cecsav

as someone who only just joined Draft somewhat recently, I'll quickly pass on what others said to me—don't worry too much about getting accepted into the group in the meanwhile, it can take a few weeks to get approved because of how many requests they get etc!
Here's, to the best of my knowledge, all the current info about these schools that I've seen (apologies in advance if any of this is outdated, others pls feel free to correct or add on!) 
UVA: a student indicated that acceptances should go out by email sometime in early-mid March, with rejections and waitlists following later.  Brown: as some others have posted here, there's some possibly sus reports on results for a single poetry admission and several rejections, but everyone on Draft is of the consensus that these may be fake, as no one else has reported any news.  NYU has made several calls to candidates accepted with major fellowships, but it's atm unclear if or when more acceptances/waitlists will be going out. It sounds like frequently people hear back all the way through April (though that can go for lots of programs!)  No news on Columbia (yet!) Several Michener and NWP decisions have gone out to my knowledge, though I don't believe all have so I'll be holding onto that hope for ya in the meanwhile ❤️  Quite a lot of other programs seem to begin with poetry admissions, and at the very least it seems like fiction and poetry don't always inform about decisions at the same time, so it's worth keeping that in mind if you start to see acceptances coming from the other genres at any of the above schools!

Received my first rejection today. Stings, even after a couple of acceptances. Sad face. 

Received my first rejection today. Stings, even after a couple of acceptances. Sad face. 

Received my first rejection today. Stings, even after a couple of acceptances. Sad face. 

Received my first rejection today. Stings, even after a couple of acceptances. Sad face. 

Received my first rejection today. Stings, even after a couple of acceptances. Sad face. 

Received my first rejection today. Stings, even after a couple of acceptances. Sad face. 

Received my first rejection today. Stings, even after a couple of acceptances. Sad face. 

Received a full tuition scholarship

YAYYYYY! Rock on!

Excuse me wtf? I got into U New Hampshire????? WHAT

Yup! I used all the same people. I sent my LOR writers hand-written thank-you notes explaining my results and decision, which I strongly recommend over emails. I believe that they're allowed to reuse letters. That said, for my second round I sent them a new sample of my work, in case they wanted to update their letters. Since I improved a lot in the intervening year, I was actually happy to share a recent story with them. I know one of my writers was pretty impressed with my growth, and she rewrote a large section of her LOR to reflect that.

I personally wouldn't do an MFA if it wasn't fully funded. Like @feralgrad said, your chances are really good next year of getting a fully-funded offer since you got this one this year. I'm waiting on two schools, one of which doesn't fully fund everyone, and if they offer me admission without full funding I'm going to turn it down. I know it's hard to wait another year, though!

I was in your position my first round of apps. I decided to reapply after I calculated how much I'd have to take out in loans/the cost of repayment. I'd highly recommend checking out a loan repayment calculator. It's sobering.
The following year, I ended up getting TAship at a program where about half the students are funded. I love my program, and I consider myself so lucky to be here! I can also tell you from experience that having a job outside the MFA will seriously hamper your ability to engage in extracurriculars (lit mags, reading series, etc.) and form deeper bonds with your classmates. With the job market as it is, the MFA alone won't get you much; it's the professional skills and connections you build outside of class and/or via a TAship.
The good news is: If you're good enough to get a partially funded offer now, chances are you can get a fully funded offer next year -- especially if you start revising and workshopping your portfolio now.
Sorry that's probably not what you want to hear. I know it's a very tough position. But tl:dr, I'd say this: know your worth, and avoid debt at all costs. Applying a second time worked for me, and it's pretty common

I believe Michener is done with fiction acceptances, but I'm not sure about poetry.

Has anyone heard/seen anything from NWP?

Has there been any more info on this on draft by chance? Wondering if I should assume a waitlist/rejection forthcoming at this point from Michener poetry 

Turning down a job will not hurt your prospects elsewhere. People do it all the time (often because they've interviewed for more than one position). Not to mention that employers do not communicate with each other about candidates; there's no way for a prospective employer to find out about jobs you've turned down unless you tell them. If you get a job and have to leave after a couple months, you can simply leave it off your resume. It's common for people leave old/irrelevant information off resumes, so don't think of it as dishonest
For reference, I was involved in a couple hiring processes at my old job, so I've seen the process first-hand. My mother also works in HR, so some of my advice comes from her.
I'd recommend you look for a job as if you have no other potential plans. Don't mention it in the interview. Just as employers interview multiple candidates, you have every right to keep several options open.

While we're on the subject of rankings etc, would anyone be interested in sharing how they evaluated each program as a good (or not so good) fit to decide where to apply? This might help those who are considering applying next year. It could also just be interesting to see how others' brains work.
I first narrowed by funding (fully funded only), then location (I am not, for any school, willing to live further north than I do now; I absolutely hate winter), then faculty. Then I checked out every book I could find at my library and through interlibrary loan that's been written by the poetry faculty at the programs in the running. I documented a bunch of information such as size of program, length of program, cost of living, funding, literary journal, graduates from the program, and housing (and more!) in a spreadsheet and used that information to loosely rank my list of schools in my own personal order of preference. Of course, then I tacked on a partially/possibly funded "safety" school. As notifications begin to roll in, I find that I'm wishing more for some decisions than others, which has lead me to rearrange my list a 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. 

I know this sound naive of me but I never thought of it that way. The advice that I got was to not look for anything right now because it might close doors for me in the future if I have to bail/turn a job down because I was accepted somewhere. But I think you're right I gotta do what's best for right now. Thanks for your response!

I have a phone interview next week for a promotion at one of my jobs. I know I may or may not be moving out of state, but I'm not telling them that. It may sound unprofessional or inconsiderate, but I have to provide for my family and plan for my future. If I can improve my situation by making more money between now and August, that's what I have to do. Also, this job will help support me if I end up staying here. Just my two cents. 

This isn’t a drill, someone posted a poetry acceptance for Michener.

The Gradcafe result is for fiction.

Fiction or poetry?