After completing his missionary work, Sanderson returned to BYU and changed his major to English literature. While an undergraduate, Sanderson took a job as a night desk clerk at a local hotel in Provo, Utah, because it allowed him to write while working. After earning a B.A. in English, Sanderson entered BYU's creative writing graduate program and received an M.F.A. degree in 2005. During his graduate work at BYU, Sanderson was on the staff of "Leading Edge", a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine published by the university.