analog_e

nope

I'll level with you. Hitching yourself to a black box process with often 1% acceptance rates as the sole way out probably wasn't going to pan out regardless of how talented you may be. You cannot allow these programs to be the ultimate arbiters of quality in writing. Some brilliant writers come out of these programs, but so do many who go nowhere or who don't really produce anything particularly worthwhile. It's really kind of a crapshoot what they're going to favor and why, and some of what you read by present students and alumni is puzzling at best. There's a bit of an industry pipeline, but if you tell the average literate person that you're going for an MFA, in my experience, they'll either shrug, ask why you would do that, or explain that the industry complex surrounding these programs has ruined modern literature. My take is that it doesn't really matter whether you have one of these degrees unless it is imperative that you become a professor (long shot anyhow), it would just be nice to get paid for a couple years to focus on writing. I can't say whether you're a good writer, but you're certainly, at least, a writer with all the same potential to be good as anyone in one of these programs. Have some faith in your own work.

Resolved to apply poetry in addition to fiction next year if I do not get in. I definitely preferred workshopping poetry, even if I consider fiction my primary artform. It's been about a year since I wrote any poetry-I have tried a few times and just found the results uninspired and lackluster. Girlfriend insisted on going for a walk today so we had a little promenade around campus and ended up at the Fralin museum, which has changed out nearly everything since my last visit. I think art, more than anything, really stirs me to write poetry. Not necessarily ekphrastic poems, but poems using imagery and ideas from the works. Anyhow, I've managed to write a bit, and the idea that I can just supplement my fiction submissions with poetry submissions, and that I am properly capable of writing a capable poem, is really lovely. Also there were girl scouts and I currently have tagalogs and tea. Fuckin untouchable rn, tell you what.

just join draft

We haven't had school in a week and a half so I'm kind of losing my mind I anticipate the kids will be borderline feral when we finally return

Cornell, Vandy, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, and Brown

Need to know someone else out there is writing ~odd~ stuff. Off kilter prose. Surreal situations. Getting a little weird with it. I was scoping out publications by current candidates and it's all so overwhelmingly straightforward in how it's written, and what's more it's all very grounded in reality. I am not saying the writing is bad, or that my writing is stupendous and special, but it's definitely different. There is one candidate at Brown who seems to be writing surreal fiction with some prose experimentation, which fits the preconception I had of the program, but overall it's kind of worrying. It isn't that I am writing genre fiction, just lit fic that's a bit out there, maybe a bit experimental.

poetry, fiction, and nonfiction

27 poetry responses vs 55 fiction and 8 nonfiction currently logged for 2026 (total between acceptances, waitlists, and rejections), and it looks like for 2025 poetry appears with half the frequency of fiction

The one from the following day has a notification date the same as the others, so I'd say they notify on the same day

Looks like they did last year, at least nf and fic

I love mine dearly and am convinced that if I fail to get in it has nothing to do with mon cher manuscrit

Prepping for St Paddy's season (I am in an Irish traditional ensemble), learning how to sing and play bass, and working on my French are taking up most of my time and tbh it's proven to be pretty effective at keeping my mind off the results dread.

my girlfriend and I are going to spend a week or two in Québec if I don't get in anywhere congrats on the acceptance!

ur in the wrong thread friend

Applications to Brown, Cornell, Vandy, Notre Dame, Minnesota, and Iowa Writer's Workshop are in, just have to finish up the app for Johns Hopkins, then I am done and can largely stop thinking about this until like February. I met with the three professors writing my letters last week and one has already submitted, the other two have promised to submit. That was an exhausting sprint but I am glad I crammed it all in early and just clicked submit to prevent myself from constantly looking back and doubting elements of them. I realized I really do not need to constantly revise my personal statement until December and can just let it be. Lovely feeling.

Well, last year I applied to one school just to see what happened figuring I would end up with a fun little gap year and here I am embarking on a gap year. It's not so bad-I got into the local traditional Irish ensemble, have a cozy little professional composing gig, might have a new tennis partner, wrote 50 or so pages of something new and shiny and exciting, and am interviewing tomorrow for a position as an assistant teacher at a preschool. I have my list ready to go. The Schools That Matter: Brown, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh. My just in case schools: Ohio State, Indiana University, University of Minnesota, VCU, Hollins. Just for kicks: Iowa Writer's Workshop, Johns Hopkins. Pittsburgh is high priority because one of my best friends moved there earlier this year and has assured me I have a spot in her band, plus I have another good friend in nearby Eerie. VCU and Hollins I am applying to because it makes family happy if I apply to schools close to them, but I hate the idea of living in Roanoke again and Richmond is lovely and I have quite a few friends there but the VCU stipend is a bit too low for me to manage without some assistance. I hate that I cannot just try for UVA and stay where I am, but alas, I have been assured that as one of their undergrads they would not even consider my application. Anyhow, glad to be back on ol gradcafe. This time around it's a fair bit more serious for me.

Shady Grove my little love Shady Grove I say Shady Grove my little love You'll get an MFA

Well, it's a bust. I cried for a while, including a fair bit in public while eating breakfast, but I'm feeling fine now. Just glad to have the closure. See you all next year for the arc where I get accepted to every program : )

Well, I'm going to eat some French toast and cry for a bit. Thanks for keeping us informed through this process.

It turned into a surprisingly productive day for me. Skipped all of my classes, which was the right move, but I got some homework done, wrote about 1k words, played some excellent rounds of Overwatch with a friend, and am now in a practice room spending some much needed quality time with my violin. Just trying to envision what my year will be like without Brown, and it's not all that bad. I'll be able to dedicate so much time to being a musician and potentially even finish a novel, and it'll mean I won't have to leave the lovely community I've been very fortunate to be part of behind. Still, here's hoping for good news.

this has been covered they have not sent acceptances

I tried reading some of infinite jest and that's not happening so I am sitting in a coffee shop working on a new novel project. Working Haschenparty by Schnuffel into a novel is the only thing keeping me afloat.

I just emailed my professor straight up saying I am going to be absent due to the intense anxiety of awaiting a decision from Brown. I am sure he'll understand.

🚬🫠