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Writing: Bachelor of Fine Arts with an Emphasis in Writing

The Bachelor of Fine Arts with an Emphasis in Writing (BFA) encourages you to advance your creative thinking with a wide-ranging exploration of writing in multiple genres while maintaining a firm grounding in literary study. Fully integrated into SAIC's studio departments, you explore the relationship between language and visual art by connecting writing to painting, performance, film, sound, and gallery exhibitions.

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The Admissions office at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is dedicated to assisting you and your family through every step of the college selection process. We are interested in getting to know you—your work, your expectations for college, and your ambitions for the future. We seek students who wish to immerse themselves in an intense interdisciplinary environment, and we hope to challenge the very notion of what art means to you and to our society. SAIC provides a sophisticated education that hones your unique abilities as a contemporary thinker and maker in a global community.

Curriculum Requirements

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with an Emphasis in Writing students follow an individualized curricular pathway that allows them to explore a wide range of possibilities for writing and integrating text with the visual arts. Here are the requirements you must meet to earn a BFA with an Emphasis in Writing.

PROFPRAC and CAPSTONE are now required for new incoming students beginning in the 2015-16 academic year.

Total Credit Hours  126
Writing Core Curriculum 24 
  • HUM 2001 Literature Survey I (3)
  • HUM 3002 Literature Survey II (3)
  • WRIT 1101, 1102, or 1103 Contemporary Practices (3)
  • WRIT 2040 Writing Workshop (3)
  • WRIT 3140 Advanced Writing Workshop (3)
  • WRIT 4001 Generative Seminar (6)
  • CAPSTONE 4900 Undergraduate Thesis for BFAW Seminar (3)
  
Studio  39
  • CP 1010 Core Studio Practice I (3)
  • CP 1011 Core Studio Practice II (3)
  • CP 1020 Research Studio I (3)
  • CP 1022 Research Studio II (3)
  • SOPHSEM 2900 (Writing) (3)
  • PROFPRAC 3900 (3)
  • Studio Electives—May include additional Writing courses (21)
  
Liberal Arts  39
  • ENGLISH 1001 First Year Seminar I (3)
  • ENGLISH 1005 First Year Seminar II (3)
  • Humanities (12)
  • Social Sciences (9)
  • Natural Sciences (6)
  • Liberal Arts Electives (6)
  
Art History   12
  • ARTHI 1001 World Cultures/Civilizations: Pre-History to 19th Century Art and Architecture (3)
  • Art History Elective at 1000 level (3)
  • Art History Electives (6)
  
General Electives—Studio, Liberal Arts, Art History, and/or BFAW courses  12

Transfer Students

Total credits required for minimum residency: 66
Minimum Writing Studio credit: 42

 

The BFAW at SAIC emphasizes a process-based approach to writing—one in which students experience writing across genre and in interdisciplinary, hybrid, and hypertextual modes.

The BFA with an Emphasis in Writing sequence is designed to deepen each student's individual aesthetic concerns, combining in-depth reading with intensive creative output and feedback. Credits are dispersed across a variety of classes: a first-year Contemporary Practices course, a two-semester literature survey, multigenre workshop and advanced workshops, generative seminars, and elective credits in both studio and Liberal Arts. The capstone experience in the BFA with an Emphasis in Writing curriculum is the UG Thesis for BFAW Seminar. 

Our rich, creative curriculum encourages students to explore the many intersections between visual art and language, such as comics, artists’ books, sound art, film and performance.

Core curriculum includes:

  • Contemporary Practice (First Year) sequence
  • Two-semester Literature Survey
  • Beginning and Advanced Writing Workshops that explore process, genre and theme, such as Literary Modes; Walking: A Poetics; and Caberet.
  • Generative Seminars that connect to interdisciplinary fields, such as Engineering Comics; Artists’ Books; and Aloud.
  • Undergraduate Thesis Seminar

BFAW students participate in the BFAW Thesis Reading in their final spring semester; those students who demonstrate a visual art practice may also apply to exhibit in the fall semester BFA Thesis Exhibition. BFAW students collaboratively conceptualize, edit and produce an annual publication in the Writing Program’s own BookLab, in addition to producing many other independent print, web and performance-based projects.

Interested in learning more about how you can apply?

Visit the undergraduate admissions website or contact the undergraduate admissions office at 800.232.7242 or ugadmiss@saic.edu.