2021 Applicants Forum

[rcsteel]

19 minutes ago, corgeel14 said:

Schools who haven't sent out responses by know should all be indicted for slow torture. This is HORRIBLE. 

Especially schools who choose to send Waitlists and rejections out by physical mail.

[lunch]

7 minutes ago, rcsteel said:

Especially schools who choose to send Waitlists and rejections out by physical mail.

There oughta be a law.

[Downtozero]

25 minutes ago, ophelia 2 said:

Let’s say you got rejected from all the funded, picky schools. Can you start at an unfunded school that is easy to get into and then apply next year for all the top ones? Do the top ones rule you out, if you started somewhere already?

I think I've seen a few people in draft that have left one program for another, but its rare and I think you may have to just start over at the new school. Most likely it would hurt your chances and narrow your options significantly.

[feralgrad]

5 hours ago, Ash... said:

HELP ME CHOOSE. So far I’ve only gotten accepted into CCNY and Temple. Neither funded but CCNY has no funding until 2022 so the director said it may change after the first semester. I’m just thankful to have gotten in somewhere! Im interested in horror/gothic writing and lgbt writing. Neither has an lgbt staff writer but both have either thriller/horror and mystery. CCNY is cheaper but it’s NYC so overall it balances it out. Please tell me anything you know about either program and what you think! 

When I was deciding whether to accept two unfunded + one partially funded offer, I made a spreadsheet calculating the total cost of the degree for both schools. I added up the tuition and estimated living expenses for each city. Then I looked at a loan calculator (this is a simple, decent one) to see how my monthly payments would look post-graduation. I'd recommend doing something similar so you have a full picture of what you're getting into.

Personally, after doing all that, I chose to reapply. I wasn't comfortable taking on debt in this job market. My outlook is that if you're good enough to get in unfunded, you'll probably be good enough for funding next year (assuming you're working hard on your portfolio while you wait).

[CrankyGinger]

1 hour ago, rcsteel said:

Especially schools who choose to send Waitlists and rejections out by physical mail.

Cruel and unusual punishment right there.

[feralgrad]

57 minutes ago, ophelia 2 said:

Let’s say you got rejected from all the funded, picky schools. Can you start at an unfunded school that is easy to get into and then apply next year for all the top ones? Do the top ones rule you out, if you started somewhere already?

Seconding downtozero. That method works in undergrad, but not usually in grad school. The expectation is that you're committing to that program, and barring exceptional circumstances, it doesn't look good if you leave.

[Phoebe R]

1 hour ago, ophelia 2 said:

Let’s say you got rejected from all the funded, picky schools. Can you start at an unfunded school that is easy to get into and then apply next year for all the top ones? Do the top ones rule you out, if you started somewhere already?

A few weeks ago I would've agreed with what everyone is saying, but I do actually know a poet in the community who began at a less picky school and was picked for Cornell's program this year, so who even knows anymore. I wouldn't personally want to take that path, but I wouldn't totally count it out. EDIT to mention that I don't know what this person's circumstances were.

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Phoebe R

[Downtozero]

3 minutes ago, Phoebe R said:

A few weeks ago I would've agreed with what everyone is saying, but I do actually know a poet in the community who began at a less picky school and was picked for Cornell's program this year, so who even knows anymore. I wouldn't personally want to take that path, but I wouldn't totally count it out. EDIT to mention that I don't know what this person's circumstances were.

 

Is this the poet that posts in Draft? I thought they went for an MA first, not an MFA. That's different and is an ok option I think for people who aren't ready for an MFA (though personally the idea of spending that long in grad school is mind-boggling to me...practically a decade if you go for your PhD as well...)

If you're talking about someone else, disregard!

[cecsav]

Still no word from LSU, UNM, University of Houston, University of Florida, Florida State, or Oklahoma State. Portals all still say under review. This application process is brutal. 

[omgalexx]

45 minutes ago, cecsav said:

Still no word from LSU, UNM, University of Houston, University of Florida, Florida State, or Oklahoma State. Portals all still say under review. This application process is brutal. 

Maybe no word from UNM is a good thing! I was rejected yesterday. 

[fireflystasis]

Just got an e-mail from David Crouse saying I'm waitlisted at U-Wash Seattle! I'm so thrown. I honestly wrote it off as a straight rejection.

"The admissions committee was very favorably impressed by your accomplishment and potential as a writer. Unfortunately, the small size of our program—just four incoming in each genre—means that a number of highly qualified candidates, such as yourself, won’t receive an initial offer. Less than three percent of applicants will be admitted this year, and only a slightly larger group recommended for the waiting list."

The website says the program typically admits 10-12 students! Wonder why the class is so small this time round.

[nottheamazonalexa]

5 minutes ago, fireflystasis said:

Just got an e-mail from David Crouse saying I'm waitlisted at U-Wash Seattle! I'm so thrown. I honestly wrote it off as a straight rejection.

"The admissions committee was very favorably impressed by your accomplishment and potential as a writer. Unfortunately, the small size of our program—just four incoming in each genre—means that a number of highly qualified candidates, such as yourself, won’t receive an initial offer. Less than three percent of applicants will be admitted this year, and only a slightly larger group recommended for the waiting list."

The website says the program typically admits 10-12 students! Wonder why the class is so small this time round.

CONGRATS!!!! Wow that is 3x smaller.

I am also hoping to receive a waitlist from them (poetry). Did you just get the email right now? Are you also poetry? 

[fireflystasis]

4 minutes ago, nottheamazonalexa said:

CONGRATS!!!! Wow that is 3x smaller.

I am also hoping to receive a waitlist from them (poetry). Did you just get the email right now? Are you also poetry? 

Prose! Looks like I received the email four hours ago.

Edited March 10, 2021 by fireflystasis

[nottheamazonalexa]

Just now, fireflystasis said:

Fiction! Looks like I received the email four hours ago.

ahhhh gotcha well congrats again and best of luck in getting off the waitlist  

[fireflystasis]

Just now, nottheamazonalexa said:

ahhhh gotcha well congrats again and best of luck in getting off the waitlist  

All the best to you as well, I hope you hear from them soon!

[koechophe]

2 hours ago, cecsav said:

Still no word from LSU, UNM, University of Houston, University of Florida, Florida State, or Oklahoma State. Portals all still say under review. This application process is brutal. 

Heya, I'm also applying to Houston, Florida State, and Oklahoma State, and it's been crickets for me. 

Also on my list is WSU, UNLV, USC, U of U, all with absolutely no responses. 

I'll let you know if I hear anything, but I'm assuming I'm on SOME form of waitlist for most of them (if not in the "we've rejected you but haven't told you yet" pool). 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by koechophe

[jujubee]

7 hours ago, koechophe said:

Heya, I'm also applying to Houston, Florida State, and Oklahoma State, and it's been crickets for me. 

Also on my list is WSU, UNLV, USC, U of U, all with absolutely no responses. 

I'll let you know if I hear anything, but I'm assuming I'm on SOME form of waitlist for most of them (if not in the "we've rejected you but haven't told you yet" pool). 

 

Same. Waiting on Houston, Florida State, and UNLV

[cosmictones]

30 minutes ago, jujubee said:

Same. Waiting on Houston, Florida State, and UNLV

Seriously, what is up with Houston?

[rcsteel]

Emailed Iowa asking for a decision update and they said that letters were pushed back by a week due to COVID. Also said to email them back if I have not received a letter by the end of March and they will email me a copy of the letter.

[fireflystasis]

24 minutes ago, rcsteel said:

Emailed Iowa asking for a decision update and they said that letters were pushed back by a week due to COVID. Also said to email them back if I have not received a letter by the end of March and they will email me a copy of the letter.

Thanks for the info!

It's strange to me that Iowa is still doing snail mail—what about us international applicants? Seems infeasible. It was also the only program I saw that required mailing hard copies.

[oubukibun]

Hello everyone,

I haven't been lurking very long, but I figured it was time to come out and ask some questions and become a member of the forum as I fear the application process has only begun for me.

I've been a tutor and/or a teacher in some capacity or combination since my sophomore year of college (at Otterbein in Ohio), and due to an unpleasant time at a private school here in Miami, the fire under my ass finally lit itself and I realized it was time to stop diddling and get back to work.

I don't want to say I'm a poet, because that implies my work is fruitful all the time and that I've been read or published (although, watch this space), but well, I'm a poet-in-training by my own hands.  I was lucky to have one of the most wonderful and refreshing English faculties during my undergraduate (seriously, an entire Winter quarter devoted to Woolf; I'm still pinching myself I was that fortunate), so I honed my skills and had a years-long workshop to really experiment and stretch my writing muscles.  I don't write every day, which seems to be an accepted no-no, but when I do, I'm supremely happy with the result.  It's hard for me to write for the sake of writing, since I have to edit and proofread as I write and not after I've finished that session for the day.  The writing has to come from somewhere I can't place; in a way, it has to be intentional, but not with intent, if that makes any sense.

I take pride in my English because I worked so hard to learn it (Spanish is my first language), and I'm happy with my style, which I've been developing since at least the latter half of eighth grade.  It makes me happy to know that my friends and even my teachers and professors 'know' me through my writing.  That distinctiveness is something I never tried to capture intentionally, so it's nice to see it be captured anyway.

Why am I rambling on and on?  Well, I didn't (don't?) truly believe I'd/I'll be getting into grad programs this year, especially since I only applied to four: Syracuse, Brown, Iowa, and Boston University.  I consciously picked from the cherry-top of the cherry-top, and figured I'd work my way down until, well, I managed to find a nook that would have me down the long, long tree of admissions (sorry, I like nature imagery, bear with me).  Syracuse right out of the gate said no, and I haven't heard from Iowa and Brown, so I assume they will be sending those "Thanks, but no thanks" or "We just don't know where you fit in our program with our diverse faculty and..." messages soon enough (actually, not soon enough, who am I kidding).  Boston U, I suppose, is the outlier here, and part of me chose it subconsciously knowing I stood a 'better' chance at getting in there...  Somehow.  Of course, I also chose one that decides to make decisions in April (and near my birthday, too, the grief, haha).

I realize, of course, this is all folly, which we all willingly participate in.  We 'improve' our writing, and 'work' on our portfolios, and 'try' again, but the final choice seems so arbitrary, and subjective, that I'm not so sure what the preparation is for or how it works (How does one satisfy faceless people in charge of deciding your grad fate?).  I completed my applications, but the entire time I felt so completely unprepared or that it was incomplete somehow, like I was an impostor, but surely this is how a lot of people applying to grad schools, and, indeed, how many grad schools indirectly (and even directly) make applicants feel.

I've never known how to convince people to hire me or take me in.  Somehow, I've had the chance to teach across a pretty diverse set of classrooms (students on the spectrum, students on the outskirts of the Ecuadorian jungle, students learning English for the first time, Gifted eighth graders, etc.) despite that, but, thinking on my Statement of Purpose, and what a ridiculous struggle it is to even conceptualize a page or a page and a half that can summarize one's worth...

Nothing I do or did matters.  I'm not even sure my writing matters, since someone's gold-spun wheel is another's bloody instrument of torture.

Tl;dr: Anyone know of any grad programs, fully or mostly funded, that seek out or appeal to 'poets' who seek to continue experimenting and changing the form?  And if not change the form, then a program that fosters the individual growth of a writer's voice so it becomes even more idiosyncratic?

In happier news, a good friend of mine asked if he could read some of my work for his sister's wedding as she had asked him to perform a reading.  I said, sure, and much to my surprise, he actually chose the one I thought might fit.  Having someone read my work to a group of strangers is so oddly thrilling to me, maybe even more so than a grad school acceptance...  somehow (I could just be deluding myself).

I've attached that poem so those who've read this far and can offer any advice about choosing a program 'right' for me can take a look at the writing itself and make an informed opinion...  or not.

It's been twisted fun reading through this thread, but a writer is always at least a little bit of a masochist, so that makes sense.  Take care, everyone, and breathe easy, and don't forget to dip your madeleines at tea time!

 

Manny

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ufL9juatKSpWlXvgyi8i7IXagBEbFCG5B3PqWTwtjY0/edit?usp=sharing

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by oubukibun

[CrankyGinger]

10 hours ago, fireflystasis said:

Prose! Looks like I received the email four hours ago.

I did my undergrad there and loved it, congrats on the waitlist!

[lunch]

13 minutes ago, oubukibun said:

 

Habits Together.rtfUnavailable

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm able to view the attachment -- GradCafe says I don't have permission or that the file is unavailable. 

[oubukibun]

Huh.

I changed the format to .docx, so maybe that'll work now?  Rich text format is iffy all around.

[fireflystasis]

Just now, oubukibun said:

Huh.

I changed the format to .docx, so maybe that'll work now?  Rich text format is iffy all around.

It still says "This attachment is not available. It may have been removed or the person who shared it may not have permission to share it to this location."

Perhaps sharing it as a Google doc would work?