Hello all,
Just need to vent for a second. Really wish I had applied to some schools that weren't top-tier exclusive. I know there is no such thing as a "safety" program, but there are over 200 MFA programs in this country and I only applied to ten of the best. Vandy, Iowa, Michigan, Cornell, Michener, etc. I always knew there was a huge chance I wasn't going to get in to any of these, but the selectivity statistics have been staring me in the face this past week; I read these programs are essentially as exclusive as the top med schools in the country, the director of the writer's workshop stated their acceptance rate is ~.025% as of 2019, and the small cohort sizes (Iowa not included) make it so getting accepted means not only are you noticeably gifted, but also lucky enough to fit the description of what adcoms are looking to add to this year's specific cohort, etc. Instead of exclusively fully funded programs, I really wish I'd done more research and applied to some partially funded programs that provide opportunities for full/significant funding. At least next year I will have a better idea of what exactly to look for when doing research.
Vent over, thanks for listening and good luck to everyone this season!