Students are required to take 28 units per year for a two year period. Students are scheduled into a prescribed number of units each quarter. Contact hours occur during the residency periods and students work independently with their mentors between residencies.
At the center of each student’s program is a sequence of four workshops, each paired with a corresponding seminar. The workshop begins during the residency with five 4-hour sessions with a faculty mentor and other students, followed by tutorial e-correspondence, and in some cases electronic workshops for the rest of the term. The seminar begins before the residency, with a reading period, followed by three three-hour lecture/discussions during the residency on a body of literature or film, and then further reading during the course of the term. For both the seminar and the workshop, the student prepares writing which is sent as e-mail attachments to the mentor for review and critique.
During the residency students also participate in a number of colloquia and craft seminars, some of which require reading before or after the residency.
Students are assigned IP (In progress) grades for Fall and Winter quarters with a final
grade assessed at the completion of Spring quarter.