A writing sample is required as an application to apply to all Barnard creative writing courses. As space is limited in creative writing courses, not all students who apply are guaranteed admittance.

Students are unable to self-register for Barnard creative writing courses. Interested students who have submitted writing samples may put the course on their online schedule, which will automatically place them on the wait list. If they are accepted, the instructor will take them off the wait list, but until that time no one is officially registered for the class.

Please contact Sarah Hilligoss if you have any questions about writing samples or the application process.

1. Put together a writing sample. See the writing sample guidelines below.
2. Fill out the required Writing Sample Application Form for Barnard Creative Writing Courses, following all its instructions.
3. For the fall 2024 semester, be sure to submit your writing sample by 11:59 pm, Monday, August 12, 2024. Note that no writing samples will be read before this deadline.
4. Admission Lists will be sent to your email. All applicants will be notified when lists are sent out. 
5. If accepted into a course, be sure to attend the first day of class. The instructor will assume that any student absent from the first class meeting is no longer interested in enrolling and will remove that student's name from the list, including the waiting list if there is one.

• Writing samples should be creative and appropriate to the courses requested: 4-6 pages of fiction or personal narrative for prose writing courses, 3-4 pages of poetry for poetry writing, a scene or short story with dialogue for playwriting.
• They should be neat, typed, and double-spaced.
• They should not be expository or primarily analytical (like a literature paper). Please reach out to Sarah Hilligoss at shilligo@barnard.edu for questions about your writing sample.