2025 Best Writing Studies Master's Degree Schools

a master's degree in writing studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #49 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 93 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for writing studies students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,160 master's degrees in writing studies during the <nil> academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

Your choice of writing studies for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality writing program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to writing studies students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other writing studies students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt writing studies students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• 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 colleges for writing studies students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Writing Studies Schools

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.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Writing Studies in the United States

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for writing studies students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

18 Top Schools for a Master's in Writing

1

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

123 Annual Graduates

$55,398 Median Starting Salary

Johns Hopkins University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in writing studies. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the writing studies degree program at Johns Hopkins University earn $12,569 more than the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

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

2

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

10 Annual Graduates

$40,280 Median Starting Salary

University of Washington - Seattle Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in writing studies. UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the city of Seattle.

Students who graduate with their master's from the writing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $40,280.

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

3

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

13 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in writing studies has to look into Northwestern University. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from Northwestern University

4

Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY

133 Annual Graduates

$37,674 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you wish to pursue a master's degree in writing studies. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.

Students who graduate with their master's from the writing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $37,674.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from Columbia University in the City of New York

5

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

19 Annual Graduates

UT Austin is a very large public university located in the city of Austin.More information about a master’s in writing studies from The University of Texas at Austin

6

Boston University
Boston, MA

17 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from Boston University

7

University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

10 Annual Graduates

$41,764 Median Starting Salary

University of Arizona is a very large public university located in the city of Tucson.

Students who graduate with their master's from the writing program state that they receive average early career income of $41,764.

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

8

Brown University
Providence, RI

23 Annual Graduates

Brown is a large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Providence.More information about a master’s in writing studies from Brown University

9

Bowling Green State University - Main Campus
Bowling Green, OH

48 Annual Graduates

$46,045 Median Starting Salary

Located in the fringe town of Bowling Green, BGSU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those writing studies students who get their master's degree from Bowling Green State University - Main Campus make $3,216 more than the typical writing grad.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from Bowling Green State University - Main Campus

10

George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

19 Annual Graduates

$35,318 Median Starting Salary

Located in the suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the writing program state that they receive average early career income of $35,318.

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

11

Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from Syracuse University

12

Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX

16 Annual Graduates

$47,951 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Lubbock, Texas Tech is a public university with a very large student population.

Those writing studies students who get their master's degree from Texas Tech University receive $5,122 more than the typical writing graduate.

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

13

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

17 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

14

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

13 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from University of California - Irvine

15

Miami University - Oxford
Oxford, OH

15 Annual Graduates

$44,860 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a large student population.

Writing Studies master's degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford get an earnings boost of approximately $2,031 over the typical earnings of writing studies majors.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from Miami University - Oxford

16

Emerson College
Boston, MA

67 Annual Graduates

$40,714 Median Starting Salary

Emerson is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the city of Boston.

Students who graduate with their master's from the writing program report average early career earnings of $40,714.

More information about a master’s in writing studies from Emerson College

17

Saint Joseph's University
Philadelphia, PA

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Philadelphia, St. Joe's is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in writing studies from Saint Joseph’s University

18

Iowa State University
Ames, IA

12 Annual Graduates

Iowa State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Ames.More information about a master’s in writing studies from Iowa State University

Rest of the Top Best Writing Studies Master's Degree Schools

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Writing Studies students that almost earned our Best Writing Studies Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank	College	Location
19	Texas State University	San Marcos, TX
20	University of Iowa	Iowa City, IA
21	University of California - Davis	Davis, CA
22	North Carolina State University	Raleigh, NC
23	Arcadia University	Glenside, PA
24	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, CA
25	The University of Texas at El Paso	El Paso, TX
26	Stony Brook University	Stony Brook, NY
27	Temple University	Philadelphia, PA
28	Boise State University	Boise, ID
29	Northern Arizona University	Flagstaff, AZ
30	Missouri State University - Springfield	Springfield, MO
31	University of North Carolina at Wilmington	Wilmington, NC

Writing Studies by Region

View the Best Writing Studies Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Writing

One of 9 majors within the English Language & Literature area of study, Writing Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Writing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Creative Writing	3,478
Professional, Technical, Business, & Scientific Writing	377
Other Rhetoric & Composition/Writing Studies	119
Rhetoric & Composition	109
General Writing	77

Most Popular Majors Related to Writing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General English Literature	3,937
English Literature (Other)	143
Literature	134

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.