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Welp, most app deadlines are officially over (I haven’t forgotten about you folks with January deadlines though, still sending out the good vibes!). Seeing some anxiousness. Very much felt. I wanted to give a little pep talk while we wait for decisions to roll in. No matter the outcome this year, rest assured your writing is enough and you are enough. These are, without exaggeration, some of the most competitive academic programs in the world. We’re dealing with acceptance rates under 5% here—sometimes well under. Getting a rejection is not a full-throated rejection of your writing. Adcoms have impossible decisions to make. What do you do when there are 50 equally-capable writers and only five spots to fill? It means, inevitably, someone talented is going to get cut. In fact, a lot of talented people are going to get cut. There’s not much to learn from MFA rejections. For all you know, the adcom came *this close* to putting you on a waitlist but simply ran out of space. Adcoms can adore your work and still be forced, by sheer cold numbers, to tell you no. Please give yourself a nice big helping of grace. Pile that shit on. Don’t you dare give in to negative self-talk, even if things start to look bleak come February. Earlier today I was ruminating on the if-onlys: I wish I’d spent more time on my samples, more time polishing my SOPs, submitted that third story, written that Mysterious Fourth Story That Surely Would Have Impressed Everyone, on and on. But here’s the truth: none of that would have guaranteed me a spot. No amount of obsessive polishing will get around the fact that there are tons of amazing writers who deserve to get in, and programs can’t accept us all. I did enough. You did enough. No, really, you, the person reading this, I want that to sink in. You. Did. Enough. I’m rooting for every single one of us to get into a program that’s a perfect fit. And if it doesn’t happen this year, there’s always next year. Unless you’ve decided you’d rather enter a thumbtack-eating contest than go through this process again (understandable). In the meantime, take a well-earned nap, lovelies! Go do something fun.

Feels weird to say this so early in the cycle but -- just got my first acceptance! In for fiction at University College Cork in Ireland. It's one of only three non-funded programs I applied to, kinda on a whim, and to be honest there's pretty much no chance of me financially actually being able to go. But still, feels like a nice way to kick things off.

Submitted the last of my applications today. And that's 8 applications done, or, more accurately, 7.5 (given that the one for Ole Miss is only Phase 1 of 2). Now comes the best and worst part: waiting. Solidarity to everyone still applying. May the new year bring us great news.

Finished my apps yesterday! And now the waiting game begins…

hey all! I'm CNF, back for another round. last year, I applied to 11 programs and ended up with two acceptances that just weren't the right fit. I was also waitlisted at my top choice and then later rejected. this year, I applied to 6 schools, and three are ones I applied to last year. I've updated my sample since last year and grown a lot as a writer/artist but for my sample, I primarily have kept one essay in that I significantly revised from last year, and I'm nervous about this specifically for the school that waitlisted me last year. also keep having nagging thoughts about if I don't get in this year, then I'm going to regret not just accepting one of the two offers I got last year. ugh. wanted to hop on to express solidarity and support to those still finishing up apps/beginning the waiting game. we've got this, y'all, the hardest part is *mostly* over, and I'm rooting for all of you.

yay usps found my iowa packet and got it into their hands If last year was also an indicator, we have about a month until mid january when it becomes time to refresh the notifications pages every minute of every day out of anxiety and dread and enjoyment of watching others and ourselves live the dream. Enjoy the next month of relative calm! something i did last year and feel good about not doing this year: once i hit submit, i don't reread anything. knowing what typos or mistakes i made in an sop won't help a thing, and would only cause more anxiety.

Hello all! I've been lurking on previous threads the past few weeks in an effort to get my application questions answered by those of you who have been here before, but I figured it was time to finally make an account and say hi. This is my first time applying to MFAs and I'm applying to 9 programs (!!) for Fall. This feels like a big number to me - and has been a terrible amount of essay writing, but the math on how many acceptances versus applications (~1-5%???) made it seem like I should aim wide just in case. I'm a poet and have a few publications but nothing particularly big or marketable to MFAs, if those are things they care about. In case anyone would like this info, my hopefuls are: Vanderbilt, Michener (UT Austin), Wash U in St. Louis, Randolph College, UC Irvine, Iowa WW, John Hopkins, UMich (Helen Zell), and Pittsburgh. Anyway, I keep vacillating between these two extreme spirals, one being that I get into NONE of the programs I applied to (or maybe worse in a way, get into solely the single non-funded one I applied to and then can't go because of money), and the other extreme of thinking that my writing sample is so stellar that surely EVERY school will want me, even Iowa despite the fact that I earnestly doubt I'm "marketable" enough for them. Just swinging between constant self-doubt and extreme unearned self-confidence lol. 🥲 I am possibly losing my mind. Is this relatable? Whatever. All my applications are in so now it's in the devil's hands.

Just wanted to say that I’ve submitted all my applications. Now just time to wait….

Your undergrad major doesn't factor in at all, so long as your writing sample's good. All fully-funded programs are competitive, yeah. That said, they're not equally competitive. Some schools get less attention than the top programs, so the applicant pool is a little smaller. For example, Brown gets something between 900 and 1,050 applicants and only admits five. UNCG probably gets fewer applicants and admits 10-12. Is it worth trying for Brown? YES, VERY MUCH SO. Five people will get into Brown. You may very well be one of those five. I saw someone last year who got accepted into Brown and rejected from many of the other top programs. You never know which program is gonna vibe with what you're writing. I wouldn't base your apps on acceptance rates. Go with the ones you feel are the perfect fit for you from an artistic standpoint. You only do your MFA once! It's hard to give more specific advice on program selection since it's such a personal thing. What's right for me may not be right for you, etc. Best of luck!

hey, everyone! i was thrust into this process totally last minute. i'm a narrative director, and i was laid off two weeks ago without warning. this was my second layoff in two years, and the state of the industries i work in (theatre, gaming, and immersive experiences) is, to say the least, dire. to broaden my field of potential options, i decided to take the plunge and send out grad school applications. i'm a professional writer, but my foundational training is as a playwright. i graduated from carnegie mellon in december of 2019, prepared for a life as a theatre artist... annnnd then the pandemic decimated those prospects. i pivoted into video games... annnnd now we've seen 30,000+ gaming layoffs in the past 18 months. pivoted again into immersive experiences... annnnd the industry is so young that most ventures are startups, layoffs are rampant, and narrative professionals are the first to go. it's a lot! i just turned 28, and i've experienced a lot of early career success; however, that's all been packaged in severe job insecurity. with the growing threat of AI to my field, i'm strategizing again. storytelling is a sacred practice to me, and i'm fairly agnostic when it comes to my preferred vessel. that said: the bulk of my experience is in inherently collaborative ventures. to continue centralizing writing in my life, i think the greatest gift i can offer myself is a more refined solitary practice that's focused on my prose so that i'm less dependent on an employer facilitating my ability to make my work. so. here we are!! i applied to yale for playwriting, but the other five schools on my list are all creative writing: iowa, university of houston, UCSD, UC riverside, and UC irvine. i am truly flying by the seat of my pants here and am realistic about my odds - but just working on applications is soo much better for my mental health than agonizing over empty job boards before the holidays.

Apps are done:D! Ten schools and a few nervous months in the interim before decisions come. Cheers to everyone who has submitted and to everyone who is about to!!! I'm also curious what others have been reading during app season? I've recently finished Warda by Sonallah Ibrahim, DMZ Colony by Don Mee Choi, and The Abyss by Marguerite Yourcenar. All fantastic. Yourcenar is a personal lodestar. What about others??

I wanted to dunk on places like Iowa and Irvine for being so old school and requiring us to physically mail in our samples. LIke, get with the times! But you know what? There is something very satisfying about dropping 40 pages of prose into the mail.

Back on my nonsense of "I'm only applying to one school this year and am going to check the portal obsessively until April 15th." Though my sample this year is SO MUCH stronger than last year's, I hope they don't even remember me applying last year because I'm so insecure about what I submitted. I toss and turn at night worried that they'll think my new, better writing is just a fluke and not the result of a lot of hard work in the past year. Like, part of me thinks I should mention this in my personal statement (the working a lot harder this year to get better), but again, I don't want to bring up my last year's application. Anyways. Good luck all!

Submitting three applications within the next 24 hours (right under deadline, yeesh). Fellow procrastinators unite! The rest will go out sometime early next week so I can stop thinking about this process for a while. My TBR shelf is so neglected. Gonna finish Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner, then I'm gonna finally get around to Orbital by Samantha Harvey and Speedboat by Renata Adler. Or I might just eat a lot of burritos and go into hibernation. We'll see.

Just wanted to say to everyone as deadlines loom closer that we got this!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!

With the Dec 1st deadline rapidly approaching, I started this thread for Bio/Biochem/Biophysics/Molecular/Cell/Dev/Cancer Bio and other related PhD programs (I believe there is already a Neuro thread). Please feel free to share anything from results or responses in the coming weeks (share the program name and any other relevant details) or complain about the process in general! You're also welcome to post applicant stats (research experience, GPA, domestic/international, number of schools you applied to, etc.) as well - best of luck everyone, and congratulations for even hitting submit on these applications!!

Congrats! Even if you anticipate not being able to accept the offer, it's a win to have an acceptance!

i've read cases of this happening and people still getting in! The writing sample is what matters most; a program isn't going to deny you for an arts degree because of a clerical error.

Hi everyone! Hope your applications are going well. I study colonial Latin America and I applied to just two schools. My deadline was on Dec 1 but I already feel so antsy! I have my MA already so it was just two PhD programs. I’m soo nervous! Also, I saw one of you is applying to UC Davis! I’m an alum so if anyone has any questions about the program I’d be happy to talk!

From what I have read elsewhere (past MFA threads, potentially his one), look for the language-if it is a suggested page count or a hard range. I know at least for Brown, which is 30-40, people have gotten in submitting fewer. Prevailing advice seems to be submit your best work and do not compromise with anything that might weaken your portfolio.

Omg this sounds so interesting......definitely interested in how these ideas appeared in your writing sample. Similar to you guys, my writing is definitely influenced by the limits of the English language and what I can do within these confines. My influences for my writing are Toni Morrison, Raven Leilani, and James Baldwin: all writers interacting with different types of intimacy. My SOP was about the case of Andrea Yates and the notion of imperfect care, and my writing sample follows three characters: Michael and Candy who both work at an STD clinic, and Felix, Michael's boyfriend.

I applied to the online version. Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far!!

I am going to accept!

Put page numbers. It won't ruin your application if you forgot them, but having them is standard. It makes it easier for a committee to discuss your writing if they can put to others where in the story they are talking about. I work for a lit magazine and we refer to things by pg number a lot. Poetry probably matters a little less because they can point to specific poems.

Hey all, first time applying. Finally, in my twilight years (32), about to finish a degree in English at UVA. I figured I would aim for two longshots this year-staying at UVA or moving to Providence for Brown. I clicked submit on Brown today and am planning to submit for UVA a bit closer to the deadline so I can tighten up one of the excerpts (could not use the same piece for both applications due to page number requirements being different). Just finished my only two exams and am about to have my final class, then it's three ten page essays between me and break. My thinking is that if I do not get in this year, I will just devote the year to honing my fiddle playing and try again next fall. Either way I am content. It'll be a nice surprise or an oh well rather than crushing disappointment.

Hello, I'm new here! I'm an international applicant, first time applying to US MFA programs. Got acceptances in the UK early this year for MA CW but ultimately, I couldn't pursue any of them without full funding. It's been two years since I graduated from undergrad, although I'm in my thirties now. (Long story why.) I've applied to Cornell U and UT Michener so far, and am preparing for U of Arizona, Syracuse, Boston U, Brooklyn College, and Hunter College. All for fiction, while for Arizona, both fiction and poetry. International fees are very expensive and can't be waived for us (except for Boston, but still waiting on the result), so I can't apply to more. I have some local and international publications, residencies, and fellowships. Also taught in uni for two years. Hoping those count for something. Fingers crossed!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm about halfway through all my applications and I'm starting to have dreams about rejections. Trying to tell myself that anxiety this early is not good!

Your anxiety and self-criticism is jumping off the screen. Please take a deep breath. I hope you talked about yourself more positively in your applications, because you have a great profile. Yes, your list is top-heavy, and you should add more schools in the range of Rice (TAMU, Ohio State, Illinois, etc are great). If you're interested in Bayesian nonparametrics, why aren't you applying to Texas and Duke? It's only November 22nd. You can send out 5 more applications and you'll be in great shape.

Hey y'all - I am also applying to DrPh programs this year! I applied for early admission to GW as well and they told me 2nd week in December for decisions. I applied to 5 programs, I have heard back and got into 1 so fingers crossed for you all.

Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well. I wanted to create a forum for PhD applicants in Communication Studies. How are you feeling? What programs are you applying to? Where are you at in the process? What is your experience/have you applied for PhD programs before? Just trying to find some commonality with some people because I have been freaking out lately! (lol)

Haven't seen anyone make one for this year's application yet, so made one for us to start talking about it. How we feeling guys?

I think it may be too early to hear back from JHU. I think their decisions come out in late Feb/early March. JHU (Health Equity & Social Justice) is the only program I applied for... nervous wreck...

SO deeply second this lol.

LET'S GOOOO!!! CONGRATS @pananoprodigy!! a win is a win!!

I received another invite from UCSF Biophysics earlier this afternoon (12/16) @tai_dex I shared a bit above but I'm a domestic applicant with a BS in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from an R1 public land grant school (3.7 GPA) and graduated with only one meaningful research experience (REU after junior year) mostly due to COVID. I started an NIH post-bacc program at a T10 university last summer (totaling around 20 months of full-time research experience) before applying for the first time this fall. I have no publications, have presented at 3 conferences, one of which was national where I received an poster presenter award in my category within Life Sciences. I also think it's still a little bit early for the bulk of programs - from what I understand (at least at my current institution), there was a huge increase in the number of applicants compared to prior years for the same number of spots. I think this may have led to longer reviews, additional, committee meetings, etc. so that they can give everyone the best chance possible! if you haven't heard back yet, the programs you applied to might just be getting through a bigger pile of apps! No news is good news :))

Welcome, @AyvaM!! Happy to have you here:) I feel this a little too much 😭The waiting game is so vacuous that you kinda can’t help but just envision all the outcomes in the mean time, and the worst case / best case scenarios are way juicier to think about than, like, going 3/9 [which, goes w/out saying, is a stellar season]. At least we can all vacillate in the same boat together; good luck this year! @Chex as usual saying it best—

In the devil's hand indeed! 😅😃 Welcome, Ayva. It's good to have you here. And congrats on submitting all of your applications. We have Vandy, Hopkins, WashU, and Pittsburgh in common. These anxieties and emotional ups and downs are normal. Yes, the chances are notoriously low, but you never know, you might be part of the anointed few, so go wild and shoot hard! I don't think marketability is all that important to these programs. Many applicants report getting in without having ever been published before, so don't let that bother you much. As for your fears and extreme spirals, well, that happened to me last year. I applied to 12 programs and got rejected from all but one of them. And can you believe that the only school I got into (NYU) was the one not-automatically-fully-funded program on my list? They offered me a half-tuition waiver but I wasn't going to bite. Cried my eyes out and everything, but I'm here again now. You've done your best and that's a lot to be proud of. Time now for others to decide. Fingers crossed it all works out beautifully. Holding your hands in solidarity (and anxiety).

New to the thread here. This is my first time applying and I've so far applied to Alabama, Brown, JHU, Iowa, ASU, and UMich. I'm also planning to apply to IU Bloomington, Boise State, and UNLV, too. The patiently (or not so patiently) waiting anxiety begins. Is there any thread or tab with all of the decision dates from previous years? From those who have applied before, do the days change drastically between years? To those trying to pull it together for all of those December 15th deadlines today, good luck!

good luck/congrats with all the 12/15 deadlines everybody!!!

Okay, I know this is so stressful, but it's moments like this when you just gotta laugh a little. That placeholder is fantastic. You can and should email the program ASAP to see if you can replace that statement with the real one. Shit happens. You're not the first or the last to make this exact mistake. Worst case the admissions department says you can't swap it out and you'll be in the same position you are now. Best case, they give you the opportunity to swap. FWIW, really, truly, the statements are a small part of the application. Don't sweat it. If your samples are amazing this isn't gonna matter, I promise.

Well, friends, the last of my own applications are away. Fifteen in total. An exhausting process --- but hopefully one that bears sweet fruit in just a little while. It's incredible that we could start hearing back in less than month! Until then, I hope everyone gets a welcome break. Take some time for yourself, if you can, and rest.

Not sure exactly what an impact statement is, but here's my general SOP thoughts (if they're the same thing) that i've also gained from reading a billion 'heres how to write sop' articles: aim for two pages, double spaced, tops. so about 500-600 words total. Less focused about how you came into writing and more about your current and future writing. Autobiography is not your friend, but talking about fiction in an interesting way is -- then you can try to fit yourself into that conversation some way. You're trying to impress someone who is reading 300 sops, so lets be honest, they're gonna be skimming, especially if it's a variation of autobiography they've heard 300 times that month ("I've always loved writing since..."). keep it short, fast, and about what you're offering the program just as much as what you want to take from it.

hi all! been lurking for quite some time and finally posting! this is my first time applying to an mfa, and to a us university in general, as i am straight out of an economics degree at bocconi (milan, italy). i was wondering if anyone had any idea of my chances getting in, as an international student who's relatively young (22 y/o). i applied to NYU, brown, vanderbilt, michener and JHU. it's not a very big list, but the process was so overwhelming that i feel i couldn't have managed any more! my pieces are emotionally tolling and my statements show drive and commitment, but at the same time I have no publications nor any experience whatsoever in the field, and my rec letters come from quite famous (albeit, italian) authors. i don't know if there is any statistic regarding international applicants and if their backgrounds is a factor taken into consideration. any help is appreciated, if anything to soothe my anxiety. good luck to all!

Hey y'all! I just heard back from GW (got in), hopefully others are hearing back soon!

GWU is doing admissions decisions in two waves. The first wave of applicants are those who interviewed before November 1st, and those will hear back any day now. The second wave of applicants are those who interviewed November 1st and onward, and those applicants will hear back in the spring semester. That's what I was told, at least.

I applied in October, and GWU said that we should hear back this week or next for folks who applied before the end of October.

It depends what university you're applying to. Some universities like NYU (Steinhardt) will just send your application materials for a review without that one recommendation and will review it based on everything else you have, it won't make much difference if everything else in your application stands out. Other universities don't have a set deadline for LORs, a lot of them have a deadline for application but no specific deadline for getting recommendations, so I wouldn't panic and still apply.

I've been in fanfic mode too LOL. I feel like it's much needed particularly this time of year (app szn). Otherwise just finished Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker (liked 90% of it, hated the end) and this YA fantasy bop Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (loved).

Good luck to everyone applying! It’s exciting to see the diverse programs and combinations being pursued. The anxiety is real, but we’ve got this - one step closer to the dream!

Hello! Thank you for creating this thread. This is my third round of applications, but the second one for Communication programs. I'm applying to 12 universities this year, some on the West Coast, East Coast, South, Mid-West. In have a master's and some professional experience plus volunteering research experience. Some of the schools I'm applying to are Oregon, USC, NYU, Brown, UCSD, Northwestern, UIUB. I have 4 more applications to submit and then the waiting period begins! Good luck everyone!