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lemmmein

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    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    23 hours ago, pananoprodigy said:

    I feel silly goofy even asking this but has anyone worked with an MFA consultant or something similar during the app process? I'm pretty skeptical about that kind of thing but now that I'm thinking about next year I can kinda see the value in having someone help with the SOP in particular (I feel like that may have been the weakest part of my application; it's at least the part I put the least effort into😬). Idk, just fishing for thoughts. 

    I took a fiction workshop with a grad of the program I'm going to, and then I took another "MFA prep" workshop with her too! Her advice/reading of all my materials/the rec letter she was able to write having worked with me twice was absolutely invaluable.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, branch said:

    Everyone!!! I've been off the forums for a couple of weeks (for my own sanity), but my application round has officially come to a close... with an acceptance from San Francisco State University. :) I got the email last night and I'm still kind of in shock?! Trying not to let the imposter syndrome tell me it's not the achievement that it is. 

    SFSU was the only program I applied to that isn't fully funded, so all of it will depend on whether or not I get any scholarships (I applied by the priority consideration deadline), and I'll probably want to apply to some other fellowships on their list. But I would be able to stay local, continue working part-time at my current job, and not have to rush my wedding this summer. 

    NC State is still lingering out there, with waitlist decisions expected May 1. I'm not as wedded to it as I was before. If SFSU was meant to be, then I will take this as a sign!

    It's made me so proud to see all of your accomplishments, and I'm grateful that you all made a space for me here. You are all phenomenal writers with infinite promise, and life is full of chances. If there's one thing I've learned since submitting work professionally in the past couple of years, it's that a rejection is ultimately meaningless. Your acceptance is out there, your moment will come, and in the meantime, cultivate your craft and your love for it, continue to make it yours, and cherish the connection you have with your words, when it's just the two of you in a quiet room, and no one is listening. That will be your anchor, I promise!

    Much love!

    EDIT: Also, while all of this was going down... I made my first paid sale for a story earlier this month, in a magazine that I LOVE. The story had been rejected 5 times, subbed around for over a year. NEVER GIVE UP!

    Ahhh congrats!! I still have my fingers crossed we'll be in the same cohort at NCSU, but I'm glad you have another great option. Also would love to read this story!!

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    18 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said:

    How and where did you find these workshops?? 

    I mean just general googling tbh. I read local news articles about the literary culture in the area and found the name of the workshop, saw that it was founded by mfa grads, dug through their course offerings and looked at the instructors for each one.

    I've taken a few writing workshops online, and they're all connected to wherever they're based. Grub Street is in Boston, Redbud Writing Project is in NC, Austin Bat Cave is in ATX, Gotham Writers is in NYC, etc. Googling "[whatever city] writing workshops" is a good way to start!

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    1 hour ago, decayingballads21 said:

    anyone on here that has applied 2x or more  have advice about what to do to prepare for another round of applying? what did you focus on changing about your app, did you write all new material or just do more revisions, etc.

     

    also looking for recs for workshops or residencies or any courses  for nonfiction I can do. I got into the Yale summer workshop but it’s expensive so idk if I can do that. If anyone has any recs pls!!! 

    I took more workshops and found a workshop taught by a grad of the program I wanted to get into most. She wrote one of my rec letters and gave me thoughts on my samples.

    Also networking. Go to things, reach out to professors, know their work well and make sure they know your name beforehand.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    27 minutes ago, Scribe said:

    Awesome. I'm considering them a soft rejection, but don't know anything about the timeline for hunter or houston. i didn't apply to brown. 

    when you know, you know. hunter definitely won't give you the cabbage ncsu does anyway. 

    Yeah, I don't think they've released decisions, but it's hard not to expect a no anyway. I don't think I'd want to move for any of these programs regardless?

    When you know you know for sure! Definitely wouldn't spend NYC living cost extortion $$ (+ the half I'd be on the hook for at Hunter as a non resident year 1) when I'm already cozy in NC.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    Hi! I just wanted to add to the 'not getting into the program doesn't mean you're not a writer' vibes.

    Immediate acceptance is not the only way in. I know I keep saying it, but this was my third round of applications. Every round has been a little bit more torturous, and I was ready to be done if I didn't get in anywhere this time. But damn am I a better writer now than I was when started this.

    It's been three years of forcing myself back to the page and into community when I wanted to give up (which is what I imagine the rest of a writing life will be). The work is a win too. It's not just the acceptance. We all spent a ridiculous amount of hours writing stories and poems and thinking about why we want this life, and that matters.

    We've spent the last several months voting on our work and examining our motivations for probably just about everything, and so many people never bother to do that. I know it sounds trite, but your work, this work, has not been wasted. You're a better writer for the attempt. You might be a better person for it. The MFA does not determine whether or not you're a writer, academia is a mess (as described above!), and we don't need them to make good work.

    That said: shit sucks, y'all. I'm sorry.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

     

    I wouldn't have made it through the last few weeks without gradcafé and you guys! I'm hopeful for our results but I, too, want to reapply if I don't make it this year, and I'd be happy to do it all over again but this time knowing I have a community on my side!

    I also wrote a whole poem for the first time since submitting my apps yesterday (kind of embarrassing, tbh, but it's part of being a writer sometimes) and I'm so glad you guys are writing too and not letting rejection discourage you. I'm really impressed and thankful at how kind and positive this forum has been!

    I haven't finished a story since I finalized my Michener apps, soooooo 12/1/23? You're not alone in being burned out of the actual craft that brought us all together.

    But yeah, just to echo: this community is amazing. It's made this round of apps so much more survivable to not be talking to people with a "what like it's hard?" attitude toward grad school. Yes!!! It's very hard to get into any of these programs!! But they are not the only way to be a writer! I genuinely wish so much success for everyone in here (and kind of wish we could all just abandon academia and run our own workshop together??)

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    13 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

    I'm right there with you; i applied to NWP but not michener!

     

    as for our mysterious YD, sometimes stars align on the page and beyond it. I imagine 10%-20% of all applications from any slush have good enough writing to get into the program, and what turns you from that 10% to 'admitted' is less subjective than we may think --- prestigious awards & an ivy undergrad, LOR's from a Pulitzer winner, an sop that's two pages yet reads like a novel synopsis because your life is like Forest Gump. But it's also possible they just wrote a really killer short story and have an sop that shows they'd be fun to work with for a few years, which is all it takes to get in anywhere.

    Yesss totally agree that it might not be just the sample too! I'd guess a *lot* of the applications these programs get are good enough to join workshops. The things that give an edge might be real slight.

    ha I only knew about NWP and Michener because I've been applying there for so long. It's a really weird system.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

     

    39 minutes ago, ssuunn said:

    I've been thinking a lot about this phenomenon: when a few people get into almost every school they applied to... Last year I think there was a poet who got into like 8 fully-funded top tier programs. Good writing is good writing objectively, sure, (and I'm sure they're brilliant), but it seems kinda alarming that 8+ different adcoms thought the same thing by admitting that person. To me, that's a sort of omen to these programs that hints that they don't really have things in particular that they're looking for, and I can't stop feeling like that sort of erases all the unique things all of us bring to the table. Thoughts?

    3 minutes ago, mr. specific said:

    I think there also are certain writers who happen to hit the zeitgeist of a particular moment, when a few years earlier or later they might not be in such high demand.

    I know there are just amazing writers that no one can deny, but I find the most interesting writing is often polarizing and intensely off-putting to some people while being incredibly compelling to others. 

    Yeah, I don't think much about writing (at the level we're probably mostly at) is objectively good? This seems to happen with just one or two people per year, and if there were an objectivity to it, I'd imagine it would come up more often.

    That said, there has been so much writing about the "type" of writing MFA programs put out over the last 20 years. This person probably either a) did something so in line with the type of work these professors want to work with or b) something so different and interesting they all recognized it at once. That doesn't narrow things down very well, but having spent the last year reading all the books by Michener/Iowa/Vandy grads I could find, I definitely think there's a stylistic/motivational/thematic range most of these programs like, especially the ones that take themselves the most seriously. And that's not necessarily bad! It's something I'll be watching in my own writing, but yeah... Those are my morning-after-being -on-here-too-late thoughts.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted · Edited by lemmmein

    25 minutes ago, mr. specific said:

    Sorry, I think my professor was mistaken and I passed on bad intel. They told me Michener only took 3 when they usually take 12. I assumed they meant for the whole program, but I guess three is the correct number for each genre. Anyway, I think it's safe to assume if you didn't get the call, count Michener out. Waitlists may still be forthcoming?

    Ohh that makes sense. Yep, planning to cross that one off my list tomorrow!

     

    16 minutes ago, branch said:

    Just curious if anyone has applied to and is waiting to hear back from NCSU still! I know someone here/in Draft got a call from Belle Boggs last week for fiction, but so far that’s the only report I’ve seen so I’m wondering if maybe it was an early notification? Possibly just completely deluded at this point but wondering if anyone is in the same boat…

    I’m still waiting on NCSU, Arizona Tucson, and SF State. :3 Yayyyyyy for all the acceptances!

    Ah that was me with NCSU. So sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I get the sense they're done. I'm local, so I went to a reading last week and the current students I met mentioned they knew two of the other people in my potential fiction cohort (a current undergrad and a current MA student they'd taken classes with). It seems like networking or locality might really matter for NCSU? But also this was my 3rd round and I've lived in the area the whole time? Either way, I'm sorry to have that insight to share.

    ETA: I don't know anything about waitlist though!! I got my call Thursday, and I still haven't gotten the official offer email because of the holiday. So those could go out this week? I hope the best for you there! Also, I hope it's not weird to say I liked your intro post and it sounds like I'd enjoy studying with you.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

     

    24 minutes ago, Chex said:

    How much smaller? Per their website, they admit a total of 12 each year: 3 in fiction, 3 poetry, 3 screenwriting, and 3 playwriting. How much smaller can it get? Are they now admitting only 2 per genre? 

    ^ my thoughts exactly... Really interested in what that means for the program. Are they cutting genres? Making it more interdisciplinary? The workshops would already only have 9 people per genres across all the cohorts. Would an even smaller workshop be good? Curious to see what comes through during TX business hours tomorrow.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted · Edited by lemmmein

    Yeah I've read lots of books from Iowa grads that were just fantastic. Based on the quality of work I've read, I think the program has earned its competitiveness, but I also don't think it's miles beyond any of the other funded programs. It's just the one people outside the MFA world know about because of Girls/because it's the oldest I think?

    Edit: ok on further consideration I'd agree it's in the top few, but the differences are just so slight.

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    Yeah, I applied to both Michener and NWP, and getting rejected from those would sting. They've already turned me down twice before, so I don't know why I'm still precious about it?

    Also waiting on University of Houston, Brown, UVA, Oxford and Hunter. (Though those last two aren't funded, so I couldn't have afforded them anyway.)

    2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

    in Literary

    Posted

    19 minutes ago, branch said:

    OHHHHH MY GOODNESS!!!! Congrats on getting into NCSU that is amazing! So happy for you!!! :’) Truly a dream program.

    I haven’t heard anything from them, so I assume I didn’t make the cut… alas. So happy that someone here made it in!

    AND JADEDOPTIMIST ON THE VANDY WAITLIST AAAAH! 

    Big morning! ❤️

    Thank you!!!! Ugh I'm so sorry to hear that. Would have loved to study with a forum friend. Maybe next year though and we can still be in workshops together??

    Huge morning all around. Congrats everyone!!

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