[Fall 2017 MFA]

20 hours ago, outflare said:

Sorry, I've been offline for a while. I got in to both Columbia and the New School. Bottom line, for me:

I'm leaning toward Columbia. I have a few friends that are writers/teachers and they've all pointed me in their direction. I'll quote from an email from someone I respect greatly:

Okay, to your questions. My former students who've enrolled at New School complain about it. This is a few years ago, though, and they are hardly a statistical sample. Columbia is far more prestigious and the truth is you'll get access to teachers there who are major league. The thing is if you go to Columbia don't work with the adjuncts--even though they are famous. Try to work with Sam or Ben Marcus or someone on the permanent faculty. 

That said, Columbia is expensive. I hope they gave you financial aid? If not, that would be the one thing that would make me hesitate. The truth is, though, when you look at who is really succeeding out there--Columbia (or Iowa or Hunter) is often their starting point. It would be wrong of me not to acknowledge that.

And, last night I had dinner with a dear friend who is, to put it mildly, a head honcho in the publishing world. She also invited along a colleague of hers, who is also a head honcho in the publishing world (I will be utilizing these contacts in a couple of years!). Both of them work with major authors, and publish Big Deal Books. And both said to me that I should only consider Columbia if I'm considering schools in New York. One told me that if he gets a phone call about a manuscript from a contact of his at Columbia, he will put it on the top of his pile. I asked him if he would do the same for New School, and he said he never gets calls from there. Again, both of these people work at a big publisher here in NYC. Their words carry a lot of weight with me, since ultimately my goal is to publish a book.

All that said, I made enough money last year that my FAFSA was a nightmare against me. So this fancy degree will put me seriously into debt. But, surprisingly, I'm okay with that.

If I may be a voice of dissent for a second, perhaps also consider this information I've heard from past Columbia students and others in the writing world (and, I'm sorry in advance if it makes you feel less happy about your MFA choices):

Columbia accepts a lot of MFA students, faaar more than most programs. Their acceptance rate is NOT prestigious. Each cohort tends to have its couple of "stars", the Karen Russells or Alexandra Kleemans, who get the funding, the faculty attention, and the spotlight in the publishing industry. Those are the people who are succeeding, whose manuscripts get sent directly to publishers by their professors, who get their first stories in The Paris Review. That is NOT the success story of the majority of the cohort. Columbia faculty isn't sending all 50-100 students' manuscripts to publishers. They only push forward those couple "stars" and everyone else has to figure it out on their own, while some $150,000 in debt (their $$ essentially funding the ride for those select cohort stars).

That amount of debt all but necessitates that the vast majority of Columbia grads (who aren't independently rich) have to put writing dreams on indefinite hold after graduation and instead get a full-time job somewhere just to keep up with student loan payments. 

And, to be frank, Columbia MFA's reputation isn't all that great in the literary world. The numbers they admit + the amount that they charge for the degree is basically a racket, and most people in the literary circles know it. 

You are clearly good enough to have been admitted to these schools, and a third choice aside from attending either the New School or Columbia would be to apply again next year, to more fully-funded programs. There are so many across the country with stellar reputations, faculty attention, connections, and ones that will pay you to go to school there. If you want to stay in the NYC area, Rutgers-Newark is close enough and just started funding all its students with some sizable stipends + full tuition coverage. NYU has some full scholarships, and at least funds all its admitted students 50% (and their tuition is much less than Columbia's). Brooklyn College has a solid reputation for its MFA, and though it has less funding, it also has lower tuition.

New York being New York, all of those major league teachers often pop over to teach a lecture or a class in other schools, too. And just because a professor is major league doesn't mean they are good at teaching, or are willing (and able) to use their connections to further your writing career.

Anyway, sorry if this is harsh, but I had to be the devil's advocate here. Going that much into Columbia-level debt for an MFA isn't worth it. Even if you get published out the gate, advances + sales for most writers won't come close to covering that debt, never mind additional living expenses, etc. Just, consider maybe another application round. I've heard so many success stories of people getting incredible offers their second go-around.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

[Fall 2017 MFA]

14 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

although i feel like we should pre-plan a Brown mourning vigil; they tend to announce eveything all on one, fateful day.

HAH, that's probably a good idea. I think last year in draft they called it "Brown Monday" when everyone got rejections letters in one massive wave.

[Fall 2017 MFA]

53 minutes ago, BLeonard said:

@BananaPancakes  There was at least one thing on Draft where a poster said that they got into Iowa AND NYU, got a ton of comments asking to see their SOP, and then changed their post to say that they hadn't gotten in at all and that it was mean people were asking for an SOP. Then that post was deleted, so keep that in mind when calculating. I also think Canada, b/c of visas and what not, counts as International. 

I saw that post, but I saw it before the poster replied! I didn't see that the poster said is was fake, though I felt it was pretty suspect initially. 

And, it seemed like they were contacting international first, so ugh, I'm now afraid that means I'm out for NYU. I wish they'd just do it all at once!

[Fall 2017 MFA]

Morning everyone! This wait is interminable. Hang in there those still sitting on nothing but rejections and waitlists, and congrats to those accepted! I'm a 0a/0w/2r with 5 more to go, but I'm not keeping hope burning too brightly for those.

A couple more NYU acceptances on Draft... I wonder if those are also international?? And also, does Canada count as international, or is it being lumped in with U.S. as it often does? Trying to divine tea leaves over here. 

[Fall 2017 MFA]

6 minutes ago, conch said:

Ah, no! Sorry, just all US applicants.

Whew! Thanks for clarifying

[Fall 2017 MFA]

46 minutes ago, conch said:

Brown does say that in order to be considered for departmental funding, all applicants must submit a FAFSA regardless of whether or not they intend to take out a loan. So I think it's just safer to do it. It's actually very quick, and yes, you can decline to answer all the info about parents.

Wait, does that include international applicants??

[Fall 2017 MFA]

50 minutes ago, Hortense said:

There is an acceptance from Iowa today (2/12)--search results under "fiction."

OH WHAT. Hold onto your butts. Notifications incoming. This is one of my top dream ones, so I'm going to go do some breathing exercises. Blergh ugh I just want to know. 

[Fall 2017 MFA]

UofArizona has one fiction acceptance posted in Draft.

Let me know if these cross-posts aren't helpful / are too stressful / unnecessary, and I'll stop. I just figure a lot of people on here have mentioned they're not part of Draft yet, and some of the acceptances don't seem to be going up on the main GC list. 

[Fall 2017 MFA]

U of Pittsburg has sent at least one waitlist notification, fiction (not me, but from Draft)

[Fall 2017 MFA]

An update for those not on Draft:

A bunch of Hollins acceptances went out, looks like. Both poetry and fiction. 
One Northwestern acceptance, in fiction. 

Hope everyone's having a not-too-anxious weekend. 

[Fall 2017 MFA]

1 hour ago, Hortense said:

I have a feeling that there's been at least one big program that's sent out notifications for fiction and that it's being kept under wraps (b/c of that guy on Draft who was asking for advice on contacting current students and then wouldn't say which program he'd gotten into). Ugh.

He's poetry, too. He mentioned getting into an MFA program for poetry in the Draft Fiction Workshop group. Didn't say which one, but the timing is right for Syracuse, considering the other rumoured acceptance.

[Fall 2017 MFA]

@manandcamel Congratulations!

5 hours ago, pdh12 said:

syracuse and minnesota have notified accepted folk

@pdh12 How do you knowwwww (said with great hope and distress)
Do you know if just poetry, or fiction also?