2021 Applicants Forum

[FairleyAlfy]

1 hour ago, mrvisser said:

My list is only six for this year, but my list for next year if I don't get in is up to 20-some "maybes" and 14 "definitelys". I really want to add at least one more for this year, but I don't want to ask my professors for one more letter.

Yea, that's a good plan. Professors usually just upload a letter from the email that the university sends, and since your professors already have your letter written, it's not too much of a hassle just to upload one more electronically, but I get where you're coming from. I feel guilty because my professors are on winter break right now and are still having to answer emails for requests. You have the time left before most deadlines to add another, and I'm sure they will be gracious about it. They understand that MFA programs are competitive. 

[mrvisser]

1 hour ago, FairleyAlfy said:

Yea, that's a good plan. Professors usually just upload a letter from the email that the university sends, and since your professors already have your letter written, it's not too much of a hassle just to upload one more electronically, but I get where you're coming from. I feel guilty because my professors are on winter break right now and are still having to answer emails for requests. You have the time left before most deadlines to add another, and I'm sure they will be gracious about it. They understand that MFA programs are competitive. 

I just remembered that I initially had a list of seven schools to apply to, and recently decided against one of them without telling my recommenders. So, fuck it, I'm going to apply to one more tonight, which isn't due until January. Woo! Another rush of potential success/disappointment.

[mrvisser]

18 minutes ago, archiapelo said:

How do you know whether to go to the school that accepted you, or to apply next year to a better school?

How can you risk regretting the rest of your life going to somewhere less than the best?

For me personally, I just decided to apply to schools I would be really happy to go to, which is why I took one of those schools off my original list. I'd be happy to go to any of the seven I applied to this year. I just don't think it's worth compromising on. If you don't like the schools that accept you, then it's probably best to put it off for another year. Just take the time to think about it. Thankfully (or dreadfully), there's going to be a lot of waiting time to think before decisions come out!

[Graceful Entropy]

15 minutes ago, archiapelo said:

How do you know whether to go to the school that accepted you, or to apply next year to a better school?

Oh boy. I'm getting some definite troll vibes from the next sentence, but I'm going to try to answer this one earnestly.

I think the beauty of graduate schools is that for the most part the distinctions of 'good' and 'better' really fall away, and do not come down to elitist notions of school tiers. Yes there are some really good professors at big schools like Columbia, but they also come with higher demands for those professors' attention or a lack of funding. The important piece is having institutional and peer support, as well as time to focus on your work and studies. This can happen anywhere, and what is best for one person may not be for another. Fortunately or not, just like in the outside world, your growth in writing will mainly come down to you and what you put into it and your community.

tl;dr: No Ragrets.

 

[Graceful Entropy]

21 hours ago, Ydrl said:

...My vision these past few days has gotten noticeably worse, and staying offline isn’t helping... I’m planning on seeing an optometrist soon, because typing this has taken me around 30-ish minutes.

I don't mean this as a way of adding undue stress, just agreeing with others: please do go to the optometrist as soon as possible. I know it can be easy to ignore and push through these sorts of things (stubborn writers we are...), but my friend went through something similar and it ended up being very important to her health and well-being that she got her vision checked out.

Stay positive and keep on keeping on, my friend.

[mrvisser]

4 minutes ago, Graceful Entropy said:

Oh boy. I'm getting some definite troll vibes from the next sentence, but I'm going to try to answer this one earnestly.

I think the beauty of graduate schools is that for the most part the distinctions of 'good' and 'better' really fall away, and do not come down to elitist notions of school tiers. Yes there are some really good professors at big schools like Columbia, but they also come with higher demands for those professors' attention or a lack of funding. The important piece is having institutional and peer support, as well as time to focus on your work and studies. This can happen anywhere, and what is best for one person may not be for another. Fortunately or not, just like in the outside world, your growth in writing will mainly come down to you and what you put into it and your community.

tl;dr: No Ragrets.

 

I agree. Obviously there's Iowa, with all its prestige, but generally, as a lot of these programs point out, if you make it in you're already a talented writer. My own list just comes down to which faculty and programs seemed a good fit for me, and a lot of it really came down to the location. I don't necessarily imagine a lot of different outcomes with my own development based on choosing one school over another.

[pattycat]

14 hours ago, FairleyAlfy said:

 

Finally finished my last application on Sunday so that makes 13 total!! I was going to apply to 15, but I just don't have the money or the energy to apply. Plus I overloaded my professors with reference requests. They are being super nice about it though. I'm going to have to send them all gift baskets for being so great.

 

Did you use Interfolio?

[FairleyAlfy]

6 hours ago, pattycat said:

Did you use Interfolio?

No, I just used the electronic submission platform that most universities had. I'm not quite sure what Interfolio is. I keep hearing about it. 

[FairleyAlfy]

On 12/10/2020 at 8:57 PM, Graceful Entropy said:

Agh, really wish you had the ability to change out your SOPs or other documents all the way up until the deadline, even after you hit submit, since most schools don't start on them until then.

Rread my original SOP draft the other day, and there was a part of it I felt pretty damn important, but somewhere along the revisions it got left on the cutting floor. 

WHY WON'T THEY JUST LET ME TINKER FOREVER LIKE I DO WITH ALL MY OTHER WRITING??!?!?!?:ladkfja;lbrbss

I feel this.... I wish I would have revised my SOP....I feel like certain parts are kind of sappy....I also read a sample SOP yesterday, and it sounded so much better than mine. I think I don't sound academic or smart enough. I chose a more conversational/personal tone instead of using big words and intellectual perfume, and I'm kind of regretting it. I might just be overthinking ?

[FairleyAlfy]

15 hours ago, Graceful Entropy said:

Oh boy. I'm getting some definite troll vibes from the next sentence, but I'm going to try to answer this one earnestly.

I think the beauty of graduate schools is that for the most part the distinctions of 'good' and 'better' really fall away, and do not come down to elitist notions of school tiers. Yes there are some really good professors at big schools like Columbia, but they also come with higher demands for those professors' attention or a lack of funding. The important piece is having institutional and peer support, as well as time to focus on your work and studies. This can happen anywhere, and what is best for one person may not be for another. Fortunately or not, just like in the outside world, your growth in writing will mainly come down to you and what you put into it and your community.

tl;dr: No Ragrets.

 

Agreed! All I really want is a kind, supportive faculty and good funding. I don't have a long list of requirements. I certainly don't care if it's prestigious or not. At the end of the day, all publishers care about is if you churn out excellent writing, and not if you studied at an Ivy League college.

[FairleyAlfy]

On 12/9/2020 at 7:14 PM, Ydrl said:

Welcome! Thanks for joining our thread!

What kind of poetry do you typically like? I’ll give you a few names to look up, and if you find that you really like one of them I could recommend some more like that. I’m still exploring the world of poetry myself, but one of my goals is to bring knowledge to others (whatever that means for me in the future):

Edward Hirsch

Luljeta Lleshanaku

Federico García Lorca

Rosanna Warren

Kaveh Akbar

If none of them really speak to you, that’s okay too. There’s a lot of excellent poets out there, and you’ll find some that never fail to enrapture you (Warren and Lorca for me). The Poetry Foundation’s website is super helpful for looking things up and learning about new poets, poems, and poetic techniques.

I love Kaveh Akbar! This year, I came across some talented voices. 

Paige Lewis' Space Struck is a brilliant collection. They are also good friends with Kaveh Akbar. 

Jericho Brown's The Tradition is phenomenal and read it with tissues. 

I also love Hold Like Owls by Julia Koets.

[pattycat]

4 hours ago, FairleyAlfy said:

No, I just used the electronic submission platform that most universities had. I'm not quite sure what Interfolio is. I keep hearing about it. 

Essentially your recommenders upload their letters to Interfolio and then you are able to link to those letters in your apps. That way your recommenders don’t have to upload to a dozen places. Only snags are that it costs ($45 for a year I think?) and some schools don’t accept Interfolio.

It causes me a ton of anxiety to ask anyone for anything, so it made things a little easier for me. I’m applying to 11 or 12 schools and my recommenders only had to upload to 4 places incl Interfolio.

[KZK]

 

16 hours ago, FairleyAlfy said:

I feel this.... I wish I would have revised my SOP....I feel like certain parts are kind of sappy....I also read a sample SOP yesterday, and it sounded so much better than mine. I think I don't sound academic or smart enough. I chose a more conversational/personal tone instead of using big words and intellectual perfume, and I'm kind of regretting it. I might just be overthinking ?

Oh my gosh, YES. I had to ban myself from re-reading all my SOPs. All it does is cause a tailspin of anxiety in what I could/should have done better. Blergh. But what's done is done! 

Also - wanted to mention for the fiction and poetry folks that Rutgers-Newark has extended their deadline to January 1 and waived the GRE requirement. 

[Ydrl]

2 hours ago, KZK said:

 

Oh my gosh, YES. I had to ban myself from re-reading all my SOPs. All it does is cause a tailspin of anxiety in what I could/should have done better. Blergh. But what's done is done! 

Also - wanted to mention for the fiction and poetry folks that Rutgers-Newark has extended their deadline to January 1 and waived the GRE requirement. 

Where did you see Rutgers Newark extended deadline and GRE waive? I can’t find it anywhere on the website. I wanna apply really bad, but I just don’t want to spend money for a rejection letter.

 

Also, apparently sunglasses help me read slightly better. (Also I’m getting an eye appointment once the office can find a emergency spot for me.) Thanks for caring about my eyes ❤️

[FairleyAlfy]

15 hours ago, pattycat said:

Essentially your recommenders upload their letters to Interfolio and then you are able to link to those letters in your apps. That way your recommenders don’t have to upload to a dozen places. Only snags are that it costs ($45 for a year I think?) and some schools don’t accept Interfolio.

It causes me a ton of anxiety to ask anyone for anything, so it made things a little easier for me. I’m applying to 11 or 12 schools and my recommenders only had to upload to 4 places incl Interfolio.

I wish I would have tried Interfolio....That would have been so much easier than my professors getting 13 email requests...Now I know. Thank you for the information!

[FairleyAlfy]

I was looking through all my completed applications because I have lots of anxiety, and I realized that I sent the wrong writing sample to Cornell!!!! OMG....I don't know what I should do. Should I try to email and ask if they will let me replace the writing sample? Send help...

[Ydrl]

23 minutes ago, FairleyAlfy said:

I was looking through all my completed applications because I have lots of anxiety, and I realized that I sent the wrong writing sample to Cornell!!!! OMG....I don't know what I should do. Should I try to email and ask if they will let me replace the writing sample? Send help...

Send an email with the right sample attached and ask really really nicely to see if they’ll replace it. I did that with a school last year and they let me swap it.

Stay calm and do it as soon as you can.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Ydrl

[FairleyAlfy]

Just now, Ydrl said:

Send an email with the right sample attached and ask really really nicely to see if they’ll replace it. I did that with a school last year and they let me swap it.

Stay calm and do it as soon as you can.

Thank you! I'll do that. I'm a ball of nerves. ?

[KZK]

3 hours ago, Ydrl said:

Where did you see Rutgers Newark extended deadline and GRE waive? I can’t find it anywhere on the website. I wanna apply really bad, but I just don’t want to spend money for a rejection letter.

I saw it in another MFA group that I'm in, but you can also find the info here: https://www.gsn.newark.rutgers.edu/creative-writing

 

Good luck! 

[orangeslice]

Hi everyone! Thought it might be time to toss my hat into the ring after watching from the sidelines for a few weeks. I'm 24, from CA (what's up peeps?!), and this is my first application cycle. I have almost certainly overdone it by applying to 16 schools but I'm very anxious about the odds and since the trip I was planning for October did not happen thanks to covid I had some extra funds to throw at applications. Nice to meet you all

[mrvisser]

2 minutes ago, orangeslice said:

Hi everyone! Thought it might be time to toss my hat into the ring after watching from the sidelines for a few weeks. I'm 24, from CA (what's up peeps?!), and this is my first application cycle. I have almost certainly overdone it by applying to 16 schools but I'm very anxious about the odds and since the trip I was planning for October did not happen thanks to covid I had some extra funds to throw at applications. Nice to meet you all

Welcome! No overdoing it in here! I wish I'd applied to 16, but seven will have to do for this year.

[mrvisser]

2 hours ago, FairleyAlfy said:

I was looking through all my completed applications because I have lots of anxiety, and I realized that I sent the wrong writing sample to Cornell!!!! OMG....I don't know what I should do. Should I try to email and ask if they will let me replace the writing sample? Send help...

I think they should be understanding. I mean, it all really comes down to your writing, and if you're a great fit for Cornell's program, they'd be stupid to throw that away on a formality.

[orangeslice]

Thanks mrvisser! And 7 seems good! When each application takes SO LONG even 7 is a great achievement. 

[Ydrl]

23 minutes ago, orangeslice said:

Hi everyone! Thought it might be time to toss my hat into the ring after watching from the sidelines for a few weeks. I'm 24, from CA (what's up peeps?!), and this is my first application cycle. I have almost certainly overdone it by applying to 16 schools but I'm very anxious about the odds and since the trip I was planning for October did not happen thanks to covid I had some extra funds to throw at applications. Nice to meet you all

Hello! And heck yeah, welcome to the thread.

16? That’s an amazing amount of applications, where’d you apply?

 

[Ydrl]

23 hours ago, FairleyAlfy said:

I love Kaveh Akbar! This year, I came across some talented voices. 

Paige Lewis' Space Struck is a brilliant collection. They are also good friends with Kaveh Akbar. 

Jericho Brown's The Tradition is phenomenal and read it with tissues. 

I also love Hold Like Owls by Julia Koets.

I’ve read some Paige Lewis but I haven’t gotten their book yet.

I’m still reading through Jericho Brown, I haven’t been able to finish it because emotions.

I’ll also recommend Women Poets: from Antiquity to Now (It’s not being made anymore so you’ll have to get it online). Sunset in a Spider Web, ancient Korean poetry (also not being made anymore). And Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection (Still in production haha)