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koechophe

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Everything posted by koechophe

  1. koechophe
    That's a fabulous approach!
  2. koechophe
    You may well be right. Ogliv seemed like a different voice print to me, so I treated them as a different person. Either way, I've given what advice I feel appropriate, and have no intention of replying to them further.
  3. koechophe
    The reason I didn't name the programs is because when I went back to check on articles I'd read, most were written by people who were no longer teaching in their programs, so I doubted they'd be of any help. I guess if you still want to know, here are some examples of the more helpful ones on application advice. All three mention preferring to either get people of all ages in their programs or preferring candidates who took time off after undergraduate. https://forge.medium.com/an-mfa-admissions-officer-on-making-your-writing-stand-out-2af00d71dd06 https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/education-oronte-churm/guy-who-may-have-read-your-mfa-application-speaks https://leemartinauthor.com/2013/10/21/applying-for-an-mfa-program-whoa-not-so-fast/ It's an opinion I've seen posted a lot by people actually in these programs that younger applicants, especially ones right out of undergrad, are less preferred by adcoms, who want people with more life experience. If anything, it'd be easy for me to hop on the ageism train and say "the system is working against me" because I'm right out of my undergraduate, but I honestly believe that it comes down to the writing. Either way, I've said my piece, and I genuinely hope things work out for you.
  4. koechophe
    It's not the "normal" thing, but I've seen a number of people post on Draft that they were asked not to share where on social media. I wouldn't consider it a red flag, or anything. (No idea why they care, but idk, I'm sure there's some thought process there). Anyway, congrats on getting in!
  5. koechophe
    As someone who actually has done semi-professional statistical analysis, the data here actually doesn't show discrimination against older people. Whenever we deal with data, we have to consider sample size. The sample size shown here for people over 40 is about 5.5% of the total pool. That's what we'd call an extreme minority, and since we're just dealing with 100 people (or less) in each category AND we're dealing with acceptance ratios that, at max, hit 3.6%, there's no way to conclusively say that the data points to a trend. Take, for example, the fact that 46-50 year olds have a 2.5% acceptance compared to the 1% from the 41-45 year olds. Does that mean that group is randomly more favored? Actually it means they literally got 1 more acceptance. Because a single acceptance can sway the stats so heavily with such a small group (and because "good" or "bad" writing samples will always have an element of subjectivity to them) there's no way you can look at that data and say it's evidence of it being "harder" to get in. The truth of the matter is, not enough older people apply for the statistics to be meaningful. Try not to read too much into these statistics, there's not enough here to draw any sort of conclusions. I can't offer you hard evidence that there isn't ageism in MFA admissions. My bet is that individuals may or may not be slightly ageist--because we all have subconscious biases to some degree--but I haven't found any strong evidence that it does exist. And I've read a number of articles by adcoms who say they tend to prefer people who aren't coming right out of undergrad, and they like more experienced writers. If I can share some personal experience... it's really easy in this process to look for every reason as to why you're not getting accepted. It's easy to look for a scapegoat, because having the reason be anything OTHER than our own writing is much, much more palatable. Last year, I did that with Covid. I was like, "This is a crummy year to apply, and that's why I didn't get in." And it meant that I didn't do as much work as I should've on improving my sample. Getting straight rejections earlier this year was a wake-up call that I needed to work more on my writing. At the end of the day, all we can really do is improve our writing, and I do believe that anyone with strong enough writing will get into a great program.
  6. koechophe
    I've seen acceptances and waitlists for them on Draft, so it's likely a rejection unfortunately.
  7. koechophe
    I've seen quite a few people over the last 2 years. A lot of the adcoms actually tend to prefer older people with more life experience. TBH, they really don't. There's a lot of people who get published and become influential without an MFA. They control what is read in colleges, which is a lot of the more literary material, but if we're being honest, most of the power still rests in readers rather than anyone else. Ultimately, professors don't create a gate that people must pass through in order to be successful. True, the credential helps (and the experience helps too!) but ultimately, a lot of people are very successful without ever passing through that gate. They actually basically had their own version, schools that people had to go through to be respected, or else studying under "the masters" in order to receive acclaim.
  8. koechophe
    Go for it!
  9. koechophe
    Hey, that's great news! Usually means either a waitlist or an acceptance, so huge congrats!
  10. koechophe
    So since a poetry acceptance went out in Feb, it's likely this was a fiction one (or CNF, I guess, if they also do that). Or maybe they actually just notified one poetry, and then another poetry 20 days later. Idk, it wouldn't be the weirdest admissions thing I've heard of.
  11. koechophe
    I was definitely that person once or twice last year--though admittedly, it was because (I think it was in two different cases) I saw the other rejections go out and was confused why I hadn't gotten mine yet lol. Weird how I got to this point where I just wanted my rejections so that I could move on with life.
  12. koechophe
    From what I understand from their website, everyone who gets in gets a tuition remission, not everyone gets a stipend. The stipend also isn't the best (7.000) but it's an extremely low load, so they say most people do part-time work on the side, which is totally reasonable.
  13. koechophe
    Really glad you got some good news at the end of this season ?. I'm hoping you do reapply, but obviously do whatever works best for you. But either way, managing to get your things together and apply right after just going sober is dang impressive. I think you have cause to feel really good about yourself for what you've accomplished this year.
  14. koechophe
    No, unless they specifically ask for material, you shouldn't send them anything else. I know it kind of sucks, but your application is your "shot" to show them what you can do. You pay an application fee, and they read the material you send in. Asking them to read even more material is considered impolite and might also come off as desperate (Unless of course they ask for more, then go right ahead!) Probably not? There's no harm in them sending it in now, so I'd ask them to anyway. But honestly, a lot of programs aren't too stuffy about that, and I've heard of several times where people get in without them, so try not to worry about it too much. Hope some of this helps. Getting waitlisted is a HUGE honor, it shows that you were one of the top applicants. And know, whatever happens, you'll have your decisions mid-april (or, at worst, late-april) so it won't be too long now before you find out!
  15. koechophe
    And right on schedule, disparaging comment! Boy, I'm good at this! For anyone that's considering teaching, here are my thoughts. Getting any gig as a tenured professor is extremely competitive and difficult, but Creative Writing jobs are particularly brutal to get. Getting in as an English teacher is often much more viable, and once your foot is in the door, you might have better luck transitioning into CW at your school. That's why I'm planning for a PhD in Rhet/Comp--I'll be much more likely to get a job as a tenured professor. You don't get that degree to try and get a creative writing job, it's meant for teaching English courses (Specifically, you guessed it, rhetoric and composition). My undergrad is in English, not Creative Writing. I love fiction, but I'm enough of a realist to know that it's difficult to get into, and having spent a lot of time teaching English in my undergrad, I'd be quite happy there too. But I wanted an MFA because I wanted to improve as a writer, and also for the credential and teaching experience too. Doing both routes feels like a good compromise since I can still try for those ultra-difficult CW jobs while also falling back on English jobs where I can. I likely won't even need to dip into my savings account to pay for the degree, since my wife works, and we really don't spend much money. But I fully acknowledge I'm lucky to be in that boat. If anyone here other than the troll has genuine questions about asexuality (and how it works in a cis relationship) feel free to DM me. I don't want to stray super off-topic in the general thread.
  16. koechophe
    Responding to the troll is something I avoid, but I actually want to make sure there's correct information here in case anyone is considering the school. What he's saying isn't true. The program says you're responsible for between 1.3 and 1.5k per semester (2 semesters a year) total, and the school does in fact provide a stipend. It's not a brilliant stipend (8k, so pretty dang low, but 8k is a lot better than nothing). The wording on the website is misleading, so I can see why you came to that conclusion. Other schools offer a lot more funding, definitely, but it's a lot less bleak than "pay thousands more than 3k a year and don't get anything for teaching." I will be attending (assuming I don't get any other offers, which I'm taking as a given), but I can do so without getting into debt. One of the perks of having no debt, a robust savings account, a working wife, and no kids. My bar was that I wanted a program where I wouldn't have to pay tons of tuition and get into debt, and this does fit the bill. I'd totally get why other people wouldn't with that low of funding, but I eventually want to be a professor. This program lets me get an MA in English alongside my MFA, which would make my resume a lot more versatile, and I'm looking for an MFA as much for teaching experience and the credential as I am for writing experience. I'll probably explore a doctorate in Rhet/comp after this, and the MA in English will give me much better odds of getting into that. --Cue the troll saying some super disparaging thing because I replied to them--
  17. koechophe
    I actually was so surprised about this when I got to talk with the director of McNeese. Like, I got a much better idea of how the program worked, and he was brutally honest about things that might turn people off of the program. I was so impressed at how genuine it all was, and that like 30 minute conversation gave me a better idea of how things will work than the months beforehand I spent researching. I can't stress this enough, I don't think you really know about the program until you actually talk with the person running it.
  18. koechophe
    If anyone's still waiting on Brown poetry, someone posted the following email on Draft: “The poetry faculty members are in the final stages of their review of this year's MFA applications; we are hoping to have recommendations from the poets in the next few days; once those recommendations are in hand, we'll be sharing them with the Graduate School for review. Once that review is completed, decision information will be shared by the Graduate School. We remain hopeful that the information will be ready by the middle to the end of next week.”
  19. koechophe
    Naw, this guy's not the troll. They've been pretty polite and uplifting (And trust me, if the troll was going to fake-claim they got in, they would do it a lot harder on one of their known troll accounts to be like, "See, I told you I know what I'm talking about!") @panglosianHuge congrats on getting waitlisted! You've had a stellar season!
  20. koechophe
    That's so great! I'm really glad to hear you finally got some good news. Here's hoping it goes through!
  21. koechophe
    Let's call it what it is, it's the troll's way of trying to make themselves feel better than everyone else. They posted earlier this year about how their writing would pass the New Yorker test, and that means they were in the 80% and didn't need to be worried about whether they got in or not (and look how well that worked...) They also posted, without ever having read Ydrl's stuff, that it likely wouldn't pass the New Yorker test, and the troll said the same about MrVisser, again without reading any material. This shows the troll's true colors: It's not about trying to help people figure things out, it's all a statement of "I'm better than you." There's no need to treat this like an intellectual argument--it's all about feeding a delicate ego.
  22. koechophe
    Hey, congrats! Are you excited about the offer?
  23. koechophe
    That is a great deal of self-awareness to know, but you might also be selling yourself a bit short =). Sometimes it can be hard to see our own strengths in our writing. Either way, huge congrats on the UAF acceptance! Are you planning on going there? As far as I'm aware, people don't really transfer in MFAs. They can apply to a new school and get in, but then they just restart (as far as I understand, could be totally off here.) @Ydrl is switching schools, so they might be able to tell you more.
  24. koechophe
    This article might be helpful: https://stephgrossman.com/2019/06/21/mfa-programs-that-are-chill-with-speculative-fiction/ Also, definitely recommend you apply to McNeese. You might decide not to go since they don't offer a ton of funding (still better than a lot of the "fully funded" schools that charge like 3k a semester in fees ><) but from talking with the advisor, he's very open to genre stuff, AND that program doesn't cost any money to apply to. You literally just submit a SOP and writing sample, and that's it. No hoops whatsoever. (BTW, I am planning on taking my offer from them.)
  25. koechophe
    Heya, first off, kudos to you for managing 2 cycles of waitlists. That's brutal. So from draft, I've learned the following: -The waitlist (likely) isn't ranked -There are 9 people total on the waitlist -There are 7 slots for the program -Between Draft and GradCafe, no one has accepted a slot on the waitlist yet, but this could happen at any time, since they open slots up based on if someone else rejects their slot. Getting into the top 16 of what must've been hundreds of applicants is a huge accomplishment! Not much consolation, I'm sure, but really, good job.
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