Creative Writing

Entry requirements

The standard entrance requirement is a good first degree in any Humanities discipline.

Applicants for the MLitt in Creative Writing are required to submit a writing sample with their application. This should be between 3 and 6 poems, or a prose sample of at least 2000 words.

Months of entry

January, September

Course content

The MLitt Creative Writing is a taught programme designed to offer you a constructive learning environment in which to develop your writing and general creativity. You will be introduced to the process and challenges involved in publishing creative work, whether it is poetry, prose or screenplay and film script. You are taught by a team of widely published creative writers including poets and fiction writers David Wheatley, Alan Warner, Helen Lynch and Wayne Price, and non-fiction filmmaker Alan Marcus.

You can take this degree as a stand-alone one-year or two-year part time Masters degree or as a first step towards an MPhil or PhD (subject to admission to further degree programmes either at Aberdeen or elsewhere). It is likely to appeal to you if you wish to develop your knowledge and practical skill in imaginative writing and if you wish to create a solid foundation on which to build a PhD research proposal in Creative Writing.

The MLitt in Creative Writing is a taught programme designed to offer you a constructive, highly supportive learning environment in which to develop your writing and creative potential. You will be introduced to the processes and challenges involved in producing creative work of publishable quality, whether in poetry or prose, fiction or creative non-fiction.

You will be taught by a team of widely published creative writers including award-winning poets, fiction writers and non-fiction filmmakers.

Information for international students

English Language Requirements

To study for a Postgraduate Taught degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:

IELTS Academic:

OVERALL - 6.5 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 6.0; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0

TOEFL iBT:

OVERALL - 90 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 21; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21

PTE Academic:

OVERALL - 62 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59

Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:

OVERALL - 176 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 169; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169