Catpaw

Honestly I hope you get in just for this reason too haha. I know that realistically the odds we're all facing are absurd—and, when you have those kinds of odds, there is going to be an element of chance and luck, no matter how strong our writing samples. And it is stressful to feel like something is so out of our control. But I can't stand the people who go "oh yeah, sorry, I can't see you getting in" because they really have no idea what they're talking about. And it's not just an uninformed, overconfident thing to tell someone—it's super shitty, too. Whether or not we get in has nothing to do with someone's unkind amateur assessment. I had a friend two years back who had a ton of people tell him he was wasting his time applying. And he got into a top funded school for fiction. Meanwhile I've known people who everyone assumed would get in easy—they had publications, prizes—and they did not. (And that's not even mentioning the people in MFA programs where everyone else just wonders how in hell they got accepted at all. Every program ends up picking some duds, inevitably... Some very lucky duds.) You are smart enough to get into a top-tier MFA program. Whether you do, or don't, doesn't change that. (But I hope you do get in, just to prove this person wrong!)

Echoing what prufrock said. This thing! https://awpwriter.org/AWP/AWP/Conference-Bookfair/Overview.aspx It's truly massive, and a ton of authors + publishing industry people attend it. A lot of MFA programs will send their students there too, both for the experience and for networking opportunities. It's the sort of environment where, if you happen to know someone from the book industry (or if you know other authors), there's a good chance you may run into them by chance at AWP. A lot of people from the literary world end up attending. (Though plenty sit it out too.) There's a likelihood that some of the professors who are making MFA decisions will be in attendance at AWP, though.

Did anyone who applied to UC Irvine opt to include the self-addressed postcard (aka, the postcard that they'll mail back to you as proof that they received your printed-out manuscript)? If so, have you gotten the postcard back yet? EDIT: I'm not on Draft due to not having a Facebook, so not sure if this has gotten mentioned there or not...

I ran into exactly this issue when I first applied two years ago (this year is my second round). I really didn't anticipate how burned out I'd feel after submitting my apps, nor how absurd my anxiety would get while waiting on results. It was impossible to focus on anything creative while in limbo mode. Felt like those muscles had just gone limp. This time around, I figured January through March will be lost months anyways. So I had friends recommend me their favorite movies and TV shows, and weird video games, and comfort-reads in genres that are removed from what I write. I plan to work my way through that. I've also scheduled a ton of activities for myself that will get me out of my apartment on my off days—ideally activities with other people, but also stuff like solo museum visits or seeing local concerts. I've noticed that being out and about makes it harder for me to get too trapped in my own head for long. Which is what I'm after, really. And I'm like, okay, neat, at the end of these limbo months I'll have experienced a ton of stuff that I might not have picked up normally! And I get to make my friends excited because I watched all their favorite mini-series and now they can talk about them with me. Win-win.

I do understand this sentiment, and especially since I'm sure that Iowa itself doesn't use this approach exclusively anymore. But there very famously is a workshop approach that was spearheaded and popularized by the Iowa MFA program, and it is often referred to as the Iowa model for that reason.

I spoke to someone currently attending Michigan for fiction, back in December. I can't speak to how it compares culturally to Iowa, since I haven't talked to anyone currently attending Iowa. But I know that the student who I spoke to really likes Michigan. They found it to be really supportive, and they like their cohort. They did mention there's been a semi-recent shake-up of faculty, with a lot of new professors coming in. But they also really like the new/current professors a lot. They also mentioned that the workshop structure varies depending on which faculty member is leading it, and they're not exclusively the Iowa model. Regardless, students do have an option to "save up" their workshops so that instead of workshopping two short stories at two separate points, you can workshop a big chunk of a novel (like, 60 pages) once. So if you're novel-focused, that is probably a plus. (Maybe Iowa does the same thing? I don't know, though.) Oh, and of course, Michigan has the guaranteed "third year", which is essentially just free, funded time to focus on writing without any additional academic responsibilities.

Nope, mine did not have the "some readers liked this" paragraph! No readers like my application, lol. If you got that paragraph in your letter, take it as the genuine compliment that it is! Also seconding crosie here in saying that if you got a fully-funded offer and it seems a good fit, take it! That's a gift! (Plus, a lot of people in this thread have shared experiences of getting waitlisted at a school one year, only to get rejected their second year — it's really just unpredictable. I'd only consider turning down the offer and re-applying if you really are having serious, unrelated doubts about the current funded offer and whether it's right for you.)

Got my Iowa fiction rejection letter. Dated March 3. (I'm based in New York, for those tracking postage time.) No handwritten note on mine. (For those who need context, the program director handwrites personal notes on some form rejection letters. If you receive one, it's an indication that your application came close to making the cut that year.)

I'm just waiting on Brown as my final notification, too. It was solid rejections from everywhere I applied, though, so I'm expecting a rejection from Brown as well—plus it always felt like the longest shot, for me. And yeah. This process sucks!! Haha. I feel like I spent my entire autumn and winter in a state of anxious exhaustion and dread. I've made peace with having to go through this again next year, if I apply a second time. But really not looking forward to it. Even though I guess I feel better prepared for a second round of applications. I really hope you get in off that waitlist. And that you get into Brown.

Seconding the "be very cautious of accepting an offer if you have to pay heavily for it". If you're able to afford the ticket price of a non-funded MFA without strain, then a non-funded MFA can definitely be a good option! I knew someone who did a Columbia MFA, and his family paid the full sticker price for him because they're wealthy, and they could afford to. He graduated debt-free. So, for him, Columbia made sense! And I think he got a lot out of it. But something I've heard, over and over and in different variations, from scores of published and unpublished writers (and even from someone who teaches at Columbia): do not go into significant debt for an MFA. Manageable debt which you know you can pay off is one thing. But significant debt? That can ruin your life. Kelly Link, bless her, crowdsourced a Twitter thread of people's experiences with unfunded MFAs and managing their debt afterward: https://twitter.com/haszombiesinit/status/1157019803179278339

My guess is they're probably done, unfortunately. I was wondering about it too. I checked, and last year they mailed out a lot of rejection letters that were dated as March 5 (even though all the letters apparently took like 2 weeks to actually show up in anyone's mailbox??). I think they started notifying a little earlier this year, too, which in my mind translates to "they've probably made their rejection decisions by now too". (So I'm anticipating a rejection letter in my mailbox by the end of March...) This is my first year on the forum, though. And I don't know anything about how Iowa's waitlist process works... Has anyone been waitlisted for Iowa? Or have all the calls so far just been for acceptances?

I would take what rell says with a grain of salt. It's pretty obviously the same user who kept getting banned from the forum earlier this season for trolling, and who kept remaking accounts each time it happened. They also visibly seem to enjoy poking people hard in their insecurities and trying to drag them down, while pretending at good faith. Just keep that in mind. Don't let them get to you.

Looks like University of Texas at Austin has posted rejections if you check the portal, but isn't e-mailing anyone about it. Just saw mine there.

I know nothing about how their systems work, so this is just guesswork on my part, but... My theory is that their systems are set up in such a way that they probably can't press a single button to notify all us rejected applicants. I think they might have to process each rejection manually — even if 'manually' just means clicking a few buttons for each individual name. My theory is that we see them go out in batches because it might be based on the stamina of whoever is uploading rejections that particular day. Like, I picture someone plugging in their headphones and listening to a podcast for an hour, and uploading as many rejections during that hour as they can manage. Then maybe they find another free hour later in the week, for uploading more rejections...

I think they have? Someone posted here on Wednesday about getting accepted. And someone else mentioned (on Tuesday I think?) that four people on Draft have shared fiction acceptances for Michigan. I don't know if Michigan has notified about waitlists yet.