goodcynara

Right on, sister. Rejection stings, but does anyone else find it is immediately followed by a bizarre, giddy euphoria -- the kind that makes you feel free? And dare I say, a little relieved? Getting into an MFA program was never the goal. The goal is to write what only we can write. And maybe create the occasional garden paradise. (Boiling water on seed-starting soil is a fresh tip; thanks!)

I'll be at ASU

Hi ya'll!
I saw some questions about BU. I got accepted and was notified via phone call last Friday. I am not sure what's up with fiction, but I was told I should know who else is in the poetry program by the end of this week. I will be attending BU and I'm turning down my offer to Sarah Lawrence and withdrawing my name from the NYU waitlist. Good luck to everyone!
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(First time applicant, BFA '18)
Applying to: Boston University, Brown, Columbia, Northwestern, New York University, Purdue, Sarah Lawrence, University of Michigan, University of Virginia
Accepted: Boston University, Sarah Lawrence 
Waitlisted: New York University
Rejected: Brown, Columbia, Northwestern, University of Michigan, University of Virginia
????: Purdue 
Attending: Boston University 

They are very lucky to get you!
 

They are very lucky to get you!
 

Committed to New Hampshire.

Seconding @Greel-- writing a lot on the job makes it harder for me to write in my spare time. Using the same "mental muscles" at work and home exhausts me. I liked (or at least tolerated) admin work, because it allowed me to save my mental resources for my own projects.

Just my two cents-- but I did a ton of copywriting after I graduated which then gradually shifted into PR. I did write alot, as I was promised by well meaning advice givers in my family, but it was all marketing copy/bylines & I absolutely hated PR. I have so much more brainspace for my own writing when I'm working jobs that are totally unrelated-- I got a lot done when I quit and worked at a factory packing candles into boxes lol! But it definitely is a choice I've made that has influenced how much $$ I make and my level of comfort in other parts of my life. TLDR-- you can write a ton in a nonwriting related field, or write very little in a field seemingly more connected....Or you may not find this to be true. It ultimately depends on how you personally work best, ya know!
Also-- @Cecsav, library life sounds so nice!!!

Rejection from BU today. Best of luck to all of you guys. This cycle is over for me and I'm trying again next year unless I become a millionaire and even maybe then. 

Dude same. I don't think I really need my answer from CU, I've made my decision. When a program feels like it crafted for you and how you write and work and you connect to faculty and the curriculum, then the decision becomes much easier.

That comparison is indeed helpful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
Perhaps chief among my issues is that I WANT TO GO TO ALL THE PROGRAMS!

Well, I'd hardly consider the MFA application process the hardiest barometer for writing prowess.  Like standardized testing, it tries to categorize and label the quality of someone's ability to do that one thing "right" (either the MFA application process or the standardized test), but is ill-equipped to illustrate any form of real intelligence, talent, wit, or even potential outside of the parameters of either an application process or a standardized test format.
The great absurdity of having to use a method that can't show me your fullest self in order to even be able to consider you at all.  With all our great thinking and the vastness of the mind, we still haven't been able to sift through it all and find a solution.
Is it really a wonder that so many authors, and big name authors, too, and artists, are all shunned, underappreciated, outright rejected, or ignored for most of their living?
The fact that we stand as much of a chance at getting into a school if we were to sit in on a Divination class and read the dregs of our coffee than we do preparing an SOP weeks or months in advance...
 
Well, thanks, Godot.

Congrats! Wishing you much joy and success!

Just wanted to sign off and say "bye" to everyone on here! I chose my school and I'm moving on to obsessing about moving. (Just FYI - I still haven't heard from Univ Florida, Univ Alaska Fairbanks, Florida State Univ, or Northern Michigan. ?‍♀️
REMEMBER - there will be BOATLOADS of waitlist activity. People are getting in off of waitlists weeks before they normally do right now - most people applied to so many programs and will only go to one. 

HANG IN THERE and keep your hopes up! 

Creative Non Fiction! I'm excited for the mock class later this week for my genre. 
I'm really interested in the program and excited about the idea of being by the city but not in the city lol. But I didn't get much funding...I'm hoping to ask for more and see how that is received. 

Y'know, if things don't work out with colleges/funding, I might apply to some PhD programs next year. I'm thinking both Creative writing PhDs and Folklore PhDs.

Congrats on New School. I'm not sure if there's ever a "right time" to do an MFA. Or at least it differs for everyone, I guess, depending on desire, circumstances, resources and other factors. I'm middle-aged (kids in college) with advanced degrees in unrelated fields. I've never done a workshop or a creative writing course and I never thought about getting an MFA when I was younger. It's only when I started writing poetry and fiction about 8 yrs ago and found I kept coming back to writing, and thinking about it all the time, that I started to take the idea of getting an MFA seriously. I feel now is the "right time" for me, b/c I feel I could use the benefit of a writing community as well as finding mentors who could help me shape my work, especially a novella I've completed. But maybe I'll find getting an MFA sucks and I'll be like the man said, "Get me the fuck outta here." Then, I'll explore other options (low-res maybe, workshop classes etc.). In any event, I think you'll know when the time is right for you and then hopefully you will find a program that's a good fit. 

I emailed UC riverside about when decisions are coming out. They let me know they were still working on it but didn’t give a timeline ...

That comparison is indeed helpful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
Perhaps chief among my issues is that I WANT TO GO TO ALL THE PROGRAMS!

Thanks, @Cristie! I have been making work in other disciplines (music, theatre, multimedia performance) on my own for a couple decades, though it's true that I've had the benefit of incredible collaborators. Some time ago, I reached out to two of the poetry instructors with whom I've been studying over the past year. Between the two of them, they attended both of the low-res programs to which I applied and had nothing but wonderful things to say about them. But I will take your advice and reach out again with the current situation. I am also going to reach out to a friend who is an accomplished and esteemed novelist; perhaps she knows some of the faculty here or there.
One fiction writer who attended Bennington said that he definitely feels that literary journals give his work more attention post-Bennington. I'm in it to devote concentrated time, energy, and study to developing my craft, but that certainly doesn't hurt!
Thanks so much for weighing in - very generous of you. I'll report back when I have news!

This is a tough one. If this were me, I'd have to really ask myself if I had the kind of self discipline a low-res would require. My poetry professor did one (in Maine?) and raves about it. But I need to be IN/AT school to learn best (covid taught me that). So I think it comes down to YOU, not them. I'd also email your chair, AND mentor/professor and pose the situation to them. Get 2 different professional opinions from those who know you and probably about those programs. Might want to write "urgent". Good luck, interested to see how you work out of this pickle! Lol. Give an update!

That comparison is indeed helpful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
Perhaps chief among my issues is that I WANT TO GO TO ALL THE PROGRAMS!

Same! Megan, Bennington's current Associate Director, sent me the itinerary for their recent residency and it looks fantastic. A friend who graduated last year echoed your experience of it being incredibly good and rigorous. If you're not following them on Twitter, I recommend it. They are making a concerted effort to connect with and celebrate their alumni, and it's full of interesting tips. Thanks for sharing your experience!

That's tough. In my mind there are several factors to consider.
Low-res (to my knowledge) doesn't usually offer funding, but it's easier to hold a job outside the university. That can be valuable if you're already on your career path.
Personally, I had no strong career prospects yet. The work I do as a TA is preferable to my other options on the job market. The professionalization of the MFA (via teaching, lit mags, etc) is valuable for me. At this age (24), I can afford to take the pay cut (my stiped is about $18k right outside a major city). Not to mention I wanted a close-knit community, and that seemed (keyword seemed) easier to achieve in full-res. For all these reasons, I went with full-res.
I know that was mostly my experience, but maybe it's helpful to compare your priorities to mine?

I graduated from Bennington in, gulp, 1996. I was in the second class. The program is incredibly good, rigorous, and demanding. Liam Rector was the program director at the time, and he brought phenomenal writers in to lecture. The main reason I went to Bennington, though, was for the opportunity to grow as a writer and not for the letters MFA.