zaira

You are absolutely killing it this season! Massive, massive congrats!

Right. I don't know what to make of this. I guess it boils down to subjectivity. Really hoping we get something on the fiction side soon (though at this stage I'm expecting to get rejections across the board haha).

I selfishly hope they're not tiered because that would mean my application is in much worse shape than I imagined haha. FWIW my name is very high alphabetically. And the vast majority of the names in the sheet are fictional characters (e.g. Laura Palmer, Dale Cooper, Mr. Milchick) so I wouldn't necessarily use those as a basis for data. Not sure what the hold up is on the rest of the JHU rejections. Could be anything from tiered to just a really slow notification system that handles it in batches.

Fantastic news!!!!

This is incredibly rude of that director--downright unprofessional. I can see why you transferred out.

Hell yes! So rewarding to feel seen. A waitlist is a major accomplishment, congrats! ❤️

Yep, I have Iowa, Michigan, and Boston on my list of potentials this week. Iowa and Boston tend to scatter acceptances around so we might see that bleed into the following week. Busy time. I know it's a lot but you'll make your way through!

Echoing this, I've come to realize something. Truthfully I think a lot of us fall under this category. I would bet of the 900-something applications some of these schools receive, at least 100 of them are "good enough," meaning the writing is at an MFA level, the applicant has great letters of rec from splashy writers/professors, and has at least one serious workshop/conference/publication. I used to think this was pretty rare; it's not. Over the past few weeks I've met so, so many talented writers with these qualifications. I was confident going into this process, and now I realize I'm just one of many other people with similar merits. All of the things I thought would make my application stand out are actually pretty commonplace at this highly-competitive level. How do you move from (maybe) the top 100 to the top four? I certainly can't tell you. I'm four rejections deep with at least one more soft rejection heading for my inbox any day now. But I'm at peace. I'm in very good company. I can't feel depressed when I see the incredible work my peers are putting out there. They're all deserving!

Two official rejections here. Two more soft rejections incoming. Only six more chances for me and it's not looking great. All of my schools have something like a sub one-percent acceptance rate. Was it smart for me to only apply to these schools? Probably not, but it's not like I can go back now. There's still hope. A lot can change in the next two weeks. And if it doesn't there's no sense in getting ahead of that right now. Take it a day at a time

Gradcafe should make a separate, unlimited reaction for saying congrats

Massive congrats!!! I didn't realize they were still sending out waitlists. Are you fiction? When I saw this on the sheet I did a little dance for you. So, so happy!

Yep. Most of the schools on my list should report this week. Just looking to rip the bandaid off at this point. Ready to be done!

Absolutely. I keep circling back to this. I'm proud of my samples. I wish I could sit here and say, yeah, they're terrible and that's why I've had one firm rejection and two soft rejections. I can't say that. Are my samples perfect? Absolutely not. Am I happy with them anyway? Yep. I wouldn't have wanted to apply with anything else. If I don't get in this year, it's not necessarily because my samples were trash. I've had tons of amazing feedback on them from people I trust. Sometimes it's just not the right fit for this year's cohort, and that's totally alright!

Fwiw, I just checked mine and it says the same. No clue what it means other than "hang tight and see."

I think I might have mentioned it yesterday, but I recommend not trying to keep busy or distract yourself, at least for a day or two. We're all working through complicated feelings right now. Anticipation, depression, acceptance, hope, despair, anger, guilt. Piling distractions on top of these is like putting a coat of paint over a fly on the wall. Take a day or even this entire weekend to feel what you need to feel, get your hands fully in the muck. I swear it works!