GlowStick

Well, I'm just hanging out on four wait-lists right now: McNeese, Hollins, Arkansas, and Wyoming. Northern Michigan hasn't yet rejected me, but I believe they sent out acceptances a week or two back, so I'm thinking I'm rejected--or maybe I'll end up wait-listed by exactly half of the schools I applied to. Wouldn't that be fun. I want to throw myself into the sun....

Irvine strongly encourages its accepted students to not say anything online about their acceptance. Also, their poetry program has a tendency to not send out rejection letters either. It's a great program though. And they were super considerate to me last year--even emailed me asking for a late letter or rec a month or so after the deadline. I was going to apply again this year, but life got in the way.

So.. umm... apparently in my application frenzy I somehow applied to a school's MFA and MA program. I guess? So while I have three rejections, one presumed rejection, and I am currently waiting on six more results. I also have an MA acceptance with funding. Maybe?? I'm too confused to call the guy who left me the voicemail back right now. He also seemed confused. It's just confusing all around.

I'm currently looking at the following schools: Most Likely: University of Wisconsin, Madison -- Probably my top choice Michener Center -- I will learn to spell this correctly this year University of California, Irvine -- Based almost entirely on an email exchange I had with them last year and FOOLISH OPTIMISM University of Wyoming -- I love a lot of stuff about this program including the ability to double major Northern Michigan -- At the very least I'll get to hang out in Marquette for two years Rutgers-Newark -- Probably as close to a New York school as I will ever apply to Somewhat Likely: Hollins Arkansas University of Massachusetts And then a list of like six other schools that fluctuates wildly. My goal is a minimum of ten but not really over twelve. My main concern so far has been to try and make sure I get a "variety" of schools. Don't know if I'm really doing that that well this year.

Whelp. Just turned down Alaska, so everyone sticking around for 2017 will have to put up with another year of me asking inane questions and bemoaning my existential dread. To the future!

If there are any successful poetry applicants still lurking around here, how thematically consistent were your portfolio samples? Reflecting on my own application, I feel like my own poems didn't do much talking to each other, and I feel like I could pull together something a lot more focused now that I've had some time to reflect. So I'm curious how other people approached it.

Maybe I don't even want an MFA. Maybe I want to work for the FBI.

Maybe a weird question, but has anyone heard of anyone doing WORSE their second year of applying? Like, has anyone turned down an offer their first year applying, and then worked hard on their sample and applied even more broadly the next year only to get rejected across the board the second year?

@FalloutCoversEverything @JeremyCrickets thanks so much! I suddenly have adult decisions I have to make, so it's a whole other level of stress now. I mean, it's Alaska! I love the idea of going there, and I've heard wonderful things about the program. But at the same time, it's Alaska, the stipend is a little tight for how expensive Fairbanks is, I don't think I can work out a campus visit, and I just suddenly remembered that I'm terrible at skiing. Still, it's a wonderful offer. But I have a lot to think about. If the four schools I'm waiting on want to hurry it up a little though, I would be very grateful. I'm about two days away from caving and calling Irvine just to put myself out of my misery. You're going to get a lot of advice about going into Columbia without funding and a lot of is going to be, "Don't do it." But if you do want to hear a different perspective, Scott Kenemore has an article in Slate that you might consider looking at. I personally don't agree with him (and think he doesn't come across all that well as a person). But there are people who have gone to Columbia, taken on a lot of debt, and are apparently still happy with that decision. Now, would I do it? Not a chance. As for UNC, I also agree with the campus visit suggestion. If you don't like it, consider trying again next year to see if you can find somewhere that won't put you in debt and you can be comfortable on campus. And if you end up loving UNC, then there you go!

Ahhhh! An actual acceptance! With what looks like funding! I'm about to die from shock.

Quick Iowa poetry update, apparently "very few" calls have been made, but all letters were mailed Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm personally still expecting a rejection, but maybe somebody out there is going to get a really good surprise when they open their mail in the next couple of days!

Ha! I feel a little hesitant to share too much because the group is private for a reason, but someone shared one of the craziest acceptance stories I've heard all season. And it just seems like Iowa (at least poetry) is super behind this year. Apparently they haven't called everyone yet but letters are in the mail?! And there's apparently no waitlist this year. Weird all around--at least compared to what I've read from past years.

That's a wonderful post @holycat! You seem like you've lived an interesting life, and you seem to have a wonderful head on your shoulders. I'm so glad you've found a program that you like and that seems to really like you! Also, I don't know how many poetry people are around here that applied to Iowa, but I'm hearing some crazy stuff over on Draft. They seem to be a bit... frazzled this year. But at least letters are in the mail!

Unless, Alaska or Irvine come through for me--which based on how things are going, is not likely. I'm definitely planning on applying again next year. The two rejections I've gotten so far have sucked (some ugly crying both times), but once I got past the initial awfulness, I've been more motivated to write and prepare for next year than I ever was putting together my material for this year. If I don't get in next year, then I guess I'll start looking for a more serious job and/or run away and join the circus.

I've been trying to avoid obsessing over MFA stuff by obsessing over my Oscar picks this year instead. My family thought my MFA obsessing was annoying, but I think me harassing them over who they think will win in the VFX category this year makes them wish I was back to just compulsively checking the MFA results every ten minutes in silence.

I've reached the point where I think I'll be fine if I get nothing but rejections. This year doesn't make the most sense economically or personally, which I think I knew when I applied. I think writing to my recommendors and being all, "Hey I got rejected from everyone!" is going to suck though. Still, I've got three schools where I haven't gotten rejected (or just assumed a rejection). Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

There's one Arizona acceptance in poetry and one in fiction--both on the 22nd! Nothing in acceptances for UCSD. As for applying to the same programs again--if the school you're applying to has an extremely low acceptance rate, and you are short on cash, I could see striking it off the list. But you have a whole year to revise and improve. And I think it's rare for a writer to get worse, so you really can only go up. Combine that with the knowledge you gained about their application process, and I think there are some valid reasons to consider applying again. And now for some Draft updates: Iowa: Two reports from people who called: 1. Notices are hopefully going out next week, and 2. Poetry acceptances have not started gong out yet New Writers Project: Acceptances are going out this week. Riverside: Notifications should be going out in a week (maybe two). Usual acceptance rate is around 5%.

So it looks like New Writers Project and Riverside have notified some acceptances in fiction. Does anyone know if they notify poetry at the same time?

I think it was either Syracuse or UMASS--it's gone now, so I don't know for sure. There was an acceptance right before it from someone who claimed to be a student in China that featured some admittedly non-standard grammar that's also been removed. I just assumed, since they were posted so close together, that it was one person being either very bitter or very bored. Who knows though. My current favorite:

@FalloutCoversEverything @JenP @gaudysideoftown and all, thanks for the tips! Yeah, an all new sample is probably the way to go (and it's not like I don't have 132 drafts saved on my hard-drive that I could be pulling from--I've got no excuses, really). It'll probably make my sample a little more consistent as well, which can only be good. Also, @karosko thanks for the NWP update! As for the Michigan acceptance, there's one over on Draft as well. But I'd think there would be more if they were all notified. Hope everyone gets some info on everything soon!

Okay, I haven't heard back from seven of my eight schools, but I'm bored and need to do something constructive with my energy. So, does anyone know anything about reapplying to the same school or schools next year? I know Boston makes you turn in new EVERYTHING (including three totally different references, which is horrible) if you reapply, but what about other schools? I mean, I would assume most places would take the same letters of reference, and I'm definitely going to completely rewrite my SoP, but I guess I'm curious about the writing sample. Would I need to turn in a portfolio of completely different poems? Can I keep some poems? Can I keep some poems if I substantially edit them? If I only do some minor editing? I don't know if there are any standards for this, but if anyone has any idea, please let me know!

Iowa acceptances have all been fiction, right? What are the chances poetry has been going out and we just haven't heard versus they haven't started notifying yet? Anybody got a guess?

Speaking of Iowa, someone on Draft said that they called and were told that all letters (both acceptance and rejection) are getting mailed out the first week of March. So there's that.

@JenP I know someone who went to Western for their MFA and they really loved it! Good luck! There were a couple of schools that I didn't bother looking into because I found their websites sort of atrocious. Probably should have actually looked into them a little more, but hey, there's always next year. I also immediately removed any school that had any sort of foreign language requirement from my list. Even the ones my undergrad courses probably would have allowed me to skip. But I feel a little less silly about that.

We're opposites! I run on EST and most of the schools I applied to are west, so I really don't start obsessively checking my phone until around 1pm.