2025 Best Writing Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

If you plan on getting your master's degree in writing studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #49 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 22 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Writing Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 639 master's degrees in writing studies to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Writing Studies School for Your Master's Degree

The writing master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on writing studies students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of writing studies students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for writing studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized writing studies related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for writing studies students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The writing school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Writing Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Writing Studies in the Far Western US Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in writing studies.

10 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Master's in Writing

1

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

10 Annual Graduates

$40,280 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat University of Washington - Seattle Campus if you wish to pursue a master's degree in writing studies. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the writing program earn an average of $40,280 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

2

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

13 Annual Graduates

University of California - Irvine is a good decision for students pursuing a master's degree in writing studies. UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine.More information about a master’s in writing studies from University of California - Irvine

3

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

12 Annual Graduates

University of California - Davis is a good decision for students pursuing a master's degree in writing studies. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from University of California - Davis

4

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

10 Annual Graduates

University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in writing studies. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a master’s in writing studies from University of Southern California

5

San Diego State University
San Diego, CA

30 Annual Graduates

$41,328 Median Starting Salary

SDSU is a very large public university located in the city of San Diego.

Master's recipients from the writing studies degree program at San Diego State University earn $2,707 more than the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from San Diego State University

6

San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA

23 Annual Graduates

$33,293 Median Starting Salary

SFSU is a fairly large public university located in the city of San Francisco.

Master's students who receive their degree from the writing program earn an average of $33,293 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from San Francisco State University

7

Chapman University
Orange, CA

26 Annual Graduates

$40,950 Median Starting Salary

Chapman is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Orange.

Master's recipients from the writing studies degree program at Chapman University make $2,329 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from Chapman University

8

Portland State University
Portland, OR

20 Annual Graduates

$41,170 Median Starting Salary

Portland State University is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Portland.

Writing Studies master's degree recipients from Portland State University receive an earnings boost of around $2,549 over the average income of writing studies graduates.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from Portland State University

9

University of California - Riverside
Riverside, CA

49 Annual Graduates

$25,290 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the writing program make about $25,290 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from University of California - Riverside

10

California State University - San Bernardino
San Bernardino, CA

36 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of San Bernardino, CSUSB is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from California State University - San Bernardino

Best Writing Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best writing studies schools for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	253	345
Washington	183	91
Oregon	158	70
Nevada	105	36
Alaska	52	14

View All Rankings >

Writing Studies Related Rankings by Major

Writing Studies is one of 9 different types of English Language & Literature programs to choose from.

Writing Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Creative Writing	576
General Writing	47
Other Rhetoric & Composition/Writing Studies	10
Professional, Technical, Business, & Scientific Writing	6

Majors Similar to Writing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General English Literature	541
English Literature (Other)	25

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO. More about our data sources and methodologies.