Concentration Requirements

Lang’s General Degree Requirements

In addition to the requirements outlined here, Lang has specific requirements, including a minimum number of credits in liberal arts courses as well as college residency requirements. All students should read Lang’s General Degree Requirements and consult with both their Student Success advisor and their Departmental Faculty Advisor each semester to ensure that they are on track to graduate.

Degree Works

To be sure your Degree Works account reflects the information in this worksheet, students should forward any approved exemptions from the following requirements to their Student Success advisor.

Bachelor’s-Master’s Program

Undergraduates in the BA-MA program can earn up to 18 credits (depending on the master's program) in New School master's courses and apply those graduate credits to both their BA and their MA. Submission of the Bachelor’s-Master’s application is required (members of the direct-entry cohort do not have to submit an application but do have to declare the Bachelor's-Master's combination they wish to pursue). Students should consult their Departmental Faculty Advisor and their Student Success advisor if they are pursuing a BA/MA, including those offered in Literary Studies:

• BA Literary Studies - MA Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism 
• BA Literary Studies - MA Liberal Studies 

Requirements for the BA in Literary Studies with a concentration in Writing

As of fall 2020, students declaring the major in Literary Studies with a concentration in Writing must take 12 courses, outlined as follows. Students who declared the major in Literary Studies before fall 2020 but wish to follow the fall 2020 curriculum can consult their Student Success advisor about submitting a Change of Catalog Year request. Only specific courses satisfy the major requirements, including electives. 

Students may not take an Intermediate Writing Workshop unless they received a grade of B or higher in the Introduction Workshop in the same genre. Students who did not receive a B may retake the Introduction Workshop again. A minimum grade of C is required for all other courses taken toward the major. Students who do not meet the minimum grade requirement to advance through the major and who cannot retake the necessary course must meet with the chair to determine their options. (Lang recommends that students who are unable to meet the grade minimums in their workshops consider changing majors or switching to the Literature track in Literary Studies.)

Declare your major by following the process outlined in Declaring a Major. Courses should be chosen carefully, in consultation with the Departmental Faculty Advisor and your Student Success advisor. Track your progress using the program worksheet (below). See the university course catalog for spring 2025 Writing courses that fulfill these requirements. In choosing courses to meet requirements, students are encouraged to meet with Jennifer Firestone for questions about the Writing concentration and consult our 4-Year Lang Career Pathways Map (PDF) for helpful steps and resources to link your academic journey to your future plans.

Overview

Students in Writing develop a unique authorial voice informed by a practiced familiarity with contemporary and classic styles. Courses emphasize essential communicative and research skills, a profound understanding of craft, and the development of personal voice in an encouraging atmosphere. Students have opportunities to attend public readings and lectures throughout the city and in the New School graduate writing program. Elective courses, as well as internships, introduce the qualified student to the professional standards and opportunities they may encounter after graduation. Master classes allow contemporary writers to teach their own work to students (satisfies Reading for Writers requirement). Students interested in journalism are encouraged to consider Journalism + Design. Note that upper-level students who substituted writing workshops in journalism for writing workshops in nonfiction in previous years (before fall 2014) will have those substitutions fully honored.

The New School Free Press, the student newspaper, is also a credit-bearing course in which students write, edit, and produce the newspaper. Release, the Writing program's literary magazine, is edited and produced by students as well.

Faculty members in Literary Studies regard critical and theoretical writing as a process that is as creative as writing poetry, fiction, and drama. Students are encouraged to begin with 2000-level courses in Literature (LLSL) and Writing (LLSW) as they consider one of these two concentrations. Two required Literary Introductions courses (The Invention of Literature, offered every fall, and Literary Reinvention, offered every spring), focusing on texts from the classic to the contemporary, enable students to build a solid foundation in literary studies and provide them with a common language and literary experience as they proceed to more advanced study. Literary Studies students can also apply to continue their writing and literature coursework abroad beginning in their sophomore year, in Paris, London, Rome, or Verona. In their junior or senior year, all students are required to take an intensive single-text course in which both critics and practitioners of writing explore the nuances of a major work, as well as a Reading for Writers course combining the reading of great works with creative writing.

Requirements for the BA in Literary Studies with a Writing Concentration:

Introductory courses: 

• Choose two introductory courses. All Literary Studies students (in either the Writing or Literature and Critical Analysis concentration) must take two introductory courses. Students are advised to pay close attention to prerequisites included in course descriptions and to meet with the departmental faculty advisor.

NOTE: Literary Introductions courses are co-requisites or prerequisites for all 3000-level Literary Studies courses, unless waived by the chair.

Other required courses:

• 1 single-text or single-author course (LLST) (3–4 credits)
• 1 LLST-RFW Reading for Writers course, open to juniors and seniors who have taken at least two workshops (3–4 credits). Choose from:
  
  • LLST 3016 Reading for Writers: Nonfiction
  • LLST 3025 Reading for Writers: Poetry
  • LLST 3006 Reading for Writers: Fiction
• 1 LLSL Literature elective by advisement or approval (3–4 credits)
• 3 LLSW courses (Intro, Intermediate, and Advanced) in the primary genre (9–12 credits). These must be completed before the Senior Capstone in Writing and must be taken in sequence, Intro through Advanced. NOTE: Starting in 2022–2023, Writing Senior Seminars will be offered only in spring semesters. Students pursuing the Writing concentration should take Advanced courses no earlier than their fifth semester. 
  
  • Notes regarding this requirement:
    • Genres: Fiction, Literary Nonfiction, Poetry, and Playwriting (secondary genre only). Students interested in journalism should consult the worksheet for Journalism + Design. Students considering Translation as a secondary genre should consult with the chair.
    • Work in the primary genre must begin before the junior year.
    • One SPE writing course may fulfill the Introductory course requirement in the five-course sequence. Students need the permission of the department to substitute an SPE writing course for any other sequenced course. 
    • Students need a B in the Intro Workshop to qualify for the Intermediate level in the same genre. Students who do not earn the minimum grade may retake the Intro Workshop. Students need a minimum grade of C in all other courses that count toward the major.
• 2 LLSW courses* (Intro through Intermediate, taken in sequence) in the secondary genre (Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, or Playwriting) (6–8 credits)
• 1 Advanced course, 3000 level or higher (LLSL or LLST) (3–4 credits)

Senior Capstone

• Choose 1 of the following, in consultation with the departmental faculty advisor (3–4 credits):
  • Independent Senior Project
  • 1 of the following senior seminars, depending on focus area. NOTE: As of 2022–2023, Writing Senior Seminars are offered only in spring semesters. Students pursuing the Writing concentration should take Advanced courses no earlier than their fifth semester. 
    • LLSW 4991 Senior Seminar: Fiction (primary genre)
    • LLSW 4992 Senior Seminar: Nonfiction (primary genre)
    • LLSW 4993 Senior Seminar: Poetry (primary genre)

Total credits: 36–48 

*Playwriting, offered in conjunction with The Arts, may be chosen in Writing as a secondary genre only. Students may use Playwriting toward either The Arts or the Literary Studies Writing concentration. If it is used toward The Arts, all Arts requirements govern, except that all LLSW prerequisites and minimum grade requirements apply for all students. If it is used toward the Literary Studies Writing concentration, all Literary Studies requirements apply, including core requirements, and writing concentrators may elect Playwriting only as a secondary genre.

To be sure you are on course to graduate, track your progress using the Literary Studies: Writing Concentration worksheet for the year in which you declared your major:

• 2024-25 Literary Studies: Writing Concentration Worksheet
• 2023-24 Literary Studies: Writing Concentration Worksheet
• 2022-23 Literary Studies: Writing Concentration Worksheet
• 2021-22 Literary Studies: Writing Concentration Worksheet (PDF)
• 2020-21 Literary Studies: Writing Concentration Worksheet (PDF)
• 2019-20 Literary Studies Requirements: Writing Concentration (PDF)