lanadelreystan

Thank you so much! And I just want to inform everyone that lana del Rey’s new album just released, so go buy “did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean boulevard” ❤️😎💅 love it, my personal fave song from the album is paris, Texas. Anyone else been listening?

A PhD in creative writing! Can you speak more to that? I'm not familiar with it and thought the master was the terminal degree? (Congrats on the acceptance!!)

Can't you accept the current offer, attend the program for the fall and spring, and reapply in the fall to Iowa? If you get accepted, you can renege from the initial program

Got an email to check the portal!

Brown rejections are out!

literally I made a sample college app account to see how it looks so I can help my younger sibling apply to local colleges and I got a phone call and voicemail from that undergrad program and it had the area code from a school I'm still waiting to hear from I was... upset lol. like no I'm not finishing my app and do not ever contact me again I'll call the authorities on you

My favorite type of gradcafe notification result is when the person writes something like "I've been waitlisted and this is my DREAM SCHOOL so please please please pleeaaaassse make your decision quickly!!! thanks!! it would make me really happy" like girl 😭 no one's going to make a life-changing decision that'll impact their life for the upcoming 2-8 years more quickly just because you're asking them to in the results part of the gradcafe website, they aren't even reading it lol

YIKES to the Hunter prof saying the quiet part out loud and for even thinking the quiet part... It's giving 33-year-old bum living at his parents' house with no admirable qualities who says women over the age of 21 hit the wall and that young girls are easier to mold lol. Not surprised by some of the assault scandals at these programs if this is how their faculty members think!

This is so interesting because I have the opposite view of MFAs in regards to age! I've noticed that MFA admits, especially for poetry, tend to be younger and closer to their undergrad years than "real life" years lol. The program that accepted me wrote in their admit letter that we'll have a chance to work alongside "young" writers, as if that was some kind of draw! So I do think MFA programs, at least poetry ones, prefer younger writers, which is kind of disheartening since I do agree that there's not a good advantage of getting an MFA young in terms of knowing what you want to do with it. I applied straight from undergrad because school was all I had known and I didn't know what else to do. Now, I have a clearer vision for my writing and what I want to do with an MFA

OK SLAY FOR POETRY OR FICTION?

When I had gotten an acceptance call, I didn't answer, and they left a voicemail and then followed up by email that day or a few days later. I think my portal also changed a few days after the missed call

Does anyone know the teaching assistant workload at Vanderbilt? I can't find it anywhere on the website and want to know if they teach one class per semester or more

omg this is literally so sweet thank you!!

It's ultimately up to you to decide, but I just want to share my own experience. I was accepted in 2020 to two fully funded programs, and I turned both of them down for another opportunity. I communicated my reasoning clearly and openly with the faculty, who seemed very accommodating and understanding and told me I'd most likely get in if I reapplied. I applied again two years later to one of those programs along with a handful of other top tier places, and I got rejections across the board. This year, I've been waitlisted at a few places and accepted to one, none of them being the programs that initially accepted me back in 2020. I really feel like MFA admissions are a lottery in the way they can be "once in a lifetime" opportunities that you can't necessarily guarantee will ever happen again. Your writing sample and the cohort they wanted to create plus the competition for the year along with whatever personal reasons afflicted the reader that day all aligned perfectly to be in your favor this time. How likely is that to happen again? omg not to sound doom and gloom, but I feel like I was so ignorant of how *hard* it is to get accepted when I first did in 2020 and assumed I would just get in again, which I didn't that first reapplication cycle, even with an objectively stronger writing sample and more work and life experience. Sometimes, you're dealt cards you'll never be dealt again, and I think that's an important thing to note!! Congrats on NYU, especially being completely funded! Your writing abilities are clearly up to par, so don't worry about that

No, don't call attention to any defects in your application. Plus, they probably either didn't notice or noticed and don't care. I had an error in my writing sample and got accepted to one program and waitlisted at three

Have either of UT Austin’s programs notified?

Omg do you know any more info? Like cohort size? Or when they might notify?

Michigan seems to have notified two poetry acceptances by phone in the past week. It’s weird to me since they’ve typically notified everyone about their acceptance, waitlist, or rejection all at once on the same day. Has anyone heard back from Michigan in any capacity?

That is so slay but also not a fan of how they're conducting this as a job interview process?? That's so weird, especially when you submitted a complete application in the fall and don't need this stress. This sounds like you're definitely on the way for an acceptance, though! Maybe they'll even accept you on the call ?

No problem! This process is so not transparent, and I wish it were, especially as results come out. Would love to know the mindset adcoms have and the process by which they execute it so that I can like... get a better grip on why I'm accepted to one program but not another. Also, question for you and anyone else: did Iowa start notifying poetry yet? I only saw fiction updates

Iowa staggers the notifications of their accepted applicants. Last year, they made phone calls over the course of a few weeks. Someone in the Facebook group for MFA applicants was accepted into the IWW for fiction and commented that the faculty member told them they're still making calls and that she was the fourth acceptance they had notified at that point. They are making calls based on funding packages based on that accepted person's comment. So I assume the people getting called first have a higher stipend/more funding with less teaching duties?

I can't find any updated info on this and wanted to ask: what are the top fully funded MFA in CW programs right now? We all know the IWW for fiction and poetry is considered number one, with Michener and Michigan following very closely after. Which programs follow those top few? Which programs are typically considered prestigious in today's literary landscape? Prestige as in you say you went there, and publishers/agents/lit mag editors are like "We want to read YOUR work" and move it to the top of the pile? Super interested in knowing people's opinion and insider knowledge on this!!

They usually come after

This cycle is the first time in years I've taken my phone off of do not disturb lol

Iowa seems to notify its acceptances over days and weeks, unlike most other programs, so it could be a while ? plus their portal takes forever to say "rejected" and I think they send a snail mail rejection as well that arrives in March/April