Scribe

There are at l ast two DTA programs in the US but ain’t nobody got time for that.

oh no! that blows goats. best of luck.

thank you all so much. your advice is practical AND encouraging. tell me this, do you folks typically send a cover letter with your work? is that standard or not? if so, what does one say and perhaps just as important, what does one not say? ETA: University of Arizona is sending out notifications for nonfiction and apparently for "optional" interviews. THIS calls for some discussion. anyone have any deets about this? do we think it will carry over to the fiction or poetry genres?

i think it's largely content related (typos, mentioning things i shouldn't in the supplemental statements, etc) but there's also navigating the applications. there were times things weren't uploading, other times i uploaded things in the wrong place or with an inappropriate file name. even now, i have trouble accessing the portal for UNM. and of course there's getting my recommenders sorted. i just see myself thinking i've submitted to the right place or in the right way and it actually being a waste of time.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I would barely know where to get started submitting to literary journals. I know nothing about the business end of this. There's a bunch of links up on draft for figuring out where to submit but even that seems foreign to me. I mean, i just know i'd do something wrong. I cannot believe all the missteps I made during the application process. maybe i just need to break the seal.

bingo. all of this. i wonder if that urban legend is true: every now and then some smart ass types up a classic novel, sends it out to publishers and agents, and watches it get roundly rejected. let's not forget timing. I'm not the same writer I was last year. {fun fact while i wait for the delay: last year there were 492 responses on the draft spreadsheet. as of now, we're up to 463}

doubtful. i can't say for sure but in the link i posted above were two PhD's who went for MFA's. Some schools do want a ba in a related field, some don't care at all. i would bet dollars to donuts the overwhelming majority of programs, like 99% wouldn't care. and if you knew who they were, don't tell them.

no and yes. I'm not really thinking about best to worst. you're exactly right about subjectivity and quantification, but/or maybe because of that, even in phd programs for the hard sciences, it doesn't work out that everyone is ranked in the same order. it certainly doesn't mean the top instructors are at the top schools or that you'll do "better" in the "better" school. but it a process that often runs in yearly heats, it might be nice to cross some programs off your list or - if i'm honest - cross off all the programs and stick with wearing the hardhat.

This has been posted about on Draft as well. There is sometimes an architecture to a cohort. For example, one reason a waitlist might not be ranked is because the faculty is waiting to see who drops out. depending on that acceptie's attributes, a decision is made about which alternate to contact. Prufrock is absolutely correct. your odds don't change based on other results. He's wrong about his gamble causing the rejections. the fact is we can't know why. this is NOT a reflection on talent or skill or anything else. and when you think about it, that's too bad.

The problem is, no one is looking for anything exactly. I'm a bit surprised at your professor; nothing is for sure. Iowa and Michigan were always long shots - for everyone. this whole game is a long shot. what that means is that you can't believe your best isn't "enough". it just doesn't work that way. You can skip to about 18:45 if you want if you want context, look her up. it's not about how "good" you are.

We're impressed by your huge balls.

That's fine, but remember there are breaks and we don't know what we don't know. Assume nothing. If you don't get calls, it doesn't meant other people are.

I’m trying, and have been trying. All I can do is send reminders. Some schools’ portals don’t list specific recommendation status. Some don’t inform you of receipt at all. There’s probably only half a dozen left he either hasn’t sent or I can’t determine. ugh. It’s so late already. I’ll do some more mining in a bit.

recommender issue. One of my recommenders is ... different. He's responded to most (?) of my schools but not all. He's "bad with email". I was skeptical of asking him for a recommendation because I knew he was like that but was told when it came to deadlines like this he wouldn't let me down. He's let me down. I can't even keep track of where he's responded and where he hasn't (I should have left a column for that on my spreadsheet). I just got an email from UTK saying they haven't received his rec. should i even bother now? Honestly, I'm afraid to even look and see where he's let me down.

I'm feeling this hard. I very much see myself where you are before this is all over and i know i'm not doing this again. I don't think I wasted my time or my recommenders', nor do i think you did. The process made us better writers. I even started to enjoy it while hating it. it was quite weird. As for my recommenders, I haven't seen what they wrote so it's very possible they all hated me and were only too happy to sabotage my future. of course, there's also the very real possibility I suck ass. and what of it? I've long suspected I'm borderline retarded (not the high side of the line either) and my whole life people have just been really really nice to me. but i wont stop writing.

Here's a question for all: How do we handle our sig line? do we reduce "p" as we get responses? also... possible? potential? pending?

Revenge Sublimation Resistance hypocrisy oblivion/denial estrangement/disaffection i wouldn't call any of these favorites, they just are.

Amazeballs. I have a good feeling about your funding. It seems a pretty early acceptance for them and the interview indicates there's something they want to talk about.

here's how dumb I am, I thought p was for possible. I also didn't realize we were supposed to update "p" as we heard back. off to edit.

Hey, just noticed your sig. Are you DONE?!

anybody else here waitlist at USF? I have a question about the email I don't want to ask on Draft.

No from a previous year. She wrote an article about the experience.

Re: NYU For a while, I believe they held the record for earliest notification, although I believe if it wasn't already broken, it's been broken this year. The acceptee has written about the experience and yes, they did get the "big bonus" funding package. I do think they've done interviews in the past, but it is a large program so it may not be boilerplate policy. In any event, it does NOT seem NYU always sends out all notifications at once. why, i have no idea.

I feel all this. All of it. I’m as worried as you. Keep making art.

Ah. I hear you. I’m doing the same thing with NCSU. and I’m trying to be encouraging, not set you up for disappointment. Good things.