feralgrad

@itsalwayssunnyinjackieI was in basically the same position as you my first year of apps. Was thinking of accepting a partially-funded offer for a city I loved. I crunched the numbers, and it would have been $40-50k of debt. When I calculated the loan repayments, it was a couple hundred dollars a month -- not something I was comfortable taking on as a """creative""" in this job market. The difference between you and I is that I had zero fully-funded offers (hence the second app cycle). Forunately, I snagged a fully-funded offer at a program I love last year. As a DC native, I'm sorry to say that it's expensive as hell. Last year I paid $1k a month for a /literally/ rat-infested studio -- and that was cheap for the neighborhood (a great one, also middle-of-the-road in terms of cost). Moreover, the job market in DC is healthy (and pretty recession-proof), but it's hard for an entry-level applicant. I say this from experience. You can certainly get a job, but finding one that will pay you a fair wage relative to the cost of living is a challenge. It's doable if your expenses are low, but if you're on the hook for loan repayments, it becomes much more complicated. Sorry to be a debbie downer. I'm saying this cos I hate to see anyone get screwed over by MFA programs with their heads in the sand re: our economic reality. Ultimately it's your choice, but I'll leave you with this, since it was the "tie-breaker" in my decision process: the country is a damn mess right now, and it will be a while before it sorts itself out. It behooves you to be defensive about your finances.

Seconding @Greel-- writing a lot on the job makes it harder for me to write in my spare time. Using the same "mental muscles" at work and home exhausts me. I liked (or at least tolerated) admin work, because it allowed me to save my mental resources for my own projects.

I would hypothesize that they'd choose the waitlisers based on who turned their spots down -- i.e. to ensure aesthetic diversity in the program. Just a theory ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"Extenuating" generally means something unforeseen. If another program asks why you're transferring, and you say it's because you're unfunded, they'll wonder why you accepted the offer in the first place. Moreover, I think it's a big gamble to pay for that first year when you have no guarantee of transferring into a funded program.

The MA-first route is an option for PhD programs, but I don't really hear of people doing it for MFAs. Honestly I don't see the point since MAs in creative writing are almost exclusively unfunded, so you're in the same boat. As for accepting no funding and trying for the next year: In some programs it's possible, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're 100% prepared for that plan to fail. It's a gamble. Transferring to another program is rare. As with any terminal degree, it's expected that you're committed to the program unless there's some extenuating circumstance. Personally, I think it's most cost-effective to try again next round, and look for fellow authors to exchange drafts with in the meantime (there are plenty of websites for this). That's what I did, and it worked out for me.

@sandy duncan go to therapy

That's tough. In my mind there are several factors to consider. Low-res (to my knowledge) doesn't usually offer funding, but it's easier to hold a job outside the university. That can be valuable if you're already on your career path. Personally, I had no strong career prospects yet. The work I do as a TA is preferable to my other options on the job market. The professionalization of the MFA (via teaching, lit mags, etc) is valuable for me. At this age (24), I can afford to take the pay cut (my stiped is about $18k right outside a major city). Not to mention I wanted a close-knit community, and that seemed (keyword seemed) easier to achieve in full-res. For all these reasons, I went with full-res. I know that was mostly my experience, but maybe it's helpful to compare your priorities to mine?

Ah, I see where you're coming from. I think you can hedge your statement a bit and say that you want to attend, but you're /concerned/ about finances (i.e. the viability of the stipend). You could also ask about additional funding sources outside the department; I've never tried this, but now that I'm in school I'm continually surprised at how many opportunities there are.

I did this before in a different field and am pretty sure I just sent an email saying “I’d love to attend your program, but I can’t afford it without more aid.” And I got more aid (but didn’t attend anyway—long story). Dunno if that’s especially good advice, LOL, but it’s my experience. Seconding this strategy; I've used it as well with some success. Even if the program doesn't have more moeny immediately, it can bump you higher on the list if more funding opens up. You can also leverage other offers/funding sources if you have them ("I'm choosing between multiple programs, and funding is one of my primary concerns...").

I'll admit that "lesser-known" is super subjective. But anything outside of Iowa, Michener, Brown, and the NYC mileiu is a good start. A decent measure is how often you're seeing fellow applicants here and on Draft (by this metric, I'd also consider UVA, for example, in the "super competitive" tier). The list you have here seems strong to me. I've heard good things about many of those programs, and they're not what I would call "household names." To be clear, there's nothing wrong with applying to the big names. I'm just encouraging people to be strategic. Plus it breaks my heart to see people getting discouraged about their writing because they didn't get into these programs with a .5% acceptance rate.

Honestly, rather than having a high number of applications, I'd consider including some lesser-known well-funded programs. You had a decent selection this year, but I'd consider them all "upper echelon" programs -- very well-known and very competitive. Nothing wrong with shooting for the stars! But there are a lot of well-funded programs which are significantly less competitive while still offering a "top tier" experience (Miami U Ohio and Bowling Green State come to mind). Of course, no fully-funded program is easy to get into, but I think we underestimate how big of a difference it makes applying to 5 programs that admit 10% vs 10 programs that admit <1%. Not to mention that 10 apps is a very high workload. Anyway, I'm sorry this year didn't pan out. I hope this response comes of as "helpful + encouraging" rather than "rubbing it in."

Totally off-topic, but I get those calls too, so I looked into it. Apparently they say that you need to contact the Chinese embassy for something citizenship-related (I think it's a phishing thing). You probably get those calls because you live in an area with a large Chinese population (I do as well).

Seconding downtozero. That method works in undergrad, but not usually in grad school. The expectation is that you're committing to that program, and barring exceptional circumstances, it doesn't look good if you leave.

When I was deciding whether to accept two unfunded + one partially funded offer, I made a spreadsheet calculating the total cost of the degree for both schools. I added up the tuition and estimated living expenses for each city. Then I looked at a loan calculator (this is a simple, decent one) to see how my monthly payments would look post-graduation. I'd recommend doing something similar so you have a full picture of what you're getting into. Personally, after doing all that, I chose to reapply. I wasn't comfortable taking on debt in this job market. My outlook is that if you're good enough to get in unfunded, you'll probably be good enough for funding next year (assuming you're working hard on your portfolio while you wait).

1) Keep in mind that even if you don't reach your goal, you still had some sucess; Temple is a very well-respected program! You should feel proud of that acceptance, whether you get funding or not. I know that it's not the ideal result, but it's encouraging if you choose to apply again. 2) Keep in mind that this was a way harder year than average, and MFA acceptance rates were cutthroat before that. 3) In the year between my first and second app cycles, I worked an admin assistant job. Boring and not glamorous, but it gave me a lot of time to work on writing. It was a challenging year, but not a bad one overall.

Glad to see the MFA Years is being reborn! I relied on that website a lot as I was applying. Obviously this particular event isn't relevant to me, but I signed up for y'all's email list and will definitely be keeping an eye on the new site!

Honestly, I took notes. I wrote down answers to likely questions (e.g. what are you reading lately?), as well as a few of my own questions. This is also a strategy I use in job interviews. It may sound strange, but most people seem impressed by the preparation.

This is great advice, although I think it's more important for poetry. That is, many people can recognize good prose without keeping up with the literary scene. Poetry is much more subject to cultural context/the need to be "fresh." I know you know that, teasel, but I wanted to add this note for fellow prose people who might not have access to a professor or mentor

I had two stories in my portfolio last year: one I had worked on for 4-6 months, and one I started just a couple weeks before the deadline (I would not recommend this, obviously). I was pretty happy with the first one, and I had nothing else in my portfolio that I felt anywhere near as proud of. I decided to take a gamble. I think it helped that I modeled my last-minute story off a particular author (and one who isn't well-known in literary circles). So to sum up: not terribly polished. My program is pretty "progressive" aesthetically, so I think the adcom looks for unique ideas.

Hey, you might wanna cross-post this in the main applicants' forum -- I know I, for one, often go to that thread without looking at the others :)

That's so awesome! I was gonna ask but didn't want to pry. I'm really happy to see your hard work paying off

This is definitely an option. Though as I mentioned in an earlier post, this will give you less time/opportunity to engage with the program outside of class. For example, at my program, people with outside jobs aren't usually involved in the lit mags -- which are themselves great resume-builders. I think it depends on your goals. If you're really just there for the workshops, this approach could definitely work. My program has a few older students with established careers, and most of them are getting what they want primarily from class.

Yup! I used all the same people. I sent my LOR writers hand-written thank-you notes explaining my results and decision, which I strongly recommend over emails. I believe that they're allowed to reuse letters. That said, for my second round I sent them a new sample of my work, in case they wanted to update their letters. Since I improved a lot in the intervening year, I was actually happy to share a recent story with them. I know one of my writers was pretty impressed with my growth, and she rewrote a large section of her LOR to reflect that.

I was in your position my first round of apps. I decided to reapply after I calculated how much I'd have to take out in loans/the cost of repayment. I'd highly recommend checking out a loan repayment calculator. It's sobering. The following year, I ended up getting TAship at a program where about half the students are funded. I love my program, and I consider myself so lucky to be here! I can also tell you from experience that having a job outside the MFA will seriously hamper your ability to engage in extracurriculars (lit mags, reading series, etc.) and form deeper bonds with your classmates. With the job market as it is, the MFA alone won't get you much; it's the professional skills and connections you build outside of class and/or via a TAship. The good news is: If you're good enough to get a partially funded offer now, chances are you can get a fully funded offer next year -- especially if you start revising and workshopping your portfolio now. Sorry that's probably not what you want to hear. I know it's a very tough position. But tl:dr, I'd say this: know your worth, and avoid debt at all costs. Applying a second time worked for me, and it's pretty common

If you think there's any chance you could be convinced to accept the other offers, I'd go for it. I'd see it as an opportunity to do more research about those programs. Maybe they have some unique features/opportunities that aren't advertised on the website. That said, I'm sort of assuming "better-funded" means it's a bigger stipend. Personally, I'd never turn down a fully-funded offer for a partially-funded one.