OctopusCactus

I don't think it's at all common but at least in my program it's not impossible, either. My classmate did have to explain the circumstances that led to her requesting a deferment. She had been hit with something very hard that was beyond her control. As you say, can't hurt to ask when you've already got the offer.

If you would still want to do this program in a year, why not talk to them about the possibility of deferred enrollment? A classmate of mine deferred for a year due to some challenging personal circumstances, prior to starting our program.

Could you see yourself pursuing any of the non-academic career pathways available to social science PhDs and MAs? There is some demand for social science PhDs in fields like U/X design, market research, and consulting, and those jobs can be lucrative (though they're also quite competitive). Many PhD programs are not the best at helping students navigate the non-academic job market but there's increasing pressure on them to do better on this. PhD programs have more structured resources to help students go on the job market than MFAs, but the social sciences academic job market is, like the creative writing academic job market, way oversupplied and competitive. Good luck with whatever route you choose, what great options to have!

Faculty are amazing. Has outstanding pre-professional resources and is great for networking. Students have to complete more credits than in most MFA programs so you have to be willing and able to balance seminars on craft study with workshop. It is a large program especially in fiction. If you come in ready to take advantage of all the resources it can be a great experience and launchpad from what I hear. But they also seem to admit a good number of enthusiastic but underprepared people some of whom kind of end up flailing. The quality of student work is not as high across the board as in smaller programs but there are some strong students.

I got in last round but ended up choosing a different program. I know a couple of people who have done MFAs there. One (recent grad) liked the fiction program a lot. Found the community supportive and encouraging and liked that the program had a lot of diversity in terms of what people worked on, everything from kids books to literary fiction to YA to speculative fiction. Another was there about ten years ago for nonfiction and didn't have such a positive experience. She struggled to find a faculty mentor who connected with the work she wanted to do and she didn't have a high opinion of the caliber of her classmates' work overall.

Congrats on your acceptance! UChicago's MAPH program is somewhat notorious for not having great funding. You may want to check out Anne Helen Petersen's "The Masters Trap" which talks about this program and funding. She reports most students do not receive funding and that those who do get a max of 50% tuition discount. I'm sure there are other, more positive perspectives on MAPH out there that are worth considering as well.

What I was told when I was applying is to avoid "peer" recommendations (or recommendations from people who would be below you in an org chart, like students you've taught).

I would move on from the second professor. If she didn't reply to your request for a reference that's very telling. You do not want recommenders you'll have to chase down to submit their letters on time, over and over again with each program. I had a recommender like that and wrangling her was literally the most stressful part of my entire app cycle. Looking back, I can see that though she was very enthusiastic about my writing there were signs from the beginning that she was quite disorganized and I regret not choosing a different recommender. Additionally, having both references be from professors you haven't interacted with in ten years isn't ideal if there's any way you can avoid it. Programs want to hear about the writer you are today. Since you're already thinking about next cycle, try taking a writing workshop, going on a writer's retreat, or joining a writing group with the goal of getting a letter out of it.

Something worth investigating is that some two-year programs actually just require you complete all your credits in 2 years, but will give students up to a year after that to complete and submit their thesis.

Columbia has very strong pedagogy resources for anyone looking to teach, though teaching is not required as part of anyone's funding package. There is a "writer as teacher" class every semester, an online teacher training course that yields a certificate which students can do at their own pace, and the Columbia Artists as Teachers program matches students with teaching opportunities with a variety of populations. Beyond TAing, students can also get hired to teach in Columbia's summer creative writing programs for high school students.

He posted on his substack this week that he's been kicked out of NYU.

NYU's given him the boot. Good riddance.

While ideally you would have recommenders who can speak to your writing skills, professors (or even professional colleagues) who can speak to things like your work ethic and ability to succeed in a competitive grad program could also be valuable. Since you're already thinking next cycle, you could also go to a writing conference or retreat, or take a writing class between now and the fall with the goal of getting a strong letter out of it. That's what I did.

IMO prestige is largely a question of audience. Prestigious to who? On Draft and this forum, which are composed almost entirely of current and aspiring MFA students, things like high stipends and small cohort size factor heavily into how prestigious a program is perceived to be. This makes sense because these are communities where people actually know how much different schools pay in stipends, how hard they are to get into, etc. But that isn't universal knowledge, even within the literary world. TBH I have been surprised by the gap between what programs people I know in the lit world talk about/attended and which programs on Draft are regarded as prestigious because it's mostly not the same programs (with the exception of Iowa). These people don't know about stipends, they know more about who teaches where and successful alums. So for them prestige seems to be more about faculty than anything else.

The acceptance call is the program is trying to win YOU over. Don't stress! Your work is done. They want you to choose their program. It is truly an opportunity to ask any questions you actually have about the program that would factor into whether you accept their offer or not. If you don't really have questions you could just say thanks and express interest. The faculty members who called me were really nice and were patient with my questions. They do these calls every year, they know they're a big moment for us and that a lot of us get flustered.