Pinskadan
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Posts posted by Pinskadan
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6 hours ago, sylviaplate said:
I did - a lot of the articles/tips I read about SOPs suggested it, as it gives the adcoms a good sense of who you are as a reader, which of course influences you as a writer. I mentioned Kim Addonizio, Sharon Olds, Hanif Abdurraqib, and I think Rita Dove. Looking back, I wish I'd just included one or two so it didn't seem like I was just giving a laundry list to seem widely read, but no going back!
I only name-checked a prof. at one school (Khadijah Queen at CU Boulder) - I figure they can spot a suck-up pretty easily, so if I couldn't honestly say that a professor had a big impact on me or sparked my curiosity, I left it out. (Not a dig on any professors at the programs to which I applied, but rather I've only read their writing that's available for free online and can't speak to their wider body of work).
Oh, and I used a Mary Karr quote about memory/reality relating back to my writing interests. Felt a little schmooze-y to use in my Syracuse app, but at that point in the app process I was too exhausted to change it.
I super hate to be a bummer, but one of my best friends is doing his MFA at CU Boulder and he mentioned to me the other night that Khadijah Queen is leaving because she got a better position elsewhere ? He was really hoping to work with her, too. This could turn out to not be the case, just what I heard!
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48 minutes ago, Starbuck420 said:
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
The Maggie Nelson thing is honestly really funny-- I included her as an influence in my SOPs (for poetry) because it would be genuinely dishonest to not... I mean, I'm over here planning a Bluets tattoo lol. But everyone in my undergrad was obsessed with her so I was definitely worried it might be overblown.
I also included Eduardo C Corral, Ocean Vuong, and Kate Zambreno (along with a couple younger poets with less name recognition), and tried to name drop at least one faculty member per program that I'd like to work with.
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bless u @Ydrl for sharing this info!
- fishfish24 and Ydrl
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1 hour ago, shanbanan said:
Hi all! My Michener application portal switched to "Attention: Your file has been forwarded to the Graduate Committee for review" as of this morning. Anybody else get this? It's the first movement I've seen on any of my applications so I'm definitely overthinking/over-analyzing over here! My guess is that this is a generic notification that all applicants receive once Michener has made their decisions and sent them over to the Graduate Committee for final processing. But I'm curious nonetheless. Happy Friday, all!
My portal says the same, but honestly I think it's been like that for a while? I could be misremembering but I've been checking the portal intermittently since submitting, and both Michener and NWP have the same language on them.
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On 2/10/2021 at 12:14 AM, Pinskadan said:
he's also getting increasingly lazy with all of these new profiles he's creating, huh? I'd sure hate to be someone who thinks being a dick is a personality trait
p sure I called it that this was Marshall's profile within one hour of the profile's creation, gee it's almost like he's so predictable it's boring
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1 hour ago, uiop1 said:
You are correct. He was mansplaining "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." He likes to paraphrase Shakespeare. So very sad.
he's also getting increasingly lazy with all of these new profiles he's creating, huh? I'd sure hate to be someone who thinks being a dick is a personality trait
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edited because the whole point of this post was to laugh at how sad Marshall was being and he's since deleted his post/got reported again lmao
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4 hours ago, fishfish24 said:
Would someone on Draft mind checking if there's been additional news for Minnesota? I think there's one poetry acceptance and one CNF acceptance but no fiction notices reported yet... Still hoping...
Someone asked the same question on Draft today but there haven't been any responses back I don't think ? Guess we'll just all have to freak out and hope lol
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Minnesota is one of my absolute favorite programs so when I just woke up from my nap and saw that there had been a poetry acceptance AN HOUR AGO I started freaking out. Especially given how small the cohort is this year (I think they're only taking six writers total??) I'm trying not to feel doomed that I haven't had a call from them yet.
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1 hour ago, sylviaplate said:
Any recommendations on poems dealing with grief? I just experienced a really difficult, unexpected loss of a family member and am wondering what people have turned to for comfort or what ya’ll think best articulates the feeling. Short stories or essays also welcome, if you feel so inclined.
I'm so sorry for your loss, and hope you can find comfort wherever possible. Seconding @goodcynara's recommendation of Forrest Gander's Be With; its first poem absolutely takes my breath away. I'd also recommend Diana Khoi Nguyen's Ghost Of (which deals with the sudden suicide of her little brother) and Victoria Chang's OBIT (which uses the obituary format as a way to cope with her mother's death.)
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2 hours ago, M-Lin said:
I wanted to use Optima because I liked the font so much but eventually decided against it... put everything in Times New Roman. I've read somewhere that faculty members, having to read so many applications, tend to dislike sans-sarif fonts, for they can be hard on the eyes when reading for a long time. And, in my case, Times New Roman allowed me to fit a couple extra lines in the SOPs and writing samples. I found it especially valuable for SOPs since most schools ask for less than 2 pages so that one or two extra lines did make a difference.
I went with the safe choice because I didn't want to give the impression that I was trying hard to stand out by choosing an unusual font. But I think what matters ultimately is the quality of your writing; the style of the font won't improve or diminish it in any way.
Also, many literary journals' submission guidelines state that they prefer Times New Roman.
I ended up going with Palatino, which I find legible and also suited to my work, if that makes any sense lol. It's on most Apple products and on Google Docs too, so it's accessible. My friend who's in his MFA now at CU Boulder used it for his fiction apps and recommended it to me.
Agreeing though with the general consensus that font is not a make-or-break. I think as long as you go with a legible serif old-style font, you'll be fine.
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Just now, Starbuck420 said:
yeah, yeesh. was trying to register a good-faith critique, and did not mean to set this person off yall sorry
You've got nothing to apologize for. You're allowed to express your impressions of something and there's a HUUUGE difference between doing that and what this other user did.
Personally I only joined the Draft after finishing my applications but I've liked it so far! I think people are definitely more... professionally minded since FB doesn't offer the same anonymity that GF does, but I like having both communities for their own respective benefits. -
And that's the TEA, folx
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Just now, JPReinhold said:
The person you’re referring to is a disabled writer. So am I. What you just used is hate speech and you really need to rethink your choice of words. If you used that word in your MFA or at any job, they would have good reason to terminate you.
For real. All I can say after reading her last post is that I sure as heck hope I don't end up in a program with her. Maybe that's harsh, but it's 2021 and if you don't know how to not be an ableist jerk and to not be hostile towards your potential colleagues then it's not my job to pretend to tolerate it.
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16 minutes ago, Ydrl said:
Agreed.
Also, I appreciate your adorable profile picture. I’m not sure if you can tell, but mine’s of a Silkie chicken.
Thank you! I think we could all use more levity (and birds with hats for that matter). I love your Silkie chicken!! Always happy with more bird content in my life.
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44 minutes ago, Michelle Zeller said:
I disagree. In England, all university is free. Bernie Sanders wants to make it free here. Actually, in most of the world is free. On this issue, you side with the Republicans, but I cannot do so myself. I don't disagree with your right to vote Republican, though.
Perhaps I should have phrased differently; I meant, none of us are entitled to receive an *acceptance* into any of these programs. The programs themselves don't owe us anything. Ain't even gonna touch the bizarre (and inaccurate) political assumptions you made about me because I smell bait.
- largeheartedboy, Ydrl, CayceCamus and 3 others
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1 hour ago, Michelle Zeller said:
I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I am so pissed at Michener for making me spend an hour on a transcript and paying for the transcript when every other school allows an unofficial transcript. So I have to add that I don't believe in Jesus, but I do believe the irrationality of religion is a great topic for fiction. He won't get into "tons of the programs you applied to." You sound like me a few weeks ago when I didn't know anything about MFAs. I now have heard from everyone that no one gets in to a ton of programs. I do hate to be a Debbie Downer, but blame Michener. I have wasted money on 15 applications thinking I had a good chance everywhere and not knowing the acceptance rates.
I'm sorry that you're experiencing frustration with the process, but I'm not sure that expressing that as hostility toward the folx in this thread is going to help, by which I mean: it won't. I don't know who on the thread is going to get into this program or that program, and who is going to get into no programs at all, but I do know that everyone here 1. cares about their applications and 2. knows they're going through a harrowing process, and 3. probably has enough self-criticism going on in their heads already.
Also for what it's worth, no one on this thread can be accountable for how you made your decisions on applications and such, so while I know it's heartbreaking to hear about acceptance statistics and frustrating to learn about them after submitting, it's also not their fault that they acknowledged this. I come from a background where absolutely no one has an advanced degree, so I understand how weird and confusing and sometimes counter-intuitive the process and specifics of MFA apps can be, and how different the process is from undergrad (which itself was a confusing process too!) That said, many of the folx on this thread have put a lot of work into understanding it (and months into their applications), and most of the information we're sharing is stuff that can be found out just by doing some searching online. The opportunity to get an advanced degree which is fully paid for and funded is an incredibly lucky one; none of us are entitled to this type of education and we're just trying to do everything we can do to get there!
- The_Realeo, unfortunate ith, Ydrl and 9 others
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Woah! So much activity since I last checked in. Re: the discussions around Why Apply To This School, or How Do I Deal With The Super-Selectiveness, I've been lucky to have a faculty mentor who did his MFA at one of the Prestigious ProgramsTM (and got accepted to multiple with full funding) and set my expectations from the get-go. The day I came into his office and let him know I was thinking of applying to MFAs (two years ago), he told me this:
"I would never go out of my way to push someone to go to an MFA. But if you know that's what you want, then I'll support you all the way."
He said that because he wanted me to know that the process is challenging, financially risky, and poses little chance of major career success, but that the MFA education can still be valuable in other ways. I was (and AM!) SO LUCKY to have his advice, and thought I could share some of his best advice with all of y'all as we all sit here and wait (im)patiently for our decisions to roll in ?
1. Know what you're getting an MFA for: Are you going to get the credentials you need to teach at a collegiate level? Are you going so you can have 2-3 years to work on your project? Do you want to buckle down on craft and technical construction? Are you trying to connect with other writers to gain a sense of community and professional network? Do you want to move somewhere with an active literary scene to expand your ideas and reading lists? The answer to this question will frame how you decide which programs you're interested in.
2. Plan to apply twice (or more): My professor has always told me to expect to get rejected on the first go-around, and that it's really just a happy miracle if you get in then. You can use your first application cycle to familiarize yourself with the process and that will make your applications that much stronger in the next cycle. (I'm only on my first application cycle and I'm bracing myself for rejection).
3. Don't succumb to competitiveness: It's already tremendously difficult to get into an MFA, and odds are that only one or two people per program per year will end up going on to be meaningfully successful as a writer in their career. That doesn't mean you need to be mean, or treat your peers like your competition! The fact is, their success has no bearing on your ability to succeed (and vice versa). It's best to contribute to an environment of mutual support-- and in all likelihood, your peers will have their corner of the market they're interested in and you'll have yours!
4. Don't compromise (sorta): Unlike going undergrad, there are probably few (if any) people expecting you to get an MFA other than yourself. The only field that requires this type of degree for anything is some writing professorships, if that. To that end, only apply to (and accept) programs you'd be genuinely happy to attend!
5. Amazing writers get rejected: Amazing writers get rejected? Amazing writers get rejected. Amazing writers get rejected!! These programs are so selective that even really really talented writers will get turned down. Admissions teams might reject an application today that they would've accepted tomorrow. As others have said, it's a crapshoot! Try not to take decisions personally, and recognize that rejections are not a condemnation of your work. Admissions teams are making hard decisions between great applicants and sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. Either way, you should keep on writing!
I hope everyone is taking care and that you're all keeping busy while waiting for decisions, I know I'm going wild waiting haha
- The_Realeo, pattycat, unfortunate ith and 8 others
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hi all! just spent the last couple hours reading through this forum and wanted to join in on the action/anxiety. I'm a first-time applicant in Poetry, and I applied to 5 programs this year: Michener, NWP, UMich, UMN, and Brown. I only applied to programs I knew I'd love to attend, with the expectation that I'll likely get rejected and apply again next year (given the acceptance rates, I know even the best of writers sometimes get turned down for these schools!) I'm so glad to have found this forum; I thought I was being ridiculous already stressing about decisions in the first week of January, but now I know I'm not alone!!
I also did my undergrad at a certain school with a highly regarded MFA program that's located in Rhode Island (and begins with a B...) so if anyone wants to talk about the school / living in Providence / what the literary arts culture is like there, feel free to reach out!
- anna23, FairleyAlfy, Starbuck420 and 3 others
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2021 Applicants Forum
in Literary
Posted
shit are we.... supposed to submit a fafsa for UT???????