Rixor

It is very possible that I'm being dumb instead! I just assumed "p" was for pending, I'm not totally sure. Wow--congratulations! That's massive!! Thank you!! I hope there's some information out there soon!

Ahh, I sure hope not!! My "5 pending" includes schools like USF where I'm practically rejected, but just haven't gotten the notification yet.

Fiction waitlists at OregonSU have gone out (or, at least, are starting to)! 150 applicants in fiction for four spots. Hoping everyone else hears some good news!!

Yes, I'm waiting on Oregon State! One fiction acceptance so far in the sheet. I was told they give one acceptance earlier than the others so they can be nominated for a fellowship. Here's hoping!

Just have a feeling when a bunch of waitlists/acceptances go out, it's easier for me to cope with them if I assume it's a rejection. I got pleasantly surprised today with a UMn waitlist after I'd counted it out. (Congrats on your waitlist!!) Just got my official Madison rejection, too! Time to update the signature.

Same re: Madison. Unofficial rejection from USF, too, for me. Very happy to those who got w's and a's from them though!! Congratulations! Also same about running out of reactions... I've left a little heart on every post in spirit. @ brdiget I'm terrible at TFT but I appreciate that there's another League-addicted MFA hopeful here:)

Wow, UBC!!! Wonderful!!! Congratulations!! What made you decide to apply there? Looking it up, it seems like a stellar university and program!!

Thank you so much! I hope you get a call from UW-Madison soon, and that those pendings of yours start turning into a's and w's. I understand how difficult this waiting period is. I'm very excited about all the schools I've applied for, but my top choice is tentatively UofWashington, so I'm really hoping I hear good news from them soon! I get all worried even mentioning that--like proclaiming it will jinx me.

Oh my goodness!! Congratulations!!! UW-Madison is a wonderful school with a great program--especially after all that anticipation, I'm so happy for you!!

Holy shit I got waitlisted at UMn??!!?!??! I had already counted it as a rejection in my signature because my application was incomplete (missing a letter) and I felt awful about my SOP. Ahh!!!!! I feel so so so grateful and fortunate. Congrats to everyone for their acceptances/waitlists!!!! I realize this is totally off-topic and the answer is likely "no" but do any of you play League of Legends? It's been keeping me sane during this waiting period.

I don't think programs ever call with bad news:) Congratulations!! I'm so so happy for you!! And congrats, jadedoptimist!!!

I was just impatient!! Waitlisted at ASU my beloved alma mater

Is it common for schools to not send out rejections all at once? I'm staring at the Draft data... Some schools have logged rejections/waitlists/acceptances, but I'm still in limbo with an "in review" application. Though I'm probably just anxious and impatient, I worry this means I messed up my application and accidentally sent it in incomplete or something.

Just an update about FAFSA for those not in Draft--the admin said you do not have to fill out the FAFSA if you only intend to go to a fully-funded program. It might be a good idea to, but it's not necessary. Congrats to those waitlists/acceptances!:) Edit: Maybe it is necessary for some schools? Oop.

Hi everyone!!! CONGRATULATIONS to those of you who have received waitlists and acceptances!!! That's wonderful and I'm so so happy for you all! I was wondering if anyone could share gift ideas for recommenders? I feel so grateful and honestly pretty indebted to them, but I have no clue what to get!

Got an acceptance:) Smaller school without automatic full-funding, but I got accepted with offered funding. I'm pretty stoked! The email was so incredibly kind. UN-Reno in case anyone else applied there! I'm overthinking hardcore how to write the email back... I want to express just how excited I am, but don't want to come off as unprofessional or off-putting! Going to count UMn as a rejection--my application was incomplete anyways (recommender missed the firm deadline). Also my SOP for there was my first, and thus was pretty cringe. Post-deadline regret is awful!! I didn't know WWU existed until now. It seems like an incredible program; I wish I'd've applied! Good luck to those of you going:) Writernity and Brdiget, thank you so SO much for your responses to my little rant-post! (And Scribe, for empathizing with me!) I'll do my best to heed the Tumblr post, think logically about my goals and the metrics I use to gauge my own success, and overall build confidence:) So sorry to those who applied for UF. That's so bizarre... I'm glad they're refunding your application fees, at least, but I understand how hard it must be to essentially receive an automatic rejection. That time/energy could've been used in applying for another program. I hope all is okay with the faculty and current students, too--I can't imagine what circumstances could've prompted a drastic change like that. Congrats to everyone receiving good news! Hoping we hear more over the weekend before AWP week

This wait is dreadful. Sorry, little rant: my sample pieces should be solid. One was published in a top 100 litmag where the editors said they "loved" it. A very kind professor who agreed to read both said they made her tear up. Emotional connection is my whole goal. But I keep thinking--what if they're all lying? Being nice, taking pity on me? I remember workshopping my stuff, red-in-the-face because I was secretly convinced my stuff is garbage. I'd really like to think my writing is solid enough to get admitted somewhere, but it's difficult to get over my own self-doubt. I feel like an imposter and that I'm wasting time worrying about all of this. I don't know how better-established writers do it. If anyone could share advice for lack of confidence, I would really appreciate it. I really hope admission decisions continue through tomorrow and AWP-week! It's hard having 0a/0r/0w! I'm so, so happy for those of you with w's and a's and I'm wishing the best for those of you with r's!

It's a good thing you're not running any programs, then!

Jeez... You probably dodged a bullet, then.

IQ tests are a terrible measure of intelligence. They're an apt measure of how well you can recognize and identify patterns, but certainly not of how smart you are. Grad school admissions are similarly a terrible measure of your worth as an artist. Someone on Draft made this point, but if you, for example, wrote a stunning piece about, e.g., your experiences living in an impoverished country overseas, you could still get passed on simply because the admissions committee doesn't 'connect' with it the same way they might with a story about middle class life in Small Town USA. People are biased--it's unavoidable. People have different preferences in prose, plot, setting, characters... Even if you did get all rejections, it wouldn't necessarily indicate anything about your skill as a writer. Didn't you already receive a waitlist from Bloomington, or am I mistaken? It seems to me that you've already 'proven' yourself by your own metrics. Waitlists are a very, very good thing to receive!

I put my high school dual credits on all my applications just in case, but I sincerely doubt it'll affect your chances. The instructions for that section of apps is so vague in the first place.

Hey all! Does anyone have any insights on how AWP will affect notifications? E.g., is it safe to assume that no schools will notify next week? Thanks!

Just got rejected for a position because I gave an honest weakness during the job interview 😔 I thought the whole 'strengths disguised as weaknesses' thing was frowned upon! Oh well. I keep having very silly nightmares about the Draft notification sheet, except my potential schools and employers are filling it out and listing all of my flaws and failures in the notes section 😅 Anyways, congrats to those who are seeing acceptances and waitlists! Rooting for everyone! I'm hoping we hear more news the rest of this week!

I was a biology major and first-gen, so the prestige of masters programs was completely alien to me when I was applying. I only learned after joining Draft, but by then I'd already spent $800 on applications and promised my recommenders I was done haha. I also don't have any confidence that I'd get into someplace like Syracuse (even though I adore George Saunders' work)--during my English minor, the department head told me it was near-impossible for STEM grads to get into MFA programs. Hoping that's not the case! I applied to schools mainly based on location. It's my dream to move to the PNW, I adore it, so those schools are my top choices. Thank you! Good luck to you too! Where did you apply/how did you choose where to apply to? Ahh that's so cool! If you'd be willing to message and link your visual novel games I'd love to check them out. I'm in a volunteer gamedev group as a writer for an upcoming game and it's been a ton of fun. Trying to learn programming to work independently but man, this math stuff is hard!! Super cool to see everyone's genres! I write literary fiction. My second short story in my sample had magical realism elements which apparently isn't good for litfic applications ahhh so I hope that doesn't count against me. In my free time I do genre, but I'm not very good at it. I'd like to get better.

It's definitely not the norm but some programs do have interviews.