Hi all!! I'm Mary--so nice to meet everybody! :D I'm so glad this little corner of Grad Cafe exists--I randomly found Grad Cafe through an article I read online about when to expect an answer to grad program applications, and I'm so glad it directed me here. This website is absolutely bomb. :D
I ended up making a last-minute decision to apply to an MFA for Creative Writing via a whole lot of Jesus and prayer and finally having the courage to go after making my novel that I've been working on since I was 14 my MFA. I only applied to one program, Notre Dame's MFA for their prose track, and I applied there because my novel takes place during the Great Potato Famine in Ireland, and they have an absolutely fantastic Irish Studies program, as well as a service component to their program, which is also really important to me as both a writer and human. (I really want to get involved with their outreach track that deals with the Literatures of Annihilation and Exile (I can't remember the exact name of the track off the top of my head) because I want to use my words to help amplify the voices of marginalized communities and to write about issues in the education and social justice spaces; BIPOC issues and immigrant/refugee issues are very, very close to my heart.)
Between making the decision to apply and the deadline for the program, I had a ten-day turnaround period, and I still can't believe I actually applied to the program. That's kind of wild to me. I wish I'd had a better writing sample, but I'm just really proud of myself for applying in the first place, and for the fact that I wrote the first four pages of my novel in a creative whirlwind on the day of submission, and it was pretty much the best feeling ever to give voice to my main character, who has been in my heart and grown and matured with me through the past 15 years (I'm 29 now), and know that I have something special there.
I just wanted to wish everybody the best of luck with their applications and the decisions, and I look forward to getting to know everyone!! I think I'm going to cry and dance at the same time if I get in to this program--I want it more with each passing day.
God bless, everybody! So so glad I found this place!
~Mary
