Starbuck420

haha nice, good find. I love it when they share this stuff. I remember when I was first considering applying, back in 2016, multiple CNF program heads listed Maggie Nelson as their most referenced author, which is interesting because I don't hear many applicants talk about her these days. Makes me wonder (genuinely, because the culture is so volatile) how CMM will be thought of by applicants in ~5-6 yrs

I think you're right that the best thing to do in these scenarios is just to be honest, which is what you seem to have done, so, good work. IMO, in addition to just being a bad idea, it's also actually very hard to convincingly lie to these people (either directly or by omission) about what you like to read and what inspires you. It's also true that the tenured professors who read these applications tend to be (unfortunately) much more conservative than most applicants, so I think your average tenured prof is probably going to have, honestly, a slightly less unfavorable view of DFW than many of us have. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, but ask anyone in any sort humanities or arts discipline: the tenured profs belong to a different class than the rest of us, and as a result tend to have different priorities also, can I ask: what do you mean by this? I think we're all familiar with the guy in your mfa type (already mentioned quite recently in the thread I think) but I'm sure if this is something distinct from that or what

I get that it's bro lit on some level, but I agree. I don't think that Bukowski is remotely Cormac's peer in the bro canon

yikes -- so, so weird that they would do this by mail in 2021

they also sent their English PhD notifications a few days ago. frequently there is no relation between the two, but sometimes (for example at Ohio St) CW and English notifications will go out simultaneously or almost simultaneously. so, that would also point to the Draft acceptance being real

I am no longer in but I believe they screen the requests pretty closely in order to weed out faculty (?) so, I think it takes a while. I also think it's just one person

live the dream (by which I mean my personal dream, lol) of the German philology or English MA here I am about 60% serious. There are lots of probably very obvious reasons why you shouldn't go to Germany for a degree in English (brace yarselves for some unsolicited advice): - German lecturers and professors are typically more distant and might not write great LORs - Obviously, if you don't speak German, you're probably going to feel very isolated - You won't get a TAship to cover living expenses, and there legal limits on the number of hours you can work with on a student visa - More importantly, you probably won't be able to find work if in the first place without some German proficiency That said, there are a few reasons why it would be good idea. Namely: - No tuition - Actually quite a wide selection of English-taught MA degrees in or directly adjacent to our discipline - You could quite conceivably force yourself to learn German, which would be seriously valuable. Most of the time, you need an immersion experience in another language in order to use it in serious academic work, and this could qualify as such an experience - This is a stupid reason to do it, but Germany is cool. Living there could alter your general outlook and/or career trajectory The commenter above mentioned "European" MAs, but I've talked exclusively about German MAs here because they're the only ones that are tuition free for international students. The other popular destination for these sorts of degrees is the UK, and, imo, don't bother. Those degrees are going to be crazy expensive for Americans, and not worth your time unless you have a cool 60-70k USD to spare, or can magically get a Fulbright Anyway, the German MA is something I almost did but then for various reasons chose not to do, which means that I am now forever burdened with this (completely useless, at least to me personally) knowledge of German MAs from an international perspective. So, there you have it.

Just my ~ highly subjective ~ opinion but having lived in the area for years I kinda despise college park lol. People I know who go to UMD like their programs a lot and certainly it's a great school, but many of them live in DC or nearby suburbs, and, yeah, pay a huge amount of money to live in tiny rooms in group houses and frequently have not insignificant commutes to campus. I was thinking that if I ever applied and got in there (almost certainly not something I would ever have to worry about) I might live in Baltimore and drive there. It's like 45 mins without traffic but I think your overall quality of life could be higher than it would be living in a ~ cool~ DC neighborhood, or in the area immediately around UMD. Takoma Park is also nice Anyway lol not trying to discourage anyone from applying to UMD. more airing my grievances against DC I guess

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sure, not saying they don't matter, just pointing out that they are probably not worth obsessing over to the point that they are usually obsessed over

you're hearing it more and more, folks: the SOP might only barely matter. Seeing a UMass admit in Draft claim that she started her SOP the day it was due

lol me too I seriously do wonder how many other MFA seekers are double dipping from the great, lukewarm fondue pot of grad school

Ooooo I didn't know this. gotta assume that this contributed to those crazy numbers

makes sense, I guess, and this is certainly what we've all been told to expect this year, but it's interesting to me because Illinois (the only other school to release this info yet, afaik) reported many fewer applications than usual. ofc, the sample size is currently 2 so it's possible Illinois is just an anomaly, but it's also possible that the ruined economy is wreaking havoc with the numbers, rather than increasing the number of applications all across the board. but, again, too early to tell

because no one gets in lol

I just got a great gig as an English tutor for the daughter of a wealthy family in one of Seoul's nicest neighborhoods. the father is in real estate I think. it's going really well!

whew, yeah, not great! thanks. I couldn't find the $ info on their website for some reason

does anyone have funding info on the DePaul MFA? It definitely does not seem to be fully funded but it appears there may be some funding. I know they've had an MA for a while but asking specifically about the new (? I think?) MFA here

Awesome, yeah, it definitely is a serious, legit-seeming program. I would've gone myself but it just didn't work for me at the time

a small here plug for Villanova's English MA, which has a March 1 application deadline. I have a not great GPA and got in here once with a full tuition waiver. They also seem to give some people positions that grant full tuition remission and a small stipend, so it's worth a shot if you're looking for a backup

Sure, of course this is true, and I do not mean to discount this at all. My comments were less specifically a critique of her or of Iowa than they were of the system more generally. Only mentioned Samantha because she was mentioned in the initial quote My point is just that this process of credentialization actually excludes a whole new group of people, even as it creates a means of entry for members of previously excluded groups. This group is, basically, people without bachelors degrees, people with bachelors degrees from other countries (many US universities do not accept 3 year Indian degrees for example), or folks who are unable to attend graduate school in the US for any other reason. That's all. What you say is absolutely true and I do not question it. The process of credentialization has benefited many people and brought many folks (who otherwise would've been excluded, again) into the fold. I just think that we can widen the umbrella a bit more

here, just referring to system that is controlled by a small number of people, who have an outsize impact on the system relative to their numbers and democratic authority imo, it's important to note that Iowa, Brown, etc have not achieved their status as centers of cultural production by appealing to the reading public, or to any other portion of the public, but rather by appealing to people at other elite institutions (including universities, publishers, places like the NEA/NEH, etc). I guess that's what I mean when I say they lack "democratic authority:" their authority to credential people as literary authors is given not by the public, but is instead given by a small number of people who have by and large already received these credentials Obviously, this system has benefits and drawbacks. It's great if you can gain entry, but it's bad if you're one of the millions of people who (for example) does not have a bachelors degree, or is unable to attend grad school in the US for some other reason (can think of dozens of reasons why this would be the case), or even if you're someone with an MFA from a less selective institution or a low-res program, though this group is much less disadvantaged than the previous two. I think our literary culture would be richer if more/some of these people were included to this: absolutely. but, the competition could be more democratic, the power less concentrated in the hands of a very small number of highly credentialed people. I think we can take a look at the 20th century and before (and even today) and accept that there are many, many people without these credentials who are producing art of a very high quality. I don't really have an image of an alternate system cooked up in my head. I think it's fine to point out that something is wrong even though I don't have a comprehensive solution figured out A good place to start would be with agents: they need to start trawling places other than Iowa, Brown, and a few other schools. Even if you accept that the credentialing process we have now is basically good, there are (as we all know) dozens of highly selective places other than Iowa where you can go to look for good writers. Literary agents, by and large, do not visit these places. I also think of Norway, whose elite writing academy does not require students to have a BA/BS. This opens it up to a whole swath of the population who would otherwise have been excluded Also: I'm truly not trying to be aggressive, or to take a dump on everyone for participating in this process (I am obviously also participating in the process, which is taxing, brutal, etc), or to discourage anyone from applying or anything like that. I just think the system is flawed and frustratingly so. I also think that sometimes it often excludes the wrong people. Finally: I am not referring to myself when I say "excludes the wrong people," since the jury's still out on whether I'm in or not (though like many others, I am planning for the worst - :~'{ ). good tidings, positive vibes to all

Yeah, I saw this video too. Nice of them to put that stuff out there It was a little disheartening to me, honestly, to see that one person has so much power in the process. It sounds like many of the top programs do something similar, where they narrow it down to ~60 and choose from there -- Syracuse has a similar video out on the Web somewhere -- which makes sense just from a logistical perspective, because of course you can't rule by committee on over 1k applications. But still, think of the enormous impact that Iowa has on US and even world literature, and then consider the immense power of this one person as a gatekeeper for this program, and then also for all of US literature by extension. Perhaps it is as Kanye says: "No one Prof (not even the Elizabeth M. Stanley Professor in the Arts) should have all that power" Not sure if this is going to a be a popular comment here, but I feel like there has to be a way to make our literary culture a little bit less elitist, because this process and the culture more generally are elitist in the most literal sense (small number of people with greatly outsize impact on the culture relative to their numbers and cultural authority outside of the academy). I think that maybe we as outsiders sometimes defend this culture because we hope to be absorbed into it, but the fact that we could be absorbed into it doesn't really make it more just or defensible. Not an knock on Iowa necessarily, and not a knock on the individuals who operate/maintain this system. It's just that we have to actually change the system, I think

although I also trust strangers to tell me when something's bad, lol. not that I don't trust my friends to do that, but I think sometimes people close to us either let us off the hook without realizing, or maybe don't have the courage to tell us what's what also I don't think people share writing draft proper, though I know there's a separate (much smaller) workshopping group. I am in neither, but just saying

:'~[