Top Online Bachelor's in Writing Programs for 2019
A bachelor's degree in creative writing online sharpens one's writing abilities, and prepares them for employment in an array of industries, including publishing and advertising. The need for writers and editors is expected to grow moderately over the next decade, and nearly every business and organization needs writers in some capacity to produce copy, presentations, or other customer-facing deliverables.
What are the Best Online Bachelor's in Writing Programs?
Top 20 Online Bachelors in Writing for 2019
Admissions Rate
49%
Graduation Rate
70%
Online Enrollment
15%
Retention Rate
89%
Default Rate
7%
UCF is located in Orlando, Florida, and has offered online educations for the last 20 years. The school's Department of English offers an online creative writing bachelor's degree that is ideal for students who work full-time. UCF offers a bachelor of arts in English – creative writing degree with concentrations in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or screenwriting. Graduates are prepared for careers as copywriters, journalists, technical writers, and more. All professors have backgrounds as renowned writers who have published in a wide range of genres, including fiction, literary journalism, feature-length screenplays, and poetry. Distance learners have access to a variety of helpful educational services, including a university writing center where tutors provide online consultation in real-time. Transfer students must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 to be considered.
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What Will I Learn in an Online Writing Program?
Some creative writing bachelor's degree online programs focus on literature, while others require students to create a portfolio of work upon graduation. Many also teach business and professional writing to prepare students for the job market. While curriculums and coursework varies, most students complete some iteration of the following courses.
Creative Writing: From fiction to poetry, creative writing lets students freely express themselves. This course explores the fundamentals of story structure and proper prose format, among other forms of writing.
Literature: Students examine the great literary works from around the world, in a variety of genres, and analyze themes, styles, and cultural significance.
Non-fiction Writing: Non-fiction writing conveys factual information, and includes magazine and newspaper stories. Likely topics include the elements of style and format, as well as how to find sources.
Rhetoric: A well-written essay persuades someone to view a topic from a different perspective. This course addresses rhetorical techniques, figures of speech, and composition.
Business and Professional Writing: Whether writing marketing materials or using search engine optimization techniques, students develop writing to help businesses achieve their goals in a variety of publications and formats.
What can I do with an Online Writing Degree?
Every industry employs writers and editors to create advertising materials, informational pamphlets, corporate publications, and technical documents. Writers and editors are employed as salaried in-house staff members or freelancers. Management roles for those with a creative writing bachelor's degree online are mainly editorial, with desirable salary prospects and long-term potential.
Typically working in advertising, a copywriter composes ads and written "copy" that create a desired tone to sell a product to a targeted audience. Writers focus on copywriting specifically in their undergraduate program, while many learn the specifics of their craft on the job.
Median Salary: $49,327
Job Outlook and Salary
Writers and editors are considered part of the media and communication industry, which is projected to grow 4 percent by 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . After completing a creative writing bachelor's degree online, one should explore writing opportunities in different industries. Some industries, like computer and information technology, have a need for writers and also feature a high projected rate of growth. Note that salaries vary based on specific writing and editing interests, the industry, as well as the location.
| Employment, 2014 | Projected Employment, 2024 |
|---|---|
| 2,624,200 | 2,731,700 |
Salary Growth by Experience
In addition to individual workplaces or industries, professional experience impacts the annual earnings of writers and editors. The table below features data from PayScale of expected salaries for copywriters, editors, and technical writers at different stages of their respective careers. As expected, the salary trajectory of most careers gradually increases, with the highest earning potential at 10-20 years of experience. Because the role of an editor varies — with duties ranging from proofreading to managing an entire editorial process — the salaries for this career vary greatly as well.
To determine the best online bachelor's in writing programs, we looked at the most important factors prospective students, mainly common predictors of future success and a school's commitment to online programs. This boils down to admissions rate, student loan default rate, retention rate, graduation rate, and the percent of students enrolled in online classes. All data points are taken from information provided by colleges and universities to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Each factor is weighted evenly in order to give an objective view and determine the best online bachelor's in writing programs. To calculate our rankings, we looked at a school's ranking when organized by a single factor, and then averaged each category's ranking to find an overall score: Admissions Rate (20%) + Default Rate (20%) + Retention Rate (20%) + Graduation Rate (20%) + Percent of Students Enrolled in Online Classes (20%) = Final score.