pananoprodigy

Welcome to the forum! Your guess is as good as mine for most of this, but I can speak a bit to the screenwriting of it all. I did an MFA in screenwriting and am now looking to transition out of the entertainment industry which is why I've decided to try for an MFA in fiction. I would say that unless you're knowledgeable about film & TV production and are very confident you want to be in that world, a degree in screenwriting may not be the best idea. Most of the "top" screenwriting programs (including mine lol) aren't funded, and while I definitely learned a lot I don't really know if I would do it again tbh. Definitely don't want to discourage you if that's what you're interested in of course! But it's a very specific and difficult industry, especially now, post-strike and post-pandemic.

Seconding this! Fee waivers are a HUGE help and in my experience they're not super difficult to get if you actually need them. I think 11 of the 17 places I applied waived my app fee and all I had to do for most of them was upload a bank statement or something similar showing that I'm poor lol

This is super helpful, thanks!!!

Does anybody have a list of NON fully funded programs that DO offer full funding? (that sentence makes my head hurt lol). I know there are schools that aren't considered fully funded bc they don't offer full funding to everybody, but do offer it to some. Curious if anybody has a list to that effect. I'm bored and unemployed and thinking of adding a few to my list for shits and giggles.

@Hjanep I feel you, I'm also feeling weirdly chill about the whole thing at this point. This time last year I was already checking gradcafe 50 times a day lol. This round I've applied to: Wyoming, Brown, Cornell, UTK, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Indiana, NAU, U of Oregon, & Minnesota. Still working on apps for: Iowa, Montana, Rutgers-Camden, Michigan, & Ohio State. So far I got fee waivers for all except Wyoming, Syracuse, Minnesota, and NAU. NAU is the only non-fully funded program I'm applying to, and only because I really love Flagstaff and I've heard they sometimes do offer full funding. Open to tweaking or adding to the list if anybody has input!

Just a little over a month til most apps open up - we are SO back y'all 😎 I'm actually excited to do this again!

Same LOL - maybe there’s still hope for 2024 😂

Congrats to everyone hearing from their waitlists! Has anyone gotten their university of Oregon rejection yet??

It'll probably show up randomly a few months from now when I'm having a bad day hahaha

Thanks! I had been locked out of my Iowa portal but I just got it reset and yeah, they did update it. Kind of a bummer to me to spend so much money/time on these applications and not even get a formal rejection email. I get it, but also 😕

I still haven’t heard anything from Iowa or University of Oregon (fiction). :/

Is anyone still waiting for their fiction rejection from Iowa?

From university of Oregon: “Thank you for reaching out! The Creative Writing department has let us know that they will be sending out their final decisions in mid-April. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any updates on individual applications until that time. Thank you for your patience and understanding.“ Mid April when acceptances when out in January is crazy

Unfortunately I already have the debt so it’s a bit too late for that. lol

Thank youuu, that's a really good point that I have to remember (re: the years in between are also my life). My parents are cool and it would be nice to be closer to my little sister, who also lives at home, so I don't think it would be bad in that sense, but it definitely would be a huge adjustment for somebody (me) who's been used to living alone for like ten years lol.