prufrock_

definitely not silly! speaking as someone who had their offer completely rescinded from rutgers-camden this round -- until a contract is signed, nothing is promised! Maybe ark changed, but last year when i got in off the waitlist they sent a TA contract to sign the day of the offer, and told me to complete a full application on their grad site. Again, maybe things changed between years though.

Congrats! definitely feel free to vent more. these are massive decisions and it gets overwhelming fast! if it's any help, I got off Ark's waitlist last round, but declined. Teaching 2/2 for four years is A LOT... especially for their pay; yes Fayetteville has a lower COL than flag, but from my research last year the COL raised dramatically in fay over the last five years, but the stipened hasn't. i'm rather risk averse to any debt though.

rutgers-camden lost all funding for (at least) the incoming cohort. we mourn. we cry. we mourn. we cry. we ball. looks like this year will be a bust for me, but still i feel good. i'm really proud of the writing for my portfolio, and over the next year i can do better. Next year i wont apply to many schools. maybe just three. iowa, uc irvine. But i wont build my life around getting in or not any longer. anyway, I'm so happy for everyone here; it's been a wonderful ride. i'll be day dreaming of yall in all your schools, hoping your having a wonderful time. i'm also wishing everyone some good waitlist luck in the next few weeks!!!

i think michener is a bit more 'prestigious' than NWP for two reasons: 1) you don't teach when doing michener - you get paid/tution covered just to write and go to class, no other obligations. 2) michener pays a tad more than NWP. (but not much) Otherwise, i'm pretty sure they all share faculty, so the level of education is the same. fun fact: you do need to submit two separate apps to be considered, but they share an app fee. so if you apply to one, make sure to apply to both!

No, i had no other funded offers. I would have had to pay the full app fee for ark, and then sign a contract if i accepted. I don't have much insight into accepting an offer and then backing out. I know it's very frowned upon, and I would be hesitant to do it, but it's not unheard of or impossible.

my one data point is that last year I got into arkansas from the waitlist on 4/18, so it definitely happens. I ended up turning it down after thinking for a few days, so someone else got that spot around 4/23ish. Ark didn't give me a specific deadline to accept or decline, but it's going to vary widely program to program.

i believe it only has to do with scholarships and funding. Those who apply earlier get priority on scholarship offers, but not acceptance. So your chances of going aren't shot, but your chances of funding might be.

"We were pleased to consider your application..." what a brutal way to start a rejection letter lol, for a split second my mind autocompleted it to 'we are pleased to offer you...' anyway, officially got ND's decline.

grats to boith of you!!!! Flagstaff (and sedona) are such cool places, i'm excited for yall!

Exactly what I was thinking! if financially it's all the same, i'd go to oregon (i lived there before and loved it, it's so greeeeeeeen). It's a progressive state politically, while Idaho looks rather red. but yeah oregon's kinda pricey. as for two vs three years, i've been debating that with myself lately. while having an extra year of guaranteed funding makes taking the mfa leap less scary, i think i can write a good thesis in two years anyway. (plus my savings spaced out over two years makes life prettier than vs three years.)

welcome! you can see me and everything bagel talking a bit ago about Wyoming and our general love for it; i don't know how much more I have to offer other than: it seems rad. I love the fact you can minor in various things and you can work with the radio station, which makes wyoming unique. you can vibe in a tiny town with some really great faculty. it's windy up there though. actually i'm waitlisted there so let me rephrase: RUN FROM WYOMING, DON'T GO! jk jk jk, it's great. idk how much prestige factors into anything unless you're talking top 5 or 10 -- is there a difference between WashU and wyoming? mayyyybe. is there a difference between UNM and Wyoming? probably not. for placement that's def a good conversation to have with the directors or your point of contact but placement is more of a phd thing i think, the MFA isn't really a key to a job. i'm a big fan of following vibes. read the work of the faculty, do the new student visits, decide mountains vs desert, follow your heart more than your head (only if all things are equal with funding).

good point, no, i haven't received an actual rejection, but i counted it as a soft rejection over a month ago.

I think UIUC makes a very good case for being a top choice! working on Ninth Letter would be a major highlight if you're at all interested in editing. my only small reservation about the program is also one of its strengths: the incoming cohort size is 3 in fiction, which means there's a small chance you might not find people you really vibe with. but the small cohort would make things really tight knit, and half the reason i'm excited for the mfa is the community. (also since its such a small cohort, i've put just about no thought into it, since i don't think i'm getting in there.) If I was waitlisted at Notre Dame that'd probably be my top choice, but only due to subjective reasons; Roy Scranton's life and writing is very similar to mine, so i thought he'd make a great advisor. but i got declined lol

wyoming, cu boulder(funding), and uiuc. They're all so different, it's hard to have a top choice! though, maybe i should remove myself from the lists because i'd have a hard time picking any of those over rutgers-camden anyway probably.

i don't specifically remember what they did to me last round when they rejected me, but my spreadsheet has them disqualified this round for 'really wack rejection last year' lol so it's a trend of theirs.