Starbuck420

There are acceptances and waitlists for fiction and poetry in Draft, unfortunately

yeah I mean Gertrude does not know what Gertrude is talking about here, plain and simple

MA* MSt*

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Dude I really think it's Gustav

lmao

umm...Gustav? is that you, buddy?

I wouldn't (and didn't) say that they're open admissions, but they do have a reputation for bilking people, and I think that's pretty much deserved. How else do you justify admitting, like, 70 people, charging everyone $60k/yr, and fully funding none of them? If you're fully aware of the program's reputation and the financial cost and choose to attend anyway, then that's fine, good for you -- I feel like I read a good novel by a Columbia grad almost every year, in fact -- but I think that they tend to take advantage of the aspirations of some applicants in a way that's really cynical, and almost predatory, so I'm happy to call them out on that

yeah, it sucks but I think that this is probably the right choice. I think Columbia in particular tries to prey on people a little bit, so credit to you for recognizing their game

it's true, but I don't think they care, tbh. this is how all of their masters programs work. they don't give aid, make everyone pay sticker, and they get away with it because they're Columbia lol. Pretty messed up, but I think it's working exactly as they intend

I have heard that out of each large cohort, only like 3-4 get any sort of funding (in the form of partial tuition waivers, and I believe some part-time work). I have also heard that, yeah, it does build weird dynamics, as you'd expect. I have a friend who went there unfunded -- he's an excellent writer and person, but his family is rich lol -- and was still able to gain regular access to several of the famous faculty, but, yeah, it does sound like they play favorites pretty heavily I honestly think a lot of people are going into debt for that MFA, which is pretty sad. I assume there are some people like my friend in each group, but it can't be more than a few people in each cohort

I also think this is a good rule because it could help you better interpret your results. For example: if an unrevised sample gets a waitlist somewhere, and the revised sample gets a straight reject somewhere else, I'm always going to wonder whether the reject was because of the revisions, or in spite of them

yeah, 4 would be shockingly few given the cohort size. It's possible that the other ~40 folks are just offline or not posting (or that they've radically reduced their cohort size this year), but I too would guess that more are on the way Just speculation, and I didn't even apply, but there you go. I just feel like I've seen many more online in previous years. They also sent out the 'things are taking a while, sit tight' distress call a few weeks ago, I remember

woohoo, congrats! I have never administered one of these interviews so can't speak to that, but I have experienced 2 (over separate app cycles) as an applicant, and it's maybe worth noting that the 1 that I failed was the one in which I had not yet accrued any teaching experience, lol. So, it's just speculation, but my impression is that teaching experience matters quite a bit here, which means (imo) that you might want to talk that up But, again, I can't actually speak to their secret evaluation criteria, so maybe just disregard this completely. I also imagine it depends varies a bit based on the institution

this is pretty heinous. I don't have any info to add, but, yeah, obviously it's messed up. I would recommend people not apply here in the future. same for any other program that rescinds or alters funding in this way. This is a huge deal

I agree. I will say that I appreciate a little note or something when warranted, but only because that might be a sign that you were at least in contention at whatever school or lit mag ended up rejecting you. that can be useful info. If you're submitting something that's regularly getting little personal rejects from places that generally send form letters, for example, I think that can be a sign that you're close and should continue revising I agree though, again, that "personal" form letters are generally irritating and a tiny bit offensive

yeah -- Ocean Vuong seems to be the most widely loved writer in America (or at least on twitter) atm, and you have to assume that his (still newish, I think?) star power drove numbers way up for them. That in addition to the general surge in number of applicants, attributable to our being in a depression lol

First, I think you're right to feel good. Take the compliment After that, I think you're also right to be thinking about the length of that waitlist. Most of my experience with admissions is in another discipline, but imo 7 waitlists for 2 spots is a lot. Did they let you know how high you are on the list?

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not a conspiracy theory: this is all 100% true. many programs are allowing people to defer and take another funded year or otherwise are having funding lines suspended by their universities as part of a general budget crunch. this is happening all across the arts and humanities, even at schools with enormous and very stable endowments (Yale is only taking 3 English PhDs this year, just as one example). dark times, and ripple effects will be felt for years

I didn't apply but am I right that they still make people send in their samples by mail? I just wonder if they uhhhh might have had an easier time of things if they stopped doing that? What with the record high volume of mail and issues with the post office and pandemic and all I would guess that they probably have valid reasons for still doing it this way (it's easier to read the work? they've been doing it this way for a decades so would be hard to switch?) but it seems like they're also being luddites for the sake of being luddites, at least to some degree, which is very annoying imo

ya'll see that this thread is officially marked "HOT?" we made it!

Personally I just hate all books

lol Bluets is good! I think 2016-17 was the height of The Argonauts pandemonium, which was maybe why so many CNF people (apparently) mentioned her in their statements

ah yeah, got it. I was genuinely just wondering if this was an entirely different stereotype lol