womanonline

Mostly I'm just trying to make myself busy because I don't currently have a job that takes up a lot of time. So I'm trying to stay busy and yet not spend all of my money. Going on walks, listening to audiobooks and reading books in general (14 last months, which was a lot for me). Trying new recipes when I cook. Watching entirely too many episodes of The Secret Life of an American Teenager (my drama television slop). The only time that I feel like I really forget about the looming decisions, though, is when I'm with my friends. I just don't even think about it when I have someone to talk to or do something with. So I've been trying to see them more without being overbearing, especially since most of them work. Also, having something to look forward to has helped. The uncertainty of not knowing when I'll hear back from the schools and not knowing their answers sours the part of me that looks forward to it a little bit. So I make a plan or a doctor's appointment that I've been needing to do or just some activity at least once a week that gets me out of the house and that I know I'll enjoy. Then each week it gives me something to look forward to that I know well will turn out good, and it gives me somewhere else to channel that nervous energy that is a little more positive. Helps the time go by.

Who are y’all are hoping to hear from this week? I’m definitely looking out for a response from Northwestern and maybe an interview request from SAIC

Mine also says this, and I also had no interview. Gonna assume it’s a rejection, and we’ll hopefully get our answer next week. I did all CNF tho, didn’t realize this may not have been ideal there. Seemed like it was based on the website

Deferred is generally when either something happens with an accepted student or the school that causes them to be unable to attend that year. Some schools and programs will allow you to defer a year and attend the next year. I don’t know what caused Northwestern to defer their students last year, but since MFA programs are so small, if a cohort was deferred, they may be accepting significantly less people than usual

Has anyone else had their initial rejection from their first program and felt a wave of relief? Obviously I'm not happy that I didn't get into Ohio State, but I've been so anxious about the potential of being rejected...and now it's already happened. And it happened first and early. So now the hard part is kind of over. I feel less anxious because the worst has happened. I was rejected and I came out okay. Since that rejection, I've been checking the spreadsheet less and worrying about it less in general. It was consuming me beforehand, and it feels nice to let go a little bit, to the degree that I can. Sharing this to see if someone agrees, but also in hopes of this perspective helping someone else calm the waiting anxiety!

Are the University of Arizona interviews for Tuscon?

SAIC does interviews as well. They sent an email this morning saying expect to hear about interviews in early February. Crossing my fingers for UMass since Nonfiction interviews haven’t hit the Draft yet…

My Ohio State decision was in my portal (rejection) for anyone that wants to check. Says email will come later

Search “draft notifications” and it’ll be a post from Jess! The first comment is to submit a notification to the spreadsheet and the second comment is the actual spreadsheet!

Ohio State CNF waitlist has hit the draft

I find this so odd with the Draft’s statistics on when they typically release decisions and how. The text messages especially seem strange; I also would think it was a scam or something. I’m holding out hope that I still got in since I’m CNF

I hope this turns out to be true! I really thought we'd hear from them by yesterday 💔

The Draft is liveeeee!!! It has begun

Ohio State is the earliest for me also!! At least based on stalking last year's Draft sheet. I think Ohio State is the only one I'll hear from in January and then they'll start trickling in early February to late March. I'm trying to think of it as exciting instead of torturous.

Does anyone know when the Draft page will upload the spreadsheets? The one where we input where we applied and the one where we heard news back? I feel like it was done earlier last year because people had input when they moved to the second round for UTK and that's already happened now. I also saw some people got accepted to schools as early as mid-January for a few programs last year. I'm just antsy and wondering when I'll be able to obsess over the spreadsheet.

hi again everyone! i found the forum last year and i'm joining you guys again. my history includes getting into Emerson College two years ago, but i didn't go because i had to do another year of undergrad unexpectedly (which i'm glad for now bc i don't think i would've liked their program). last year i procrastinated and ended up only applying for university of tennessee-knoxville and got waitlisted and didn't make it off (which i'm also glad for). this round i'm more serious. i've done so much writing and research, maybe an unhealthy amount. i'm applying for CNF at: iowa, umass, oregon state, colorado state, northwestern, columbia, nyu, uni of arizona, ohio state, SAIC, uni of nevada, and uni of new mexico (12 schools total). i've already submitted 6 of the applications (iowa, umass, osu, nyu, saic, and UNM). i feel crazy with how ahead i am but it just feels like it's time and i'm ready to have applications in and finally focus on something else (or pretend to) plus my professors can have plenty of time to get recommendations in. looking forward to sweating this out with everyone!!

Funny thing is... I applied for Creative Nonfiction? Or I thought I did. I saw a post on Draft awhile back that alluded to UTK only having fiction and poetry, but I don't think I would've applied if it hadn't allowed me to choose CNF? I've been concerned about that since seeing the post (and still a little concerned since they didn't mention genre in the email). But this has spiraled me into a longer post. Basically, I had no idea what I was doing the last two years attempting to apply to MFAs. I wasn't apart of these groups and my professors did not fully prepare me for what it would be like or the stakes of applying. I didn't know about stipends or financial packages, didn't consider location/rent or cohorts, didn't realize how few people they accepted. I didn't even know what the best schools were to apply to. I applied to Emerson College last season and got accepted despite not having all of my recommendations (and having objectively not great samples), but I wasn't able to go because I ended up having to do another year of undergrad due to a schedule mix-up. This year I was waitlisted at UTK (with a much better application and full recommendations). Both years, those were the only schools that I applied to. I found this group (and Draft) a few months ago when trying to find out when I'd hear back from UTK. It has sincerely opened my eyes (and taken over my life a little bit). I've learned so much and been so grateful -- but also, to some degree, still feel left out. I never had the experience of applying to far-away or prestigious universities in undergraduate because of primarily fear and doubt (and lack of knowing what I wanted to study) but also due to financial reasons. I've always wanted to be able to apply to a bunch of great schools and see if I got in just to even have that experience at all, even if they were rejections. I regret that external worries about the future led me to apply late and to only one school (of which I'm still not sure if they would have a focus in my genre). All of this is just to say that I have regrets. And despite being so grateful and excited for this waitlist, I will be taking myself off of it. I want to try again. I'm not sure that Knoxville is the place for me anyway. I've lived in rural Mississippi my entire life, and I want to see if I could get further away. I just want to see realistically what my options are. I feel more confident to be able to do this after this experience and learning so much from this group. (Side note: Am I crazy for this?) Also, for those that are wondering, UTK said they sent out five acceptance offers. I'm not sure if that is fiction or nonfiction at this point, but I really thought I applied for nonfiction. They also did not mention if it was a ranked waitlist or how many people were on it. They didn't even spell my name right in the email lol. Last thing -- Considering everything I've said, does anyone have recommendations for which (fully funded) universities to apply to next round for CNF?

UTK waitlists just went out! i made it 😁

somebody asked earlier if the university of tennessee poetry acceptance on gradcafe results was a fluke, but it’s also been reported on draft as well now. going crazy waiting to hear back from them. crossing my fingers for tomorrow

been waiting on knoxville forever it feels like. last year it looks like acceptances went out on the 21st so they’re behind it seems like

i’m so ready to go to sleep so i can wake up and see if there’s any results tomorrow

Whoever said Iowa might drop even this weekend was so right

I think you can do direct messages? Not sure, I’m pretty new here but I think so

Question -- what is the general consensus on Emerson College's MFA program? I applied last year and got in without one of my recommenders even submitting their recommendation (because I had decided I was going to wait to apply). Also, looking back, my writing sample was terrible, some of the worst I've ever written (I say this as objectively as I can, not trying to down myself). Based on the Draft, it looks like only acceptances to Emerson. Are they not a very selective program? I didn't know much about MFA programs when I applied, and I just saw them on some list of the best programs (plus I thought that Boston would be a fun city), but now that I'm more involved/educated, I'm wondering about how good their program is. Can anyone speak to this? Mostly asking because I'm considering reapplying since they accepted me once, but I don't know if it would be worth it.

I really thought this week would show a lot more results than it did. It's looking like next week might be big. I do see somewhat of a trend of some schools sending later decisions so far than they have in previous years. I wonder if that's due to an influx of applicants or something else.