litty

I imagine most Institutions will eliminate the GRE requirement for MFA programs within the next 5 years. The only schools that may face challenges are public universities that are controlled by state legislatures -- a lot more bureaucratic red tape. But the path for other public schools might be easier seeing Alabama, Minnesota, Mississippi, Michigan, Iowa, and and a host of other states (some of Texas) have dropped the GRE requirement.

listen to this song to get your spirits up | haters=adcoms

yeh, sounded like a number of places were notifying earlier than usual. it's all reading tea leaves at this point.

Woot woot. Sounds like a lot of programs should report this coming week!?

Congrats!

R.I.P.

Me after attempting aerial silks:

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/2020/1/22/21075629/american-dirt-controversy-explained-jeanine-cummins-oprah-flatiron https://ew.com/books/2020/01/21/what-you-need-to-know-about-oprah-winfreys-controversial-new-book-club-pick-american-dirt/ These two articles were illuminating. I'm sure academics are already turning this into case studies -- so many layers! I won't touch the political or social aspects of this (ok, maybe lightly), but what I'm fascinated by, and I hope to see more writing about, is how the quality of the writing is perceived dependent on how the work is portrayed. Meaning, all the critiques of the book that looked at it through the lens of literary fiction considered it lacking and not a good book. All the critiques looking at it through the lens of commercial fiction considered it a fun page turner. Add to that mix that white critics generally praised it while Latinx critics panned it. So you have this weird dichotomy of a book written for a white commercial audience is marketed as an ethnic minority literary masterpiece. And here's the most mind-blowing aspect of it all. If this book was not co-signed and championed by a black woman with 'respected' literary tastes (Oprah), this entire controversy may not have happened. But since the aggrieved parties are the subject of the work and not the audience for the work, the truism may certainly hold: controversy sells. This book has an initial first print run of 500,000 copies. most highly anticipated novels top off on initial run at 20,000. The publisher of this book is the same one that published the Oscar winning 'The Help', which was also controversial. The studio that made that has the film rights for this. There's a clear blueprint and audience for these types of works.

Has anyone been following the American Dirt controversy? #WritingMyLatinoNovel on twitter is hilarious!!

If ya'll want to kill some time, spend a day on each school you applied to and gameplan it out. figure out what neighborhoods grad students live in, rent costs for places you might like (explore local craigslist and other local listings), grocery stores and restaurants, etc. walk down every street on google maps. you can go down a rabbit hole of info for each school, and by the time you come out of that exercise, you should start hearing back from programs and you can come up with better cons for the schools that reject you and feel more informed about the ones that accept you.

Just got in from a speakeasy and finding it very easy to speak

What's funny is Marilynne Robinson is STILL on their website (as emeritus), lol.

He may technically be at 'Cuse for years to come. He may take on an emeritus role. Nothing is truly official, but the practical writing on the wall is he's winding down. And it sounds like he's only been teaching short intensives for several years and spending most of his time away. So this isn't some shock to that community.

Didn't realize there were paywall issues with the Paris Review, but the companion article to the interview is also worth a read. The author talks about imitating and admiring Saunders. He got into 'Cuse, even got his call from Saunders, and turned them down because he was afraid he'd have too much Saunders in his head and never an opportunity to fully realize his own voice. Now later on he says that maybe he might have benefited from more Saunders in his head, but we will never know, lol. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/01/06/how-to-imitate-george-saunders/

I hear you, but that's why folks are encouraged not to attend a school for a particular faculty member. Oftentimes they have a reduced teaching load or are on sabbatical, so your likelihood of really interacting with them can be limited.

Check out his most recent Paris Review interview. He’s settled in Santa Cruz, California and rarely goes to Syracuse. Some current ‘Cuse MFA students were talking about him not being available and on his way out. https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7506/george-saunders-the-art-of-fiction-no-245-george-saunders

Congrats!!!

Thanks for this, great response. I didn't know many of these things about their program. Also, appears to be A LOT of confusion about which programs require the GRE. I thought Syracuse and Michigan both wanted it. I did hear MIchener dropped that requirement. It might be helpful if folks who applied to programs this cycle that required the GRE could post that school name, and any info they may have regarding whether they will be dropping that requirement next cycle.

To all the folks that applied to Syracuse, why 'Cuse? I know George Saunders is a draw, but it sounds like he's leaving. What else is attractive? Inquiring minds would like to know!

THE Ohio State is calling fiction, CNF, and poetry.

Ah, I would definitely check with them. You posted in the literary/creative writing forum, so slightly different beast and rules!

Hi, what genre(s) are you applying (e.g. fiction, poetry, non-fiction)? I'm not familiar with this requirement, but I'd hazard they may be referring to work *published* within the last 12 months. So if your work is unpublished, it may be considered still in-progress and the time period doesn't apply. If you've been revising a piece for five years and finally feel comfortable with it, you can submit that. You can shoot an email to the schools for clarification, but I assume this is just a way to encourage you to submit work you're recently engaged with rather than some pieces you wrote years ago that may have been published in a journal or anthology. They want to get a current sense of you to see if they can help who you are rather than who you were.

Good luck @Brother Panda, that's a nice list! Did you consider Ole Miss? @YdrlI feel your angst! I'm hoping once the groove of 2020 kicks in, time will move faster. I made the mistake of reviewing my apps and revising materials, lol. Too late now. It's human nature to compare ourselves to other so your feelings toward your friend are natural, but in the immortal words of the great philosopher Jay-Z, "What you eat don't make me shit." Her path is not your path and both of your journeys can have happy endings. I try to keep in perspective, this is some privileged azz ish we're doing. We choose to pursue art. This is a luxury that we should be grateful for, whatever the outcomes. Real talk, someone just knocked on my door asking for money to get food for their kids. We are blessed. So I salute and cheer on all who had the ability to apply. That's an accomplishment. Whether this is round 1 or round 5 for you, you're winning. So take a breath, go watch the Mandalorian or Workin' Moms and drink something that warms your tummy