Is the University of Maryland or Brown University better for studying creative writing?

Brown University is the stronger choice for an undergraduate whose central academic priority is creative writing. Its Literary Arts concentration is a dedicated creative-writing program rather than a track within a broader English major, with workshop-based courses in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, and translation. Brown also gives students unusual freedom through its Open Curriculum, making it easier to build an intensive writing-centered course plan alongside literature, visual arts, theater, history, or another field that feeds their work.

The program’s structure is a major differentiator. Literary Arts students work closely with practicing writers, take small workshops that emphasize revision and peer critique, and complete a substantial senior project. Brown’s literary culture also extends beyond the concentration through readings, visiting writers, student publications, and connections to the university’s broader arts community, so a serious writer can find both formal instruction and an active audience for new work.

Maryland has meaningful opportunities, especially through its English department’s creative-writing coursework and the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House, a living-learning community centered on writing and literary events. It can be an appealing setting for a student who wants creative writing within a larger public university, access to Washington-area cultural institutions, and a potentially broader campus experience. But its undergraduate offerings are less singularly organized around a stand-alone creative-writing major and do not provide the same level of curricular flexibility or concentrated literary-arts identity that Brown does.