CayceCamus

Cornell’s page still reads that they will notify by the end of February - so let’s hope that’s the case! 

I received a very kind email yesterday letting me know that I'm near the top of the waitlist for UW Madison! Keeping my fingers crossed that it will change to an offer as April 15th approaches. Apparently they received hundreds of poetry apps this year for just 6 spots.  Also hoping this means that I might be hearing good news from other programs in the future? Who knows?!  0a/2w/3r/7p
Also wanted to share my condolences for Vandy applicants--was also rejected and it was a tough one for sure. It wasn't surprising, but the idea of Nashville had grown on me somewhat :') 
Really messed up--what's going on at OSU, I mean. I heard that someone had already declined an offer from another school before they came out with the news. Really hope this doesn't happen to other programs... I know things are tough, but I feel like they could have been waaaayy more transparent. 

Here's a short story for yinz: 
A guy tried to mug me for my bike on the front steps of my apartment last night. Guy kept saying he'd break my fingers if I didn't let go of it, but with some effort I fought him off and ran inside, slamming the door behind me. Got upstairs and into my room, where I then received an email from Vanderbilt. 0a/2r/5p. All of a sudden flooded with the feeling of, "Aw heck, come back and take the bike. What do I care?"
Unbroken fingers crossed for the rest of them, though—best of luck to everyone! 

this is THE. VIBE. INDEED!!! i'm young and have NOTHING to lose. not a penny to my name and i owe nobody. trying to make some foolish choices before the inevitable, dreaded "settling" into a career.

Very true! Even the most "marketable" genres of the MFA are subject to a lot of luck and uncertainty. I'm just living in the moment--kind of seems like the infrastructure o the US is crumbling anyway, I figure I might as well do whatever I want in terms of what time I have. It's easy for me to say that though--I don't have kids or other people that rely on me. Maybe one day I'll get more serious about having a stable career and go into teaching, but for now I'm just trying to embrace a sense of adventure 

Just received an email accepting me to UMKC! 

Surprisingly I got 75% tuition

OMG CONGRATS!!!! That's so amazing!!!!!!!! I'm tearing up now. So happy for you!

YAAAAAYYYYY OMFG YAY!! You have no idea how much I've been rooting for you since I got bored a couple weeks ago and read most of the thread from last year as well ahahah I'm so happy for you! ❤️ 

Congrats, y'all. I am so proud of this group.
Also, I'm not sure if University of Iowa is in Bloomington (?), but someone just posted in Draft that they got an email about being waitlisted for poetry at "IU Bloomington," if there are any people who have applied to that particular school, just as a heads up.
EDIT: Haha, just googled and realized she must be referring to "Indiana University--Bloomington," not something with Iowa!!! I didn't want to freak out people on here because I know so many of y'all applied to Iowa! If anyone applied to Indiana University in Bloomington, though, hopefully that tadbit of info helps you in some way.

??? Hell yes you did it!

??? Hell yes you did it!

I'm not writing like I was before applying. I get spurts here and there where I'll be really productive for a day. The positive thing is that I'm always mapping out ideas and I know what to work on. My life in general is kind of up in there, even besides applications, so i'm confident I'll get back on track once I hear from all the schools.

??? Hell yes you did it!

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I GOT INTO SJCNY!!!!!!!
I’M GOING TO COLLEGE.
Brb I’m gonna go move my car and maybe cry happy tears a little bit.

Hey! I'm 40 myself. I'm applying right out of undergrad (took me 20 years to complete a four year degree), but from everything I've seen, being "on the older side" isn't necessarily a negative thing. 

Posts like these (and all the rest, I just can't quote them all!) make me feel so seen. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the greatest silver lining of this anxious-nail-biting-waiting-to-find-out phase has been, hands down, *virtually* meeting all you lovely people, hearing about what you're reading, and writing. Wow. This was the loveliest things I've read on the internet in ages. 
Yes. YES. To all of the above. Dalloway. Woolf. Paradise Lost. I'm just giggling to myself over here thinking about all the potential book titles. 
As for what I'm reading. For fiction, I'm in the last stretch of Crudo by Olivia Laing and trying to make it last as long as possible. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of it. Once I did, it blew my mind. For poetry, The War Makes Everyone Lonely by Graham Barnhart and Vantage by Taneum Bambrick. For nonfiction, the new Sylvia Plath biography by Heather Clark, Red Comet. OH My GOSH. It is so good. Alright, that's all for me for now. Can't wait to continue learning about what you're all reading, etc.

Thank you for this. It's a really, really useful reminder.
We won't know until we know, and there's no way to know until something actually happens.
It's the worst! But that's just how it is!

freaking out y'all - i just got an email that i'm in for CNF at USF with a GA offer (I think they offer that to all accepted students but not sure). i've really been through it these last few months - thank you to everyone here for being so supportive and helpful ❤️❤️❤️ 

ya'll see that this thread is officially marked "HOT?"
 
we made it!

hi! just wondering if anyone can provide more info on the stereotypical "Bukowski mfa bro"? Bukowski is one of my favorite authors and it's interesting to see people mention those who read him as pretentious? just wanted to see more about that and why he falls into the stereotype? I guess I just honestly I haven't really heard that from anyone. I mostly hear about 'infinite jest' and others shitting on people who love it. I guess it's all really dumb in a way, but, now I'm wondering if people view me negatively when I mention my love for Bukowski. 
also I love Nikolai Gogol! I'm a Russian speaker myself so I find Russian authors to be extraordinary and pretty dark to be honest (which I like). Reading Gogol's and Tolstoy and Dostovesky's works in Russian is particularly meaningful and the English translation doesn't really hold up as much but those works are remarkable for sure in any language. anyways! just my two cents!  hope everyone is hanging in there. 

Interesting. I'd heard it's "good" to show you're well-read/in tune with what's going on in the literary landscape today, but I also think it's a useless exercise to try to make the application process into a game that is possible to win by doing the "right" things wherever possible. By which I mean it makes sense to name people you actually care about, whether they're dead, obvious, whatever.
I mentioned Curtis Sittenfeld, Ling Ma, Halle Butler, Mary Gaitskill, and Ottessa Moshfegh everywhere, I think, and I'm pretty sure I threw Elif Batuman into one longer SOP. My hope is that someone will read that after reading my sample and be like, "OK, I get it," but honestly, who TF knows.

Whoa really? Shit; better get myself in order.

Just popping in to say I hope everyone’s hanging in there. I’ve been a little too paralyzed with anxiety to participate.
I’m guessing Iowa will notify tomorrow or at least sometime this week (Michener as well), so good luck to all who applied there! 

I love how this is what we’re doing with our Valentine’s Day. Being worried writing nerds on the internet.