Botanica

Some more news! In at Texas State with funding info to come around March 12th!!! Edit: via phone call yesterday ✨

Just got accepted (via email) at Georgia College & State with full funding and the Arts & Letters Journal Editing Fellowship! I truly thought this round was going to be a wash - I'm so emotional ?

I would suggest for the age old, "What questions do you have for us?", ask them what areas of opportunities they see within your portfolio/experiences/etc. Also, do some digging into what your program has to offer outside of the coursework and ask them about how to get involved with those things or to expand on what their literary community has to offer (this could be events, activism, teaching opps, publishing, etc).

Hi everyone! I just got accepted at University of North Carolina Wilmington for poetry via email! I’m not sure if anyone else applied there, but I was told funding deliberations would be starting shortly. After several rejections and a few days before my wedding, this was such a wonderful email to receive!

Did you guys see the U Alabama acceptance on draft and the results page? I'm crossing my fingers for a phone call from them ?

Hi! I'm getting married in 3 weeks, facing a moving deadline, and am also feeling the anxiety. You're definitely not alone!

I'm feeling the same way. I thought this was more on target than most of the other schools I applied to, but with the influx of applicants this year, I feel like my earlier ideas are so skewed.

Oh no... I applied there too. Here's to hoping we get our round 2 emails soon! Are you applying for Fiction or Poetry? I'm sure you've mentioned it somewhere in here! If you're applying for poetry, one of the professors there, Aimee Nezhukumatathil is an absolute JOY. She is one of the reasons I am really hoping I get accepted there.

I really appreciate your thoughts here! I think that at the end of the Slate article, Reginald Dwayne Betts said it best, "The problem here, he said, is that the blind submission perpetuates the same inequities that are always present in Poetry’s selection process. “Poetry already privileges access and opportunity. Blind submission? It’s gonna privilege folks that have more access to that skill development, whether it’s an MFA or a prison program. The inclusion of this cat is more evidence that the process didn’t work.” The issue for me isn't highlighting the voices of incarcerated people, but more so the lack of accountability and insight within PoFo. It just sucks that out of all of the incarcerated people they could have chosen to highlight, they chose a sick white man with a PhD who already has had privileges beyond what others in the system could have hoped for. I'm definitely not qualified to weigh in on this in a decisive way, and I don't think that this situation is black and white. At the end of the day, I believe that PoFo could have, and should have, done better.

I totally agree! As far as I am aware, they haven't addressed it either. I just don't understand how they keep getting a pass.

I have been following it pretty closely. I had a fellowship with PoFo the summer of 2019 and subsequently got to know a lot of people associated with them. To be quite honest, they have been on the steady decline for years in terms of their actions, diversity, inclusion, etc. I don't know if you guys heard about the actual shit storm they caused back when the BLM movement was at it's peak last year, but I would encourage you to check out the letter of demands/petition sent to them by past fellows, poets, and readers as well as their following, multiple, milquetoast responses. This latest issue is just a strong representation of their continued lack of awareness, leadership, and common sense. It's honestly so disgusting. I am grateful for my experience as a fellow and the community it gave me, but I definitely don't want to be involved with them in the future, which is a huge shame because historically they are one of the few organizations to pay poets. And now I won't apply for the Ruth Lilly ?

That’s what mine says too- seeing the reported rejection definitely got my heart rate up though!

Hi! I applied to WashU as well and only have the applyweb link.

I'm concentrating in poetry!

Hi! Just found this thread! I briefly attended a low res program, Warren Wilson, before realizing it wasn't right for me, and now I've applied to 10 schools for Fall 2021. My list includes Iowa, Michener, U Wisconsin, WashU, U Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas State, Southern Illinois, UNC Wilmington, and GCSU. I'm looking forward to seeing where everyone else is applying/attending!