2021 Applicants Forum

[rroseselavy]

So tomorrow is the big deadline for a lot of programs. Anyone else still holding out hope for a WL to come through? For those who have gone through this before--will there really be a lot of sudden movement? 

The program I'm waiting for says they may not be able to notify either way until the 15th or a couple days later...I was initially excited to be waitlisted at a program that is a top choice for me, but this holding pattern has made managing my expectations really difficult. 

[Cristie]

11 hours ago, koechophe said:

Waiting on UNLV

Check the survey, there is something about them on there today.

[rbb_ergo]

2 hours ago, rroseselavy said:

So tomorrow is the big deadline for a lot of programs. Anyone else still holding out hope for a WL to come through? For those who have gone through this before--will there really be a lot of sudden movement? 

The program I'm waiting for says they may not be able to notify either way until the 15th or a couple days later...I was initially excited to be waitlisted at a program that is a top choice for me, but this holding pattern has made managing my expectations really difficult. 

You are absolutely not alone. I hope you're able to manage your emotions/expectations during these next few days. We'll get through this! (We got thru the hardest part, after all -- the application itself!) 

I'm also waiting & hoping for a WL offer to come through, from 2 schools. One of which is my absolute top choice whom I suspect have an internal waitlist but they haven't communicated anything to me since 1/15/21 (UNM, I'm talkin about YOU!) and the other which is my 2nd top choice (b/c they're a 2yrs program, but with a lighter teaching load). Keeping my fingers crossed & sending all of us who are waiting for decisions lots of positive energy! 

 

[Yellow62]

I'm expecting the real chaos to start today because I imagine a good amount of people who haven't made their choices yet will do so before tomorrow as a courtesy to the schools and waitlists of the schools they will be declining. As a fellow waitlister, I feel like vulnerable game in an open field that could be struck with an e-mail deciding my fate at any second. Stay strong everyone, we're in the final stretch.   

[Writelife23]

Anyone know what happens if you don't accept or deny an offer from a program by tomorrow? I'm still waiting to hear back from a few about funding...

[koechophe]

6 hours ago, Cristie said:

Check the survey, there is something about them on there today.

There's been some movement for CNF, but not much for fiction that I've seen. 

[rbb_ergo]

Wishing all of us the best today! No matter what happens, I'm proud of all of us for putting ourselves out there -- laying bare ourselves, our desires is not easy. Vulnerability requires so much emotional honesty, strength & willpower. Let's finish strong!

That said -- give yourself room to grieve, if that's what you need. Make room to mourn the closing of this season, but remember that you can always plant seeds for the following season (well, 'tis mostly a reminder to myself lol)

Still holding out hope for UNM & UTK for CNF.

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by rbb_ergo
clarity

[Ydrl]

Hey, I wanted to mention something about U New Hampshire funding. According to a student graduating in the spring, my full tuition remission is a rare event and they typically give out two thirds or half. I didn't realize that when researching so it's not on my spreadsheet. Thought I'd inform you in advance.

[koechophe]

Not sure what the etiquette is. Should I email schools tomorrow if I still haven't gotten rejections today? 

[lenagator1997]

I hope yesterday wasn't too painful for anyone! I still have not heard from Hofstra or USF so that's a mystery to me. Anyone else attending UNH besides Ydrl and I?

[Cristie]

Anyone have any thoughts on Charleston, S.C (University of Charleston/College of Charleston). Other than it's a great place to live. I got an after the 15th acceptance offer this morning while I wait for this ONE person to make up their mind on McNeese. UGH. I'm like the unfortunate little kid on the teeter totter with two big kids on the other end....just dangling in the air.  

[uglybug]

greetings all i understand the thread has slowed down considerably so this is a bit of a shot in the dark but was anyone released from the wyoming or iowa waitlists? i was released from michigan on thursday but it's been crickets from the other two 

[purgatoryparadise]

21 hours ago, uglybug said:

greetings all i understand the thread has slowed down considerably so this is a bit of a shot in the dark but was anyone released from the wyoming or iowa waitlists? i was released from michigan on thursday but it's been crickets from the other two 

I’m still waiting on word from Iowa’s fiction waitlist, but honestly if I haven’t been called by this point I’m really just waiting on the letter saying all spots have been filled. Historically they’ve been pretty prompt about mailing out those consolation letters to non-accepted waitlistees after the 15th. 

[uglybug]

1 hour ago, purgatoryparadise said:

I’m still waiting on word from Iowa’s fiction waitlist, but honestly if I haven’t been called by this point I’m really just waiting on the letter saying all spots have been filled. Historically they’ve been pretty prompt about mailing out those consolation letters to non-accepted waitlistees after the 15th. 

yeah i figured i was mostly clinging to false hopes! thank u for responding 

[purgatoryparadise]

On 4/18/2021 at 5:03 PM, uglybug said:

yeah i figured i was mostly clinging to false hopes! thank u for responding 

Of course the usual caveat of this being a year like no other, so nothing is ever over until it's over. A couple folks on Draft just recently got accepted to programs (in the last couple days) they were already rejected from, and one even just got full funding!

[purgatoryparadise]

On 4/18/2021 at 5:03 PM, uglybug said:

yeah i figured i was mostly clinging to false hopes! thank u for responding 

Lmao got a pretty curt email from Deborah West a few days ago with Sam Chang’s form waitlist rejection letter attached. Subject line just said “Iowa” and the body was a bare-bones “See attached” haha... I guess she wanted to make clear this was not to be mistaken for an invitation to dialogue! Can’t say I blame her though... we are a maniacal bunch. Lol

[fireflystasis]

Kind of mad right now because I finally got an email from CSULB today after radio silence.

"Subject: MFA Fiction Follow-Up

We haven't heard back from you since we offered you admission to our MFA Program in Fiction.

Although the deadline has passed for your reply, if you are interested, please write back to us by tomorrow, Monday, April 26th, by noon, and we will let you know ASAP if a slot has opened up as we make our final adjustments to our incoming roster.  Also, feel free to let me know if you have any questions."

But they hadn't sent me any decision. The subject line says "follow-up", but I checked my e-mail every day and I checked the site for updates and have never received such a notification. Did a search through my inbox, spam and trash folders just now. Nothing. When April 15 passed, I assumed I'd been rejected or that my app hadn't been processed properly.

I declined the offer.

Oh, I also just got my Iowa rejection letter (postmarked 5 March ha ha). Onward to next cycle.

[mrhamlet]

Looking for opinions on Columbia's program: I was accepted with partial funding off the waitlist. I already live in NYC where I have a full-time job and wanted to be able to continue my studies where I live. What are your opinions on the program as far as the price goes? I'll probably still need to take out a small loan, is it worth it? Any thoughts welcome, please. 

[Starbuck420]

2 hours ago, mrhamlet said:

Looking for opinions on Columbia's program: I was accepted with partial funding off the waitlist. I already live in NYC where I have a full-time job and wanted to be able to continue my studies where I live. What are your opinions on the program as far as the price goes? I'll probably still need to take out a small loan, is it worth it? Any thoughts welcome, please. 

Arguably the most popular subject on this message board, lol

my suggestion is to figure out what the monthly payment is going to be on your loans, once the loans are due. calculate this number, take a look long, hard look at it, and ask yourself: is it worth it? how long will I have to make these monthly payments? 10 yrs? 30? will I ever pay them off? 

it's the sort of program that could burden you with debt for (literally) the rest of your life if you're not careful, so, be careful I guess. Personally I don't recommend it. there are all sorts of problems with the program in addition to the cost, I've heard (profs allegedly tend to favor the people with the best funding, for example)

[cecsav]

Finally accepted to University of New Mexico! Lol

[M-Lin]

On 4/30/2021 at 10:58 AM, mrhamlet said:

Looking for opinions on Columbia's program: I was accepted with partial funding off the waitlist. I already live in NYC where I have a full-time job and wanted to be able to continue my studies where I live. What are your opinions on the program as far as the price goes? I'll probably still need to take out a small loan, is it worth it? Any thoughts welcome, please. 

I was also accepted off the waitlist! I did hesitate for a few days though I already committed to another much smaller program in the city. 

What I heard is that Columbia does still hold sway in the publishing industry - this is from two separate people, one published author and one who worked in publishing for two years and went on to do her own MFA. 

From a current student - it is what you make of it! You do get access to your professors if you're willing to hustle. There are a lot of opportunities but limited spots so, again, you have to hustle. I don't think you would be able to keep a full time job because classes are mostly during weekdays. A lot of students there complain that they have less time to write during the program than before they started because there were so many classes to take. About a quarter of the cohort are people coming right out of college, which is not the ideal cohort for me. Because the large cohort size, it's definitely somewhat competitive, but she said she felt it was also supportive in a lot of ways. 

Another published author (who graduated from the program 10 years ago and I cold emailed her) told me that she thought the large network does help in terms of securing an agent.

For me, I felt like I never got any personal attention throughout the whole process and the atmosphere did not feel warm and collegial. For my MFA, I wanted time to write, personal feedback on my writing, and a community of like-minded writers. I don't think I'll get that at Columbia, unless I try really really hard, but at this point in my life I don't really want to chase after professors and feel like I'm an inconvenience if I wanted more of their time. It just sounds exhausting. 

Ultimately I turned down Columbia's offer, but it could be right depends on what you want! Giving up the access to the resources Columbia (the University) offers was particularly hard for me, because I'm interested in taking classes outside of the writing program. 

[DeepSyntax]

On 4/30/2021 at 10:58 AM, mrhamlet said:

Looking for opinions on Columbia's program: I was accepted with partial funding off the waitlist. I already live in NYC where I have a full-time job and wanted to be able to continue my studies where I live. What are your opinions on the program as far as the price goes? I'll probably still need to take out a small loan, is it worth it? Any thoughts welcome, please. 

I was in a similar situation and chose to decline. I looked at the amount of money I would have to borrow from myself (from my own / my spouse's liquid savings) as well as the loans I would have to take out. Even if you got a $20,000 annual fellowship, that would still be $50,000 a year, $100,000 total. Paying out of pocket seems difficult unless you have a lot of cash on hand. If you were making $70,000 after tax and paying $30,000 annual for rent / food / utilities, you'd still not be able to afford it. That's assuming you keep working full time.

In a vacuum, I guess I would ask you if the price is worth it to you, as though you were gauging buying a car or a house. You might as well be taking out a mortgage. The consensus from instructors and students in the program seemed to be that you could work part time (20 hrs / week) but probably not full time.

Make sure to use a debt calculator with accurate interest included so you know what you are paying in interest as well as the principle for the repayment period.

Not sure what your deadline is or if it passed already but those are my two cents. I would love to go if I had the money, but just about any other program in the city is probably going to cost much less to achieve similar ends.

[CanadianKate]

Hi team! Started a forum for the next application cycle here  ♥️

[ReneeGrad]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:44 PM, goodcynara said:

Truly. Whenever I happen upon the combination of science and poetry, I am transfixed. I hunt for it now. There are many of us out here!

I write it ? AND this is also my area of interdisciplinary research (definitely growing genre -- slowly -- over the last 2+ years). BUT I'm having a hell of a time finding faculty to work with. If anyone happens to know of any scholars -- I've already scoured English and Science and Technology Studies departments. Now moving on to Sociology, Communications ?‍♀️?‍♀️.