zaira

I still don't know what's happening with Boston. I'm not assuming it's a soft rejection just yet because their process seems to work a little differently from other programs. They usually do a big rejection round, followed by scattered acceptances and waitlists, then a final rejection round. Based on last year's data some folks who made it to this final rejection round were told they were in the top 12% of the applicant pool. My theory? They're still deciding. I've seen two fiction acceptances from this past weekend but haven't heard of any waitlists. I'm just gonna hang tight and see.

It is absolutely possible to get in on a second round after all rejections. Fwiw, one of my instructors got into Iowa on her second try. I know plenty of people who have better luck on later rounds. And this year was especially tough from what I hear. More apps than usual, which makes it tougher for even really strong apps to stand out. I'd say choose the schools that really speak to you. If these competitive programs seem like they'd be a perfect fit, please, please apply again next year. You never know!

Just wanted to say this is really beautiful and I can feel the love and energy you have for this tradition. I have all of my fingers and toes crossed for you!!

I got waitlisted at UVA for fiction!!! I'm over the moon. Just goes to show you shouldn't count yourself out until you hear from every school. We'll see if it turns into an acceptance, fingers crossed! The faculty are incredible and I'd love the chance to work with them.

This is such a tough situation to be in. I don't know if there's a perfect answer tbh. In situations like this you need to do what's right for you, put your own mask on before assisting others, etc. If you're waiting on GTA funding for CSU, I'd say continue holding out as long as you can, and if need be, yeah, accept the offer by the deadline with the knowledge you might have to pull out of the offer later should the GTA funding fall short. At least I think that's the scenario you're working with here? I might have missed something. Ultimately it's not your fault that their system is set up this way. I wouldn't feel guilty if you need to sit on your other offers until you know for sure what the CSU situation is. People on waitlists are aware that it can take a while to move. You don't have to feel guilty!

I wish we could opt out of the snail mail rejection letters. I'd much rather either have my portal update or not hear anything at all. My letter is also going to my mom's address whenever it shows up and there's just something extra embarrassing about that haha

FELT. I'm at mostly soft rejections with the exception of one school that (maybe?) sent me into a final decision round. Once I hear from that school I can pretty safely call the season done but I have no idea when they're going to notify.

Haven't heard anything on waitlists. It's possible those went out already though it's equally possible they'll show up today. I think acceptances are done, personally.

Waking up to so much good news in the thread today! Massive congrats to everyone who got acceptances over the weekend!!!

AMAZING!!! Congrats!

You're doing everything right! Especially visiting the campus (that sounds fun as hell). Enjoy Providence and (maybe?) come back with an awesome new tattoo!

Really hoping you get into Brown this year! It sounds like it's your dream program. The only thing I'll mildly caution against is assuming a program will be a perfect fit based on outward appearance alone. I know Brown has a reputation for experimentation (though I've also heard it leans more traditional than people expect, especially recently). At any MFA program, there can be subtle pressure to fit your work into certain boxes. Sometimes the blend of faculty and students is perfect, everyone's supportive, and you get the freedom to stretch out as much as you want. Other times there's a push to conform, whether from faculty or peers. Not saying Brown would be like this of course! It's just generally a good idea to see the vibes of the cohort and feel things out. You probably already know this, just serves as a good reminder as we all enter these last few weeks of results. Here's hoping you get an acceptance soon! Rooting for you!

It seems to be pretty standard. I wouldn't worry! I'm sure we'll hear from poetry soon, maybe today, this weekend, or early next week.

Nothing yet. BU usually does a big initial rejection round then does waitlists/acceptances roughly two weeks later (along with some final rejections for folks who didn't quite make it onto the waitlist). I expect we'll see acceptances this week.

Yes, that fellowship sounds incredible! And the option to go through the translation seminar is very high on my list of "please, please, I need this." Here's hoping we get some good news soon!

Sameeeee. It's the only program I feel might be a good fit for me in terms of timeline and overall vibes so I'm hoping to get some good news. Though at this stage I'll take any answers, good or bad. I wonder how many of us are still waiting?

Also worth noting that sometimes writers find that voice, really lean into it...and it doesn't connect. It doesn't make their voice any less beautiful, unique, or necessary. It doesn't mean they should change a damn thing about it. I was in a workshop where someone brought in a truly wacky short story. I don't want to describe it in too much detail to protect anonymity here. It was one of those stories that rewards a close read, the kind where if you zone out for even a moment you'll lose the plot. The sentence construction was nothing short of high art. I've never read anything like it before or since. I gushed over it for a solid week. But. It demanded a lot of the reader. It wasn't something you could breeze through. And a lot of people in the workshop didn't get it. These were serious readers and talented writers themselves; this story just didn't speak to them like it spoke to me and a handful of other folks in the room. If that story had entered the MFA application gauntlet? Not sure it would have fared well. Some voices naturally carry into certain environments (workshops, MFA slush piles) and other voices have a more niche appeal. I'd hate to see writers with those niche voices tone themselves down to try to appeal to certain tastes.

Okay I'll do one too. Yes, still waiting on Boston U over here. 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ Boston Acceptance 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️

I knew I was gonna run out of reacts before something like this happened and here we are. CONGRATS VIA ACTUAL WORDS AND NOT AN EMOJI HEART!!! I bet this feels amazing!

^^^^ And once more for the folks in the back of the room: IN A SPECIFIC WAY THAT APPEALS TO MFAs. Having done some workshopping around people on adcoms, MFA grads, and current MFA students, I can assure you they follow trends as much as any other person, sometimes without realizing. They're readers. All readers get on certain kicks, especially when we're in groups with other writers sharing the same reading list. This year I'm getting really into soft, naturalist writers, but prior to this I had a major weird fiction obsession--the more surreal the better. If you happen to ride the zeitgeist of whatever MFAs are salivating over right now, you're gonna collect a lot of acceptances. Writing prowess plays a role, absolutely, but I also feel it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

For whatever it's worth, which probably isn't much at all, I highly doubt either of you are being delusional. I also don't think your recommenders were just being nice. I've noticed there can be a wide chasm between the MFA world and the outside world. I got into a competitive workshop this summer. My instructors were the ones who pushed me to apply for my MFA--I hadn't even considered it prior to this workshop. They all have MFAs from the biggest programs themselves. When I gave them my shortlist of schools, they said they thought I would get in to at least a couple, and if I didn't, it would be down to very bad luck. Well, bad luck is here and boy does it suck. It's very hard feeling so firmly planted only to have the floor drop from under you. I ended up taking a short break from most MFA stuff these past few days and will probably keep it up once I'm done giving this little pep talk. Dwelling on MFAs isn't good for my mental health or my creative process. I refuse to let this MFA season rewrite history. I've had good feedback on my work. I'm sure both of you have also had great feedback on your work. So that's what we're gonna do: keep doing the damn thing.

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!!!!