saramsarang

Me too! And with that, my MFA season officially ends with 0A/0W/12R! Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted and is ready to begin their MFA journey! To everyone else, I'm still rooting for all of you and I hope you guys hear good news from the schools you have left, and all the waitlists turn into acceptances and put you out of your limbo. Thank you to everyone on this forum, the ride was a lot more enjoyable sharing all the emotions with you guys. I'll keep writing and maybe one day we'll pass by each other and I'll get to read all of your works! Wishing everyone the absolute best, and I hope that no matter what, you guys can love this craft for a long long time and it brings you a tonne of happiness (even in its hardest moments)!

I wish they would have gotten it all done together or just started on Monday instead of putting everyone in a state of anxiety over the weekend 😭 Like realistically I'm not getting into Brown, so I'm just waiting to cross it off the list and say goodbye to this season since that's the last school I have to hear back from...but now I must wait...argh the hardest part of being a writer is the waiting period, not even the writing part at this point!

Wow, we're at a 100 pages on the forum! Congrats everyone, I think we'll outdo all the previous years topics! I guess it shows how we've been going through the whole process together and I really don't think I would have gotten through the cycle without you guys! All through the waiting and the anxiety, I've had a lot of fun on here and got to live vicariously through people's acceptances. I hope some of you guys end up meeting each other in the programs and have a laugh about it all. Might not mean much from some random stranger on the internet, but I'm super proud of all of us. To everyone regardless of acceptances, waitlists and rejections, you put yourself out there, took a lot of time, money and effort and I'm so proud of you for it! (Tearing up a little because I'm going to miss you guys once the 2024 mfa season comes to an end, but onwards and upwards!)

This has happened to quite a few people, they get rejected from the place they were waitlisted in the last year even though their application is stronger. It is weird, but I think it's another testament to how subjective the whole MFA process is and all you can do is your best and hope the odds are in your favour. I'm sure you already know at this point because many people have mentioned all of what I'm about to say before. But it has more to do with the cohort they're putting together this year, the themes the cohort writes about and the ways the compliment each other but don't repeat each other, and the fact that you're competing with a different pool of people from last year also weighs in! Just like you've reworked your application for this year's cycle, South Carolina has a new vision for this year's cycle. So my point is, don't overthink it! Sending you hugs ~

HOLY SHIT YESSSS CONGRATULATIONS!!! So happy for you and real proud of your journey, after all those waitlists Brown finally came through!

Congratulations to people on the Brown acceptances and waitlists, it's incredible news! All of these Brown notifications are making me antsy. I know part of it is because I really love Brown's program, but mostly it's because it means my cycle is over and I'm coming out with all rejections. I'm unsure about what to do with my life in the next year, I also keep saying next year like I'm applying next cycle but I don't know what kind of stories I want to tell right now either, so everything is very uncertain. But it is what it is, life goes on and I'll pick up the pieces. For everyone else still waiting on more schools, I'm sending good luck your way, I hope you hear some good news! And to those who are in a similar position as me, I hope your writing strengthens and you fall in love with it even more. (On a more funnier note, for everyone else who is waiting on Brown, even Jess on draft said that Brown is their "white whale" so it really is one of the universe's deep dark mysteries 👀)

So, now that Iowa has moved onto poetry, can the rest of us who have heard crickets cross it off our list for fiction?

Someone on Draft reached out to Rutgers-Camden because their FAQ said end of February for the start of notifications. And the school responded back saying that this year they'll be sending out decisions in mid-to late-March. Hopefully that helps!

I completely feel you. Some of us just want all the decisions out at this point so we can rip off the band aids, stop being in a state of limbo and move on with our lives, but unfortunately we're only at the end of February, so we have to hang in there for a month more at least! Sending you lots of luck and patience, let's get through this together!

@Chex BIG BIG CONGRATS OMG I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!! NYU is a dream if you can get the funding, so that's really amazing. I hope you thrive!! (And this small NYU cohort we have going on here is so nice, personally this is what I'm jealous of, that all of you guys get to meet and work with each other in the program! But I hope all of you have the time of your lives in New York!!) @nataliezimm I'm in the same boat! It's my first time applying and I applied to only 12 schools because I'm an international applicant and didn't qualify for waivers in many of them. I do wish I'd been able to apply for more because currently I have 5 rejections, 4 soft rejections and only 3 schools left, but it was all I could afford, so I'm not blaming myself for it. That said, I haven't received a single waitlist, much less an acceptance and I'm staring down a barrel of rejections, even with the three schools left (it's Iowa, Brown and NYU so I'm not holding onto hope for it). Even though I did my very best and I put everything and more that I had into this, I have come to realise my writing sample might have sounded very immature compared to others in the application pool and it's very unlikely that my cycle is going to end with an acceptance. The truth is, I think the sooner you come to terms with it, the sooner you'll start figuring out what to do with your life the next year. I'm sorry if I sound harsh, I don't mean to offend in any way, but I thought I was going to change my whole life this year with the MFA too and now that life threatens to stagnate, I'm scrambling to make sure I don't drown. Still daydreaming about an acceptance working out was not ideal for me because reality was threatening to swallow me whole. So I had to get my shit together you know? I don't know how many schools you have left, but if you'd like to slowly start thinking about the next application cycle it might help? Not just in terms of giving yourself something to do as you wait anxiously for your remaining schools, but your call on whether you plan to apply again next cycle or you'll skip the next one and try next year instead is going to change the work style of your life. Because your life is once again going to be built around that choice for the next year or two. I don't think you have to start grilling yourself on it right away because you're probably burnt out and exhausted from the effort you put into this cycle, so rest, process everything and just idly consider it for a bit. That said, I really hope you can get into one of the remaining schools on your list and you get to live the life you envisioned for yourself in the next year. But know that you're definitely not alone and I'm super proud of you for applying, the first time is probably the hardest since you're trying to figure out everything by yourself! So sending you lots of hugs.

Ahhh happy birthday!! I hope you have a great day, and if you hear back from any school, they come bearing good news.

The position you're been put in is truly a hard one. I wish the school has been more professional instead of leaving you in such limbo and uncertainty, that's not fair of them. But I just wanted to say, waitlists are good news in some capacity. It could turn into an acceptance sure, but also, it means that you're doing something right with these schools and your apps, so it's only a matter of time before it works out. I can't imagine how hard it must be, especially as first-gen, I'm really proud of you for applying because this process really isn't for the faint of heart. If you love something, write about it. Writers write because it's how they communicate, not just with the world, but with themselves. So don't deny yourself the joy of writing about Seattle. I was smiling just now, reading what you briefly wrote on it, I hope for the remaining schools, the people reading your sample not just find your love for Seattle, but they recognise that you can write about love so beautifully through a city. This reminded me a little bit of Lady Bird and Sacramento, so you totally do not come across as a Seattle-weeaboo, just as someone who loves a place very much. Love is good for writing. About the professors stuff, I've had my worries with that and so many others have also and this is what I've seen people say (also Jess on draft say): there is no one shoe fits the size answer for this. People who have singled out professors have been accepted plenty and people who haven't singled-out anyone have also been accepted. I think professors understand that you cannot be familiar with all of their work, that you applying to the schools you do is after considering a multitude of factors. At the end of the day, it's all about your writing sample, if they love that, they will overlook things on the sop (unless you've somehow glaringly shown them you can't work with other people or other such red flags). Also, at this point in the cycle, there's no point in beating yourself up about it, what's done is done. So try to be more easy on yourself. I'm not first-gen, but I'm doing a lot of firsts in my family, hell my parents were the first to learn the English language in their families, so the kind of support system and opportunities we've had, are incredibly different from say, the average white person applying. Often, we only can only see how we've failed, so I'll tell you how you've succeeded because this is how I see you Rixor. The odds are already skewed, so there's only so much you can do by learning from other resources and I see someone who fought hard against those odds. You're brave and strong and fierce, thank you for applying this cycle, it's been great to have you on the forum too! So really, don't be too hard on yourself, life really is just a learning curve all by itself. Ultimately, I know nothing can be more comforting than an acceptance and I'm going to hope really hard one of the remaining schools come through for you. But as we've all been talking about before, your worth as a writer is not defined by the mfa, so keep writing about the things you want to!

Ahh seriously all of you guys are the sweetest! I'm really introverted and tend to not say much, but being here on gradcafe through the cycle and seeing everyone hit highs and lows and share both the sadness and the joy really was the best part of the whole process for me. Where I'm from, it's been difficult to find a writing community (one of the reasons I applied to the mfa as well) so being on here, gave me a little bit of how it could be and I'm really grateful to all of you guys for that. Looking at everyone here is why I'm not jealous or envious of those who got in, because I can tell how amazing all of you are. I'd totally be down for workshop writing as well and seconded on keeping contact no matter how it all turns out. I remember in one year, maybe last year? (I've lurked too much on here that all the years are a blur now) but someone (MPD? Their username began with a M I think) did have a workshop with others on gradcafe and apparently their feedback was super useful to others. I remember checking out their profile but I think they haven't been active in a long time. Not all heroes wear capes I guess, but it sounded really fun! So I'm in ~

@TheGreatLoudini and @GoldenTreeThank you both so much for your concern and support, it moved me that you guys checked up on me! I'm doing mostly okay now, definitely better than before anyhow, and I will definitely reach out to you guys if I feel like talking. But otherwise, I'm cheering both of you on for this cycle!

Hello everyone, looks like a slow day indeed, so I just wanted to share some hope/positivity? I haven't been doing so well mentally for the last one month. The rejections were a lot more hurtful than I thought it would be despite me expecting them and I haven't written a single word since I submitted applications in December. All in all I sort of gave up on writing altogether. I don't know how to explain it except that it died in me. I began to think I was meant to be a writer or write in this lifetime anyways. It might sound dramatic to a lot of you, but it didn't have much to do with the mfa itself. I've endured a lot in the past seven years just to keep writing in my life. Writing for me is as necessary as breathing, and it's hard to explain that to anyone without sounding crazy. It's been incredibly exhausting with no reward or relief and this was all the love I had for the art, so I was going to let it go after this cycle, because there was no light at the end of the tunnel that I could see. Yesterday I went to church for the first time in a very long time. I'm not religious, but I am agnostic. (This is not a God is great and you should go pray post, please bear with me). Honestly, I only went to ask a higher power whether they knew what they were doing and why they were doing this to me. I didn't go to ask for anything, not to ask for an acceptance or anything of that sort because I didn't think it worked like that. Also because I've just been very numb and distant from life, so I couldn't even bring myself to ask for it because I genuinely believed I was just destined to fail at writing. I ended up crying a lot, a full blown sob session haha. In the end I asked only for one thing, for God to show me a sign if they believed I should continue writing. Any sign, could have even just been a friend texting me to say they loved my writing etc. I would have taken anything just to feel like I hadn't wasted my whole life away. An hour later on the way home I received an acceptance from Binghamton for their English and Creative Writing program. Ultimately, I don't think I'll be going there because there's no funding and the director of the program understood my financial difficulties as an international student especially. But she wrote this: "In accepting your application, we wanted to communicate that the creative writing faculty who read your file and your work found it excellent." and encouraged me to keep writing and wished me success. I feel like that was the sign. The point of this wasn't to ask you guys to believe in a God or a religion or anything, but to say that I didn't have any hope for after the cycle. I was struggling to even imagine a life, but I'm a lot more calmer now. This is the first morning in the last month that I have woken up without crying. I figured if I've survived seven years and that got me the chance to apply for the MFA, another year of fighting for writing won't hurt. Someone out there did like my writing even if it wasn't the mfa. That's pretty good to me. So I'm going to try harder now. So if anyone else is feeling lost, angry, sad, like you wasted all that money for the applications, just hang in there a bit longer. Writing loves you as much as you love it, it's not unrequited. It's all about the timing, a matter of 'when' and not 'if'. If it's not this cycle and you feel like you won't be able to apply again, that's okay. It's the same for me, I don't think I have the money to apply again next cycle. But we'll never know what will actually happen in a year, in two years, in three. It may seem like there are no possibilities but we're living in a chaotic world where anything can happen. So many people have pointed out how much they've grown through the application cycle and even the short few months after it. Life is like that, you have to keep walking and then suddenly you'll look back and realise how far you've come. Everyone's pace is different, life isn't about speed but rather direction. So grieve, process, but don't give up on writing. It's just not your time yet, but it will come. If not for anyone, you owe it to yourself. Until then, watch the sunset, meet new people, buy yourself something nice and breathe in the small things. If you've been waiting for a sign, take this as the one. You are enough and there is a life, it may not look okay now but you'll figure it out, you have before, so you will again. It's not the end of the world, it may in fact be the beginning of a new one. (That said, I will still cry when I get my rejections from Iowa, Brown and NYU but it's really not the end of the world. I don't regret applying to the mfa even though all I got were rejections. I needed to see through the seven year period until the end, so I'm going to take this as the closure to that really long and hard period. Most of all though, I got to meet all of you guys and I got to see a whole community of writers, it's been very heartwarming. You guys are amazing people and I really hope for nothing but the best for everyone. I hope you keep dreaming, and your life blooms.) That was a really long message, sorry everyone!