Hortense

@sheherazade I'm in the same boat as you, i.e., one or two programs left who haven't notified. And, honestly, my odds of getting into those programs are nil. JHU was the last school I was hopeful about. So I'm disengaging from the MFA app season as of now. And I'm already starting to have a sense of relief. This whole process has been psychologically onerous. I've had writer's block since January, and normally I never get writer's block. I'm already starting to look forward to writing again. Good luck in 2018!

@pdh12 Didn't apply to Irvine, but it's one of the top programs. Lots of famous alumni. Great stipend, reasonable teaching load, 3-year program. Not sure about the location--I've heard Irvine's boring, but it's not far from LA, right? I would have applied, but my partner was adamant he didn't want to move to CA (too far for us to relocate). Incidentally, I've heard almost nothing about Irvine on Draft. Some places just don't seem to generate a lot of excitement on there, but it doesn't mean it's not a great program.

Personally, I think the main situation where a low-res program is worthwhile is if you have a well-paying job and you can afford to pay for the program without going into debt AND you can manage to do the writing/ reading/ learning while working full-time. In that situation low-res might even be a smarter choice than a full-res program because there's no opportunity cost. Whereas if you quit a good job to enroll at a full-time MFA program, then you could lose a lot of income and have to start over on your career in 2-3 years. Also, for almost everybody, the prospect of an MFA as a springboard into a teaching job is not realistic--at least, not the kind of teaching job that most people would want. And a low-res MFA is particularly unlikely to help you get a teaching job b/c most low-res programs don't give you any teaching experience. I'll tell you that I had a well-paying job until a few months ago. I decided to quit and focus on my writing/ full-res MFA apps. But I hated the job and would have quit anyway. And for several years I considered doing the low-res thing, but for me personally I just think my writing will improve more at a full-res program and I'd value the experience of being immersed in an academic community for a couple of years--a nice break from the anti-intellectual grind that is my career. Also, I'd love to teach a few creative writing classes. And I don't plan on becoming a teacher after the MFA, but I can apply the teaching experience to my non-writing career.

Not a ton. Maybe 2 or 3? They tend to spread out their notifications.

For anyone not on Draft, there were many Iowa poetry acceptances today, a couple of Iowa non-fiction acceptances, and an Ole Miss fiction acceptance.

I'd take the scholarship. I'm assuming you'll have time to write in India. Bonus: If you don't get in at your 1st-choice MFA program this cycle, you have another chance to apply, assuming you aren't formally committed to the first program--but would you be formally committed? And OMG congrats on having options.

Oh, I saw that post. It looked fake and I was surprised people were liking it. Maybe they were all drunk-clicking the like button.

@manandcamel It's refreshing to see one of the regular commenters here have such a promising result. I'm basically living vicariously through you and @pdh12 at this point. Also, wondering if you've had any other good results yet, and do you have more schools you're waiting to hear from? You'd think a Michigan waitlist would be a good omen whether or not you get in there.

:-)

I'm guessing no. There just aren't that many notifications on Grad Cafe or Draft. They admit 50 people total, so I'm guessing there'll be more. Also, I think in years past the acceptances were spread out. Hope I'm right, but I don't have any inside information.

It's not shenanigans. People are serious. It's just a tempest in a teapot and no fun at all. You did the right thing by not reading it closely. UPDATE: They deleted the entire conversation. All is safe again.

For writing, it's been debilitating. Not generating much new material, and the fun/ joy I normally take in my writing has diminished. That said, editing old work for publication has kept me semi-productive. For reading, I'm starting to feel motivated to read more, be more adventurous in my reading selections, but also more systematic. Largely it's b/c I worry that I missed the mark with my writing sample and need to be more in touch with contrmporary fiction.

Has anyone heard from Florida for fiction? I thought they'd notified already b/c there's a fiction acceptance and waitlist reported on Grad Cafe. And it was the same day that people on Draft started reporting Florida poetry acceptances/ waitlists. But in previous years they've notified fiction later than poetry. And their deadline was 1/15, so that's a really quick turnaround for a fiction program that gets a lot of apps. So I'm wondering if the Grad Cafe fiction results are fake. Possibly wishful thinking on my part, but it's been bugging me.

Cornell poetry acceptance just posted on Draft.

Agree 100%. Right now it stings b/c it's so many big rejections at once. But rejections are the norm. I'm also happy with one of the stories I wrote for my apps, and I'm sending it out to journals now.

@pdh12 Me? No, I did not mention getting into a dream school. The season has gone abysmally, but I appreciate you asking. Most of the schools I thought I was a good fit for have either rejected me or already sent out acceptances and waitlists. Johns Hopkins is my last best hope, but the odds are longggggggg. I think my writing sample needed more work. But I learned a lot from this round of applications. Honestly, I'm already thinking about MFA Draft '18. Oh, lots of people on Draft have been successful. Sometimes it's annoying (esp. if the person has been a non-contributor to the group and then starts bragging about an acceptance) and other times it's inspiring (esp. if it's a Draft veteran). Incidentally, Syracuse just started notifying fiction acceptances.

For @pdh12 and anyone else not on Draft, things finally got real today. There's a massive thread full of heated comments about application fee waivers/ class privilege in MFA admissions/ university exploitation of applicants. Everyone was being so peaceful and supportive before now. I think the stress of multiple rejections is starting to kick in for most people.

Oh yeah, someone on Draft got into Cornell on Friday. All my boats are sinking! Unsolicited advice: You should go to Notre Dame! I've decided I'm applying next year no matter how much I hate Indiana/ Midwestern winters/ religious schools. That program is sweet. Reading a novel now by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi and it's so good.

@pdh12 Did you apply to Florida? They did acceptances and waitlists tonight for poetry and fiction. (Haven't receive a call or e-mail myself). Incredibly quick turnaround, as their deadline was Jan 15th. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

A waitlist from Arizona is an excellent result. They had a ton of apps this year according to folks on Draft. Good luck!

Congrats! Super cool program.

I wonder if IWW could/ would survive budget cuts by cutting the size of its cohorts.

Does anyone know if Syracuse has accepted fiction candidates yet? It's possible they're keeping it under wraps like they tried to do for poetry. Anyone have any hard info?

Sometimes it just takes awhile to get approved. It's probably nothing personal. The Draft administrator is busy with grad school, AWP, etc.

In the past IWW acceptances have come out slowly over an extended period of time. Makes sense b/c they accept 25 people per genre. So there's no reason to give up hope yet (unless you're me and your writing sample was wah-wah).