M-Lin
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Posts posted by M-Lin
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2 minutes ago, CrankyGinger said:
I'm still waiting one way or the other, as well. And I came down with COVID so I literally have nothing to do except sit in my room in front of my computer and phone.
omg so sorry to hear that. lots of fluids and maybe you'll manage some reading as well. I hope you feel better soon! COVID is definitely still around...
and damnit they need to get their shit together. NYU and Columbia (I don't mean to single them out for any other reason) both have such a weird process of notifying the applicants. A call today, another call tomorrow; some e-mails, some portal changes. Like, why? At least NYU only had one person calling. Columbia's process seems even more nebulous.
not a helpful rant and not my first rant about this... fingers crossed for you!
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7 minutes ago, SMSM1229 said:
Where are you waiting to hear from if you don’t mind me asking
I, too, wonder what other sadistic schools have not notified other than BU and Columbia ?
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37 minutes ago, SMSM1229 said:
Oh yeah I saw that, it might be for poetry or CNF though. I just asked in draft if anyone for fiction was waitlisted or rejected, I'll let you know what people say! I know that someone in draft mentioned that they were waitlisted there for CNF
Thank you for relaying the message over here
So i take there are no updates in Draft either? srsly what's going on with this school....
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8 minutes ago, SMSM1229 said:
anyone get word from CU yet?
Quiet day here!
Just checked Results, there was a waitlist yesterday? Waitlists are already out? Is that the end of acceptances then?
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18 hours ago, SMSM1229 said:
I also got the same email from Columbia in response
My e-mail was not addressed to me in particular so I think we probably just got exactly the same e-mail. Mine had "We hope this helps!" at the end. I didn't write back but I really wanted to write back - NO, YOUR FORM ANSWER DOES NOT HELP. AT ALL. ?♀️
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1 hour ago, Blackhole said:
Is it true that Columbia is open admissions? I have no idea.
I think it’s - fake news. ?
- Cristie, Blackhole and woweezowee
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20 minutes ago, SMSM1229 said:
Thank you!!! Same to you!!!
- Blackhole and CrankyGinger
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I really hope this troll person is okay. I hope they satisfy their needs of hurting/bickering with strangers online (hopefully gradcafe is their only platform) and not IRL. Please seek help (not sure if therapy or drugs are affordable to you?) if not, meditation is a great gateway to understanding your own fear, anger and confusion. The insight timer mediation app is free if you have a smartphone, and it’s a good starting place.
Sending you positive thoughts.
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1 hour ago, tippybug said:
Not to sound unappreciative, but I don't understand the scholarship situations at a lot of these schools. I applied to Columbia hoping I'd be one of the few who gets full funding (delusions of grandeur and whatnot), but with the 20k scholarship I can't help but think... if I can't afford 60k per year, then I still likely can't afford 40k... How many people do they actually get to pay that much?? ?
Don’t say no yet until you try negotiating with them! They probably won’t budge but definitely worth trying.
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40 minutes ago, mrvisser said:
Been absent as of late because I felt my turn was over, but now that I've finally gotten my Iowa rejection in the mail, I can officially say that it's rejections across the board this year.
On to the next!
Hope you have a fruitful year of writing ahead! best of luck in the next round!
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1 minute ago, iai said:
Well, it seems like it means that everything will be sent out by the end of March ?
I think that’s a reasonable reading! ?
tbh I’m already sensing the bureaucracy intrinsic to a larger program and institution... which I sensed from the start, even from their online info session. (sorry for the rant) -
Btw. Heard back from Columbia regarding my inquiry. I emailed the Writing department but was redirected to the general Admissions Office of SOA. Very form answer - probably not helpful to anybody!
Here it is -
Thank you for applying to the School of the Arts. Applicants will receive an email from the selection committee about their status, including interviews, during the selection process. Final results will be emailed between mid March and April. Applications will remain open until final decisions are emailed out. -
2 minutes ago, JennyO said:
I GOT ACCEPTED INTO COLUMBIA WITH A SCHOLARSHIP!!! they just called ?
Congrats!!! Fiction??
- Boomer not Ok and shakyboots
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2 minutes ago, SofiTheCatGuardian said:
Of course! But I still keep checking Draft to see if anyone has heard anything lol.
Yeah, per their history, they seem to send out acceptances in late March and rejections in early April. Not even sure if they have a waitlist??
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27 minutes ago, SofiTheCatGuardian said:
Yep, I did and got a response March 15th stating we should be hearing back "by very beginning of April." But I really wish they could just send decisions out this week...
I remember now! I totally read your post. Thanks for emailing them lol
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also did anyone happen to have the guts/impatience to e-mail BU? It's not unusually late for them to not notify at this point but just wondering (out of boredom and anxiety) when they plan to notify this year.
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Would love to know from anyone who’s been admitted to Columbia - did you get any funding? I know Columbia is notorious about funding but in past results, there’s mention of some kind of full scholarship package or at least partial funding. (I know they pick favorites and give a little more money for second year, etc.)
It seemed like NYU called their fellowship acceptances first. Just wondering if Columbia is also doing this. The number of reported acceptances seems so low considering the large cohort size.
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6 minutes ago, JennyO said:
From my understanding some rejections have gone out and some acceptances have gone out via email OR phone call. Seems like there is no rhyme or reason to their methods. Someone did mention that they have been known to call over the weekend, so FINGERS CROSSED for everyone waiting to hear ??
Neither my way yet! Thanks for the info! ????
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Did Columbia fiction acceptances all go out today? So confused about their notification process... I e-mailed earlier today but didn’t hear back.
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44 minutes ago, dogeared said:
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.
Thank you for elaborating! Definitely something to consider in two years depending on where I will be. Good luck with your PhD!
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11 minutes ago, dogeared said:
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!
Thank you so much for taking the time to post this advice here! I feel like this should be published somewhere so someone can read this when they google "advice for MFA application".
Fortunately I don't think I'll need to apply for a second round, but I'm wondering why you decided to pursue a PhD beyond your MFA. I guess I'm already thinking ahead... do you mind elaborating on that a little bit? Thanks!
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21 minutes ago, Blackhole said:
also, that's my favourite Leonard Cohen song. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ thank you ?
You're welcome! And (good) journalists rock! One of my favorite writers is Peter Hessler and the narrative nonfiction he writes is much more compelling than most fiction out there. I imagine that there's so much you're able to explore from your unique position. I also see that you're from India! I recently read A Burning by Megha Majumdar and though I don't know how the novel came about, I wouldn't be surprised if it came from different pieces of local news. But I don't know your country, so it probably speaks to you differently.
Here's to more acceptances coming your way! And everyone's way, for that matter. ?
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11 minutes ago, Blackhole said:
LSU rejection. makes it four rejections so far. I guess my writing sucks. Or maybe I chose the wrong program. Or maybe I am an idiot. I have never written fiction and submitted a bunch of non-fiction stuff all patched/stitched together. I guess this is a reminder that I need to take it more seriously than I did and for the wrong reasons (needed to get out of my job and my country).
I thought about it and I guess it doesn't hurt so bad. I drank extra coffee today and now going to watch a horror film about zombies on Netflix. that's a good way to stop thinking about how everything sucks and how everything is better than being chased by the undead.
Sorry to hear - rejection sucks.
I saw that you like Leonard Cohen.
Here is one more thing you could do to deal with rejections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFl7Aex-FN4
(context: the journalist Maziar Bahari was imprisoned and being interrogated in Iran for 118 days, and, at one point, he chose to dance to the music in his head, though I think this didn't happen in real life lol)
- Blackhole, chaes and CayceCamus
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2021 Applicants Forum
in Literary
Posted
They had some weird glitch in their system. Did you check your portal?