2021 Applicants Forum

[Graceful Entropy]

18 hours ago, goodcynara said:

 Additionally, that of the approximately 400 applicants, only 30 or so are “worth considering.” Take that as you will, but this is not the first time I’m hearing such a thing so interested to see what y’all think.

 

 

The fact that this is supposed to be a comforting take on how hard it is to pick candidates definitely does not sit well w/ me. 'Only 30 worth considering' 

Like, fuck off, Johnny Hopkins. I know you and Sloane Kettering used to be blazing that shit up everyday, so don't act like your own don't stink
 

[Gertrude.]

4 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

Poets and Writers used to do a comprehensive ranking, but they haven't done it since 2012 because they realized there's no good method to objectively rank schools.

I don’t believe that is why they stopped. They stopped because poets complained about ranking art and people. There is no precise way to rank anything, but I don’t need a magazine to know Columbia is no longer one of the top five pickiest.

[goodcynara]

10 minutes ago, dooooodle said:

I see a lot of Sarah Lawrence acceptances on this thread... Congratulations to all of you! Because that's the case, I'm going to out myself and tell you I did the entirety of undergrad at SLC from 2008-2012. I love good ol' Sadie Lou (as us alums call it).

One of the reasons it's known for being a writing institution is because all students must do a ton of writing, even if the literary arts isn't a focus. There are numerous creative scholarly publications, and there's also a well-known, well-attended poetry festival every spring. I will say that undergraduate and graduate students don't interact very much. Most of the graduate classes are in Wrexham, which is a cool Tudor-style building on the edge of campus. The creative writing grads that I did meet as an undergrad were brilliant, diverse, and seemed happy; money didn't even come in conversations even though we were in school during the Great Recession. Yes, SLC is an expensive school, but they are very self-conscious about it and like to help every student the best they can. One of the reasons SLC is so costly is because it runs on the Oxford tutorial system with a low student-to-teacher ratio. This sets it apart from other liberal arts institutions. 

A little about Bronxville... it's a quiet, upper-class Westchester town with not much to do. If I were you, don't live there. Live in the city! If you want to get technical about it, SLC is in Yonkers. You can take a 50min local train ride or a 35min express train from Grand Central in Manhattan (or an even shorter one from 125th St in East Harlem) to either the Fleetwood or Bronxville stations. I can't emphasize enough how easy it is to get to and from the city, and most professors commute via the Metro-North. 

Overall, suppose you like your offer and are leaning towards Sarah Lawrence. In that case, you won't be disappointed with their prestigious faculty, proximity to New York City, appreciation for the literary arts, and reputation.

Hope this helps. 

Incredibly helpful and generous, thank you so much! One part of me thinks it might be best to stay in a quiet area to promote writing focus, but I do love NYC. What's the coolest place to live in the city these days? I've always been partial to the lower east side, as I am also a musician. My best friend lives in Brooklyn, so that's attractive as well, although it adds commuting time and distance.

[CrankyGinger]

11 minutes ago, fishfish24 said:

   Babes, I was just waitlisted at Michener for fiction!! ❤️❤️❤️

Congrats! That’s wonderful!!

[CrankyGinger]

Just now, goodcynara said:

Incredibly helpful and generous, thank you so much! One part of me thinks it might be best to stay in a quiet area to promote writing focus, but I do love NYC. What's the coolest place to live in the city these days? I've always been partial to the lower east side, as I am also a musician. My best friend lives in Brooklyn, so that's attractive as well, although it adds commuting time and distance.

I live in Brooklyn now and that commute would be brutal. 90 minutes. If you find a place not on one of the busier streets, it’s super quiet and you’ll get lots done. And the parks when it’s warm are amazing to put out a blanket and break out the notebook or laptop. LES is great, I use to live there when I first moved here, but it’s not quiet basically anywhere lol. If we both end up at SLC we’ll take real life tequila shots to celebrate!

[fishfish24]

12 minutes ago, nottheamazonalexa said:

CONGATS! how did you find out??

Thank you!! A personal email. My portal hasn't been updated yet.

[Graceful Entropy]

14 minutes ago, dooooodle said:

money didn't even come in conversations even though we were in school during the Great Recession. Yes, SLC is an expensive school, but they are very self-conscious about it and like to help every student the best they can.

I'm probably just in a bad mood because I had to deal w/ two meltdowns at work rn so I might delete later, but....

It's so nice that they can be 'very self-conscious' about how privileged they are. 
And money doesn't come up w/ rich people, because THAT IS SOMETHING THEY DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT.

Doodle, I'm sure you are a very nice person, and I wouldn't dare to guess your own personal circumstances, but the one place are describing sounds exactly like the self-perpetuating bullshit of people patting themselves on the back, telling themselves they are the 'good ones' all while, consciously or not, working to maintain the same harmful status quo.

My rant and small lunch are now over. Sorry bout the mood. Keep up the great work evryone.

[goodcynara]

Just now, CrankyGinger said:

I live in Brooklyn now and that commute would be brutal. 90 minutes. If you find a place not on one of the busier streets, it’s super quiet and you’ll get lots done. And the parks when it’s warm are amazing to put out a blanket and break out the notebook or laptop. LES is great, I use to live there when I first moved here, but it’s not quiet basically anywhere lol. If we both end up at SLC we’ll take real life tequila shots to celebrate!

LOL, if I want a 90-minute commute, I'll stay in L.A! Thanks so much for this. I had no idea there was anywhere in Manhattan that was "quiet" -- I guess because I spend all of my time on the LES! So what's cool uptown these days? The city has changed so much and I haven't spent meaningful time there in years. 

Real life tequila shots on the reg, my friend!

[nottheamazonalexa]

1 minute ago, fishfish24 said:

Thank you!! A personal email. My portal hasn't been updated yet.

Well done you should be so so proud of yourself! They didn't happen to say what the heck is going on with poetry did they? So confused on that front hahah. 

[woweezowee]

...

Edited March 5, 2021 by woweezowee
accidentally quoted someone

[CrankyGinger]

2 minutes ago, goodcynara said:

LOL, if I want a 90-minute commute, I'll stay in L.A! Thanks so much for this. I had no idea there was anywhere in Manhattan that was "quiet" -- I guess because I spend all of my time on the LES! So what's cool uptown these days? The city has changed so much and I haven't spent meaningful time there in years. 

Real life tequila shots on the reg, my friend!

Haha yeah pretty much! Murray Hill is really quiet, my friend lives there. My part of Bk isn’t quiet on my street, but a few streets in much quieter. But I’m on the subway line and major bus line on Fulton so it’s just a really busy area. I might start looking closer to Harlem. If it’s just a 30 minute commute from grand central, that actually puts a lot of areas in play, but not really Bk. And hooray for real life tequila shots, buddy! 

[woweezowee]

30 minutes ago, Gertrude. said:

That is temporary. A few years ago, no school was fully funded, and Columbia was top five. Then the top 60 schools started to be fully funded, but the New York schools didn't. Columbia is no longer top five or top 60. It is just a matter of time before it basically accepts everyone. Or it will start funding. 

No mass numbers will pay out of their ass for Ivy that is open admission. Harvard Extension School and Columbia College of General Studies are open admission Ivy, but only alum's like Jessica Silfa calls them Ivy League. 

"A few years ago, no school was fully funded" lol, Gustav/Marshall is here just making things up and shitting on the alma maters of people who have actually achieved the things Gustav is bitter about failing at

[fishfish24]

21 minutes ago, lunch said:

Holy shit, congrats!

 

19 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

Goddamn that is awesome! Big kudos!

 

15 minutes ago, goodcynara said:

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Thank you SO much for celebrating with me! I can't tell you how great it is to be cheered on by this virtual crew/community whose individual fates I've come to care about so much in the past two months ❤️

[fishfish24]

11 minutes ago, nottheamazonalexa said:

Well done you should be so so proud of yourself! They didn't happen to say what the heck is going on with poetry did they? So confused on that front hahah. 

Wish I had any news for you on that front, but there was no mention of poetry ?

[dooooodle]

6 minutes ago, Graceful Entropy said:

I'm probably just in a bad mood because I had to deal w/ two meltdowns at work rn so I might delete later, but....

It's so nice that they can be 'very self-conscious' about how privileged they are. 
And money doesn't come up w/ rich people, because THAT IS SOMETHING THEY DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT.

Doodle, I'm sure you are a very nice person, and I wouldn't dare to guess your own personal circumstances, but the one place are describing sounds exactly like the self-perpetuating bullshit of people patting themselves on the back, telling themselves they are the 'good ones' all while, consciously or not, working to maintain the same harmful status quo.

My rant and small lunch are now over. Sorry bout the mood. Keep up the great work evryone.

I'm still paying off loans (almost done, though!), and so are all of my friends from undergrad, so maybe that puts my background into perspective for you. The grad students I mentioned came from similar economic situations. We're not from the privilege you're alluding to.

I understand where you're coming from. My comment about SLC being self-conscious about its price tag is more about the school/administration knowing that its average student can't afford it. That's the case even more-so with the graduate students. They don't want their grad students to be sidled with additional debt that's probably left over from undergrad or accrued from just existing as an adult.

Money was definitely a topic, of course, but none of us were unhappy with how Sarah Lawrence aided us, worked things out, and then re-worked them when hard times hit.

Hope this clarifies things.

 

[goodcynara]

14 minutes ago, CrankyGinger said:

Haha yeah pretty much! Murray Hill is really quiet, my friend lives there. My part of Bk isn’t quiet on my street, but a few streets in much quieter. But I’m on the subway line and major bus line on Fulton so it’s just a really busy area. I might start looking closer to Harlem. If it’s just a 30 minute commute from grand central, that actually puts a lot of areas in play, but not really Bk. And hooray for real life tequila shots, buddy! 

Fantastic, thank you so much for this helpful info! I'll be over here looking under rocks and doing all manner of miracle spells to find the dough, and if I do, I will shout TEQUILA! and find you.

 

[CrankyGinger]

5 minutes ago, goodcynara said:

Fantastic, thank you so much for this helpful info! I'll be over here looking under rocks and doing all manner of miracle spells to find the dough, and if I do, I will shout TEQUILA! and find you.

 

That is actually the magic of my existence. Like a fairy, when you yell TEQUILA, I appear from the clouds with delicious agave juice. You’ll find the funding! I’m hoping I can get the rest of my funding through TAP, a program for veterans. Already used my GI bill for undergrad, but if I go to school in NY, I might be able to get the rest through them. Fingers crossed! And then poof! We toast our MFA’s.

[goodcynara]

6 minutes ago, CrankyGinger said:

That is actually the magic of my existence. Like a fairy, when you yell TEQUILA, I appear from the clouds with delicious agave juice. You’ll find the funding! I’m hoping I can get the rest of my funding through TAP, a program for veterans. Already used my GI bill for undergrad, but if I go to school in NY, I might be able to get the rest through them. Fingers crossed! And then poof! We toast our MFA’s.

Holy guacamole, a visitation from the tequila deities! Truly, I am blessed.

Fantastic news about TAP, and deep respect and thanks for your service.

Now come on and join the party, money deities!

[DeepSyntax]

It's been two weeks since I last heard from anywhere. Only 1 out of 8 schools accounted for. So frustrating.

[eternalwhitenights]

20 minutes ago, fishfish24 said:

 

 

Thank you SO much for celebrating with me! I can't tell you how great it is to be cheered on by this virtual crew/community whose individual fates I've come to care about so much in the past two months ❤️

Congrats!!!!! That's amazing-sauce times a bjillion!!!! So proud of you!!!! *clinks glass*

I found out, from an email from the grad school coordinator via that email I sent, that I didn't get in to ND, unfortunately. ?However, this past week, I have discovered within myself more resilience than I knew I had, and I'm actually grateful to know that there is so much work I can do to really improve my craft over this next year, and then reapply to ND next year with a much more honed, focused application. I've attended enough virtual events they've held, both within their writing department and without, over these past several months, to know that it is exactly where I need to be for both personal and professional goals, so, I'm going to get some sleep, maybe cry a little bit more, and then reassess my next steps when it comes to income generation and story writing, and figure out my next steps towards next year. I'm going to knock their socks off next year, and I'm going to pour my whole heart and soul into the application process and really investing time, energy, dedication, and soul to my fiction craft. I'm so grateful for this group and for the support, too. ❤️

Right now, I am so, damn proud of myself for even applying in the first place. This time last year, I was in the throes of having just been diagnosed with severe OCD, and I was pretty damn near hopeless, living in my parents' basement and not sleeping and thinking I was just utterly broken. (Spoiler alert: I wasn't. :)) I am SO proud of myself for the journey I've been on this year, and for applying and getting my app in at all--between the time of inquiry/processing that, yes, I am going to apply to this, actually, and turning in my application, I had a turn around time period of ten days, so even getting the application in in the first place was a pretty damn great accomplishment in my book. Also, I took a chance on myself, and I tried, and that's the biggest accomplishment of all.

Also, heads up--for any other ND applicants, the grad school coordinator said that their "disapproval/rejection" system only updates once a week (I'm guessing on Fridays), so notifications should be going out more today. Not sure of any other cohort data, but I also spoke with someone on Draft whose friend was actually one of the confirmed fiction acceptances at ND, and she said she's going to pass along my question about cohort data and/or expected reply timelines to her friend so she can ask about it in a call she's having with the professors on Sunday. I'll keep y'all posted if I hear anything more--rooting for you guys!!! 

Much, love, and @fishfish24--I AM SO PROUD OF YOU. Congrats 8 bjillion, million times over!!!!!

[CrankyGinger]

14 minutes ago, goodcynara said:

Holy guacamole, a visitation from the tequila deities! Truly, I am blessed.

Fantastic news about TAP, and deep respect and thanks for your service.

Now come on and join the party, money deities!

Thank you! 
 

money deities HEAR OUR CAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL

[Ydrl]

5 minutes ago, CrankyGinger said:

Thank you! 
 

money deities HEAR OUR CAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL

C’MON SHRIMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[goodcynara]

1 minute ago, Ydrl said:

C’MON SHRIMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

I don't know what that means but COME OUNNNNNNNN!

[Ydrl]

Update on UNH housing situation, they have some graduate housing, so if I don’t get in anywhere else, I’ll be heading to New Hampshire.

[goodcynara]

Just now, Ydrl said:

Update on UNH housing situation, they have some graduate housing, so if I don’t get in anywhere else, I’ll be heading to New Hampshire.

Congrats!