rapunzel

okay i don't know much about mfas but i know this happens with phd programs; my undergrad professors were pretty clear about that with me when i was first thinking of possible routes to go (phd vs. mfa), so i guess it wouldn't surprise me too much if mfas did something similar? also super specific question but if you end up saying yes to a school that's fully funded, is there still a deposit situation involved? or is it purely verbal/written contract? and in the same vein, if you say yes to one fully funded school before april 15 but then decide to go back on your 'yes' because you got off the waitlist elsewhere, is there still a penalty?

also what workshop group is this? (is it open to join lol it sounds really helpful)

so with the way things are shaping up it looks like i'm going to be seeing some of y'all again for next year's forum, so i wanted to reflect on the process this year (i'm a first time applicant) and thank y'all again for building such a supportive community! i don't know if anyone else had a similar experience, but i think it's pretty common: going back to your sample submissions and cringing and thinking, i could definitely have done better. honestly if i learned anything from these past few months and from that cringe feeling it's that i don't think i was fully ready to apply this year, even though i might have thought i was back in november. of course we're all going to be improving in our writing for the rest of our lives, so that's not the best metric of whether or not we're "ready," but i think there's a point at which your improvement on your own kind of slows down and that's when something like an mfa is probably the most helpful. if i did get in somewhere this year, now that i have the chance to really reflect on all this, i don't know if i would be capable of making the best use of it. i have learned, though, that putting myself through the mfa (at least in the abstract) is still really important to me, and i'm hoping to push myself a lot more this year and assess whether or not i'm "ready" in the fall. anyway, thank you all for your support these past few months! there really is something about suffering in purgatory together

congrats everyone! looks like they do notify across multiple days, that's my bad i think part of the delay might be because they physically mail rejections? so even if the letters are dated march 1, they might not get to you until like march 15th -- whereas waitlisted people find out by email on around march 1, i think

yeah i could totally be wrong! just speculatin' over here

sorry not to bring the vibe down 😕 but it looks like you already have some acceptances under your belt! congrats again on those!

well last year only 5/25 acceptances were reported and 3 were over zoom (meaning they'd most likely received the initial voicemail/email to set it up on the 20th)

based on stalking and extensive (draft and reddit lmao) research lol people who reported fiction acceptances last year later than the 20th reported that it was via zoom call, for which 1) one accepted person last year who reported on the 23rd said they received their initial voicemail on the 20th and 2) one of the people accepted today over the phone said they would be setting up a zoom in the coming days as well which all just makes me think zoom is like the extended acceptance conversation after you've already been accepted via phone/voicemail/email on the first day (today) i feel like the red string meme but that's ~okay~

don't come for me but i'm going to throw it out there that i tHinK they're done notifying the fiction folks even if they haven't all been input on draft yet

hm there was someone who reported on 2/23 saying that they received their voicemail on the 20th but only had the conversation on the 23rd over zoom? but i guess it would take a while for one person to call 25 applicants... also in general @everyone as a ballpark, how soon is too soon to reach out a second time to a school that's waitlisted you to express continued interest?

i think that might be a different between genres? everyone for fiction received a call or at least a voicemail on the 20th last year (some international folks without american numbers received emails to set up zoom meetings) but poetry might have been a different day

they do? i thought everyone admitted last year (for one genre) got their calls/voicemails on the same day, and only if they missed them did they receive their acceptance another day

someone posted an iowa acceptance!

okay that makes more sense 😭 but wow that's incredible for them! thanks though 😕

not to butt into this conversation but how do you get a guarantee of getting off a waitlist? i could use that about now 😭

praying for the best news for all of us!

right?? based on previous years' deluges on the 19th/20th/21st i got my hopes/anxieties up lol

congrats bagel! you're going to do great !!

wishing everyone the best for tomorrow and friday! i imagine it's going to be pretty huge for a lot of us, and honestly (lurking in) this group has been really comforting during these stressful times, so thank you all ❤️

that's incredible! congrats!!

wooo congrats!

happy birthday! this is an excellent reference actually 😂

i didn't get a michener letter/email! i thought it was just "denied" on the portal 💀

didn't apply to vanderbilt but i imagine the moos are coming in again lol

congrats to everyone who's received acceptances/waitlists so far! i was wondering, though, with funded programs, do y'all think there's going to be a change in the funding situation because of the new administration? lowkey worried about that lol