BananaStand

I don't think the GRE scores or lack of econ classes is the problem. You seem to have excelled in organized educational settings, and have good letters of rec. My own opinion is that it's not clear, based on what you've provided, why you're interested in education policy. Was your non profit education-focused? Is your current job in that field? Overall, my sense is that they're looking for a consistent narrative. If you're serious about a particular field, show them that through your interests and outside experiences. Just my two cents. I'm an HKS MPP grad.

Hey All, I took some time away from these boards, thinking I could spare myself some mental anguish, but it turns out there's no such thing as sparing yourself mental anguish in the MFA process. So here I am again. So far: wait listed at 3 very competitive programs (read: no one's declining their offers or moving off the wait lists), and rejected from a handful more. Still waiting to hear back from a couple others. Now I'm busy focusing on what to do next, if school isn't in the cards. I'm a mid-30s applicant with a good job, so for me this was never a pathway toward a different profession, necessarily, but I'm still pretty bummed about the prospect of having to apply again in the future. The good news: just found out that I got into the Kenyon Review summer workshop and Bread Loaf's Sicily workshop. Pro tip for any newbies: summer workshops completely changed my perspective on all things writing, and I'm pretty certain the improvements I made during those summer sessions were the only reason I stood a fighting chance at the MFA programs I applied to.

It's a private Facebook group organized each year that you have to request to join. This year's is called MFA Draft 2016. You could join it to see what it's all about, or you could wait until they create one for the 2017 admissions cycle.

For what it's worth, I was accepted to Columbia last year and was really excited when I found out (Ben Marcus making the call was an added bonus). Then the paperwork came. Not only did I not get any funding at all, it was going to cost something like $55k to attend. I just couldn't hack it, so I decided to apply exclusively to fully funded programs this year. I have another Masters degree that I'm still paying off, and NYC was just going to be too expensive without help. I don't think my experience with that particular program was at all unique. I've heard they have to maintain a huge waitlist because of how many people bow out once they discover the program's cost.

From the draft: Cornell's fiction faculty is still reviewing applications. They're scheduled to meet next Saturday to decide admissions and wait lists, etc

Are you checking the results forum on this site? I've seen both OSU and VT acceptances, as well as OSU rejections.

I'd bet that they've notified all the acceptances. The program is pretty small and I already saw one acceptance on the draft and two here. I'm guessing they maintain a waitlist, but who knows if it's informal or not.

I've now been waitlisted by both Minnesota and Wisconsin. MN gave me a my position on the waitlist, WI didn't. I'm trying to feel optimistic, but honestly, all the schools I applied to are equally competitive, so we'll see.

Today is my birthday, so obviously all the programs I applied to are going to call me with good news, right?

Alright, people who have posted acceptances to Iowa for fiction: show yourselves! I can't figure out if they're legit, or some kind of cruel joke.