2021 Applicants Forum

[eternalwhitenights]

On 1/16/2021 at 8:07 PM, mrvisser said:

This forum is a godsend for sure! It's nice to know everyone is basically feeling the same way.

I haven't heard anything yet, but the deadline was 15 days ago, so I imagine it'll be one of the later notifications.

Definitely. Community makes all the difference in the world.

And deadline-wise, yeah, that makes sense. I didn't really have a frame of reference for other programs, because, like I'd mentioned in one of my other posts, this was the only program I applied to, so I kind of have tunnel vision when it comes to the broad scope of the application cycle. It's interesting to read about other people's experiences, though--I'm rooting for everyone here!

Is ND a top choice? I see in your signature there's lots of different programs you applied to--which ones are your top choices?

Also, kind of random sidenote, but I saw you applied to Washington University in St. Louis. I'm from St. Louis, and I can attest to WashU being a very beautiful campus. I didn't even realize they had an MFA, but hey, you learn something new everyday. I hope you get into it regardless!

[spacedumpster]

48 minutes ago, eternalwhitenights said:

Hi all!! I'm Mary--so nice to meet everybody! I'm so glad this little corner of Grad Cafe exists--I randomly found Grad Cafe through an article I read online about when to expect an answer to grad program applications, and I'm so glad it directed me here. This website is absolutely bomb.

I ended up making a last-minute decision to apply to an MFA for Creative Writing via a whole lot of Jesus and prayer and finally having the courage to go after making my novel that I've been working on since I was 14 my MFA. I only applied to one program, Notre Dame's MFA for their prose track, and I applied there because my novel takes place during the Great Potato Famine in Ireland, and they have an absolutely fantastic Irish Studies program, as well as a service component to their program, which is also really important to me as both a writer and human. (I really want to get involved with their outreach track that deals with the Literatures of Annihilation and Exile (I can't remember the exact name of the track off the top of my head) because I want to use my words to help amplify the voices of marginalized communities and to write about issues in the education and social justice spaces; BIPOC issues and immigrant/refugee issues are very, very close to my heart.)

Between making the decision to apply and the deadline for the program, I had a ten-day turnaround period, and I still can't believe I actually applied to the program. That's kind of wild to me. I wish I'd had a better writing sample, but I'm just really proud of myself for applying in the first place, and for the fact that I wrote the first four pages of my novel in a creative whirlwind on the day of submission, and it was pretty much the best feeling ever to give voice to my main character, who has been in my heart and grown and matured with me through the past 15 years (I'm 29 now), and know that I have something special there.

I just wanted to wish everybody the best of luck with their applications and the decisions, and I look forward to getting to know everyone!! I think I'm going to cry and dance at the same time if I get in to this program--I want it more with each passing day.

God bless, everybody! So so glad I found this place!

~Mary

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into your choice of school. I'm super impressed that you completed your application on such a short timeline, too. Welcome to the forum and best of luck!

[mrvisser]

22 minutes ago, eternalwhitenights said:

Definitely. Community makes all the difference in the world.

And deadline-wise, yeah, that makes sense. I didn't really have a frame of reference for other programs, because, like I'd mentioned in one of my other posts, this was the only program I applied to, so I kind of have tunnel vision when it comes to the broad scope of the application cycle. It's interesting to read about other people's experiences, though--I'm rooting for everyone here!

Is ND a top choice? I see in your signature there's lots of different programs you applied to--which ones are your top choices?

Also, kind of random sidenote, but I saw you applied to Wash U in St. Louis. I'm from St. Louis, and I can attest to Wash U being a very beautiful campus. I didn't even realize they had an MFA, but hey, you learn something new everyday. I hope you get into it regardless!

My top choices are Texas, Iowa, Vanderbilt and WashU in that order, and then I'd say the other schools are a tier below. But I'd be very happy to go to any of them! Just want to make it in.

[Michelle Zeller]

It makes no sense for people to waste all day checking for results that won't be in for a month at least. I shall check nothing until March.  

[mrvisser]

53 minutes ago, Michelle Zeller said:

It makes no sense for people to waste all day checking for results that won't be in for a month at least. I shall check nothing until March.  

Well, some results are already coming in, and some more will probably come in before March.

[Michelle Zeller]

44 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

Well, some results are already coming in, and some more will probably come in before March.

But you will read here or at the Draft what schools are in. And not very many results will come before mid-February. People here would be so better off if they could just forget their applications for a month. I've managed to. I haven't checked one portal yet.

Michener sent me an email that I need a more recent college transcript. I had to spend an hour taking care of that, and now I'm all pissy. 

[mrvisser]

2 minutes ago, Michelle Zeller said:

But you will read here or at the Draft what schools are in. And not very many results will come before mid-February. People here would be so better off if they could just forget their applications for a month. I've managed to. I haven't checked one portal yet.

Michener sent me an email that I need a more recent college transcript. I had to spend an hour taking care of that, and now I'm all pissy. 

Yeah, I check my email and here mostly, but I haven't yet resorted to checking the portals. I'll probably wait on that until I hear that people have been contacted by the schools I applied to. 

Michener made me upload some different transcripts as well, which was kind of obnoxious.

Edited January 17, 2021 by mrvisser

[Michelle Zeller]

Michener is one of the bullshit schools that demands an official transcript. If every school did that, I would go bankrupt. And there is no need, no advantage to demanding one before getting in. 

I've promised myself no check portals to February 15th, and then no more than once a day. 

I've fallen into a kind of I-don't-give-a-shit mode. If I go anywhere but Iowa, I will think that I could have waited till my writing got better and gotten in there. But Michener does give an extra year and no teaching. I've learned that recently. So that might be ok too. I'm starting to think I might decline even Michigan. 

[babypoet2k]

42 minutes ago, Michelle Zeller said:

But you will read here or at the Draft what schools are in. And not very many results will come before mid-February. People here would be so better off if they could just forget their applications for a month. I've managed to. I haven't checked one portal yet.

Michener sent me an email that I need a more recent college transcript. I had to spend an hour taking care of that, and now I'm all pissy. 

you seem to have wayyyyy more self control than I do. I get a tiny jump in my chest every time i get an email at an unusual time (i'm 12 hours ahead time-zone wise and get all application related emails in the middle of the night), and have put email alerts on the results search page so i don't keep going back. i do agree that checking obsessively does more harm than good, and until the schools you've applied to have started sending out decisions, i think it's totally fine to just keep a tab on your email and nothing else. 

my mentor has been telling me that every day i don't hear anything, it's not a rejection. keeping that in mind ❤️

[eternalwhitenights]

4 hours ago, spacedumpster said:

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into your choice of school. I'm super impressed that you completed your application on such a short timeline, too. Welcome to the forum and best of luck!

Thank you so much. I couldn't have done it without Jesus, tbh. Also, I've spent so long just getting to a place where I allowed myself to be happy and go after what I want, that this process was more of a "Why not?" instead of a "Why do you think you can actually do this?" That vulnerability and self-love was monumental for me, in and of itself.

Good luck to you on all of your apps, too!

4 hours ago, mrvisser said:

My top choices are Texas, Iowa, Vanderbilt and WashU in that order, and then I'd say the other schools are a tier below. But I'd be very happy to go to any of them! Just want to make it in.

Cool cool. And yes--I so relate to that feeling of just wanting to make it in. I bet you'll make it into tons of the programs you applied to--I believe in you!!  

What kind of writing do you do (like do you gravitate towards a certain genre, time period, style, etc.)?

I'm just so excited for everybody here, and I can't wait to see everyone's results. ❤️ We're going to rock this, y'all!

Edited January 17, 2021 by eternalwhitenights

[eternalwhitenights]

1 hour ago, babypoet2k said:

you seem to have wayyyyy more self control than I do. I get a tiny jump in my chest every time i get an email at an unusual time (i'm 12 hours ahead time-zone wise and get all application related emails in the middle of the night), and have put email alerts on the results search page so i don't keep going back. i do agree that checking obsessively does more harm than good, and until the schools you've applied to have started sending out decisions, i think it's totally fine to just keep a tab on your email and nothing else. 

my mentor has been telling me that every day i don't hear anything, it's not a rejection. keeping that in mind ❤️

You've got this, dear! Congrats on just applying in the first place from across the ocean. That takes so much courage in and of itself to be willing to chase your dreams away from your comfort zone of home, so major props to you on that. Where did you apply to for your MFA, if you don't mind me asking?  

P.S. I hope you get some decent sleep before all the results go out, at least for a few nights during the interim! ? 

Edited January 17, 2021 by eternalwhitenights

[mrvisser]

7 minutes ago, eternalwhitenights said:

Cool cool. And yes--I so relate to that feeling of just wanting to make it in. I bet you'll make it into tons of the programs you applied to--I believe in you!!  

What kind of writing do you do (like do you gravitate towards a certain genre, time period, style, etc.)?

Thanks! I hope your intuition is correct. 

I generally tend toward the classics and the modernists, as well as some of the postmodern stuff. I'd like to think my style mixes writers like Woolf and Fitzgerald with the sarcasm of Vonnegut and Tom Robbins, but at the same time it's hard to compare because I try to make it very much my own.

[babypoet2k]

1 minute ago, eternalwhitenights said:

You've got this, dear! Congrats on just applying in the first place from across the ocean. That take so much courage in and of itself to be willing to chase your dreams away from your comfort zone of home--where did you apply to for your MFA, if you don't mind me asking?  

P.S. I hope you get some decent sleep before all the admissions go out, at least for a few nights! ? 

thank you so much! this is so sweet.

i applied to iowa, brown, northwestern, notre dame, syracuse and virginia, all for poetry. and i'm realising while waiting that these are top-tier programs with the smallest cohorts ;_;  but i'm young and hopeful and a good amount of naive so i'm hoping things work out. 

hope everyone finds moments of peace in these strange and scary times ❤️

[Michelle Zeller]

11 hours ago, eternalwhitenights said:

Thank you so much. I couldn't have done it without Jesus, tbh. 

 

11 hours ago, eternalwhitenights said:

Cool cool. And yes--I so relate to that feeling of just wanting to make it in. I bet you'll make it into tons of the programs you applied to--I believe in you!!  

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I am so pissed at Michener for making me spend an hour on a transcript and paying for the transcript when every other school allows an unofficial transcript. So I have to add that I don't believe in Jesus, but I do believe the irrationality of religion is a great topic for fiction. He won't get into "tons of the programs you applied to." You sound like me a few weeks ago when I didn't know anything about MFAs. I now have heard from everyone that no one gets in to a ton of programs. I do hate to be a Debbie Downer, but blame Michener. I have wasted money on 15 applications thinking I had a good chance everywhere and not knowing the acceptance rates. 

[Pinskadan]

1 hour ago, Michelle Zeller said:

 

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I am so pissed at Michener for making me spend an hour on a transcript and paying for the transcript when every other school allows an unofficial transcript. So I have to add that I don't believe in Jesus, but I do believe the irrationality of religion is a great topic for fiction. He won't get into "tons of the programs you applied to." You sound like me a few weeks ago when I didn't know anything about MFAs. I now have heard from everyone that no one gets in to a ton of programs. I do hate to be a Debbie Downer, but blame Michener. I have wasted money on 15 applications thinking I had a good chance everywhere and not knowing the acceptance rates. 

I'm sorry that you're experiencing frustration with the process, but I'm not sure that expressing that as hostility toward the folx in this thread is going to help, by which I mean: it won't. I don't know who on the thread is going to get into this program or that program, and who is going to get into no programs at all, but I do know that everyone here 1. cares about their applications and 2. knows they're going through a harrowing process, and 3. probably has enough self-criticism going on in their heads already. 

Also for what it's worth, no one on this thread can be accountable for how you made your decisions on applications and such, so while I know it's heartbreaking to hear about acceptance statistics and frustrating to learn about them after submitting, it's also not their fault that they acknowledged this. I come from a background where absolutely no one has an advanced degree, so I understand how weird and confusing and sometimes counter-intuitive the process and specifics of MFA apps can be, and how different the process is from undergrad (which itself was a confusing process too!) That said, many of the folx on this thread have put a lot of work into understanding it (and months into their applications), and most of the information we're sharing is stuff that can be found out just by doing some searching online. The opportunity to get an advanced degree which is fully paid for and funded is an incredibly lucky one; none of us are entitled to this type of education and we're just trying to do everything we can do to get there!

[Ydrl]

3 hours ago, Michelle Zeller said:

 

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I am so pissed at Michener for making me spend an hour on a transcript and paying for the transcript when every other school allows an unofficial transcript. So I have to add that I don't believe in Jesus, but I do believe the irrationality of religion is a great topic for fiction. He won't get into "tons of the programs you applied to." You sound like me a few weeks ago when I didn't know anything about MFAs. I now have heard from everyone that no one gets in to a ton of programs. I do hate to be a Debbie Downer, but blame Michener. I have wasted money on 15 applications thinking I had a good chance everywhere and not knowing the acceptance rates. 

For reference, Texas never asked me for official transcripts. I emailed the program and they only required RECENT transcripts (like, obtained within a one year timeframe), even if they were unofficial.

Also, I get you’re angry, this new information I gave you probably made you more angry, but there’s no reason to attack someone else’s religious views when they’re being positive and reassuring. I get it, Christianity wasn’t for me either, but please be civil.

[Michelle Zeller]

2 hours ago, Pinskadan said:

The opportunity to get an advanced degree which is fully paid for and funded is an incredibly lucky one; none of us are entitled to this type of education 

I disagree. In England, all university is free. Bernie Sanders wants to make it free here. Actually, in most of the world is free. On this issue, you side with the Republicans, but I cannot do so myself. I don't disagree with your right to vote Republican, though.  

[Michelle Zeller]

 

27 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

For reference, Texas never asked me for official transcripts. I emailed the program and they only required RECENT transcripts (like, obtained within a one year timeframe), even if they were unofficial.

Also, I get you’re angry, this new information I gave you probably made you more angry, but there’s no reason to attack someone else’s religious views when they’re being positive and reassuring. I get it, Christianity wasn’t for me either, but please be civil.

Michener's website gave me warning after warning that if I submit a unofficial transcript now, it will severely delay my application. I think initial transcripts can be unofficial, but if they make you resubmit, it has to be official. I did not attack a religion. I attacked the statement "you'll make it into tons of the programs you applied to." I think it is wrong to tell a religious person that they are factually correct on a non-religious issue based upon an assumption that disagreement will be interpreted as a religious attack.

[M-Lin]

It's been probably more than a week since I sent in my request for the MFA Draft Facebook group but still nothing... is anyone here in the group? What kind of information is shared/discussed there? Do you find it valuable? 

[The_Realeo]

56 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

For reference, Texas never asked me for official transcripts. I emailed the program and they only required RECENT transcripts (like, obtained within a one year timeframe), even if they were unofficial.

I had this experience with Michener too.  I was a little worried and I thought I have done something wrong when I saw that others had to submit official transcripts, so this was reassuring.  

[pattycat]

6 minutes ago, M-Lin said:

It's been probably more than a week since I sent in my request for the MFA Draft Facebook group but still nothing... is anyone here in the group? What kind of information is shared/discussed there? Do you find it valuable? 

There's usually quite a delay. I believe there's only one admin who screens the requests.

I don't participate a ton, but I've enjoyed Draft quite a bit. I've learned a TON just by being in the group. When I was researching schools, several people shared their spreadsheets of info they'd gathered, which saved me a lot of time. It's a good place to find answers to questions (just make sure you search before you post). Some people in there are quite direct, so be prepared for that, but mostly everyone is really supportive.

[mrvisser]

13 minutes ago, M-Lin said:

It's been probably more than a week since I sent in my request for the MFA Draft Facebook group but still nothing... is anyone here in the group? What kind of information is shared/discussed there? Do you find it valuable? 

I've also been waiting for more than a week to get in.

[The_Realeo]

I'm still kind of new to the Grad Cafe.  So if this question is not appropriate, let me know.    I definitely don't intend to break the code.

I'm not an English major, so for my critical writing sample, I submitted an analysis of Chinese and Japanese poetics through a linguistic lens.  But since I'm not an English major, I'm super curious, for those of us who had to submit critical writing samples, what did you guys write about?

[mrvisser]

4 minutes ago, The_Realeo said:

I'm still kind of new to the Grad Cafe.  So if this question is not appropriate, let me know.    I definitely don't intend to break the code.

I'm not an English major, so for my critical writing sample, I submitted an analysis of Chinese and Japanese poetics through a linguistic lens.  But since I'm not an English major, I'm super curious, for those of us who had to submit critical writing samples, what did you guys write about?

I wasn't an English major, either. I only had one application that required a critical sample, and I submitted a paper about populism and anti-EU rhetoric in the Netherlands that I wrote a few years ago.

[spacedumpster]

5 minutes ago, The_Realeo said:

I'm still kind of new to the Grad Cafe.  So if this question is not appropriate, let me know.    I definitely don't intend to break the code.

I'm not an English major, so for my critical writing sample, I submitted an analysis of Chinese and Japanese poetics through a linguistic lens.  But since I'm not an English major, I'm super curious, for those of us who had to submit critical writing samples, what did you guys write about?

Another non-English major here. Arizona State was the only school I applied to that asked for an academic writing sample (specifically just for TA funding). I included a research paper that I wrote for an academic composition course, which focused on the proliferation of conspiracy theories in contemporary American culture.