Student Experience

What To Expect

The Professional Writing program at Algonquin College was created in response to demand of government, private industry, and the media. Students learn to research, write, edit, proofread and manage a production process in a variety of settings, providing them with highly marketable skills that are useful in many work contexts. As many writers also balance freelance creative writing with more lucrative employment, the Professional Writing program focuses on the development of creative skills along with a knowledge of the market for fiction and creative non-fiction in Canada.

This program emphasizes both practical and creative writing exercises, business practices, and work experiences in the community. Local freelancers will conduct workshops and may mentor the students as appropriate.

Work Integrated Learning

Professional Writing runs an in-house blog (Spine Online) and press (Spine Online Press), which allows us to publish selected student projects online and distribute them through various online sales platforms, including Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Apple Books. Students retain the copyright of their work and earn royalties on sales of these publications.

We also run a contest in level-3 of the program where students write children’s books that are then illustrated by the Illustration and Concept Art students. The best five books are published through Spine Online Press.

You can read more about this on the Spine Online web site.

Students who maintain a B or higher average are given the privilege of being placed in a work environment for a seven-week field placement. This opportunity provides students with practical hands-on application of their writing skills, while helping them forge connections with potential clients and employers.

Pathways

The Professional Writing program has partnered with St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, and Royal Rhodes University in Victoria to offer articulation programs that will fast-track graduates to university degrees. Graduates of this program may consider continuing their education and training through Algonquin’s Advertising, Public Relations, Scriptwriting, Journalism or Broadcasting – Television or Broadcasting – Radio programs.

Direct Entry

If you have a degree and are interested in gaining entry into level 3 of the Professional Writing program you must pass the MPAA test. It consists of three parts: An English language diagnostic test, a general knowledge test and an essay exercise. For a general guide on the admissions test visit https://www.algonquincollege.com/testcentre/sample-questions/.