Post Graduate Opportunities

This Post Graduate Certificate enables anyone with an MFA in Creative Writing to further their studies in a genre secondary to their MFA degree concentration. Adding a year of coursework and two residencies to the two years required for the MFA degree, the certificate represents 22 credits and serves those writers who wish to master a second genre. While the Solstice MFA Program offers myriad opportunities for cross-genre work, our new certificate accommodates those who desire a more in-depth mastery of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, writing for young people, or comics & graphic narratives. Having a certificate in a second genre also gives Solstice students and alumni who hope to teach creative writing at the college level a leg-up in the job market.

Many writers who’ve earned an MFA in Creative Writing have an interest in continuing to work one-on-one with a mentor in order to put the final touches on the book-length manuscripts that comprised their creative theses or to obtain feedback on newer writing projects that are well on their way to being polished but aren’t quite “there” yet. To meet this need, we offer the Solstice MFA Post-Graduate Semester. Solstice graduates and graduates of other accredited MFA Programs are invited to submit a manuscript, a synopsis (if applicable), and a proposal in which they outline their specific writing goals for Post-Graduate study, and how they foresee a mentor helping them to attain these goals.

“I went into my post-graduate semester with a completed draft of my manuscript, and therefore, faculty member Amy Hoffman and I were able to focus more on the smaller things – images, sentences, figurative language. This process was enlightening and extremely productive, and my manuscript has blossomed as a result. I highly recommend the Post-Grad Semester.”
—graduate Kassie Rubico

Alumni of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program are invited to apply for Graduate Assistantships twice a year. One position for a Graduate Assistant is available at each of our biannual residencies, held in January and July on the Lasell University campus. Alumnx are considered for these positions based on seniority and responses contained in the letter of interest submitted with our application form.

Assistantships offer our alumni a chance to gain valuable skills in arts administration and event management, to reconnect with the MFA community—for newer graduates, easing the transition from working within a structured, mentored environment to working independently—and to meet and work with nationally acclaimed writers.

“The grad assistantship was a great way (one of many) for me to maintain my connection with Solstice after graduation. In my case, it felt a lot like a cool writer’s retreat where I paid dues by way of making myself useful.”
—graduate Laura Jones