Hi All,
Been reading these forums for the past month or so, thought I'd chime in. This was my first attempt at MFA applications, I applied to 7 schools and didn't get into any of them. Well, technically I'm still waiting on CSU Long Beach. Does anyone know about that one? Ha. The others were the usual top list: Syracuse, Cornell, Irvine, U of Iowa, BU, and Oregon. I went for gold because I'd never tried before, and I'm on the other end of it, wondering exactly what happened.
My manuscript submission consisted of the first three chapters of my novel and a short story, all of which I've workshopped over the last year. My novel falls in the literary magical realism category, though, and the short story was pretty sci-fi. I forgot/found out too late that they really don't want that sort of work, so I feel a bit dumb for submitting at least the sci-fi short story. Not sure if magical realism, if it's really in the literary sense, was a mistake or not.
Anyway, I was wondering how some of you approached the schools. Did you talk to them beforehand? Did you email teachers? One user here said to try and get a feel for each institution...I did that a little bit, and read novels/short story collections for one author of each school I applied to, and matched my statement to that teacher. But I didn't email anyone specifically or visit any schools. If you did do this, did it help?
I am trying to decide if I'll apply again next year. Writing is my thing, I certainly won't stop, but the main reasons I wanted to get an MFA were the built in writers community, and the possibility of teaching at University level. I'm already working on new short story material that seems more MFA-application-esque, but I dunno. It was a daunting process, and really sent me into a bit of a spiral.
My plan B (while still waiting to hear back from CSU LB) is totally up in the air. I really was ready to move this fall and start school, so who knows. Also, this is off topic, but I was wondering if people have applied and/or looked at programs that are more interested in magical realism as a category. I can't imagine programs not digging a Gabriel Garcia Marquez-like submission, but it seems to be a no-no.
Also, I found this forum after the application process. Would have used it a lot more, so maybe I will next time around! Thanks, all of your insight has been incredibly helpful to me!
