jka0124

Well, to start with, there should be no secret, threatening private messages, such as the one that drove EternalWhiteKnight out. What the moderators do should be disclosed. Where did EWK say there was a threatening private message? The exchange she mentions was right in the post. Anyway, MFAs, blah blah blah, Columbia takes forever. Someone I know got into the program in August. That feels terrifying.

It seems like your main goal is teaching. Why is the MFA part of the plan? To be candid, some programs see an emphasis on teaching as a negative. There just aren’t many teaching jobs out there. You may be able to circumvent the MFA altogether and just get a PhD in English if the PhD is your goal. I’m just spitballing a bit here though. Ultimately I think you should try again next cycle! I bet your next app will be much much stronger.

At this point, just ignore the troll, jamesstrickington.

The comment regarding a “declaration” was here on the results page, not on Draft though.

They call to accept you. The comment you’re talking about [“application decisions won’t be delivered over the phone”] means that *applicants* shouldn’t call to receive their decision. Can you imagine if everyone tried to do that and then some poor admin has to talk down everyone upset over being rejected? Ew.

People surprisingly get in off the waitlist quite often. Usually because the Michener people also get into Iowa and Michigan etc etc and actually *want* to teach. I don’t think Michener is very forthcoming about rankings but you should email in two weeks or so to check in. Billy, the one who does all the admin stuff, is quite nice. My best advice is to plan to reapply next year. That way you either get a happy surprise or you’re already prepared for round two if you get rejected.

Ooooh Brooklyn. Are you leaning that way? Also, are you poetry or fiction? (You have probably said this repeatedly, sorry!)

Well, they don’t accept just *anybody.* Plenty of people complain about being rejected from Columbia and their ilk. So I think on some level they definitely like your writing. But I absolutely agree with you in spirit. At the end of the day, if they’re not offering you funding, they obviously want your money. Even their lack of fee waivers hint at that.

Just wanted to note this interview is ten years old and that writer got a really shitty deal (aka was not one of the ones with a stipend, health insurance, teaching money, etc). She’s also probably kicking herself for turning down $$$ for the name. I really hope no one here does that. It doesn’t seem to pay off.

I’m not sure which professors you’re talking about, obviously, but don’t go into debt for Columbia. Also, many of the Columbia professors don’t teach every semester. You may not have the opportunity to take classes with them anyway. On a positive note, I bet those professors teach elsewhere on occasion (an NYC workshop, or Tin House, or Skidmore, or Breadloaf, or...you get the idea). Those might be an option! ETA: I pressed enter too soon! I was going to say that I totally understand the allure. Columbia has a lot of pros. It’s a shame they don’t have better funding.

I hate double posting but I took a break and came back to see the troll still trolling. I don’t know where they get the energy but bless their heart.

Columbia, NYU, and some of the other NY schools aren’t super competitive to get into (ETA: I mean compared to Michener or Iowa). The real competition is how much money you get. If you get $$$$ then they love you and you’ll be one of the cohort darlings. If you don’t get offered anything, they still want you but you’re definitely in the less competitive pool. It won’t matter much in the day to day academics (same classes, same faculty) but it’ll matter when you’re busting your butt at a second job or taking $100k in loans and your classmate is getting a stipend.

That’s true. This is a good reason why I don’t think anyone should list faculty for arts programs. Professors aren’t guaranteed to be there and you could be listing the one professor who is on their way out. It’s a bummer for anyone who reads your SOP and it’ll be (subconsciously) marred by that, I think. No offense, Sylviaplate (or anyone who did this)! She did, though it hasn’t been announced publicly yet.

Congrats to you two! (And to anyone else I may have missed.)

Regarding credits, I don’t think it’s bad etiquette to include them, but I think it’s a waste of space to list them in the SOP. The CV is the best spot for them.

It’s going to be such a cascade come April. Someone needs to make one of those Dexter-esque “blood splatter analysis” walls and keep track of it all. I’ll pitch in for red yarn.

Ah, that definitely factors in. Even if they didn’t re-use an old SOP completely, it’s much easier to tap into the lingo and what programs are looking for when you’re in one. I suppose it’s also less stressful to write one when you’ve got a solid backup plan (staying in the program you’re already in).

Not to be THAT person, but schools do read the SOPs. Little mistakes like the wrong name won’t throw you out of the running if the rest is good. For one, no admission committee thinks they’re the only school you’re applying to. Two, they’re human. We’re human. Mistakes happen. As for the person who wrote the SOP the same day as the deadline and got in, I bet it was a good SOP. Some people are just really good at writing those kinds of things.

Calls usually go out first. Then they change the portal accordingly.

PoFo frustrates the hell out of me. I was always cautious around them (just because they have so much power and not a lot of diversity) but this is really bad. I’ve seen some strong arguments on both sides about where we draw the line in publishing and how nebulous that can be. But I don’t think it should be controversial to not publish friggin’ pedos. Like can we all agree that’s a perfectly fine line to draw? ?

Congratulations!

Sometimes it is about fit, but not necessarily aesthetics. For example: If we like a story about birds but published a story about birds last issue, we’ll pass. More often than not, everyone on the staff comes to consensus on the top story or two. What makes them the best varies. Like style, it’s hard to describe but you know it when you see it. The other stories get chosen via a debate and a lot of it come down to how much work the editors would have to put in to get it ready for our magazine. There have been a lot of amazing stories we’ve turned down because something just wasn’t right and we didn’t have the time/energy/ability to tweak it until it was right.

That’s where subjectivity comes in. I highly recommend everyone read for literary magazines, if they can. Cutting 1000 pieces down to 3 seemed impossible until I, along with the rest of the staff, had to do it a few times a year.

Cornell takes four per genre, Vanderbilt takes three. Given that I assume Cornell gets *slightly* more applications on the Ivy League/name recognition basis, they likely even out to both be less than 1%. The competition is fierce.

Fabulous news! Congratulations!