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I mean, they should send a rejection letter. A rejection notice, even if it's a one-liner, is the absolute bare minimum a school or magazine should give to an applicant. I know Iowa only sends out snail mail rejection letters, so I wonder if your rejection letter just got lost in the ether

U of O hasn't sent out rejections for fiction yet. Someone did get accepted last week, but I think that's the last of the news. I'm guessing the cohort hasn't fully been fleshed out yet and they're still holding out before sending out Rs. Did you check your Iowa portal? It should have updated for everyone a few weeks ago. Some people didn't receive rejection letters and I'm 99% sure they don't send out emails unless you're accepted/waitlisted.

Take this with a grain of salt since I'm a first time applicant, but I'm of the opinion that I don't think it'll hurt. Not professional or needy if you're polite and say that you understand if they can't, but obviously be prepared for a no or a 'balanced cohort' response like prufrock mentioned. Asking from the waitlist makes more sense than a rejection, IMO, especially if you're asking if there's anything that would have pushed your application over the edge.

I'll probably be declining my spot in fiction sometime this week. Didn't ask about the confirmed amount of spots, but I saw that someone else is declining (or has declined) their spot on Draft. It's a really fantastic program and I loved speaking with the faculty & current students.

If anyone knows about any movement re: the Syracuse fiction waitlist, please let me know! I've returned to some semblance of a routine, but the radio silence is still killing me during the 10 minutes of each day I allow myself to refresh for news.

IMO, I don't think it matters either way. I figured at this point, all my Ps are soft Rs anyway, but I just wanted closure. I framed it as I'm trying to make a decision on my offers and, as I love the program, I'm willing to wait on them, but I'd rather know so I can make a decision for my situation.

I don't think anyone's gotten a U of O rejection yet, but acceptances and waitlists went out late Jan/early Feb. For Michener, if your app still says 'Under Review' in the portal, I'd email and ask, since all results, including rejections, for fiction/poetry went out out late Feb. On another note, I emailed the Irvine coordinator and asked for a definitive answer, noting that I wanted to make a decision soon on my 3As, and Michelle Latiolais was very prompt and kind in her response and rejection. She indicated they took one less this year due to budget cuts. That actually surprised me, but maybe I shouldn't be given what happened to U of A, U of F, and Purdue 😕

Somehow knowing, for weeks, that I'd be rejected at Iowa pushed my existential dread and sadness past a certain threshold and it looped around the Crippling Self Doubt and Depression Spectrum (TM) into unreasonable giddiness and excitement as I ripped open my letter and hunted around for a pushpin (could only find tape). I did get a tiered rejection, but I do feel like a good portion of people get a tiered rejection? Who knows.

Didn't apply, but I saw acceptances and waitlists go out for Rutgers-Camden 3-4 days ago for both CNF/fiction. Acceptances/waitlists for Amherst went out early Feb and the prospie event is in April, so I'm fairly certain Amherst is done for fiction/poetry. Through Draft, a current IWW student indicated that Iowa was done notifying for fiction (but some fiction applications received emails that their apps were "still under consideration"). CNF might still be going on for Iowa, since I saw a waitlist today or yesterday, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm honestly a little surprised by the lack of reports for Iowa (I counted about 7 fiction reports, give or take) given the large cohort, but who knows ┐(°‿°)┌

I honestly don't like giving opinions on school rep/rankings, because I think everyone's needs and fit are different, and everyone has their own ranking clustering internally that can be vastly different from everyone else's. That said, AFAIK, 75% is the biggest scholarship tuition TNS gives, which is a pretty big indicator that they think highly of your writing sample. From Pearson's (and I have no idea how trustworthy/recent/reliable this data is) they accept 80%+ students that apply. From what I see on Draft, I think the 75% merit aid scholarship is quite rare? In general, for programs you have to pay for, if you can afford it and be comfortable after paying for your program, fantastic. Great alums come from everywhere and the faculty at these programs tend to be stacked. If you can't afford it, I have a lot of personal opinions on why I wouldn't attend an MFA I'd have to pay for, especially in NYC, but I think the biggest point just boils down to: if you have to take out significant loans without a guaranteed way of paying it back after, it's...tough. Some people have made it work and have been wildly successful. But I also know a few people who will be paying off their student loans for the rest of their lives. Making art isn't about the money, but, I mean, it kind of also unfortunately is because we all have to eat.

asdflknsafsd I seriously just tucked and smothered my hopes into bed last week, but are you possibly indicating that Iowa is still making calls for both genres?

I feel you. I'd rather know ASAP if they aren't going to take me in the first place (thank you, BU, lol). I do think some programs hold off on sending rejections until they fill out/mostly confirm their cohort, so I get that too from their end.

I honestly just want Brown to release results and informally end my cycle. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Everything else pending on my end is either a soft rejection or, at best, a possible waitlist. Still waiting for the Kleenex that Iowa's going to send in my mailbox. I've never received a paper rejection from anything before, so I'll probably nail it to my wall a la Stephen King style. To be completely realistic though: given that fiction/poetry acceptances are out, I'm guessing if more Iowa results come out, it'll be waitlists. If I'm really inhaling the copium/hopium (whatever lingo) from past years, maybe a trickle stream of acceptances in the next few weeks, but I'm not holding my breath. Also, re: Brown: I checked Draft '23 and no one who reported a Brown fiction/poetry acceptance indicated they had to interview beforehand. Brown seems to only interview playwrighting applicants, which is a different department from the Literary Arts. Guessing that Gradcafe result is either a troll (they put their matriculation semester as Fall 25 lol) or just for the Theatre Arts department. Given last year's results, we'll probably hear back next week. They seem to take longer since, according to their site, two faculty members review each app? From what I know, fiction results released in early/mid Feb. They take a while to release rejections for some reason, but they already invited prospies to an event in April.

I've tried tracking that too, but I think it varies. Usually in the morning/early afternoon EST from what I can tell, but I saw in a previous Draft post that someone 'just finished a call' with a school almost near midnight. I mean, personally, I don't care when they call, unless they call with bad news 💀

Damn. Thanks for answering back so fast though! I was honestly hoping for some news yesterday (since it seems like LSC made a set of calls the Tues before last), but it looks like I'm just holding a spool of metaphorical red yarn in front of a corkboard, looking for connections that don't really matter. I mean, based on history, looks like they made calls a little into March, but WHO KNOWS. ⊙︿⊙

Ahh, did you manage to glean any more info and/or did they indicate at all whether they were possibly done with fiction acceptances?

I feel like there hasn't been as many posts about it, but is anyone else pissing themselves over Iowa results? About 6 results have been reported via the spreadsheet & through various posts, and I'm guessing that they've made a few more calls that haven't been reported. At this point, I'm going to count them as a no to brace myself for the dream crushing machine that'll visit me in a few weeks via USPS. Probably going to eat my weight in instant ramen and rice cakes when the rejection letter comes through hahahahaha ︵‿︵(´ ͡༎ຶ ͜ʖ ͡༎ຶ `)︵‿︵

I didn't ask (probably should have). I just assumed that it was 10 based on the admissions website, but when I was connected with current students, they told me that the cohort size was less one year? I think it varies. UC Irvine has acceptances for poetry on the spreadsheet (3, I think, so far), but none for other genres yet.

If you're talking about Amherst, they should be done notifying for fiction. I was called a few weeks ago, along with a few others from what I can see on the Draft spreadsheet. I think a previous post indicated Brown might be next week if playwrighting and the other genres come out at the same time.

Holy crap re: UF. I figured some programs would shut down (see: Purdue ●︿●) given the economic climate, but didn't think any of them would straight up cancel the program after most people have sent in their apps... Given the timing, I wonder if it was a sudden and unforeseen budget cut. It's a huge hassle to refund app fees.

I'm sorry. I understand how you feel, but I really hope you don't take the rejection personally! A lot of writing is so subjective and due to the taste of ad coms and readers that year. I've been submitting/applying to lit mags, workshops, and fellowships for a year or two now, for both poetry and fiction, and rejections really are just painful either way, whether they take 300+ days to respond or a day or two. My first few rejections from lit mags, I was entirely too dramatic and spent most of my evenings baking brownies and salting them with my tears. So much crappy TV was watched during those months and I slept on wet pillows. That said, I can guarantee you that each subsequent rejection stings less (but they still sting, haha). What does help is actually being a reader for the slush pile (if you aren't already). I highly recommend that experience for everyone, since you get to see how subjective tastes can be, how much work mags can accept, and just the sheer volume of submissions that come in. I did veto a lot of work, but sometimes I would recommend a story, the second reader would +1 my recommendation, and the editor will shoot it down simply because there wasn't space, it didn't align with that issue's vibe, or another work they accepted was quite similar, etc. From what I've read, MFA applications are quite similar to the pipeline of a mag, so I think maybe it's something to consider? Again, please don't feel disheartened, and hopefully the rest of your cycle turns out well. Wishing the best for all of us.

It wasn't in the email itself; I heard this from another faculty member. Maybe take it with a grain of salt since I didn't apply to poetry, but the impression I got was that was the case for both genres.

At least for poetry & fiction, I'm fairly certain UIUC sent out all the acceptances before waitlists. They sent out faculty waitlist emails for those in the top 3 of each genre a few days after, then a generic waitlist email for everyone else in the top 10. I think they might send out more waitlist emails as the waitlist moves. That said, I wouldn't count on rejections across the board! Adcoms can be pretty subjective, and rejections from a few schools don't mean rejections everywhere. People in Draft the previous years have indicated they were rejected at every school they applied to, until they got into something like Iowa, Michener, etc.

Thanks! I applied for fiction. I think there might be a poetry interview noted in this year's Draft spreadsheet just now. Hoping you hear something back! No idea, honestly. Judging from last year's posts in Draft, it's a little ambiguous when people got their emails (could be rolling emails over 1-2 days). Hopefully it's spread out over a few days and you get an email soon!

Thanks! Unfortunately, I'm a shy snail and don't like posting on Facebook with my real name ヽ༼◉ل͜◉༽ﾉ. That said, I'm guessing it's about teaching, given previous Draft comments.