feralgrad

Pony Express

I've made a point not to review any of my materials since submission. It's hard to obsess when I can't remember the fine details of my SOP/sample. Plus, you can't know how you stack up against other applicants, and that's what matters for admission. It's out of your hands, and I think there's some comfort in that. When I find myself worrying, I tell myself, "there's nothing more you can do, just wait and see." Easier said than done! But you come to believe it more with practice.

As far as I know, GMU hasn't sent out any funding offers yet. Haven't seen anyone mention it here or in Draft (and trust me, I'm keeping an eye out). @Dochinka96 Wishing you a happy birthday as well! I hope you can party hard this weekend and forget your app season woes.

@jen20 It's generally recommended that you stick to short stories for your application portfolio rather than novel excerpts; they're a better showcase of your ability to develop a plot and characters (since one chapter of a novel isn't giving the full picture). Moreover, if you're sending in a published novel, adcoms may wonder what you stand to gain from being in an MFA program -- which is, after all, an opportunity to develop a novel-length work. If anything, I think you'll need to address why you want an MFA despite having a published novel.

It's a Facebook group (MFA Draft '20 is the full name, I believe). Basically the same function as Gradcafe, but the results are catalogued differently. It's also way less chill than GC.

I'm not seeing anything on the acceptance or rejection lists.

Lately, it's strangely alienating watching people freak out over grad school admissions when I'm just mildly nervous. At this point admissions are more like a semi-pleasant distraction from the dumpster fire of my life circumstances. Of course I still care what happens next, but grad school just doesn't feel as /big/ as it used to.

Once I get home, my productivity is alright. It's just hard to muster much interest/focus on my mind-numbing admin job.

Honestly my productivity at work has been garbage for weeks. Can't wait til this is over and I'm functional again.

Based on the results page, it looks like last year IWW's fiction acceptances came out in one batch, then poetry acceptances.

Yes, and it's the only school I've heard back from thus far (although Hollins and VT don't normally notify until late February). I really like that it's a three year program, and it's the closest to home/friends out of the places I applied.

Someone on Draft got a TA interview from GMU... Not everyone gets interviewed for TA positions, but I'm suffering.

Congratulations!! You definitely earned it; sticking to your (figurative) dream panned out!

I could imagine it's frustrating since the Results page isn't terribly enlightening. A lot of people from previous years seemed pissed off too...

That said, I am still refreshing my email every 5 seconds.

Since we're entering the toughest part of application season, I figured I'd post this: As many of you may remember, this is my second year applying. Last year I got into a couple programs, but I didn't get the funding I needed. I strongly considered going anyway, but decided the back-breaking debt was not worth it (as financial flexibility is the greatest asset a creative person can have, in my opinion). It was incredibly painful to brush up against my dream without actually achieving it. I can’t say yet whether this year will bring me success, but I can say I’m glad I didn’t attend in 2019. This past year has been profoundly challenging – creatively, mentally, personally – but I’ve grown more as a person and a writer than I ever thought possible in such a short span. I’ve proven that I can produce writing I’m proud of outside of a university. And honestly, I rose to meet some challenges that may have been insurmountable if I’d been balancing grad school and TA responsibilities. Those struggles also put the luxury of an MFA in perspective; it's still something I want to do, but I no longer view it as the most important thing I can do with my 20s. In short, I wasn’t ready for grad school last year. You may strike out this year (heck, I might too), and it will suck, there’s no denying that. But grad school is just one of many amazing things you can do. Ultimately, handling rejection and weathering heartbreak are vital skills for a writer, and MFA programs don’t teach you that. Perhaps that’s a bit corny, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Yes, I've always gravitated most strongly to fiction. I took a CNF workshop in undergrad that I really enjoyed, but I like the challenge of developing characters and filling plot holes. Plus I've always been put off by the inherent vulnerability of writing poetry. I'd like develop those mental muscles some day, but I want to master one style of writing first.

For the second year in a row, I find myself waiting on funding info. I'm terrified that after getting close to achieving my dream, I'll be passed up again...

Honestly, I've had almost no inspiration to write since I submitted my apps. I'm generally in the "just write anyway" camp when I have writer's block, but currently I'm trying to take it easy. I've been drawing a lot instead, so I still have a creative/emotional outlet. If you have other creative hobbies, maybe you can lean on those.

@anarchisttiger From what I understand nonficiton =/= creative nonfiction. CNF is a subgenre of nonfiction, and it tends to deal with the author's personal experiences and opinions. This can range from the classic "essay about my divorce" to stuff like Wallace's "Consider the Lobster" (which was originally a magazine article on the Maine Lobster Festival that went off the rails). The definition is, admittedly, murky and contentious. There's certainly some overlap with journalism, although unlike the latter CNF accepts and encourages personal bias.

I'm sorry, dude, although it looks like you're in good company. When I started getting rejections last year, I took the time to polish my latest stories and send them to a couple publications. They didn't end up getting published, but it kept me writing and moving forward.

Looks like more WUSTL results are coming out. Best of luck everyone!

I appreciate it. You're right, I'll get through it, and I'm glad I have somewhere to scream about apps in the meantime.

Yeah, I'm praying I'll have firm answers within two weeks! I'm really hoping GMU will send funding information next week (I got an email suggesting they might). Not to digress, but I've been going through some difficult family/personal stuff this week, and it's been really hard to weather that + the next 2-3 years of my life being completely up in the air...

Based on previous years, the programs I applied to only notify by email. So I'm just stuck in the Purgatory of refreshing Gmail every 30 seconds... Every time I see a new message my heart leaps, but it's usually a Micheals coupon or something haha! I guess we're in the same boat, just different mediums.