The application portal will open on May 1st and close on June 1st at 11:59pm EST. Check back here at that time! You will be asked to submit the following: -A ten page sample of your most recent creative writing -Short answers to the following two prompts (250 words max for each): 1. Walk us through your writing process using one of your submitted pieces. In your answer, focus primarily on technique, decision-making, revision, intention, or effect. 1. Poet Lucie Brock-Broido once said, "obsession is what gets me up the stairs at night". Tell us about one of your current obsessions. How does it manifest? How has it informed other areas of your life?

Any person between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two may apply.

The only students we encourage to apply are those who can commit to a full year of intensive weekly writing and study of the artform. This requires not necessarily talent, but genuine dedication and passion.  If selected, the job of your mentor is to ascertain where your talent already exists-- because it does already exist-- and to use it as a path forward in fostering and enriching the areas in which you are less successful. The Craft Conservatory seeks to admit students whose work succeeds and fails in interesting and unique ways. We will use both successes and failures to aid in our discovery of your own refined writing style.

Be bold! Show us you're ability to experiment, think outside the box, and convey your own unique way of seeing the world that is different than anyone else's.

Tuition for The Craft Conservatory is $7800 USD. In addition to the yearlong apprenticeship, this comprehensive rate covers all course materials, seminars, guest speakers, trainings, lifetime access the alumni archive, and ambassador relations after the program has ended. Tuition may be paid in full prior to the start of the program or in three equal installments prior to each "semester" (Fall/Winter, Winter/Spring, and Summer). Alternative payment plans will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Craft Conservatory regrets not being able to guarantee scholarships in its inaugural year. We are fully committed to offering generous funding in coming years, and can guarantee at least one full-scholarship for a deserving student in the year 2027. This will be possible, in part, thanks to the $15 application fee submitted by each applicant. Thank you for supporting the group of young writers following in your footsteps!

This program strictly, no exceptions, prohibits the use of AI writing and brainstorming. We uphold the absolute privilege of being able to imagine and construct language from our own minds. Applications that use AI generated text will not be considered and apprentices who submit AI generated text within the program will not receive feedback on that work.

There is, currently, no other program like The Craft Conservatory. While short term summer workshops with large enrollments can light a spark, those programs are not designed to offer sustained and intensive curriculum nor the close, expert guidance needed to personalize the study to each student's unique gifts. Genuine mentorship cannot take place over the course of a few weeks, or even a few months. Mentorship that generates a substantial impact on its mentees requires frequent longterm engagement with materials, personal goal setting, personalized study and practice, and high level discussion that is both intellectual and creative. The yearlong and personalized nature of The Craft Conservatory sets it apart.

The program expects its apprentices to develop extended attention, focus to detail, genuine critical thinking, precise articulation, artistry, and dedication to understanding a major component of human existence (writing). Having these qualities may help you get into college, but will certainly help you thrive WHILE you are there and beyond. We recognize that so much goes into teaching you how to build and deepen a skill that is essential, lifelong, practical, creative, inventive, lucrative, ever changing, and fundamentally human. And we pride on teaching you to build it in such a way that it doesn’t leave you the moment you leave us.  The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “the limits of my language are the limits of my world.” The Craft hopes to push the limits of your world a little farther out.