subsolar

Hi, I'm not sure if this helps but I was informed of my waitlist on 3/8, and I just logged in right now and my status says "Under Program Review."

I'm so happy to be of help ❤️ Yes of course! I believe gradcafe has a message feature feel free to reach out with any questions!

What a funny coincidence! And congratulations! The faculty there is so down to Earth and fun to work with so if they picked you, I know it's because they believe in you. This turned out a lot longer than I thought, but I hope it helps you or any other students considering UCR now or in the future. Being a UCR student was very fun. I will say there are certain events that are only for undergrad students, but I assume there were events for grad students. We also host a Writer's Week in February and lots of cool writers make appearances. I do remember there were certain parts of the library reserved for grad students. The campus is not enormous, but it's still pretty big because we own a lot of orange groves. As a Creative Writing student, you will most likely only stick to one side of the school because the department has a floor in a building with the world’s slowest elevator (but it has a cool selfie mirror on top so that’s fun). Or you can climb up the three flights of stairs. The department is a short walk away from The HUB where you can go and get food, coffee, snacks, etc. The department also has a parking lot right next to it where I saw my TAs/Professors park, so I’m going to assume your catalytic converter will be safe there. It’s just been a huge problem in the regular student parking, and UC Riverside is a “commuter school” so the lots get packed. I’m not sure if they’ve added more security/cameras since I graduated in ’22. I lived off campus but still right by campus, and I took the bus for free or just walked to campus everyday. One of the lecturers there was an MFA student at UCR and said he’d spend a lot of time at the Getaway Café writing/workshopping with his cohort. That café is a UCR staple, and it’s also a very short walk away from the department. I believe he said he didn’t get to TA one year, but I’d personally ask faculty about the TA selection process if it’s something important to you. I’m not sure if everyone gets to TA now or if it’s still a select few. I really don’t know much about the MFA life, but you will most mostly be teaching Creative Writing majors in a Creative Writing department, not English majors. Expect students to be passionate about writing and to have questions and actually attend office hours. I say that because I’d be outside office hours for my TAs early, and there were always people in front of me. UCR is an extremely diverse school so there will be many types of writers exploring different subject matters, and I think that makes it so fun. My TAs were actually the ones that told me that if I was ever interested in getting an MFA, they'd answer any questions. I'm not saying you have to be the same way and be as available at all, but me and the other students in the department always thought highly of our TAs. Because they take a small cohort, I'm going to assume you'll get more than enough attention from faculty. I say this because as an undergrad student, they always made time for me and to answer my questions even if they had like five other students lined up outside. One of my favorite memories is walking into a professor's office at random with a 20 page manuscript and going, "What do I do with this?" They’d always get back to me in a week or two. Also, each faculty member has taught me extremely life changing things on accident, but it's because despite being in a class with twenty other students, they took time to get to know my writing and style and what I was trying to accomplish. They’ve never tried to mold me into a writer that they think I should be, but rather, they saw what type of writer I already was and helped me become a better version of that. They also give awesome reading recommendations. I have nothing bad to say about any of them, honestly. I have a core three faculty I go back to and still email, and I’ve been updating them with my MFA process, and they’re very excited for me. Choosing UCR at a 17 year old was the best choice I could’ve made for myself as a writer. If you have more general questions you can ask here for other people's reference, or if you want more specific details (names, housing, etc.), feel free to message me! I could blabber about UCR all day.

Oh my! What a small world (cyberspace??) I thought he was a funny little guy and saved him from Tumblr 🙂❤️

Hi everyone! I finally decided to make an appearance after lurking since page one. Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted/waitlisted and to everyone who applied in general because man. Applying to MFAs feels like it could be a military torture method. I'm currently waitlisted at both Maryland and Minnesota for Fiction, and I feel very appreciative because this is my first cycle, and I was kinda scared that I was going to write the email of shame to my recommenders. I'm lowkey already preparing my list for next year just in case, but we'll see. I was been beating myself up over one of my writing samples but what is done is done. I like both programs equally, and they both have their pros/cons for me, so I guess I'll just leave it up to fate (their admissions committees). Actually, I will say, Minnesota was #2 on my list, so it was exciting to hear from them. I think I applied to less schools than most people do but there were certain schools where I said "I'd rather be dead in California than alive in _____." And I only applied to programs I'd be very happy to attend. Funnily enough (but not that funny because I have $7 left), Minnesota and Maryland were 2/3 schools I couldn't use fee waivers for, and I told my friends that I better get good news from them because they took my money knowing I was broke. I think I manifested it on accident. Also, if anyone is in or waitlisted at UC Riverside, feel free to ask me any questions. I did my undergrad there for creative writing, and I had an absolute blast. I love UCR, but I didn't apply for my MFA there because I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. The professors know me and my writing extremely well already. The fiction faculty is amazing, and I could talk about them all day. I'd say MFA students there are treated well by students as well because I adored my TAs, and I only ever heard other students say kind things about them. It's an extremely diverse school and Riverside isn't as bad as a place as they make it out to be (as long as you don't have a catalytic converter).