Scribe

20 rejections. 6 acceptances. and that’s the game baby.

yup.

so I didn't know exactly how much (or little) funding many schools offered until I was accepted. occasionally someone on draft would post the offer and now that there's a separate sheet just for acceptances I'm learning a lot more. Look into teaching loads. some schools give funding but with heavier teaching loads, like 2:2. if they do, i don't know how much time is left to write. but if they don't!!! - there's time for a side gig. I don't want it but i will probably have to at some point. consider everything. if you're in class 3-4 hours a week, teaching and grading paper for another 20 (they can't possibly think they're going to get that out of me) studying and writing for classwork another 6, and workshopping and writing another X? (I suddenly have a new question for the group), then there might be a few hours a week available to tutor some high school snot or drive an uber or some other make-your-own hours thing. do not count out a great program solely because you might have to do part time or summers. there were women on draft openly discussing sex work. There's always a way.

I'm glad they filled their cohort. And now for UCR. I know it's stupid, but i feel like this leg of the journey isn't over until I get it. maybe it's because I kept telling everyone to hang in until the end. That or I lived with so much anxiety for so long I don't know how to live without it.

Yeah , except it looks like they’ve sent out acceptances and waitlists. So unless they’re planning on going to the folks they didn’t want in the first place, something is wrong. I’ve been saying for months now that there’s no excuse. Once you have your waitlist established it is stupid and wrong to not send out waitlists. What allows it is a mentality which makes the April 15 agreement necessary to begin with. This sort of thing should be addressed as well. The school that drags its feet may well find itself victim of the practice. is it not entirely possible, in fact likely, usf is in the position it is because they’re acceptees are in limbo somewhere else. Not everyone is here or on draft. Not everyone knows about the April 15 deadline. it’s a shitshow and no one benefits from pretending it isn’t.

what happened?? i just revisited the draft thread and someone there SUSPECTS they're making offers one by one and giving each person a day to decide.

I'm in the same place with UCR, it's ridiculous. They're the last school I'm waiting on just to close the book, ya know? As for USF, I posted here last Friday (the 12th) that as of that date NO ONE had accepted OR declined an offer. I was contacted just in case on Monday (the 15th), they had no cohort. By Tuesday they sent an email to what I had presumed were the remaining (I took myself off during the call) wailtisters, "Are you still interested in and available for the USF MFA?". Since then at least one person off the waitlist, but maybe more, has accepted an offer. I say call and if there are still spaces remind them you were waitlisted. I don't know why you didn't get that email. It seems to have gone out en masse. But it's also possible they're going in some kind of order. As far as i know, i'm the only one they cold called either Friday night or after. Now I'm wondering how many were on the waitlist and how many were given offers. I've seen three, five, and ten but I have no idea if any numbers are true. I suspect it's ten with 5 in poetry and 5 in prose. I think they have a CNF too. I know there were acceptance for both poetry and CNF before the 15th. Call and let us all know what's up. we don't know you but we're pulling for you.

first question: genre? this is important. poet? fiction? creative nonfiction? ? whatever you do, be careful. i knew this one cat who died of being frowned upon. horrible death too. it took like 60 years. it was a conspiracy. the fuckers who killed him are still at large. I'm not sure it will affect your applications next year. i suppose you could be put on a double secret probation list that's shared by all the programs. Maybe your picture goes up on their radar "do not take checks from this person" style. yeah, that specific program might remember you - maybe. or jurist may be on the committee of another school next year. But there's hundreds of programs out there. i mean, are they really going to blacklist you? it's a crazy level of effort to put in. I do think you do it asap, which you are. And I think you make it personal, which it seems you are. I would not in any way indicate you got a better offer, which you wouldn't, but you may neglect to say you will be reapplying next year. do NOT neglect that. tell them you will be applying next year, this could not be helped, and you will not be attending another program. You should probably ask about a deferral policy. it's almost certainly a "no" but just asking shows you want to attend and really regret not being able to. seriously, what genre? (Don't laugh at me. you could be a songwriter.)

UTK - denied!

It's not unheard of and unless you get douchey about it (like I did that one time) I doubt it will make any difference in your life going forward. As far as it being intrusive, are you not asked about this sort of thing all the time? How was your experience shopping at home depot today? did you find everything you were looking for? How likely are you to recommend Peter Pan Peanut Butter to a friend? Was your customer service representative polite? were they able to answer your question? Please describe your Amazon delivery experience? Would you lie to thank your driver? (Always say yes.) This is no different. Programs want to know who and what they're competing with. I've learned a lot this year, one of the biggest things was how little these programs know about each other. When asked, I told them. I was kind and honest. (Except for that one time.) I'm actually going to email a couple of governors.

Here's a kick in the head, as of about an hour ago NO ONE has accepted OR declined USF. so if you're on that waitlist...

So two years of classes and one semester writing. and rewriting. and rewriting. and...

Superhappy! did we ever figure out whether it was two or three years?

"wants" your decision, or "requires" your decision? Some programs even after signing the agreement will play cute about the deadline. they shouldn't. make sure you don't have until the 15. if you do, take that time. you wouldn't be the first person i've heard about who was "asked" for a decision before the deadline.

usps has an almost supernatural ability to deliver all mail to the proper destination so it's unlikely it was lost. however, if they sent out say 800 or so letters, about 100 of them will be late. this is pretty late though. you could get it years from now; that happens. as for me... 6 days until i start asking for my money back.