prufrock_

unranked is based on vibes. so if someone similar to your work drops out, then you'd move into acceptance. If it's a larger program, the odds can be pretty good! Wishing the best for you!

Just got my Syracuse rejection. This one hurts!!! We have a little cry and move on. I still have more pending than I have rejections, so I haven't lost hope! Once the rejections outweigh the pending (and assuming no acceptances) then i'll start spiraling, i'm sure.

fiction waitlists from Syracuse up on draft 👀 maybe all acceptances out as well.

I was expecting the Alabama rejection since we saw acceptances/waitlists go out a while ago. But I also thought the rejections would come out in a large wave -- I seem to be the only one rejected so far! Not sure if that's a good or bad sign, hahah. edit: wave is happening!

bama just hit me with the 'no thanks!'

Sorry to all in the wave of rejections from university of Michigan! And grats to any A's and W's! It is a great looking program. I didn't apply as they asked for 'several stories (about 30 pages)' but I only had 20 pages I was confident in (two stories). I thought it was odd they asked for so much!

I'm right there with you; i applied to NWP but not michener! as for our mysterious YD, sometimes stars align on the page and beyond it. I imagine 10%-20% of all applications from any slush have good enough writing to get into the program, and what turns you from that 10% to 'admitted' is less subjective than we may think --- prestigious awards & an ivy undergrad, LOR's from a Pulitzer winner, an sop that's two pages yet reads like a novel synopsis because your life is like Forest Gump. But it's also possible they just wrote a really killer short story and have an sop that shows they'd be fun to work with for a few years, which is all it takes to get in anywhere.

someone might have more detailed advice, but mine is: rejections are part of the process! as long as you're submitting your best work to a place where it fits in, then there's no reason to stop submitting.

That '23 draft spreadsheet lost all data submitted prior to 2/24/23 for whatever reason, so it's not really possible to see if this round has a larger application pool or not. edit: i guess i do see about 100 manually added submissions that might have been the whole picture from before 2/24.

I'm sorry you didn't make it to round two. All you need is one acceptance, Iowa or Michigan are still just as likely as before! Each program is a subjective process. No one is going to make it into every program they apply for, but each rejection still hurts. I made it to round two. If it helps any, for context, I submitted two 10ish page short stories -- one is kind of a straight new sincerity piece and the other is comedic satire - the last being a gamble that's earned me a few rejections so far. 3feetofsnow summed up my thoughts on the entire process, re: diversity of style, and 'luck'.

no matter how i start my stories, they always end up being about failed father/son relationships, or codependent & toxic romantic relationships. I add a lot of jokes to make it less sad, but maybe that's just a defense mechanism against sincerity. I idealize 'new sincerity' but I have a hard time writing it. One of the shorts i submitted is postmodern satire. Which maybe means I kinda really have no control over what I write or what ends up 'working', cause I wanted to write the opposite of that.

reduce the P line once you get an answer. to me the p stands for pending.

is the program fully funded? Having 2+ years to focus on reading and writing will get you closer to publishing, no matter what else happens. I don't think getting into any program is going to make you published. creativewritingmfa.info/rankings/ - this website ranks programs based on published output (with a focus on short work). This might feel you a little less scared if the program is on there?

ditto re: U of W-Madison. It's kind of them to send rejections and acceptances on the same day though!

Looks like most acceptances/waitlists have gone out for UW Madison; i'm going to assume I'm rejected there at this point. That means i'm 'unoffically offically' rejected from: UW Madison alabama u of oregon WE MARCH ON!

yoooooooo!!!!!! that's massive!!! congrats! Was that your top choice??

Congrats, that's such a wonderful program! I hope you get in.

I just realized the 2023 draft notification spreadsheet has no data submitted before 2/24! Hard to get a great sense of what movement was last year due to this.

I agree, 2/15 mixed with 'post awp week' felt like we would see tons of movement. We'll just have to be a bit more patient, but it's tough!

Yes, that's how I read their website. I did notice yesterday they removed the phase 2 notification that was up from 2022 from their website, I'm guessing in preparation of posting that 2024 version tomorrow.

We have almost as many pages as the 2023 MFA thread in total and we're not even into the middle of February. I think we're an especially anxious bunch!

After submitting all my apps, I read Crime and Punishment for the first time (and it was my first of the Russian Greats). It made my writing feel vapid and shallow and I wished I could do everything over. But! Times still regrettably linear. And now i'm going to read more of Dostoevsky, see what I can't steal for my next project.

Schrödinger's waiting period. We're having to prepare for two drastically outcomes in life, one of which is true and one is not.

I heard through the grapevine that I got into Arkansas phase 2 and I spent most of the day anxiously waiting for the official email. None yet! Looks like a few people on Draft have the same experience. I wonder if they will send out acceptances once it's all sorted, rather than notifying applicants of round two progression.

I was rejected from washu as well! Yay! I haven't heard back from U of Oregon, but I am expecting a rejection in a mass wave sometime this week or next. I think all acceptances and waitlists for them have gone out.