eternalwhitenights

Man, this group is popping today. Congratulations!!!!!

Oh, I'm so happy for you love. ❤️ Congrats!!!!

I only applied to one school, Notre Dame, super, super last minute (like, I submitted on the last day you could), so you're not alone. Congrats on getting your applications in--that's often the biggest step, and that's a huge accomplishment all on its own. You know, I think at the end of the day, if you write from your heart, if you're authentic in your work, if you are emotionally honest in your prose and your words and your experience, and you couple that with truly focusing on programs that have both faculty and the resources relevant and helpful to your proposed MFA, and if you are truly open to learning and growing and being pushed in your work, then you're 90% of the way there. Weird shit happens (i.e. a global pandemic) that can throw things into a wild-card status, but what matters, what truly matters, is that you are authentic, that you are you, and that you write from your deepest depths. Authenticity, emotion, existential resonance--that is what matters, if your work and your words speak to the complexities and richness and paradoxes and freewheeling joys of the human experience, and you do it in a way, where you are just yourself--your work will make an impact, some way, somehow, and the key is to keep going, and keep writing. You can do it, whatever that journey ends up looking like ultimately, no matter how many zigs and zags it contains, I promise. ❤️ You've got this. ❤️

Friends, I believe Marshall/gustav has made another appearance. Panglosian, he's been a troll on here popping up under different usernames--pay no mind. Hope you're doing all right, and I hope you got waitlisted, too. Keep us posted. ❤️

I know there's been a lot of acceptances and waitlists for WashU over on Draft and the "results" page here on GradCafe, and I know there are a lot of you here who applied to it. I'm sending prayers, hugs, love, and encouragement, and don't give up. Wanted to pop this meme in here to remind y'all of something important:

P.S. St. Louis is a pretty great place. WashU has a beautiful campus (it can be a little hoity-toity, IMHO), but there are TONS of cool little places and neighborhoods to discover. I'm partial to Dogtown, Central West End, Forest Park, Tower Grove, South Grand (that's THE place to go to try new international restaurants), and the Shaw Neighborhood. Sometimes, you have to look a bit, but St. Louis is a really beautiful city and the rent here is bomb compared to other places, haha!

Congrats babe! Also, y'all, have some faith in yourselves. All you need is one school to say yes. You can do it. ❤️

Awww thank you. ❤️ That compliment made my day haha! Confirmed and agreed. Thanks for the heads-up.

Aaaaand I think you just proved my gut suspicion. Can you please stop being rude to people on this forum, whoever you are? I truly do wish you well, but you're really not adding to any conversation or sense of community here, so can you please stop the rude comments? Thank you.

Tbh, I wasn't as sure about you. ? Sorry, there's just been a spate of posts/harassment with this guy who's been trying to troll this page and keeps popping up under different profile names, and because your post's tone seemed to be going along with this gustav guy's (who is very obviously a troll), I brought it up. I do apologize if I was off there and misunderstood. I hope you're not a troll, haha!

Y'all, I think Gustav and Wolfman are trolls. Is there a way to report them?

Umm....huh? Lol.

Because you're human and only have so much time and energy. You did great. You've got this. You're going to be okay, promise. ❤️

You're amazing!!!! Congratulations!!! Oh my gosh, how cool would it be if literally every single one of us got into our programs??? And for a PhD that is AMAZING. Yo. Do you think you're going to go for your PhD or MFA? Woohoo!!!! Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you, and congratulations on your success. Hope that beer was downright delicious.

I'm so happy for you, congrats!! Man, this group is rolling with it!

Congratulations!!!!

Oh my gosh!!! Congratulations!!!! I'm so happy for you and your kids!!! I'm so happy this is the first success of the season!!!!! This is the best group ever! Congrats 8 billion times over, and here is how I feel for you right now:

Aww, my heart goes out to all the people who are having imposter syndrome. I've felt that internal merry-go-round, too, at various points throughout this process (and I'm sure I will again), but I just wanted to offer a thought about it that I hope can help. Someone above mentioned feeling like their life revolved around these applications. One, that shows how much you care about this process, so I'd consider that aspect of it a positive, so don't be too hard on yourself, love. ❤️ However, I also wanted to posit a thought for reflection: have you thought about who/what you place your sense of worth or identity in? If you place your sense of self-worth, or sense of success, or even your sense of identity solely on whether or not you get accepted into these programs, that could be a part of why you're feeling like your life revolves around these applications. You are absolutely more than whether or not you get into an MFA program this year, or ever, and maybe remembering that you are a multi-faceted person, with so, so much to offer the world, who also happens to have other hobbies and interests and dreams and thoughts to offer the world, and that can still be offered to the world, both in and out of an MFA program--just expanding your idea of what success can look like, or even what makes you "you," might be a place to start to help assuage some of the obsessive checking. I hope you get in, and I hope all your dreams come true in a way that helps you become the best version of yourself. God bless you, friend, and sending you hugs and encouragement over these interwebz in the interim. ❤️

I sure hope it does, too. Yeah, this whole grad school thing has been 10ish years in the making on my soul, so there's that as a factor in terms of my clarity, too, ha. I'm kind of glad I ended up applying last minute because I wasn't able to overthink it too much--just reading about all the prep work people put into their rounds of applications...it's like a full-time job in and of itself! I think it'd be so flipping cool to be classmates with someone off this thread--can you imagine how awesome it would be to have a friend going into the program?

Haha, I wouldn't worry too much about not getting a "ThinkND" email. It's just their department newsletter. ? I will say, though, it has been kind of cool to observe what some of the flow of campus offerings are, and what ideological trends are being explored through academic series, workshops, etc. It's just confirmed for me more than ever that this is the next right step for me, and that there is so much good that can come from attending here, especially in the context of my novel. I hope you hear back from something soon! When I stalked the results page a few weeks ago, it looked like a lot of their results came in mid-late February, so I'm thinking that's a safe time to expect at least some word back. But hopefully sooner rather than later...or, in other words, AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Happy Sunday, y'all. Just wanted to drop in and see how y'all have been--no word on my application yet (no surprise there), but of course, I'm checking every couple of days. I got an email from "ThinkND" today, and my heart skipped five beats. It was just a newsletter, but OMG my heart truly leapt. I can only imagine what it's going to be like the day I find out. How's everybody doing? Hanging in there/anybody heard any major news back yet?

You've got this, dear! Congrats on just applying in the first place from across the ocean. That takes so much courage in and of itself to be willing to chase your dreams away from your comfort zone of home, so major props to you on that. Where did you apply to for your MFA, if you don't mind me asking? P.S. I hope you get some decent sleep before all the results go out, at least for a few nights during the interim! ?

Thank you so much. I couldn't have done it without Jesus, tbh. Also, I've spent so long just getting to a place where I allowed myself to be happy and go after what I want, that this process was more of a "Why not?" instead of a "Why do you think you can actually do this?" That vulnerability and self-love was monumental for me, in and of itself. Good luck to you on all of your apps, too! Cool cool. And yes--I so relate to that feeling of just wanting to make it in. I bet you'll make it into tons of the programs you applied to--I believe in you!! What kind of writing do you do (like do you gravitate towards a certain genre, time period, style, etc.)? I'm just so excited for everybody here, and I can't wait to see everyone's results. ❤️ We're going to rock this, y'all!

Definitely. Community makes all the difference in the world. And deadline-wise, yeah, that makes sense. I didn't really have a frame of reference for other programs, because, like I'd mentioned in one of my other posts, this was the only program I applied to, so I kind of have tunnel vision when it comes to the broad scope of the application cycle. It's interesting to read about other people's experiences, though--I'm rooting for everyone here! Is ND a top choice? I see in your signature there's lots of different programs you applied to--which ones are your top choices? Also, kind of random sidenote, but I saw you applied to Washington University in St. Louis. I'm from St. Louis, and I can attest to WashU being a very beautiful campus. I didn't even realize they had an MFA, but hey, you learn something new everyday. I hope you get into it regardless!

Ah that's so cool! Have you heard anything yet? Also, super nice to meet you! :)Haha this is so much fun seeing other applicants and having commiseration and collaboration buddies!