Goals of Some Creative Writing Programs

I looked at the courses and philosophy statements of universities such as Antioch University and Iowa State University.

• They focus on not only writing intensively, but also creating and discovering a creative enviornment to write.
• Most schools require students to focus in fiction (novels and shorts stories mainly), creative nonfiction, poetry or playwriting.
• Students have an opportunity to learn about teaching creative writing at a college level.
• It is usually a 2-year program on a credit basis.
• There are usually writers-in-residence teaching the courses.
• Most schools require a writing sample in the genre one is interested in pursuing.

A Philosophy Statement from Adelphi University

Fiction Statement of Philosophy:
Our program sees fiction as a realm in which a strong regard for tradition and a ceaseless capacity for experimentation are essential. Our workshops and classes focus on essential elements of craft, varied narrative strategies, and the reliable resourcefulness of our own imaginations. Well-known and emerging authors alike inform our writing efforts. As a community of writers and readers, we realize that we must always mine deeper as Melville put it and we trust that rich veins of thought and feeling are tapped when we collaborate and share, write and rewrite, read and re-read.
Creative Nonfiction Statement of Philosophy:
Writing creative nonfiction literary renditions of fact entails unusual possibilities, difficulties, beauties, and dangers, all of which we explore in our workshops. These are craft-based and use published and unpublished texts to clarify the forms and traditions of the genre as well as current trends in creative nonfiction. As a community of writers and readers, we encourage rigorous and challenging yet supportive engagement with one anothers work.
Poetry Statement of Philosophy:
The poets in our program form a community of writers and readers who challenge themselves and support one another. Our classes and workshops are craft-based and dedicated to the writing and rewriting of poems of all kinds. We use published and unpublished texts to develop reading and editing skills. We consider and develop thoughtful and practical approaches to the life of the artist and the creative process. And we articulate and extend our craft poetics, voice, prosody and help one another set artistic and professional goals.
Playwriting Statement of Philosophy:
The playwrights in our program collaborate to strengthen their voices as writers and dramaturgs, storytellers and social visionaries. Recognizing that a playwright may only learn to rewrite, our workshops are based on the development process, ultimately focusing on how a writer creates a personal methodology for his or her craft. Emphasizing the structure of plays, we study how the spine of dramatic storytelling has been transformed and built upon, throughout history-noting how theatre has always reacted to the present moment in its continuing effort to both reflect and reinterpret the action of living. Integral to our developmental process is an acknowledgment of theatre as a three-dimensional medium and a dramatic text's existence beyond the page, as we prepare our writers for a life in the theatre and its many satellite professions.
Source: http://www.academics.adelphi.edu/