Ydrl

I’m Wiccan, but I’m definitely not a crystal person or spell-casting person. I just really love tarot cards and carving wands myself. Last year I went crazy with tarot readings, so I’ve told myself to calm it down to once a month for application season. The pandemic is seriously throwing off my expectations for wait times. And I really want to go somewhere nice, but once again, pandemic.

God, I love Oregon. So beautiful, even in the winter. I live in a northern state, but I get the Canada wind and snow which is so much worse than rain. Only reason I didn’t apply to Oregon State is the teaching load versus the compensation for it. I’m good. And I have one idea that I was leaning towards last year, but I know it would be a ton of work and travel to Germany to finish.

I love being warm, which makes Minnesota’s weather much less appealing. Texas would be awesome. Iowa’s cool (cold actually) but three year programs stole my heart this round.

If we both end up at Michener I’ll happy cry so hard. My big worry is not knowing anybody wherever I go to school (whenever that happens of course).

Dear god, if you were near me I’d just give you a tarot card reading with one of my favorite decks. Just got two new ones: Cthulhu deck, and Women of Science deck.

Anyone else compulsively check their portals today? I didn’t get any emails, but I just want results to be there now that some people got acceptances.

Wow! Tell him I said congratulations, that’s amazing. Maybe decisions will come faster this year than we thought.

If more people come forward, then I’ll be somewhat less skeptical, but for now I’m still dubious.

I imagine that listing is the time honored tradition of faking a post to scare the shit out of everyone. Or if someone really got waitlisted this early then reveal yourself, you magnificent writer.

Honestly, even though I didn’t apply to Iowa this time, I still watch the City of Literature documentary on YouTube. Iowa will always enchant me, but it’s not what I’m looking for.

Fun fact, it’s too late, but Iowa has application advice videos for poets and fiction writers. They were posted three months ago on YouTube. Idk if anyone watched them, but they’re there.

Suddenly remembered that I forgot to submit Florida’s application. Now I’m done submitting everything.

Welcome! And it’s good you did your research. I’m also POC/lgbtqia+ and that influenced my decisions also. I ended up applying to WashU and UNO. My advice is don’t refresh gradcafe every 10 minutes or check your portals every two hours. I know, it’s so, so tempting... I don’t really know what to suggest instead, everyone has specific needs. Saying “do a hobby” or “take a walk” isn’t going to apply to everyone, and isn’t going to take 12 hours anyway. I can’t check gradcafe when I’m driving, so I drive around to some stores with good music on, and then try and immerse myself in what I’m doing without letting myself worry about anything but what’s in front of me.

Some of the ways I knew if a program was good for me is looking at the faculty’s work, finances, and health insurance. Now that you’ve applied to those schools, I would just look up some of the faculty’s work online in the meantime. No need to buy anything unless you like them. Iowa is quite selective, distinguished, and dazzling, but trying to live on their stipend sounds like a nightmare. I applied last year despite it, but once I had three schools left to hear from (Iowa, Nevada LV, and VCU) I realized there was never a chance I could live on any of those stipends (compared to the cost of apartments and living expenses). Lastly, good health insurance. Being chronically ill really takes its toll on my wallet. If a school offers good health insurance as a perk of teaching (or being accepted into the program) I consider that option pretty hard. If a school doesn’t offer health insurance I know I wouldn’t be able to go even if I got drastically better.

I want the best fit for me as a poet, writer, and overall person. I’m not chasing rankings like last time, even though it’s more work to research for months over which schools are the best for me.

Being completely honest here, this is only the second round I’ve ever sent out (and I’ve sent it to one place today). The first round didn’t yield any results, but I did get encouraging words from The Colorado Review telling me they looked forward to seeing my next submission. I’ll have to see when they’re taking submissions again.

I’ve been waiting for this moment until my applications were done...I sent out some poetry for publication today...

Hey, for reference, if y’all had to pick your top three schools (or top one if you have three or less), what are they? Mine are: 1. U Minnesota 2. Michener 3. U Maryland Yes, in that order.

God yes. I only applied to places where I thought I would be comfortable, whether that means climate, political views, friendliness of the program...etc. I didn’t apply to West Virginia because I refuse.

My my my~ y’all are so chatty lately! I’m happy that we’re finding solace in each other.

I hesitate saying this because I’m waiting for an email, but I think I’m done. I finished UNH yesterday, and am pretty sure I finished Rutgers (apparently the deadline for Newark was extended to the 8th of January, but I only found this out through a no-reply email).

No seriously, this isn’t a workshop or a place to tear people down. Stop or leave. It was funny for awhile, but we should have gotten rid of you much earlier. Idk what your obsession with getting downvotes and hate is, but stop. Just go anywhere else.

Sssssssssssh. It’s okay, you don’t have to post constantly. We know you’re here. We are painfully aware you’re here.

Ah yes, a normal healthy friendship between two MFA applicants. A beautiful thing.

Nah I still have 2 or 3 to go. And holy crap I want a typewriter now!