fewer tokens compared to Llama 2. Also, Group Query Attention (GQA) now has been added to Llama 3 8B as well. As a result, we observed that despite the model having 1B more parameters compared to Llama 2 7B, the improved tokenizer efficiency and GQA contribute to maintaining the inference efficiency on par with Llama 2 7B.

For examples of how to leverage all of these capabilities, check out Llama Recipes which contains all of our open source code that can be leveraged for everything from fine-tuning to deployment to model evaluation.

What’s next for Llama 3?

The Llama 3 8B and 70B models mark the beginning of what we plan to release for Llama 3. And there’s a lot more to come.

Our largest models are over 400B parameters and, while these models are still training, our team is excited about how they’re trending. Over the coming months, we’ll release multiple models with new capabilities including multimodality, the ability to converse in multiple languages, a much longer context window, and stronger overall capabilities. We will also publish a detailed research paper once we are done training Llama 3.

To give you a sneak preview for where these models are today as they continue training, we thought we could share some snapshots of how our largest LLM model is trending. Please note that this data is based on an early checkpoint of Llama 3 that is still training and these capabilities are not supported as part of the models released today.

We’re committed to the continued growth and development of an open AI ecosystem for releasing our models responsibly. We have long believed that openness leads to better, safer products, faster innovation, and a healthier overall market. This is good for Meta, and it is good for society. We’re taking a community-first approach with Llama 3, and starting today, these models are available on the leading cloud, hosting, and hardware platforms with many more to come.

Try Meta Llama 3 today

We’ve integrated our latest models into Meta AI, which we believe is the world’s leading AI assistant. It’s now built with Llama 3 technology and it’s available in more countries across our apps.

You can use Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the web to get things done, learn, create, and connect with the things that matter to you. You can read more about the Meta AI experience here .

Visit the Llama 3 website to download the models and reference the Getting Started Guide for the latest list of all available platforms.

You’ll also soon be able to test multimodal Meta AI on our Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

As always, we look forward to seeing all the amazing products and experiences you will build with Meta Llama 3.

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