Email: admission@champlain.edu
Call or Text: 802.625.0201
If you want a career as a writer, you'll need a solid foundation in the mechanics of good writing and editing, a storyteller's gift for narrative, a poet's eye for detail, and a desire to continue developing your talents in a dynamic industry.
While you'll certainly explore literature and learn to critique writing, this is not an English degree. At Champlain College, you learn the professional aspects of writing and how to get paid doing what you love.
Students start thinking like professionals from their first semester. Virtually all Professional Writing majors are published by the time they graduate, and many are earning freelance income as undergraduates.
As a Professional Writing student, you'll:
Student work in the Professional Writing major includes a teen sci-fi television series; an anthology of essays and poems about womanhood and girlhood; a series of articles about the interactions between transgender identity and organized religion; anthologies of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction; produced plays; five shorts written and produced for television; and many others.
Through Champlain's Upside-Down Curriculum, you'll take program-specific courses in your first year. This early experience allows you much more time to refine your style and explore your professional interests.
As a Professional Writing major at Champlain, you will tailor your education by choosing one of the following three concentrations:
In addition to your required concentration, you may choose to focus on Screenwriting as an optional concentration.
Whichever concentration you choose, you'll be able to supplement your learning and your skills by taking electives from all three concentrations and throughout various other programs. You'll be introduced to a range of forms and styles of writing that will expand your abilities.
You can also choose to pursue any of Champlain's minors, tailoring your education to suit your goals. You'll work closely with your Academic Advisor to ensure that you get the most from your time at Champlain.
The Center for Publishing (CFP) is your on-campus opportunity to work on creative, innovative projects in traditional and digital publishing. The CFP also blogs regularly about the publishing industry, provides training and workshops that cover multiple aspects of literary life, and offers many internship opportunities.
Current student-run publications include:
Faculty-directed but fully student-created opportunities include:
SAMPLE COURSES IN THE PROFESSIONAL WRITING CURRICULUM
Explore
Fill out our request info form and we’ll send you a cool collection of stickers and useful information about Champlain.
Check out our virtual tour and sign up for virtual information sessions: Monday-Friday.
High school students: get a jump on college this summer and learn professional methods of visual storytelling from award-winning journalists in our Media Production Academy.