mr. specific

Yeah, I got an email today that lists all admits in fiction and poetry, so Syracuse is done.

@jadedoptimist If you got waitlisted at Hopkins and Vanderbilt you are good enough to get into any one of the fully funded programs in the country. That's just a fact. You might have to wait a year or you might still get a spot. Forgive yourself with NW and yes try to move on from that.

For context, I tried twice before and got rejected out of hand, so you have to be kind of crazy enough to keep going.

Got into Michigan! Crazy. Just an email notification. Not complaining, but I thought they'd call. l

I didn't apply because I knew their style didn't really align with mine, but my friend who's more experimental made it to the final round a few years back, but after an interview was ultimately turned down. They are not looking for the same "MFA-style" literary fiction or poetry, whatever that means. Btw if you want to read the best SOP of all time, this is Mark Baumer's (RIP) from when he got into Brown. https://thebaumer.com/post/4484816657/brown-mfa

That's incredible news about NYU! Congrats! For those who get funded, I think its probably about the best place you can go in terms of faculty. If they called you early with $$$, they must be really impressed with your poetry.

I think there also are certain writers who happen to hit the zeitgeist of a particular moment, when a few years earlier or later they might not be in such high demand. I know there are just amazing writers that no one can deny, but I find the most interesting writing is often polarizing and intensely off-putting to some people while being incredibly compelling to others.

This one's reliable. Comes in direct email from their admissions office. They did say they "hoped" to send final decisions, so there is some wiggle room.

Michigan says they hope to send out decisions this week!

Sorry, I think my professor was mistaken and I passed on bad intel. They told me Michener only took 3 when they usually take 12. I assumed they meant for the whole program, but I guess three is the correct number for each genre. Anyway, I think it's safe to assume if you didn't get the call, count Michener out. Waitlists may still be forthcoming?

Yes, I just spoke with someone with inside knowledge and apparently the have made decisions, but not sure if everyone is notified. They are taking a much, much smaller class than usual this year. Basically, I was just told they were impressed with the work, but I'm not getting in. (Speaking about poetry here. Not sure about other genres.)

Oh in that case, I would totally reach out the admissions office in the other school, explain the situation and see if they know when they'll have a decision. Then you can at least have some info and if necessary ask for more time from Bennington.

okay. true. thanks for the correction. still, those are the rules nearly everybody is playing by, even if they're not required to.

April 15 is the universally accepted deadline in the US for accepting or rejecting an offer for grad school admission and funding. Any program trying to pressure you into accepting an offer before that date sounds suspect to me.

Does anyone have data on how often people get in off the waitlists at these top-ranked schools, or how long of a waitlist they maintain? I'm guessing it's pretty rare but have zero info to back that up.

To put it in perspective, these are maybe the three hardest programs in the country to get into, I believe they each take around 4 people per genre, and because they're among the highest paying, they get the most applications. Even for the most talented writers these are extreme long shots.

Also poetry! Seems like an awesome program from what I can find out.

True. I was telling myself that earlier, You can only go to one program.

Damn. Two rejections today WashU and ASU. Wish everyone would hurry up, though I am incredibly happy that I got the Syracuse acceptance as the first decision of the year and then Indiana waitlist, it makes the rejections sting a little less.

Thanks feralgrad. That makes a lot of sense. I guess the first time around I used one metric only—how much was the fellowship, and didn't do any more research. This still seems like the critical question, like can i afford to live on this without debt or taking on another fulltime job outside the program. And I only came up with five that seemed like they promised that—Brown, Cornell, Michener, Wisconsin, Umass, (and Michigan and Florida, but I didn't remember to do these apps). So I'd be interested in other schools people know of that 1) promise funding upwards of ~25,000 a year and 2) guarantee funding (more or less equally) to all their students. Not to single any one school out, but I just looked at Hollins' page, which up front claims that they are "extremely well-funded," but after clicking through a few more pages saw that the first year stipend was $7000!

Hey so I applied last year to 5 places (in poetry) and wound up being waitlisted at Michener and Wisconsin. Not a total loss, but I'm finding it hard not to be discouraged and go through the whole thing again, even though I do think my writing is better than this time last year. So who knows. I'm wondering if I should cast a wider net, or if there is some way to improve my application.