2021 Applicants Forum

[NLake]

1 hour ago, shakyboots said:

Has anybody heard from ASU for Creative Writing?

I got waitlisted via email last week. They basically said they don’t share waitlist rankings outside the top three, and that those people were notified specifically. There are five acceptances per genre so I’m guessing outside those accepted and those in the top three waitlist spots, the rest of us are pretty much getting a “thanks but no”. Lol. 

[lenagator1997]

1 hour ago, mrhamlet said:

i am right here dad

Cool, being a ghost might give me some writing inspiration then! "My hour is almost come,
When I to sulph'rous and tormenting flames..."

[Boomer not Ok]

1 hour ago, Ydrl said:

The delusional talk, the Shakespeare weirdness, the constant putting people down, the unwillingness to go away, the small dick energy, the obsession with quotes...If, by the slightest chance, this is my unstable dad (he heavily disapproves of me going for my MFA in poetry) I'll feel really really bad for all of you.

Not sure what's up with their "Cecilia 2" handle. I mean, if we're all delusional dotards, shouldn't then "Cecilia" be "Cordelia?"

[lenagator1997]

2 minutes ago, cecilia 2 said:

I tell thee truly, herald. Those words sounded like straight from the "out, out, brief candle" speech. Google showed me I was wrong. 

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

Honestly I should have just looked for this passage in my huge Bedford textbook I still have laying around! I do not miss that Shakespeare class!

 

[Stardust RnRoll HiWay]

Questioning my sanity here - Universities do, at times, call to let you know you have been accepted, correct? Anyone else been in this situation where you have received a call but your online portal has yet to be updated?

[CrankyGinger]

6 minutes ago, Stardust RnRoll HiWay said:

Questioning my sanity here - Universities do, at times, call to let you know you have been accepted, correct? Anyone else been in this situation where you have received a call but your online portal has yet to be updated?

Mine didn't get updated immediately. Took a couple days before I got the official email about a decision on my portal. How long has it been since your call?

[Boomer not Ok]

17 minutes ago, cecilia 2 said:

I was going to use Celia from As You Like It. Then I decided to leave my identify ambiguous for a few posts. Hence, Cecilia. 

Just not sure about the Bardic references. Isn't the slave accompanying the Roman general during his march of triumph along the rose-strewn streets of Rome on his way to the Forum a better metaphor? I mean the slave who whispers over and over into the general's ear amidst the din and clamor of the adoring crowds, "This is all an illusion, you are not a god, you are nothing...?"

Edited March 11, 2021 by Boomer not Ok

[Stardust RnRoll HiWay]

@CrankyGinger Thanks for getting back to me. I got a call from X-University not one hour ago. Just making sure I wasn't part of some cruel prank ha! 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Stardust RnRoll HiWay

[CrankyGinger]

Just now, Stardust RnRoll HiWay said:

@CrankyGinger Thanks for getting back to me. I got a call from Columbia not one hour ago. Just making sure I wasn't part of some cruel prank ha! 

Damn that'd be a mean prank! And congratulations! They throw you any money? Give it at least 24 hours to update. That's actually one of the schools I'm waiting to hear from, guess the time has come...

[anna23]

Sigh.. I'm so sick of that one person with multiple accounts trolling people. They seem to truly have hatred in their heart and for that I feel incredibly sorry for them. This is such a nice community. Wishing you all luck as we wait to hear back from the rest of our schools! 

[Boomer not Ok]

10 minutes ago, CrankyGinger said:

Damn that'd be a mean prank! And congratulations! They throw you any money? Give it at least 24 hours to update. That's actually one of the schools I'm waiting to hear from, guess the time has come...

Columbia's calling? Didn't see anything on Result's page but I guess it's early days. 

[CrankyGinger]

36 minutes ago, Boomer not Ok said:

Columbia's calling? Didn't see anything on Result's page but I guess it's early days. 

If they just heard an hour ago and this is the first we've heard of it, today must be the first day of notifications. Guess we'll have to wait a few days and see if our phones ring too. I got a call from a 212 number yesterday and got really excited and it turned out to be a call about my health insurance. Womp womb.

[Boomer not Ok]

4 minutes ago, CrankyGinger said:

If they just heard an hour ago and this is the first we've heard of it, today must be the first day of notifications. Guess we'll have to wait a few days and see if our phones ring too. I got a call from a 212 number yesterday and got really excited and it turned out to be a call about my health insurance. Womp womb.

Yeah, I know. Seems the "scam likely" callers are upping their game. My phone is not screening them well these days and I get something in Mandarin or Cantonese. Like how did their AI or algo connect my phone number to some place in China? Totally weird. 

[CrankyGinger]

7 minutes ago, Boomer not Ok said:

Yeah, I know. Seems the "scam likely" callers are upping their game. My phone is not screening them well these days and I get something in Mandarin or Cantonese. Like how did their AI or algo connect my phone number to some place in China? Totally weird. 

I get those all the time! Where some automated message in Mandarin starts going? Don't toy with our emotions spam bots!

[cecsav]

Anyone with FSU news, can you tell me what your portal looks like? I still haven't received an email, but the notice at the top of the screen that said (something along the lines of) "your application is awaiting review" is gone. Nothing else has changed, just that block of text is gone. Gah

[Starbuck420]

1,100 applications at Brown this year across all genres, for 12 spots total (also across all genres), which is almost below 1%. Nice!

[M-Lin]

Did I hear Columbia??? Don't even know why I want to know anymore but I do! Where they at

Edit: I just went on Columbia's website to check out the faculty again. How are you supposed to know who will actually be teaching you during the two years you're there? There are like 60 people on the faculty page. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by M-Lin

[Boomer not Ok]

5 hours ago, lunch said:

 

I know the idea of not fitting with a program often sounds like a euphemistic way to try and kindly reject someone, but I do also believe it's true, and I hope that we all remember that just because our work might not be right for a specific program and might not speak to the admissions committees of various schools, that can be as much a reflection of their whims and fancies and obsessions and biases as it is a reflection of your work.

Thanks for this. Agreed. This is my first time round and when I started researching this MFA process I read a lot of stuff about it, as did probably most people here. I recall some one saying "people get rejected who have published in top-tier lit mags or have book contracts with prestigious publishers." Of course, Adcoms may decide such accomplished writers may not get much out of an MFA, but it's impossible to know what they are looking for. I sense from this community a ton of intelligence, articulateness, passion for the transformative value of language, and I am sure any number of us could thrive in most programs. I know from personal experience, having been writing on and off for 8 yrs with some published success and a lot of rejection, it's hard to tell with whom your work will resonate. At the end of day, the rejections have been good for me because I've developed a rhino skin, which has helped me in this application process. But whatever happens (I am still waiting on most of my decisions), I know I have to keep writing. It's what I think about all the time, even when I'm not writing (which is not good sometimes for my job life). Writing is how I try to make "sense" of our precious existence; it's my therapy and, when the work comes together, I feel a rush like nothing else and I suspect most of us here feel the same. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Boomer not Ok

[eternalwhitenights]

5 hours ago, lunch said:

I'll be sad about Brown with you. ?

I do want to emphasize your point about a program not being the place for you. Obviously, I'd love to have been accepted into Brown (and part of what stings about a rejection is that in writing your SOP and looking up all these places, you sort of fantasize about attending the school and living in whatever city), but I can also honestly say that having read the work of their poetry faculty, the poetry I've written and the themes I've been interested in and their more theoretical, academic poetry don't particularly overlap. It's hard not to take the rejection hard, especially when it comes with that Ivy name, but I also know that there are candidates who would gel better with their style than I would.

I'm still waiting on one other program, but of the six(ish) programs I've heard back from, the one I got into has a gay faculty member whose work was foundational to me when I first encountered it. I spent my last three years of workshops trying to carve out my own sort of queer poetry in classes that had no insight into the culture or its literature, and it always felt like I was sort of working in the dark, with little sense of how my work would actually land for the virtual audience I was writing for. And while I didn't get into any of the big name programs I applied to, it's incredibly validating to have the one acceptance I have received be from a poet who's working in the space I want to be in. That faculty member is a great fit for the kind of writing I want to develop, and I have a much better chance of being a good fit for that program. 

I know the idea of not fitting with a program often sounds like a euphemistic way to try and kindly reject someone, but I do also believe it's true, and I hope that we all remember that just because our work might not be right for a specific program and might not speak to the admissions committees of various schools, that can be as much a reflection of their whims and fancies and obsessions and biases as it is a reflection of your work.

I thought this was such a lovely reflection. Thanks for posting this. ❤️

[koechophe]

1 hour ago, Boomer not Ok said:

Writing is how I try to make "sense" of our precious existence; it's my therapy and, when the work comes together, I feel a rush like nothing else and I suspect most of us here feel the same. 

Yeah, I used to go with the whole "It's cheaper than therapy" line, but, well, I'm pursuing an MFA, so... ? 

[jujubee]

21 hours ago, cosmictones said:

Seriously, what is up with Houston?

I see some movement already but I have zero reactions from them, lol (Houston and FSU).

The dream is UNLV that only accepts ONE PhD poetry applicant. I'm so excited for the season to be over haha

[jujubee]

10 hours ago, cecsav said:

Anyone with FSU news, can you tell me what your portal looks like? I still haven't received an email, but the notice at the top of the screen that said (something along the lines of) "your application is awaiting review" is gone. Nothing else has changed, just that block of text is gone. Gah

My portal still says 

Your application is currently under review and you will
be notified via e-mail when a decision has been released.

[cosmictones]

1 hour ago, jujubee said:

I see some movement already but I have zero reactions from them, lol (Houston and FSU).

The dream is UNLV that only accepts ONE PhD poetry applicant. I'm so excited for the season to be over haha

I feel like Houston is like rejecting a couple people every few days just to mess with me.

[Boomer not Ok]

Saw a nonfiction Columbia acceptance on Results page.  Not sure if they release separately from fiction and poetry. Anyone see anything on Draft for Columbia poetry and fiction?

Also emailed Rutgers Camden and Emerson to find out when they will be releasing their decisions. 

Will advise if they reply.

 

 

[helterskelter]

Anyone ever get a call from a school with a no caller ID? I might just be paranoid at this point.