MTSU Write Application Process and Scholarship Information

Please submit the following items to Mary Leoson, MTSU Write Director.

1. Cover Letter with your name, address, and email contact information.
   
2. A writing sample.  For poetry, send 3-5 poems (no more than 10 pages total). For prose, send 1-2 pieces of prose (fiction or nonfiction, ranging between 1-5 pages each, double-spaced). For play or screenwriting, send a 10 page excerpt from your play or screenplay. All samples should be in 12pt font, Garamond or Times New Roman.
   
3. A resume listing educational background, applicable life-experience, and a list of publications, if any.
   
4. A statement (12pt Garamond or Times New Roman type face, double-spaced) of your long and short term writing goals, what you intend to accomplish during your time with MTSU Write, why you think we are the right program for you, and why you are the right student for us. Write no longer than is necessary; we are looking to see how well you write, not how many words you can type.
   
5. If applying for one of our scholarships (listed below), please indicate the one(s) for which you are eligible.

MTSU Write is dedicated to helping you be the best writer you can be. We use the materials submitted less to determine your eligibility for the program and more to help us determine how best to be of service to you. Our passion is to grow writers; we don’t expect you to be perfect or published, only willing to grow as a writer.

Application Deadlines: students may begin work during any session they wish.  Application deadlines for each trimester can be found on the schedule in the drop-down menu.

Tuition: Tuition is paid per session and must be paid in full prior to the start of any session. Tuition costs for fall and spring sessions – $1350.00 each. (This includes events, mentoring, and classes, but not books, materials, travel, or room rentals.) Summer session – $1100.00.

MTSU Write: Scholarships

MTSU Write is pleased to offer partial scholarships to new students applying to our mentorship program.

We are hoping to make these scholarships, and others, an ongoing offering, but that is dependent on funding. If you’d like to fund a scholarship, please email us: [email protected] or click here to donate $25 toward our scholarship fund.

BIPOC Scholarship:

This scholarship is open to any writer, regardless of financial need, who identifies as Black, Indigenous, or as a Person of Color. 

Veteran Scholarship:

This scholarship is open to any writer, regardless of financial need, who has served or is actively serving in the U.S. military. 

Financial Need Scholarship:

This scholarship is open to any writer who claims financial need. There is no need to prove your need aside from this declaration in your application. 

Anyone interested in applying for one of these scholarships should indicate which scholarship(s) they are eligible for in their application materials. 

Scholarships will be awarded based on the clarity of the applicant’s statement of intent and promise of the writing sample, with the understanding that applicants are still developing as writers and come from a variety of backgrounds. The statement of intent will carry slightly more weight in decision making, as we have found that students with a clear writing goal in mind do best in the program. The director and a committee of current or former mentors will make scholarship decisions. 

We hope to offer scholarships to returning awardees in subsequent semesters, provided they are progressing well toward their goals. However, such awards are not guaranteed and will depend upon our scholarship funding and programmatic priorities.

Scholarship awards will be announced along with notification of acceptance to the program.