alexisapoet

I think the thing saving a lot of these programs is that typically MFA students' stipend is payment for (exploited, underpaid) labor, so as long as there are freshman composition classes to be taught and senior professors who want nothing to do with those classes... That's how a program director recently put it to me, though with less of the emphasis on 'exploited' and 'underpaid'...

If you're anything like me, you need reminders from time to time of the Great Subjectivity of all this--all this being not only acceptance to MFA programs but also publication and literary ""success"" in general--because it's easy to get discouraged. So, here's another reminder: today, I received an acceptance to Indiana for poetry. Up to this point, I've been rejected by three so-called lesser programs (though, due to the Great Subjectivity, I don't think the 'prestige' of programs matters much...). So, obvious lesson though it may be, there's another reminder of its truth. THIS IS SO SUBJECTIVE! Even if you're rejected at such-and-such school, assume nothing about other schools. Don't write yourself off. And, regardless, keep writing!

Also a UPitt poetry applicant and I'm bored and spending time parsing data sounds great to me. I find it unlikely that they don't interview poets. Amherst does interviews and they interview all genres. Though I understand there are more fiction applicants than poetry, Pitt also interviews nonfiction applicants (of which there are far fewer than fiction as well). Plus, putting together a good cohort is one of the purposes of the interview, so that would give more reason to interview all genres. Last year's spreadsheet shows zero UPitt poetry interviews, but it also shows zero poetry acceptances or waitlists. Generally, an interview means you're getting accepted or waitlisted. So having no poetry interviews on the 2024 data seems unlikely to mean there are no poetry interviews at all--much more likely to mean poetry interviews/acceptances/waitlist people were just not on Draft last year. I think the "it seems unlikely no one was on Draft" idea is (understandable!) copium. However, I also think people overestimate how much coherence these adcoms processes have--professor assigned to make the calls gets busy, different genres assigned to different professors, other stuff comes up and calls/emails get delayed, etc etc, etc. Example, last year UPitt interviews: fiction 1/30, fiction 2/6, nonfiction 2/12. So, this year, all we know is three fiction interviews were posted on 1/29. I don't think that rules out more fiction interviews coming next week. It certainly doesn't rule out poetry interviews coming next week either. For me, I'm calling Pitt an unofficial rejection if I don't get an interview request next week though, because beyond that seems very unlikely based on Draft data. Okay thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

Hi, everyone! First time applicant this year and stumbling on this site made my day. Will definitely be following along over the next several months! One question I have is about dual applications. I'm primarily interested in poetry but there are a few programs that I want to apply to in both poetry and fiction. I'm wondering if anyone has insight on dual applications, especially how programs tend to view them. I know some programs allow them, but is there any reason to believe dual applications affect your chances of acceptance in either genre? Also, are letters of recommendation typically expected to be very genre specific? I noticed University of Arizona says to only submit one set of recommendations even if applying in both genres, but I haven't found any specific information on that issue for other programs. Thanks for the help!