FalloutCoversEverything

@gratzby This is definately a thing. Also, think about how you're selling yourself. If you're selling yourself as "I don't think I'd get in anywhere and there isn't much unique about me" you're hurting your chances from the outset. If you're from a "not top tier school" as an undergrad, that's FINE for MFA programs. Write good poems/stories. Read good contemporary literature. You'll be fine. You probably have interesting poems/experiences to write. One of the coolest things about MFA programs is that they aren't almost exclusively full of people with degrees from east coast private liberal arts colleges or handful of highly ranked public schools (like many top Literature PhDs are). All sorts of people can MFA. =) But, seriously, I think applying to a variety of schools IS the financially viable thing to do. Applying widely insures that you have a chance of not wasting all of that application money and are on your way, moving forward. Some schools have things like fee waivers, and I believe it is free to apply to Vanderbilt. Maybe let school application fees slightly play into where you apply, if necessary. But, yeah, it is worth applying as widely as possible. It SERIOUSLY could mean the difference between 10k a year and 25k a year, or some more minor variation of that. Or it could be the difference between a funded offer and no offer at all. The 1-2k that you have to put down on the applications is worth it in comparison. ::HUG::

I don't know what your personal situation is (or where you're located), but I picked up some extra work to pay off my credit debt. For me it was a matter of realizing I didn't have enough money within a two month period to cover all of those applications. It wasn't a matter of not being able to pay it off in a reasonable about of time. I mean, currently, you have 8 months to save for applications. If you can do it and you're serious about getting an mfa, you should consider how you might pay for more applications.

You don't have to take it, but it does the number of programs you can apply to. Also, if you can get a decent score, you'll be much more likely to get a teaching assistantship at certain schools (esp. certain public schools). I hear you on being strapped for cash. I had to put part of my applications on a credit card and I'm not going to finish paying them off until next month. That said, I applied to 10 programs. It's worth it though--an investment for a livable wage over the period of you mfa (and no debt!). I actually wish I'd applied to more. My friend applied to MFA programs a couple of years ago and he applied to 20. He got into 4, but one of them was one of those high stipend places (that pays well over 20k a year. Like, that's worth it. I actually couldn't apply to that many because of time constraints, but yeah--after going through this I think it is totally worth it to apply to as many programs as you can. Like, I can only wonder now about the numerous programs I cut from my list for totally arbitrary reasons (I cut one school because I was feeling lazy on the day the application was due). PS I love that someone with 5 rejections and no acceptances just got off of the Cornell waitlist. Awesome! (also this maybe drives home the point of how important it is to apply to a decent number of programs... it's very subjective / arbitrary)

Yeah, it's hard to say if they've sent word out to fiction people--only a couple acceptances seem to make it up on the board each year between the two genres.

On the GradCafe results board:

Sorry to hear that. I does seem like you're in good company though--lots of Brown rejections seem to be popping up on the board. I see it says playwriting in your bio: did you apply to the playwriting/theater program too? I've heard really good things about it specifically.

Students get paid substantially more during the second year at Brown. I also think there are some summer teaching opportunities between years. I don't know why they don't balance the stipends out more. Are you wondering about the funding at houston, or just news? It seems some acceptances went out at the end of Feb, but there's been nothing since

It isn't over until it's over. That said, this is really helpful: http://themfayears.com/fully-funded-programs/ This is also helpful: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/underrated-mfa-programs_b_850147.html Programs like Colorado State, UMass, Montana, etc. are missing (they have solid funding opportunities but aren't fully funded).

I was just doing some browsing online and I found this: Beyond this information, many programs get 4+ fiction applicants for every 1 poetry applicant. This is maybe the hardest kind of graduate school to get into (Even the poetry positions (which are slightly easier to get, are harder to get into than top ranked PhD programs (5-10%), harder than Havard Law or Business school (7-10%), like insanely competitive)). This is helpful to keep in mind if you're feeling down about rejections for whatever reason. If you don't get in someplace this year, work on your stuff, and reapply next year to more places. If you're upset you didn't get into X school--it's subjective and they can only take a handful of students. It will work out (either this year or next), but it isn't easy. I mean, many of these programs have less than 1% (less than .5% in most cases) acceptance rate for fiction applications. And it's only slightly better for poetry applicants. Huge congrats to people who got in! Awesome! But also don't get too down if you didn't.

It will be great. Don't worry about it. Maybe read some essay collections to find things you want to teach (and think of it as pre-mfa prep generally). Such good times ahead!

It looks like there have a been a bunch of acceptances and rejections posted on the boards. Including a bunch of poetry rejections yesterday (you're a poetry applicant if I remember correctly, no?). There are no poetry acceptances posted and they come via phone call so they might be a bit delayed. The fiction rejections did come on two different days though--so the rejections might just be spread out a bit.

I have an MA in literature so I have some teaching experience prior to applying for my MFA. I enjoy teaching quite a lot."Freshman Comp" is just a class on writing academic essays--you teach research, essay structure and style, argumentation, etc. Basically, a book like "They Say, I Say" (or handouts on different aspects of writing) and a bunch of essays you love compose the syllabus. I even taught a graphic novel one semester in a comp class. If you're worried, get a copy of "They Say, I Say" and read it before the fall--it's a widely used composition text. I actually stopped using it after one semester (I just teach the students a modified version of it on my own), but I used it one semester and it went well. It's very practical / doable. I also think it is helpful to make "writing" (more widely) something more than just a mechanical thing oriented toward academic essays (you're a creative writer--use that to your advantage!), and I teach personal essays, short stories, and Op-Ed pieces. Like, I treat all of my students like people who will potentially want to write things for a public setting some day. I personally find it quite fun. The classes are compulsory, but if you (as a writer!) treat it as something widely useful and enjoyable the students will usually get on board. Composition isn't a class where you're expected to have a mastery of a body of literature (like someone teaching Modernism or Victorian Lit) you just have to teach the process of writing. Workshops, conferences, etc. are all part of that experience. It's usually a very praxis-oriented class.

Yeah, I'd just find it hard to go anywhere else if I got into Michigan because of the funding and free third year. But yeah, it is nice to have options and to see how you did at other places. Personally, I really want to hear back from Rutgers / Columbia -- if I got funding (meaning a stipend) at either I'd likely go because of the location (my partner is going to be in NYC next year). They also both have awesome super awesome faculty. Ah, the waiting.

With Iowa you have to consider that former graduate students are reading most of the applications before they even get to faculty. Like, you might have gotten weeded out by someone who doesn't like a certain aesthetic or subject matter before your stories/poems even got close to faculty. You never know. Thanks! (Blushes) Congrats on the second acceptance! Your application packet is killing it! Is there anywhere you'd go besides Michigan at this point?

My letter was blank. Some seem to be finalists according to people's posts (I'm going to assume most of those that got notes were finalists)--it's nice of them to offer some encouragement to people who almost made it.

If things work out this year in terms of being accepted, you may get something like a teaching assistantship. If you just get a scholarship, you can send an email to schools seeing if they can give you more funding--especially if you have multiple offers. State/public schools often will be able to do things like give in state tuition remission (it's worth asking for if they don't offer it up front). Schools often have scholarships / fellowships held in reserve for some candidates. That said, if you want funding (if funding is very important to you) my suggestion is to look for programs that have graduate teaching assistantships and to apply to as many of those as possible (like extend your list out more if possible... there are likely some state schools with good programs that need students to fill GTAs). In almost all cases, with the exception of merit/diversity fellowships, this is the best way to get funded. Not only will you get funding/scholarship, you'll likely get all of your tuition covered and a living stipend.

None of them are ranked well given that they are poorly funded NYC programs. I think NYU is the highest in the actual rankings, although Columbia was rated #2 after Iowa for a long time prior to the current rankings. It's dropped dramatically in the rankings because of abysmal funding. That said, I don't think the rankings matter that much in this case--it comes down to people you want to work with. But also, like I said above, I'd personally base my decision almost exclusively on funding. Did you apply to Brooklyn College? If you're stuck with NYC, they are one of the most affordable programs (and they also have solid faculty). Anyway, best of luck! Fingers crossed for you! Sorry to hear you got another rejection. Don't let it get you too down!

Good luck with this week! Seems likely you'll get some good news out of one of those applications =) Fingers crossed for you! They have a very particular aesthetic at Hunter, so it depends on if you're into it. I personally tend to prefer small press poetry than the vein that Hunter is pushing. Warren Wilson is kind of on the same wavelength but with more faculty, and NYU/Columbia have like more aesthetically diverse faculty. It depends on what you're into. Also, with all of these colleges, I'd weigh funding over most other things. You can always read the pulitzer/american book award selections, or the top selling books off of SPD distribution (I highly recommend doing the later--so many good/interesting poetry books). You can't easily get back 100k of debt.

It's kind of crazy that Michigan rejections are still coming in slowly. They as an institution should probably do something about the extra (totally unnecessary) work I'm sure they're creating for their admin assistants (who I assume have to individual enter rejections / send emails, one at a time, for a thousand applicants). Ah! The inefficiency of it all! =) Another week--more excitement and disappointment incoming! Getting toward the tail end of things too--this week should finish things up for me, well, maybe with the exception of Columbia (March 15th-20th... jeez. could they be slower?).

No acceptances have been posted that were labeled "poetry." That said, there were several acceptances posted without a genre label several days after the initial acceptances in fiction. There's a chance those are for poetry but there's no way of knowing. I wouldn't give up hope yet (or cross them off of your list yet)... I applied in fiction and still feel like there's a chance of getting in. There's also a chance that funded people get contacted slightly later given that they often give funding through atypical routes like a fellowship where one teachings in public high schools. That said, they fully fund so few people (and the school is so ridiculously expensive) I probably won't go even if I do get in. But yeah, funding complaints aside, I wouldn't totally give up hope on hearing back from them. Fingers crossed for all of the Brown applicants! It's a fantastic program.

Ah, that sounds like a solid opportunity for you then. Yeah, I think they're just offering tuition remission. Which is great. Especially if you have a job.

I feel like this is ultimately an issue of scarcity. But it might be good--like, there's probably a reason you got into that specific program. If you get into another one, there will be a reason for that as well. I feel very positive about the program I got into--I LOVE the faculty there. That said, there are still places I'd like to get into. I'm so, so happy to have a place to go to though. I do feel a bit weird though because I was already getting into I'm going to try again next year mode. Like I started compiling places to apply for new/different jobs, etc. (I need to get out of my current employment situation). Anyway, stopped doing that. Now I'm just waiting to see if I get any other offers. Either way, I'm excited to have something to move on to. Yay! I skimmed over the part about them not offering stipends. I consider fully funded to be tuition + stipend. Not having a stipend might not be worth it. But, if you're already living in NYC and you think you can pull it off, more power to you. I wouldn't do it (in all honesty), but that is much better than having to take out loans for the entire program. I do feel like it is a shame to miss out on getting teaching experience though. I agree with this--but, I'm also of the opinion that this is much more workable for someone already living in / settled into NYC. None of the expensive relocation costs / moving to a new location stress / etc. / etc. / etc. There are ways to pull somewhat of a stipend via working at Hunter in some capacity I'm sure (summer programs, the writing center, etc.).

That's awesome--huge news that they are fully funded now. I didn't know that was the case, otherwise I would have applied. Yeah, the program looks great. Congrats!!!! My point above was that NYU/Columbia aren't. It's great that there are now 2 programs in the area that are fully funded though. I'm not saying you can't make it work. I am saying it isn't worth taking out a huge loan when there are so many fully funded programs.

Thanks!

Congrats on the acceptance! Exciting! Fun place to live too! NYU probably has contacted most people but they do tend to spread their acceptances over a handful of days. Waitlists seem to come a week or two later. I highly doubt the waitlist positions get any real funding. Columbia still has to notify. My thought on this post is: you might want to consider applying again next year? (Unless you get full funding with a stipend from Columbia, which I hope you do! Or maybe you already have funding from Sarah Lawrence?) Like, I get that NYC sounds good, but it is probably the worst place to get an MFA. All of the programs are poorly funded. Unless one gets one of a handful of fellowships and teaching assistantships you're going to pay way too much for an art degree--especially when there are so, so many programs out there that do fund people. Rutgers -- Newark might be an option (it's now fully funded and has amazing faculty) if you absolutely have to do your MFA in NYC. But, I don't know, unless you have a significant other who also has to live in NYC the programs there are really a rip off. Even if you get full tuition remission the cost of living in NYC still makes a two year program cost 40k or more. Very few people get those free rides. I also say this as someone who applied to Columbia, NYU, and Rutgers. I also almost applied to Hunter/Brooklyn. I'm applying because my partner is thinking about relocating there for a job, so it makes sense. That said, even given that, I won't go without funding. There is no reason to pay 100k for an art degree. 50k even. Hell, 10K. Especially when there are programs that fully cover everything and give stipends. Anyway, I hope you don't feel offended by this (again, I applied to these programs also)--but yeah, don't go without funding.