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exvat

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Everything posted by exvat

  1. Ugh, I feel your pain. It got so unbearable toward the end, getting my last rejection was more of a relief than it was a disappointment over not getting into any programs this year. Hang in there! There really is and end coming. Mine wasn't what I wanted, but it's all good still ?
  2. Thanks! Now I just have to keep reinforcing and internalizing the above points... Why are you looking to escape NYC?
  3. Hi, everybody. To update, this afternoon I received my final admissions decision: yet another rejection. Final tally: 0-for-4. I am not going to grad school this year. As I had hoped, the moment of serenity captured in this topic's initial post has surprisingly lasted. I feel more or less at peace with this outcome. It's not what I wanted, and it of course stings. But here's where I am finding hope, excitement, and motivation right now: I'm a damn good poet. (I don't need Iowa, NYU, Columbia, or Vanderbilt to validate this. I have publications for that! ) I love and look forward to continuing to write more damn good poetry. I am moving to NYC in a few months with my amazing girlfriend. I am now free to contact my career counselor and learn what amazing (and finally, fitting!) new opportunities are out there. I am now free to (somehow) earn a real paycheck! I have the incredible (if seriously daunting) opportunity to build an artistic network on my own terms, and not on an MFA's terms. I have generated some seriously good work in the last few weeks, which I am excited to see published (oh yeah, I'm calling it, right now!), and in next year's applications. So, that's where I am at the end of this application season. Is it where I wanted to be? Nope. Is it where I expected to be? Sorry to say, nope. But is it where I am, and where I am responsible for moving forward from? Yup. Not being admitted to any schools this year is not a failure on my part. To not accept and make the most of these circumstances, however; that would be a tremendous failure. Best of luck to everybody! If you fear the total rejection that I have found, may you in turn find peace and acceptance of your circumstances. If you are admitted, and will be attending school in the Fall: congratulations! Now leave this topic alone and stop wallowing in other people's misery!
  4. Hey, while we're at it... what's with NYU Creative Writing MFA finishing with acceptances like 2 weeks ago and not sending their rejection letters out??? I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting for my official 0/4 final tally for the year. I JUST WANT IT TO END.
  5. Amen. That's why I'm not calling my last school... don't want to incur WRATH.
  6. I turn 33 in a month. Have an MS in Chemistry, had an 8-year career that I just left, and applied to MFA programs in poetry. Definitely an unusual candidate, from what I understand. Not so nervous about being in a class of 23-year-olds, but pretty nervous about my chances of being accepted anywhere. On the bright side, if my concerns materialize and I don't get into a program, I do have some good transferable skills, so I can earn a decent paycheck.
  7. WOW! CONGRATULATIONS! I guess that interview went pretty well, after all
  8. Hey Ckoh, I wouldn't freak out just yet. Some schools accept in bursts and waves, sometimes with a week or two in between each. And anecdotally, my ex was accepted to Houston's MFA for fiction on April 6 a couple years ago, and not off the waitlist. So there's hope yet. Might be worth doubling down on some anti-freak activities, tho I say that as someone in exactly the same boat as you. 2r/0a/0w/2p... but getting late for the last two, and don't think they do waves or bursts! Best of luck!
  9. Wow, I suppose a trip to Paris would certainly distract!
  10. Thanks for sharing, and best of luck to you too! Fortunately, my field (poetry writing) is something I can practice and be a part of outside of an academic track, but it's just WAY harder to gain vital connections, community, and support. So if I'm truly devoted to it, I can succeed--as so many other writers have before--without a degree. The work required is just much greater, the odds and time stacked against slightly more against me, and the demands on internal motivation/prioritization paramount. At this point, I'd vastly prefer the MFA track to slugging it out alone... buy I've done it for 6 years, so I at least know I'm capable of it.
  11. That's one of my new culinary fantasies. Perhaps I'll realize that in a few weeks, if I go 0-for-4...
  12. I am slightly terrified that I will get a similar treatment from admissions boards. I left an 8-year career with a great path to growth and success, only to apply to grad programs in a completely unrelated field. Granted, I've been published in that field, devoted 6 years of pre-dawn hours to it, and shelled out a lot of money to gain experience and contacts in it. But I'm still worried that the powers that be will look at me and say, "I'm afraid that he's not seriously dedicated, and won't commit if we offer him a slot." To think this only stresses me out, accomplishes nothing, and really just ruins my mood and/or day. So I try not to think about it! Sorry to hear that...good luck to you!
  13. That sounds fantastic, so long as you genuinely derive joy from the solitary life. I've seriously considered moving to a small, rural town in someplace with seasons (not NorCal, where I am now), where I could write every morning, work somewhere I enjoy and that pays the bills during the day, and be a part of a small, insular community. Of course, I do have a girlfriend who I love and am devoted to making a life with, and who would probably veto such a plan... Perhaps I'll just stick to the aforementioned "Plan B" and move to NYC with her
  14. @Tyedyedturtle91 All great! I'm jealous of your kitties... I lost mine to a move/breakup, and while I volunteered at the local shelter to get some cuddles in, the circumstances just haven't worked out to get a cat of my own. Looks like that may change after the move, however! And it's great that you have a supportive husband, both actively (giving/doing stuff) and passively (letting you do your thing). My girlfriend has been immensely helpful (and patient, and understanding, and graceful...) throughout this process. She's good at reminding me of important "treat yo self" tenets like, "Just spend the extra money that you wouldn't normally, because these are temporarily extraordinary times, and you need a break for nice things."
  15. Hey Jessica, I'm not a great authority on this, but here's what I've pieced together for myself. Each school is on their own timeline, and within that each school/department has their own method of sending out notifications (rolling, bursts, all at once, etc.), so it's all pretty school-specific. For instance, I know that Vanderbilt only accepts like 10 MFA students per year, and tends to notify them in a very short span, all in mid- to late-February (based on past years). So once March rolls around and acceptances have already been reported here, I know to reasonably expect a rejection. Compare that to NYU, who seems to accept in bursts, starting in late February, with acceptances from the waitlist coming in April. If I haven't heard anything about acceptance or waitlist and it's mid-March, I'm going to expect a rejection to come soon. If I were waitlisted, make that agony until Tax Day. All that said, if I haven't heard anything from my four schools (NYU, Columbia University, Vanderbilt, and Iowa) by the third week of March, when it seems like Columbia (the last to respond, historically) tends to be done accepting, then I'll go ahead and start calling this year a bust and expect all four to be rejections. Right now, it's looking like it's headed that direction. Hope that helps with the perspective a little. Like I said, I'm not an authority, but this is how I've been framing all this in my mind. For the record, I also consider myself a damn good applicant in my field, and I have 3 reasonably expected rejections coming my way, and then a wait for Columbia. Been published in a top magazine, have recommendation letters from National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award winners, an unrelated M.S. from a top research university in that field, good grades, excellent GRE score where it counts, and experience "in the real world" of my area of application (just nothing academic). How I'm facing an 0-for-4 scenario has me scratching my head a little bit. If I'm not a candidate for admission... then who is? I ask that seriously, so that I might better understand what the programs are looking for, and if I would, in fact, be a good fit. If not, then I don't want to waste my time or the admissions boards' by applying next year. But I would like some feedback, one way or the other! exvat
  16. Congratulations! Way to go! Man, what an amazing location... and Ploughshares!
  17. Oh man, A+ on the True Detective gif, haha.
  18. Uh, I'd bet it's a troll... that would have been like $4,500 in application fees... and a full-time job filling them out.
  19. How's everybody treating themselves to good stuff during the waiting game? Food, drink, pampering, whatever. Let's hear it! I have been indulging in video games, good desserts (gelato!), and good beer to unwind from each (yet another) day of waiting on admissions decisions. And if I'm gonna go get a cappuccino anyway, I'm gonna spend the extra $1.50 to go get THE GOOD ONE.
  20. I should add, my "craziest" backup plan would probably be stand-up comedy. At least then I'd be PAID to get told "GO AWAY, NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU," rather than shelling out cash for the honor. And the drinks are free ?
  21. All good stuff. I hit the gym. A LOT. I take a book on the recumbent bike and crank it up to difficult, so I get the benefits of a hard cardio workout and the distraction of a good book. Then I hit the weight machines. Bonus: I look and feel great! Hiking. There is so much world to explore. Video games! I'm playing thru some old faves of mine now. Nostalgia is a great distraction. I took a freelance sales job to bring in a little money, and that is very demanding of my attention when I'm focusing on it. Finally, I try to just talk with people all the time to fill in the gaps. The venting helps alleviate pressure, and their perspective usually gives me lasting serenity. Doing so has resulted in my more or less coming to peace with perhaps not being accepted anywhere. Hope that helps. Good luck!
  22. I've already got the ball rolling on my backup plan, which is moving to NYC with my girlfriend and starting a new life completely. Last Fall, I quit my 8-year career, and yesterday I had a great talk with a career counselor, who is on deck and excited to help me find a career I love, if I don't get accepted to any programs. NYC is closer to family for both of us, has more and better employment opportunities, is more or less equivalent in cost of living to where we are now, and and has a literary community that our current location definitely doesn't. Hey, when I lay it all out like that, I kinda WANT to be rejected
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