Applying for Study at The CLT

Students interested in pursuing the CLT joint course of study in writing and translation should apply through the Columbia MFA Writing Program and express their interest in translation in the general application. Applicants may include translations as part of their writing samples, but are not required to do so.

Once accepted to the Columbia University School of the Arts Writing Program, students have until the spring semester of their first year to decide whether they'd like to pursue enough coursework with the CLT to submit a joint thesis in writing and translation. The minimum requirements for the joint course of study are as follows:

• At least two translation workshops with the CLT: the intro section in the fall and the advanced workshop in the spring. You can spread the workshops out over your two years in the MFA program, or take them both in the same year. You also have the option of taking either the fall or spring workshop twice if that works best with your other courses in the Writing Program.
• At least two seminars, or one seminar and two master classes, on international literature and translation in the Writing Program.
• At least two electives outside of the Writing Program in which you: 1) take the language you plan to translate from; or 2) take literature classes taught in the language you plan to translate from; or 3) take a class that directly relates to the work of the author you plan to translate for the thesis.