goodcynara

I did this before in a different field and am pretty sure I just sent an email saying “I’d love to attend your program, but I can’t afford it without more aid.” And I got more aid (but didn’t attend anyway—long story). Dunno if that’s especially good advice, LOL, but it’s my experience. 

Seconding this strategy; I've used it as well with some success. Even if the program doesn't have more moeny immediately, it can bump you higher on the list if more funding opens up. You can also leverage other offers/funding sources if you have them ("I'm choosing between multiple programs, and funding is one of my primary concerns...").

For sure!

No joke! Faculty member Jake Slichter wrote a book about his days in Semisonic! And here's a cool interview with David Ryan about his connection to writing and music. Duuuuuuuuuuuuude.

Totally. LMK how your meeting with Paige goes!

No joke! Faculty member Jake Slichter wrote a book about his days in Semisonic! And here's a cool interview with David Ryan about his connection to writing and music. Duuuuuuuuuuuuude.

Wait, wtf, are you serious???!! I mean, I definitely have a big boner for their program, but that is just a cherry on top. I have mine on Wednesday!

DUDE. I learned in my meeting with Paige yesterday that two of their faculty members are veteran drummers from a couple of super cool bands: The Lemonheads and Semisonic! Damn SLC, you are winning my heart.

DUDE. I learned in my meeting with Paige yesterday that two of their faculty members are veteran drummers from a couple of super cool bands: The Lemonheads and Semisonic! Damn SLC, you are winning my heart.

DUDE. I learned in my meeting with Paige yesterday that two of their faculty members are veteran drummers from a couple of super cool bands: The Lemonheads and Semisonic! Damn SLC, you are winning my heart.

I went to it and honestly it got me really excited about possibly going there. The program is all about craft and community, so it doesn't have that cut throat competition approach. It was a lot of fun and inspiring, at least for me. I'm having a zoom chat with Paige next week to discuss more about it one on one. 

Yeah, I'm gonna talk to her about that too! 

Incredibly generous. Thank you for taking the time to post this!

Maybe I'll make a Google Doc haha! 
Congrats on not needing to apply again.  And yeah, a PhD in Creative Writing definitely isn't necessary at all. If you want to teach creative writing, an MFA and a published book are usually enough. I decided to do a PhD because I wanted more formal education in literature rather than just creative writing. My MFA did have lit classes for sure, but not enough for me to get experience teaching literature. I did get to teach undergrad creative writing, but I also want to publish academically and teach literature. I applied for a mix of English Lit and Creative Writing PhDs. The one I'm going to is kind of a mix of both, which is perfect for me. Besides, getting funded to write a novel isn't a bad choice to me considering the current landscape of things -- getting hired to teach at universities is always a bit rough, but especially now. A PhD will give me more time to write, some sort of income, and more teaching experience. 

Hi friends! LONG POST INCOMING. I hope it is helpful.
Some weeks back I mentioned that my institution has one final-year student in each genre join the admissions committee and review incoming apps. I got to review incoming fiction applications. I'm very grateful for the behind-the-scenes view I got of the admissions process. This week we finally had our meeting to finalize our list of offers (it was a 3-hour meeting). I wanted to offer some advice and share some observations for anyone applying again next cycle. 
As a note, of course no advice will be universal. Every department and every writer is different. There is no surefire way to guarantee admission to a program. These are just things I've realized as an MFA student/adcom member and wished I knew before applying. 
Your writing sample is the most important thing. I think people have been told this already, but I want to emphasis this point. Your CV is not as important. Of course, it might not hurt to have a flourishing CV, but having more publications and experience in literature/writing won't mean much if your writing sample doesn't stand out from the bunch. The CV was the last thing we looked at in applications.  
Perfect and polished work isn't always the best. It sounds a bit weird -- I know. Of course, you should send what you are confident in. But ultimately, you are meant to grow stronger as a writer in an MFA program. If your writing sample doesn't show that you would benefit from graduate school, then some profs in admissions question what they would even be able to teach you. Think about whether you would benefit from workshop and formal education. The most excited manuscripts to read (which we all agreed on unanimously) were the ones that did something interesting and were kind of rough around the edges. This might not be the case for institutions that value something different than ours, but it is important to us that writers can really grow and get something out of our program. We weren't as excited about people who sent by-the-books "perfect" stories. The writing was great, but it was hard to picture these applicants in a workshop. This is difficult because we always want to submit the best work possible to programs. But to the admissions committees, this sample is all they can use to determine if you would benefit from graduate school. This is something I didn't think about until I was behind the scenes. I noticed myself much less interested in pieces that were perfect. Everyone on the committee was excited about the possibilities for growth they saw in a manuscript and for the successful risk takers that tried something interesting that surprised them. (Again, though, every program and committee will be different)  
The mindset behind reviewing MFA apps is very different from the mindset behind reviewing litmag submissions. Luckily, I have years of experience reading for litmags. In that scenario, you want to find the polished, well-written, balanced stories that don't need as much work. The ones that are ready for publication. The mindset is different when reviewing writing samples for MFA apps. We generally were interested in innovative forms/perspectives/styles that would greatly benefit from years of workshop and formal education.   
You do not need an MFA from a highly-ranked program. You do not need the shortest program possible. Look at funding and program fit before anything else!  Really think about why you want an MFA. Hopefully you want it because you want to become a stronger writer and work with a community of other writers. Maybe there is a faculty member at the institution you're applying to that you really admire and want to work with. Maybe you want it to pursue a teaching career in creative writing. These are all great reasons to me. But if you just want the MFA to have the MFA, chances are you will make the wrong choices when it comes to which programs to apply to. You might get accepted to these places and not feel fulfilled. When I was first applying to MFAs in 2017, I was really interested in the big-name schools that would make me feel accomplished and important on paper. And I was really interested in the shortest programs possible. I think big-name schools are still worth applying to, of course, if you genuinely believe you could thrive and grow in that school's environment then I definitely think you should apply. And I always encourage "aiming high" because why not? But make sure the faculty and culture of that place fit with your goals. And I genuinely can say that most people I know who have MFAs agree on longer, fully-funded programs being the better choice over 1-year ones. After all, you are there to learn and work on a manuscript. If you can get paid for years to really dig into your work, I would take that. 1-year programs might be stressful and overbearing, and you might finish feeling like you were able to grow or absorb any actual information. Having the time and space to experiment and question everything is really valuable. But everyone is different! Maybe you thrive under pressure or you have other commitments and life situations that make shorter programs more ideal. That totally makes sense. No matter what though, please please please look for FUNDING. If you only aim for the most popular programs, your chances for funding are lower. There is a larger applicant pool. That is a fact. Try adding some lesser-known schools with great faculties. They often have a bunch of funding for you and a smaller applicant pool. After all, if your reasoning for getting an MFA is to learn and grow as a writer, then the name of the school shouldn't be what is most important to you. I stand by this fully. And again, I still think its great to try for more famous programs...don't say no for them. AGAIN: This advice may vary by writer, by program, by admissions committee. Nothing is black-and-white. I just found these things to be really important to consider. 
This is a lot of writing lol. I'm sorry for the wall of text. I'm happy to DM anyone who wants to talk more. I am graduating with my MFA (fiction) in May, and I've been accepted into a PhD program for English Lit and Creative Writing for the Fall. I am happy to answer any questions! Good luck!

That's because you are a truth-teller. I was a cop for a bit and all I ever did was tell the truth. When I left that career, I couldn't write nonfiction...I was so mentally blocked there. But I told myself I was tired of seeing and telling all the ugly truths. I used fiction as a way to escape that often morbid reality. So I get the bad shit you see and how it sticks with you. Not everyone will agree with me, but I found that writing in third person, past tense really helped me detach from that issue I was having (from a truth-telling profession). All those times I wished the ending for people would have been different...I wrote it that way-the way I wish it could have been. Maybe try that. The guy with the bird...I'd read that one.

It can't hurt you to inquire. They aren't that sensitive and ready to reject, lol.

I love to push the limits in nonfiction though...using metaphor, imagination and dreams, skewed memories, etc. Creative nonfiction or autofiction (it's ok to break the rules a bit).
And for Blackhole...when I get stumped. I just open a dictionary, blindly flip to a page and put my finger down. Then I look at all the other words on that one page that I can use...the brain starts putting things together and boom...story. What I'm saying is that sometimes writing prompts help. Word a day calendars, google writing prompt lists. You like Leonard-he's powerful. Turn a song into a story. Music is a great writing inspiration too. I wrote an entire novel over an old Echo and the Bunnymen song. Over a single line about a blue moon that caught me. Another over the line "on the edge of seventeen"- and I bet we could all write a story based on that line alone. I've used Stevie Nix, Black Sabbath, Cowboy Junkies...all kinds of music. People watching...in the grocery, stuck in traffic...keep a notepad on your dash for stoplight inspiration...make them all serial killers, escaped prisoners, lovers or whatever your thing is. Everyone around you is a possible character. I'm already intrigued by the people you've mentioned so far. Use them.
I'd love to hear what others do when they hit that wall. 
Team Edward... Oubukibun...(not really, but the Twilight thing made me chuckle).  

WAITLISTED AT NYU. JUST NOW. I KNOW THATS NOT NECESSARILY THE BEST NEWS BUT THEY WERE MY TOP CHOICE AND I FEEL LIKE THIS IS STILL SO VALIDATING RN??? ITS NOT THE WORST NEWS??

Do it for sure. Paige said that more funding can definitely open up circa the April 15 deadline. 

This is the kind of club to which I want to belong!

Here for the LC love. If you haven't gotten to the posthumous release, Thanks for the Dance, beautifully produced by his son, Adam, it is a stunner.

Here for the LC love. If you haven't gotten to the posthumous release, Thanks for the Dance, beautifully produced by his son, Adam, it is a stunner.

@Ydrl: You might enjoy this engaging podcast of Victoria Chang interviewing in-house literary publicist for Copper Canyon Press, Laura Buccieri, who continues to work as a poet and sounds like the loveliest person:
Host Victoria Chang and guest Laura Buccieri, Director of Publicity at Copper Canyon Press, discuss the life of a literary publicist: strategies for gaining reviews, managing author expectations, discovering the story of a book, the longevity of poetry, and Laura’s commitment that every book gets heard. Part 1 of 2.
https://antiochlitcit.libsyn.com/antioch-litcit-3-laura-buccieri

I have been a lurker all this while. Just wanted to say I got my rejections from NYU and Syracuse and UCSD. I haven't been able to write, think or read all this while. But now, I want to eat a slice of cake and listen to Leonard Cohen and crawl out of this dark den and find flowers and other pretty things.