guntherpingu

Anyone else going feral waiting for April 15th?? I just want to know if I'm getting off this waitlist so I can move on already 😭

Yeah it was early May when I got off the waitlist for my program. They'd already filled all the spots but the director (who later became my advisor) found me a different assistantship so I could attend, and then my 2nd and 3rd years I had the same assistantship as everyone else.

In general, publications and experience don't matter for MFA applications. Hell, your GPA doesn't really matter (unless it doesn't meet graduate school requirements). Your writing sample is 90% (or more) of the decision. Don't accept just because you're eager to go! Spending a year writing a banger short story could get you into a fully funded program that excites you. And I would argue that going for only well known programs is a poor choice as well-- I went to a small fully funded program that I got a lot out of! They only get around 100 apps a year compared to the big schools. I would also like to echo others saying not to go into debt!

No, you have to have a Facebook. The reason is bc there's personal/sensitive information on there and the people who agree to have their info put on the sheet only agree to have others who are also in the Facebook group view it.

In my program, there was always at least one or two people (myself included) who got in off the waitlist per year per genre. I would advise emailing your top program around the first week of April to reiterate your interest. I remember saying something like, "This program is my top choice and I would accept an admissions offer if one becomes available." Good luck, and congrats on the waitlists!

It's a group on Facebook where people post/share their results along with a google sheets link that displays the data. If you don't have a fb, you can make a fake one and then request to join. Search "mfa draft" on fb and you'll find it!

I read somewhere that some programs have to wait for the graduate school to approve the rejections and/or the graduate school wants results posted in a very specific order. And yes, I also think that some schools wait on rejections so they can have an emergency pool to pull from (the secret waitlist, I've heard it called), but like greenleaf, I also can't back this up with evidence.

Not feeling great today, friends. I applied to five programs (phd). So far, I have one waitlist and three rejections. The last school I'm waiting on is the University of Missouri, and I have a feeling they're going to reject me too (but hey, you never know). Part of me was expecting to be rejected everywhere, like I was when I applied for MFAs the first go-around, so I feel grateful for my waitlist. At the same time, I know what it's like to wait until April 15th, hoping someone turns down their spot so I can be admitted, and that shit sucks (happened to me during my second cycle, which ended in a rejection, and then in my third, which was an acceptance)... I wish this process wasn't so incredibly unpredictable. My heart goes out to my fellow applicants with only waitlists and even moreso to those with all rejections. For my sanity, I'm going to start making plans for my future as if I'm not going to a phd program in the fall. If I happen to get in (woo-hoo!), I'll alter my plans from there. For now, I need to finish revising/editing my thesis. I hope y'all are being kind to yourselves--it takes a lot of courage to willingly go through such a vulnerable and tiresome application process with ridiculously small acceptance rates.

If they called you and never received a response, they would revert to text, email, or another form of communication to get in contact with you. A missed call doesn't mean they move on to the next person!

1. It took me three years of applying to get into my MFA program. Only a few members of my cohort got in on their first try (and not all of them applied straight out of college--the ages of my cohort members range from early 20s to early 40s). It took five years for a good friend of mine to get into an MFA program, and his writing is fantastic! While it's possible to get in on your first try, it's incredibly hard. Like writing, applying to these programs is a process. 2. Twenty-six is so young! You DO NOT need to have your life figured out yet. I firmly believe that a person's 20s are for fucking around (30s too, now that I think about it). Either find a job that lets you write/read in your spare time and keep trying for that MFA, or find a job that's somewhat related to writing that you enjoy doing. If you live near a college, they're almost always hiring academic advisors and those jobs come with health insurance (mostly). Your life is not over, it's only starting. 3. My main goal for joining an MFA program was community and a drive to write (also deadlines that I couldn't keep pushing back). If you don't have a physical writing community around you, maybe try finding an online one? That way you can feel motivated to keep writing through talking with others about writing. I'd be happy to talk craft books with you over discord or something! 4. I felt doomed when I was rejected by everyone my first year applying. I didn't understand the difficulty of what I was doing, and I took those rejections personally. Being a writer was so intertwined with my identity that I didn't know who I was outside of it, which took a toll on my mental health. Recognizing that writing is something that I do, not who I am, helped me separate myself from the sting of those rejections. Volunteering in my community helped me feel valuable while I was figuring things out in-between application cycles, so that might be something to look into.

Some programs ask accepted students not to post their results on social media until all the results are out. Not sure which programs do this exactly.

There are several people in my MFA program who don't have an English/Creative Writing BA. One member of my cohort has a degree very similar to yours-- I think she was Biology and pre-Med. Like your advisor said, the thing that matters most is your writing sample. Unless there's specific requirements about having a certain number of ENGL credits (like what you mentioned with UTK), most programs do not care what your undergraduate degree is in, just that you have one.

After I got accepted into my program, the director put me in touch with other incoming students who were looking for housing and we decided to room together, which cut down on costs. Even with food stamps and medicaid, I still can't afford to live on my stipend. I worked part time to pay rent for the first two years, then for my third (my current year) I'm relying on my savings and the generosity of my father so I can focus on my thesis. Most programs pay poverty wages, unfortunately.

Updated today! It was a rejection lol.

My FSU app (PhD) updated to something like "we've made a decision, check back later" Why couldn't they just tell me when they updated the portal to say they made the decision?? I just want to knowwww:(:(:(

Waitlisted at UTK (PhD fiction)! Got the email this morning, very excited! I was fully expecting to be rejected from every school I applied to so this was a nice confidence boost (even if I don't get in). Hope everything is going well for y'all!

I have several friends in my cohort who applied straight out of undergrad and got accepted (being 22/23 when starting the program). It took me longer to get in-- I was 25 when I got accepted (which is still v young!). Honestly I feel like age has nothing to do with it, it all depends on where your writing is at. And yes, life experience does make your writing richer, but being older doesn't automattically make you a better writer. A gap year can be good, but if you think your writing can compete now then go for it! A waitlist your first time applying is a great sign. What I did with my two gap years: I'm lucky enough to not have student loans or debt, so I took low paying but easy jobs that paid the rent and didn't require overtime so I could spend my free time reading and writing. Substitute teachers are always needed, and you get paid more with a degree. Best of luck to you!

I also write absurdist stuff (currently in an MFA program at GCSU, applying for PhDs now). I think there's definitely more realistic lit out there, but absurdism is alive and well in my grad community, at least!

Two of my friends have told me that they had dreams I got accepted to my top PhD program. I feel like the Heinz Doofenshmirtz nickel meme. Weird that it's happened twice, you know?

I made a fake one just to join and it worked! If that's something you're willing to do

I could only afford to apply to five (FSU, UTK, KU, Mizzou, UGA). Also hoping I get into at least one! This is my first year applying to PhDs--I'm finishing up my MFA in fiction this semester and don't want to get a job yet (lol). It took me three years of applying just to get into an MFA program, but I think I've definitely grown as a writer since then...one of my profs thinks I have a good chance, so that's nice encouragement. 2-4 per genre is what I've heard/read online...I hope UTK accepts more than just 1 per genre, that seems so small! But yes, all the programs are so wildly different, it's hard to keep track. How much funding each has changes everything (I wanted to apply to Ole Miss but I've heard rumors their funding is gone? Their grad coordinator never emailed me back so I can't confirm).

I'm also applying to PhD creative writing programs, and I applied to UTK as well! From my understanding, the UTK PhD program doesn't do the two separate rounds that their MFA program does. I don't expect to hear back from them until February, possibly. Looking back at previous years (if you trust what people report online), it seems like UTK sends out results around February for the PhD. Best of luck!