Creative thesis slots highly prized by ’09s

Correction and editor's note appended

While the 1,976 students recently admitted to the Class of 2012 may be getting ready to bask in the summer sun and celebrate the completion of their last academic application for the next few years, they may be surprised to learn that selectivity doesn’t end at the Admission Office. In fact, it may be lurking in one of the last places students would look: 185 Nassau St.

For many aspiring writers at the University, the creative thesis could be the pinnacle of their undergraduate careers. Yet not everyone who has such aspirations is chosen by the program to write a creative thesis, and juniors currently working through the selection process are not quite sure what to expect. While the application — which asks students to submit a sample of work and list past courses taken — may seem straightforward, some students have found the application limiting and non-specific.

Sophia Echavarria ’09, an English concentrator hoping to write a fiction thesis in the genre of science fiction or a fictional slave narrative, thought the application was “sort of weird.” Unsure of what type of samples to submit, Echavarria sees a tension between the lack of guidance from the department on what kind of sample will be successful and the importance of the application to the aspiring writer.

“They leave a lot up to the student, but it’s a big deal,” she said. “It would be nice if they gave you more specific instructions and explained how students get chosen because I don’t think anyone really knows.”

“We’re blind,” she added.

Echavarria said that she was also unsure of the number of students who are accepted for creative theses.

“I’ve heard that a lot [apply] and a few actually get to do it. I’m kind of afraid to look at the physical evidence because I don’t want it to be a deterrent to myself,” she said.

Preparing to apply

The acceptance rate for the creative thesis program is “roughly 50%” but varies every year, acting director for the Program in Creative Writing and English and creative writing professor James Richardson ’71 said in an e-mail. Director Chang-rae Lee is on leave this academic year.

The Program in Creative Writing, which began in 1939, became incorporated into what is now known as the Creative Arts Program in the 1960s under the direction of English and creative writing professor Edmund Keeley. The change included offering the creative thesis option, which is also the only selective thesis program at the University, and this change remained after the Program in Creative Writing became independent once again later on.

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Juniors have the opportunity to apply in the spring to write a creative thesis during their senior year but can also reapply in the fall of their senior year if denied the first time.

Seventeen seniors are currently putting the finishing touches on creative theses, with eight students each working on poetry and fiction works and just one student working on a translation. Statistics and acceptance rates for prior years, Richardson said, could not be obtained.

“Our record keeping is not so good these days because our entire staff is new,” Richardson said. He added that “we don’t really need to know numbers of applications vs. numbers of acceptances, etc. except in a very vague and anecdotal way … so we don’t compile or keep that information.”

Richardson noted that while there were always fewer translators in the program, the proportion of poets and fiction writers can vary.

“[It] depends on who applies and how many. I certainly remember years when we had only four poets and years when we had 10,” he said.

Creative writing professor C.K. Williams, who has been involved in the program for 11 years, noted that the acceptance rate for translation creative thesis applicant tends to be higher. Only one student applied and was accepted last spring.

“I don’t think that we ever refused a thesis translation application,” Williams said.

Fiction professor Edmund White explained that the number of students allowed to write creative theses is limited by the large amount of time faculty spend guiding their advisees.

“Advising a thesis student in fiction is a major undertaking [and] requires hours and hours of reading and close consultation,” White said in an e-mail.

The program also strongly suggests that applicants take four creative writing courses before they apply and requires “very strong recommendations from the instructors,” according to the program website.

Though students may apply with fewer than the four recommended courses, Richardson noted that the courses were important in judging whether a student could do the work.

“You’ll be at a definite disadvantage. We want assurances that you work well. Writing is not just talent. It’s a lot of character. But you do not have to have an advisor or approach anyone — that’s not the way to do it,” Richardson said.

Sam Ritchie ’09, a mechanical and aerospace engineering concentrator, plans to apply with only two creative writing courses under his belt.

Ritchie said that while he recognizes that he is at a disadvantage, he has been participating in his courses and has discussed his applying with faculty members.

“I’ve gone back and asked if they thought I should apply ... They said you’re not going to get it if you don’t apply,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie said he thought that the application for the thesis should have more components.

“The application is just a story and a piece of paper, and it’s hard to connect with someone besides the recommendation of your creative writing professors,” Ritchie said.

While many of the applicants for creative theses are English concentrators, students in other departments are encouraged to apply. To fulfill their graduation requirements, though, students may have to complete two theses.

The selection process

One senior currently working on an additional project to fulfill her departmental thesis requirement is Tessa Brown ’08, a religion concentrator completing a collection of short stories in addition to a 30-page religion paper. Brown said that her personal experience of applying to complete a fiction thesis was a positive one.

“Creative writing is inherently subjective … for teachers to sit around and talk about your work is [the] fairest way. I trust their judgment, and we have pretty stellar and non-grudge-holding professors,” she said.

Faculty members who agree to take on thesis advisees have several weeks to review thesis applications in their genre. Faculty members also review student evaluations, written by students’ instructors at the conclusion of each course and kept on file.

“Everybody’s reading the writing sample from the student. It’s not like you’re snatching students to supervise. It’s just everybody sitting and thinking who should [be selected to] write a thesis,” Richardson said.

Williams, though, who participates in meetings for the selection of both poetry and translation students, characterized the process differently.

“We discuss who should be accepted and then discuss who wants who. There are people [who] say, ‘I would like to have so and so as my advisee,’ and we work it out that way,” Williams said.

Fiction professor Joyce Carol Oates said in an e-mail that the selection process is very straightforward.

“The faculty members look for excellence and for promise — there is no mystery about it,” she said.

Maryam Khan ’08, who is currently translating into English a 200-page 19th-century Urdu text, said that she finished translating the text in December and has been revising it ever since. She attributed the speedy completion of her translation to the individual attention she received from her adviser.

Khan said she felt most students applying for the thesis usually know from the outset whether or not they will get it.

“If you have someone who really believes you have promise, they’re going to stand up for you,” Khan said. “In my case, I was offering a unique product to the buyer — a language not being translated.”

Selectivity and reapplication

The selectivity of the creative thesis garnered mixed reactions from students interviewed who are both applying to and currently in the program.

“I think it’s a shame that it’s so competitive, but ultimately it’s much more about writing the thesis than being accepted into a program,” Brown said.

Jenny Xie ’08, who is currently completing a book of poems for her poetry thesis, noted that holding personal interviews where students could defend their reasons for wanting to write the thesis could improve the application process.

Both Echavarria and Ritchie said that if they were not accepted for the creative thesis this application period, they would reapply in the fall.

“This is something that I want to do, and I’m not going to give up until I have to,” Echavarria said.

Only one additional applicant was accepted last fall. Richardson said that this low acceptance rate for the fall was typical.

“Sometimes in the Fall we get a few new applications from people who ‘didn’t know there was a spring application’ or ‘decided this summer they wanted to be writers.’ We always look at those applications, but an acceptance would be rare,” he said.

Dreams of creativity

Echavarria said that she is motivated to apply for the creative thesis because of the originality of the undertaking. “The reason why I applied, to be honest, [is that] I just don’t want to do a regular senior thesis. I hate writing essays so much,” she said.

Echavarria added that “it’s not just that I think it’s an easier way out, but I hate research papers so much — there’s very little creativity, and it’s not fun. The last thing that I do here I should at least enjoy doing here.”

For Rachel Rothschild ’08, writing a novel as the culmination of her University experience was something that she’d dreamed of since she was 16 years old.

“I applied to Princeton for the creative writing thesis,” said Rothschild, who is also a former staff member of The Daily Princetonian.

White said that he would advise students not to become disheartened if, unlike Rothschild, their dreams are not realized.

“If a student is rejected for a creative thesis, he or she shouldn’t think that this rejection is an ultimate judgment on his or her work,” White said.

White added that not one of the faculty members had ever written a creative thesis and that “if someone truly has a gift and a calling as a writer, a senior thesis won’t make or break that person’s career.”

This year’s application is due on April 10, and students will be notified in May.

Editor's note

Sophia Echavarria '09 claims that she has been misrepresented in the quote "it’s not just that I think it’s an easier way out, but I hate research papers so much" because her actual intention was to say "it's not that I think it's an easier way out, but I hate research papers so much." After investigating the matter and examining the reporter's notes, we stand by the accuracy of our reporting but recognize that Ms. Echavarria may have intended a different meaning than that which she presented to the reporter.

Correction

The original version of this article stated that the Program in Creative Writing began in the mid-1960s. In fact, it began in 1939 and in the 1960s it became a part of the Creative Arts Program, which included the creative thesis and greater course availability. Later on, the Program in Creative Writing once again became independent. The Daily Princetonian regrets this error.