General Catalog
Creative writing minor.
Monday, Dec. 23, 2024
A Closer Look
Applications for new creative writing minor to open in fall.
Pictured is Kaplan Hall. The new creative writing minor will begin taking applications from students this fall. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Matthew Beymer
Sept. 12, 2023 1:01 p.m..
UCLA’s new creative writing minor will open applications this fall.
The minor will require students to take two courses in a core genre – either short story or poetry – after completing two lower-division English courses, according to the 2023-2024 course catalog . Creative writing students will also have the opportunity to explore classes in Asian American, African American, Chicana/Chicano and queer literature for two upper-division elective courses.
Students must also take an intermediate or advanced course and select one of four capstone courses to complete the program. The course catalog said the minor will prepare students for both academic and professional careers in writing.
The new program builds on the creative writing concentration offered through the English major, said Reed Wilson, the coordinator for the minor and a continuing lecturer in the English department. Wilson said the concentration only required students to take three classes and did not show up on student transcripts.
The minor will replace the concentration, and Wilson said current juniors and seniors already enrolled will be able to choose between finishing the old concentration or applying to the new minor. The program has already attracted significant interest from students, Wilson said, especially since it is one of the few minors on campus focused on artistic practice.
Wilson will teach English 136A : “Intermediate Poetry,” a core poetry course, this fall. Xuan Juliana Wang, an assistant English professor, said she will teach English 137A : “Intermediate Short Story,” a core short story course.
Students must complete an application for one of twelve spots in each of the core creative writing classes, which the English department said will be due Sept. 15. Completion of the core classes will not guarantee acceptance into the minor, Wilson said.
“It will be selective, but if students are really serious about it, if they listen carefully to what their peers and what their faculty have told them about their writing, and if they continue to grow as writers, I don’t think it will be any more difficult to do the minor than it has been to do the concentration,” he said.
Wang said students must be extremely attentive to understand the work of their peers. She said as part of English 137A, she will not only facilitate these conversations but also direct students to fictional pieces that may be difficult to access and teach them how to read like writers.
Wang said students in her short fiction writing class must provide a letter with brief feedback for each workshopped piece. She said she reads the letters and also writes one for each of her students.
“I find that sometimes when you’re maybe in a group of people, it’s hard to say what you truly want to say,” Wang said. “But there’s also written feedback, and that’s something that you can take with you.”
Beyond its core workshops, the creative writing minor will also offer opportunities for students to engage in seminars. Wang said she plans to offer seminars on memoir writing, writing about family and Asian American literature, but she added that she is also open to ideas for new classes.
“Personally, I really want to teach classes on television adaptation,” Wang said. “I think that would be really fun – writing for TV.”
Ava Alexander, a rising third-year English student who is interested in applying for the creative writing minor, said she took a lower-division course – English 20W: “Introduction to Creative Writing” – to create short stories, which will transfer to the minor.
“I would share it with my mom or some close friends,” Alexander said. “But then other people who write are finally reading my writing and telling me all their thoughts. It was really, really awesome.”
Alexander said she admires the creative writers Carmen Maria Machado and Mona Awad for their short story work. She added that she appreciates author Ali Hazelwood for how she combines creative writing with her scientific background, which Alexander said could inspire STEM students to pursue the creative writing minor.
Wilson said the creative writing minor has been in development for more than three years after being stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic and a flood in Kaplan Hall. However, Wilson said he hopes students enjoy the creative writing minor once it becomes available this fall.
Wilson also said even though application to the minor is competitive, students should not be afraid of applying.
“One of the first things you have to do, no matter what your art is, is learn to deal with the fact that you might not get what you apply for,” Wilson added. “The other piece of advice I would give students is that if they really want to write, they should be readers.”
Language switcher
If you have a lot of interests, want to enhance your major or want to focus on a second area of study, a minor might be the way to go. By declaring a minor, you can study things that interest you on a more personal level, broaden your skills and become more diverse. Minors can also give you a leg up on the competition when it comes time to look for a job.
UCLA offers more than 90 minors, many of which you can pair in unexpected ways with majors. For instance, the food studies minor can be a nice complement to majors in chemistry, biology, communication and many more things.
Following is a list of all the minors offered to undergraduates at UCLA. Click on any minor for more information.
African American Studies
African and Middle Eastern Studies
African Studies
American Indian Studies
Ancient Near East and Egyptology
Anthropology
Applied Developmental Psychology
Arabic and Islamic Studies
Armenian Studies
Art History
Asian American Studies
Asian Humanities
Asian Languages
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Bioinformatics
Biomedical Research
Brain and Behavioral Health new
Central and East European Studies
Central American Studies new
Chicana and Chicano Studies
Classical Civilization
Cognitive Science
Community Engagement and Social Change
Comparative Literature
Conservation Biology
Creative Writing new
Data Science Engineering new
Digital Humanities
Disability Studies
Earth and Environmental Science
East Asian Studies
Education Studies
Entrepreneurship
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Systems and Society
Ethnomusicology new
European Languages and Transcultural Studies new
European Languages and Transcultural Studies with French and Francophone
European Languages and Transcultural Studies with German
European Languages and Transcultural Studies with Italian
European Studies
Evolutionary Medicine
Film, Television and Digital Media
Food Studies new
Gender Studies
Geochemistry
Geography/Environmental Studies
Geophysics and Planetary Physics
Geospatial Information Systems and Technologies
Gerontology
Global Health
Global Studies
Greek Language and Culture
Hebrew and Jewish Studies
History new
History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Information and Media Literacy new
International Migration Studies new
Iranian Music new
Iranian Studies
Israel Studies
Labor Studies
Latin American Studies
Latin Language and Culture
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies
Linguistics
Literature and the Environment
Mathematical Biology
Mathematics
Mathematics for Teaching
Mexican Studies
Middle Eastern Studies
Music Industry
Neuroscience
Pilipino Studies new
Portuguese and Brazilian Studies
Professional Writing new
Public Affairs
Public Health
Religion, Study of
Russian Language
Russian Literature
Russian Studies
Scandinavian
Science Education
Social Data Science new
Social Thought
Society and Genetics
South Asian Studies
Southeast Asian Studies
Spanish Linguistics
Statistics and Data Science
Structural Biology
Systems Biology
Urban and Regional Studies
Visual and Performing Arts Education
Additional Links
- UCLA General Catalog
- UCLA Majors and Minors Brochure (PDF)
IMAGES
COMMENTS
Students seeking to declare the Minor in Creative Writing must: (1) be in good academic standing (overall grade-point average of C or better); (2) have completed the lower division requirements; (3) have completed at least one course 136 or 137; and (4) provide a PDF copy of their UCLA Degree Audit Report, a brief letter of application, and a ...
Few universities in the world offer the extraordinary range and diversity of academic programs that students enjoy at UCLA. Leadership in education, research, and public service make UCLA a beacon of excellence in higher education, as students, faculty members, and staff come together in a true community of scholars to advance knowledge, address societal challenges, and pursue intellectual and ...
UCLA CREATIVE WRITING MINOR (continued) Approved Electives • ASIA AM 112C – Asian American Creative Writing • CCAS CM135 – Bilingual Writing Workshop • ENGL M101B – Queer Literatures and Cultures, 1850 to 1970 • ENGL M101C – Queer Literatures and Cultures after 1970
English at UCLA; English Major; American Literature & Culture Major; Preparation for the Major; Declaring the Major; English Minor; Literature & the Environment Minor; Professional Writing Minor; Creative Writing Minor; Author in Residence; Critical Writing: English 110 Series; Capstone; Honors Program; Past Honors Theses; Opportunities ...
Sep 12, 2023 · UCLA’s new creative writing minor will open applications this fall. The minor will require students to take two courses in a core genre – either short story or poetry – after completing two ...
UCLA offers more than 90 minors, many of which you can pair in unexpected ways with majors. For instance, the food studies minor can be a nice complement to majors in chemistry, biology, communication and many more things. Following is a list of all the minors offered to undergraduates at UCLA. Click on any minor for more information.
Oct 31, 2023 · The minor is quite simple: practically the only non-creative writing course necessary is an English 4 course (which is basically an introductory, lower-division critical writing course), and the rest are elective courses and creative writing workshops in your chosen “core” genre, either poetry or short story.
Requirements for the Professional Writing Minor . Students seeking to declare the minor in Professional Writing must: (1) be in good academic standing (overall grade-point average of C or better); (2) have satisfied the Writing II requirement; and (3) submit a brief essay of application. Students will be asked to submit a copy of their transcripts for verification, to respond in an essay of ...
Through courses that understand “writing” as encompassing written, oral, visual, and electronic multimodal communication, students in the Professional Writing Minor will acquire the intellectual and practical skills needed to perform well as strong writers and communicators in their working lives after UCLA. While the Professional Writing ...
Students* can apply for the minor in Professional Writing if they have met the following requirements: (1) achieved an overall grade-point average of 2.0 or better, (2) completed the Writing II requirement, (3) submitted a 500-word application essay explaining why they want to enroll in this minor, and (4) submitted an additional writing sample that reflects their best work in college so far.