prufrock_

historically, a bad economy results in more competition for grad school spots; people postpone getting a job because there are no jobs, so they continue education. And right now the economy is very very bad.

last year i got an iowa tiered rejection and this year i got the standard! I'm backsliding! i took a big swing this cycle and used chapters out of a novel i'm working on, which i knew was a gamble, especially cause the work is slipstream voice driven chaos. it clearly didn't work out, i hit only rejections. The advice of applying with 'one killer short story' holds true. Anyway, that's it for my mfa journey. (I don't want to ask my recommenders to submit for me a fourth time, so I'll no longer be applying; I still want an MFA, but, alas!) Best of luck to all this season and going forward!!!!

thanks for letting us know about the status of uci! (and dang it!!) now that you're almost done with your mfa, what are your thoughts on the whole MFA thing as a whole? If you don't wanna say publicly, no worries, but i am curious.

i've convinced myself a dozen times today that i can feel premonitions, looking at my phone, thinking, 'it will ring with an iowa number... right... now!' but alas, i cannot tell the future.

I approach it with a stoic philosophy: "Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well" - Epictetus. It's silly but sometimes i remember that like a thousand people are living their mfa dreams right now and it makes me happy to think about, even if i don't know them, and even if it's not me doing it. so if i get in, i'll be happy, and if i don't get in, i'll be happy that someone else did.

i know it's nearing late feb when i find myself sending text messages and emails to myself just to make sure they work -- these inboxes they're being awfully & suspiciously QUIET...

most programs specifically say on their website 'we'll tell you by x date. don't reach out before then.' -- so i would be hesitant to ask them, especially if their website says something like this. but that's just me! I treat all of our crowd sourced data as an unreliable and unofficial channel, not a source of truth. I don't consider it as giving insight into what is actually happening to my application or what's going on inside the programs.

i just stalked the last few years worth of responses and added a column in my spreadsheet for expected response time frames for each program... nearly all of them are late feb, early march! I think last year i applied to uiuc just because i wanted the early response; this year i have no coalmine canaries.

Grats! I was waitlisted last year for UIUC as well, so to give my experience: I sent a thanks, and then didn't hear anything back from them at all -- either that a spot opened or that they filled up (but i also never emailed them any further questions).

I recommend against re-reading what you've sent out at this point. It's out there! there's no takesy-backsies! its a good fit for the program or it's not; either way, the answer is subjective and on the way.

CONGRATS!!!! love to see an early acceptance here.

basically money reasons. i'm not willing to go into debt for the mfa, but i did math wrong re: cost of living for a few programs my first time, so even though i got into a fully funded program (Arkansas), i decided to try again rather than do side gigs the entire time or use loans for rent. last year I got into rutgers-camden, which pays 40k a year (very good! livable in philly!), but their cohort was canceled. i also got into a few other programs that i thought were fully funded but turned out not to be (cu boulder, wku). So here i am!

I'll try not to sound like a cynic... but I believe anyone applying to mfa programs should realize it's basically like buying a lottery ticket, and the prize is debt. So if you're aware of these two things, then: enjoy the process! Take it easy! The idea that you'll end up where you belong is true; this implies that you should submit work you want to write, not what you think they want you to write. Don't fret over SOPs, but also don't give them a reason to toss your packet -- so, strictly follow to their rules. Have fun. Be cool. Post neurotically in February and march here, as our collective conscious goes insane. If you get in somewhere, don't do anything drastic until contracts are signed. write thank you letters to nice people!

YEAR THREE AND I'M BACK. (apparently my favorite hobby is applying to mfa programs.) anywho this place wont become a party for a few months yet, but i just want to say an early: good luck! don't SWEAT. have fun! alright now back to work.

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.