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I got a waitlist notification about the same time, so I think they’re doing both at once today

Looks like Rutgers-Camden is releasing for folks not on draft

A search in draft says acceptances and waitlists have gone out, so I’m assuming its a form reject coming my way.

Folks that get the form version are less likely to post about their rejection. I definitely didn’t get thr tiered rejection my first two years so I’m hyped about it this time!

Rutgers camden is my last school that hasn’t sent out acceptances and i just want it to be done with so i can start figuring out what to do

Waitlist movement should start happening sometime next week or the week after I would bet (once most if not all of schools have released their decisions and funding info so folks can start making choices.) According to the vets in draft, about then is when you can reach back out to reaffirm your interest and excitement about the program. It helps if you already have an acceptance already—then you can let them know that you have other offers but still have their program as a first choice. Just be wary of telling more than one program they’re the top. My first year when I had 1 waitlist and 0 acceptances in my reaffirmation of interest email I made sure to mention that I was taking a workshop class to prepare for entering the cohort should a spot open up. (Didn’t get me off the waitlist but it was worth a shot 😂)

According to Draft, all UMD acceptances are out. Just waiting on one more school to notify people and then I’m free and clear 😂

I would assume its a rejection and they’re sending emails in batches. They’ve got 22 people waitlisted for 4 fiction spots, so unless there’s a huge amount of waitlist movement I doubt they’ll dip back into their applicant pool. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news 🥲

It’s definitely a scope thing too! Even a fully funded program doesn’t always cover the minimum life expenses for the area the school is in. There’s never any guarantee of it working out perfectly financially, you may end with a small loan/extra job. But I would be extremely hesitant to accept an offer for a school that isn’t at least providing full or close to full tuition remittance. That’s the kind of debt that you’ll never pay back and can cause long term issues. (If you’re already underwater on undergrad debt, it may be different.) Best advice I heard someone give was never take out a loan for grad school that’s more than you’d agree for a normal/cheap new car. If you can’t picture or manage adding a car payment worth of bills to your life/living expenses post grad school, then an unfunded or partially funded program is NOT for you.

Its early for UVA still. Most likely next weekend, if past history is right

Just got a waitlist notification from Virginia Tech! This is my 3rd year applying to programs and my first year getting any acceptances. (2a/1w/2 soft rejections/3r/ 4p)

UMD is usually the 2nd week of March and one of the last schools to release. I would guess another 2 weeks for them. UVA is usually first or second weekend in March.

George Mason (which seems to have poetry & nonfiction out, but no fiction yet), Virginia Tech, UMD, UVA, Rutgers-Camden, and Brown. Really crossing my fingers a funded offer comes through

From my past years’ rejections they’re not tiered, its just alphabetical lol. My name’s towards the end of the alphabet and I usually get my rejection about a day or so after the first round goes out

First year I got 1 waitlist and 5 rejections. Second year was 7 rejections. I’m on my third round now and I finally got my first acceptance at American University! Sometimes it can be a bit of a crapshoot, but if you’ve got a waitlist under your belt at any point then you’re definitely a really competitive applicant, it’s just about luck and timing.

Litowitz just had a 2nd poetry acceptance go up on the sheet. Seems like they may be staggering contacting folks this year so I’ll eat my words, looks like they’re not done yet!

This is my 3rd time applying for things and my best advice is if folks are reporting acceptances, even if it’s only one, best to assume you’re rejected. Better to get a pleasant surprise of a phone call or waitlist email then stress out refreshing your application online. Rejections tend to come 1-2weeks after acceptances. The one weird semi-exception to this I remember from last year is Boston University—sometimes they do their rejections in waves, so rejections can pop up on the spreadsheet weeks before acceptances. Until you see an acceptance from them on Draft, assume you’re still in the running.

It looks like Litowitz has a poetry acceptance on the Draft spreadsheet from yesterday. Chances that they’re done contacting all acceptances?

UMD released both acceptances and waitlists last week, so pretty sure those are done. That’s it for me this year, see ya’ll for next cycle probably 😂

The general understanding from Draft is that any extra funding that comes into play will go first to anyone with an offer asking for more money. You’d probably get a tuition discount, but nothing extra. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

From draft it looks like UCR’s waitlist went out earlier this week, so its looking like soft rejections for everyone who hasn’t heard back yet. (I’m in that boat too.)

I got my fiction rejection from Brown on 3/17 last year if that helps give you a target date for panicking. Assuming acceptances and waitlists go out a week or so before, as seems to be the norm with programs that don’t sit on rejections, I would guess the range is 3/9-3/16 for fiction. Poetry was all like one week before fiction.

A few folks in my undergrad class and who audited some of my classes across subject matters were middle aged or post-retirement and tbh a lot of them were more engaged than the rest of us. In my post-college online writing classes I’m usually the youngest or close to the youngest in the room by a decade (or several decades normally) and I’m in my late 20’s lol. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of that skew against older applicants in the numbers is due to folks who haven’t really written before or haven’t been edited before submitting applications to fully funded program because it seems like an easy next step, while being totally unaware of how awful the competition really is. And then self selecting out of next year’s cycle when it doesn’t work out and going towards other avenues like self publishing, directly soliciting agents rather than waiting for an MFA, or applying to different low residency and writing retreat options instead. My recommenders last year were really upfront that it’s normal to take 3 or more rounds of applications to get any acceptances, and flagged my first round waitlist as a win. Not everyone, especially folks with kids or other family responsibilities, wants to or can pay for three cycles or more, let alone prolong this much stress over several years. (I have a feeling that I’m not making it this round and its hard to decide if I want to do it another time, its a fuckton of money.)

any news on UC Riverside for fiction? or should I count it as another unofficial rejection 😅 i’m heading towards another year of 0 offers, so I’m trying to manage my expectations lol

Looks like UCR notified poetry waitlists just now according to Draft. Anyone heard anything for fiction?