2021 Applicants Forum

[orangeslice]

5 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

I was working to become a genetic engineer for a good chunk of my college career. Even though I went a different path, genetics (and science in general), enchants me to this day. The style of research that I do is quite similar to how I researched when I was a science student. I know it wasn’t right for me though, because of how exhausted and upset I was. Despite having awesome friends, a reasonable college schedule, and decent grades, something was off. I was so convinced I had to be a science student (I got a 32 on the science ACT) that I just forgot what makes me the happiest.

I changed my major 10 times until I reached English and suddenly when I started that program it clicked. This is what I wanted so badly, a place where I could write and explore my creativity where it would be rewarded. The rigid system of science reminds me of a cage. I’m definitely not gonna keep my writing from reaching it’s true potential because of my passing scientific interests. Like I did for years. And I can’t do it anymore.

I’m not sure if that helps, if not, sorry for the ramble.

I had a similar experience. I was planning on medical school until a month before I finished my undergrad. I took A LOT of science classes and had really convinced myself that I wasn't going to be financially successful if I didn't become a doctor. Maybe that's true, and some days I still have doubts. But I think it's also true that you regret more the things you don't do than the things you do, and in @tippybug's case this could be a good time to think how he/she will feel a few decades from now if they don't give their writing a fair chance at success.

That's my thought process, at least, and most of the time I'm comforted knowing that medical school isn't going anywhere even if I wait for another five years to pack up and go. In the meantime I'm throwing myself into my writing with full force, because if there's even a small chance I could be the 'one in a million' who lives off of their writing, I want that life most. Sorry about the length, but you're not alone!

[JPReinhold]

1 hour ago, orangeslice said:

I had a similar experience. I was planning on medical school until a month before I finished my undergrad. I took A LOT of science classes and had really convinced myself that I wasn't going to be financially successful if I didn't become a doctor. Maybe that's true, and some days I still have doubts. But I think it's also true that you regret more the things you don't do than the things you do, and in @tippybug's case this could be a good time to think how he/she will feel a few decades from now if they don't give their writing a fair chance at success.

That's my thought process, at least, and most of the time I'm comforted knowing that medical school isn't going anywhere even if I wait for another five years to pack up and go. In the meantime I'm throwing myself into my writing with full force, because if there's even a small chance I could be the 'one in a million' who lives off of their writing, I want that life most. Sorry about the length, but you're not alone!

I had the same experience with law school. That being said, life is long, and here I am at 34. Writing will not leave you if you take time to do something else. Writers will always write, and if it's what you love, you'll continue to improve until you're ready to go do an MFA. I feel very prepared to go do this MFA (with a master's in another field and a law school drop out) - a lot more so than I would have been 15 years ago. I'm financially also in a position where I won't be stressed about the small stipend. I'll be able to eat fruits and vegetables while I write

[quesofresco]

Hey all! I don't have Facebook so can't access Draft, curious if there are additional acceptances being reported there that haven't been posted on the gradcafe acceptance board? I applied to PhDs including FSU, just here casually waiting for my Mark Winegardner text message lol...

[mrvisser]

2 hours ago, quesofresco said:

Hey all! I don't have Facebook so can't access Draft, curious if there are additional acceptances being reported there that haven't been posted on the gradcafe acceptance board? I applied to PhDs including FSU, just here casually waiting for my Mark Winegardner text message lol...

I haven't noticed anything on Draft that hasn't also been posted here.

[Starbuck420]

3 hours ago, JPReinhold said:

with a master's in another field

lol me too

I seriously do wonder how many other MFA seekers are double dipping from the great, lukewarm fondue pot of grad school

Edited February 6, 2021 by Starbuck420
edit: typo

[purgatoryparadise]

11 hours ago, gustavman said:

I know nothing of the facts. 

But when the issue comes should we take someone’s dental license away, we do consider whether they were convicted of groping a patient in the chair or groping someone on a date, whether they committed dental insurance fraud or unrelated tax fraud. The theory is, if he committed a dental crime, he might do another dental crime. The theory is not any crime related to dentistry is worse than one unrelated to dentistry.

There is no real principle behind the theory to bar someone who committed a dentistry crime, while letting stay someone who committed a non-dentistry crime that is morally worse.

So you say he committed basically a poetry crime. A crime is not worse because it relates to poetry. Poetry is not a sacrosanct religion. A temple was not besmirched. It would be equally evil if his crime involved no poetry.

And barring him from poetry doesn’t protect the public any, unless you believe he can use poetry for more child porn.

This analogy is neither relevant nor necessary. The main thrust of the matter is whether we wish to allow current sex offenders to be celebrated while they are living and benefitting financially/reputationally from that celebration--Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Kevin Spacey, etc. are relevant examples. None of them literally used a film to sexually assault someone, but there is no doubt that the power and renown they accrued due to their artistic success played a large part in a huge power disparity where the underage victim was coerced and/or silenced. No one is saying this sex offender can't write or to pass some legislation that forbids him from submitting to magazines, but we can sure as hell make it hard for him. Let him write all day and make delightful anthologies if it makes him feel better, and maybe one day some edgy publisher will put his work out. Maybe some people similar to you, who don't find child pornography a dealbreaker, will go ahead and buy his book and put some money in his pocket. Then he'll lean back in his steel chair and pleasantly remark, "Well, at least child porn didn't take away this from me" and slap his leather-bound notebook with a smile.

Edited February 6, 2021 by truffleshuffle

[jujubee]

8 hours ago, quesofresco said:

Hey all! I don't have Facebook so can't access Draft, curious if there are additional acceptances being reported there that haven't been posted on the gradcafe acceptance board? I applied to PhDs including FSU, just here casually waiting for my Mark Winegardner text message lol...

Was refreshing my email like crazy yesterday, hoping for a "lovely Barbara Hamby" message but alas, it was not meant to be. Think it's safe to say we weren't chosen and that's okay! If some posts in the results page are to be believed, they had 400 applications for CW. It's a lottery at this point.

[mrvisser]

Ho boy, another big acceptance via Draft: Minnesota for poetry. 

I believe we have a few Minnesota applicants here. Anybody hear anything? Lot of schools giving decisions this week; it's all happening.

[Ydrl]

7 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

Ho boy, another big acceptance via Draft: Minnesota for poetry. 

I believe we have a few Minnesota applicants here. Anybody hear anything? Lot of schools giving decisions this week; it's all happening.

I’m shitting myself right now. Minnesota is my top choice, then Michener, then Maryland. I’m scared.

[mrvisser]

4 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

I’m shitting myself right now. Minnesota is my top choice, then Michener, then Maryland. I’m scared.

I remembered that you particularly had Minnesota in mind. I've only seen the one acceptance so far, and it's from someone who has gotten a lot of acceptances so far. Seems like a weird year to apply for Minnesota, given how they were navigating COVID. They're one of my top Plan B choices. 

Hang in there! It ain't over yet. I'm fortunate that I haven't seen any acceptances to any of my applied-to schools yet, but maybe it's just delaying the hurt that's sure to come.

[Pinskadan]

Minnesota is one of my absolute favorite programs so when I just woke up from my nap and saw that there had been a poetry acceptance AN HOUR AGO I started freaking out. Especially given how small the cohort is this year (I think they're only taking six writers total??) I'm trying not to feel doomed that I haven't had a call from them yet.

[teasel]

For those that applied to Minnesota, keep in mind that they are only accepting two (two!!) writers per genre as I understand--so try not to get too worked up if you can help it. 

Edit to clarify: What I mean to say, is that while it's a bit of a lottery for any funded program, try not to get down on yourself if you don't make it into MN. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to narrow a cohort down to 6. 

Edited February 6, 2021 by teasel

[Ophelias pansies]

22 hours ago, tippybug said:

And this is all super assumptive anyway, there is still a really good chance I won't get into any good MFA programs in which case I will totally take the offer.

There is also a chance that you will get into good MFA programs too though. I understand exactly how you feel about being lost and imposter syndrome is no stranger to me. But, I think that when the time comes you'll be able to make the best choice for yourself. Also neither program is going away anytime soon. You always have a second chance. 

[mrvisser]

Aaand they just keep rolling in. Anyone apply to Idaho? According to people who received phone calls, today they're reaching out to everybody who got in.

[sylviaplate]

On 2/5/2021 at 1:41 PM, fishfish24 said:

I'm so sorry for your loss. My former partner died two years ago, unexpectedly, at thirty. I'm not sure this poem ("Toadstools," by Charles Wright) is one which answers to a new, raw grief, but over time it has brought me more comfort than anything else. The idea of death and grief as something nothing touches or wants to touch strangely comforted my early sense of isolation. And the poem still helps me dismantle the belief that grief is something we're supposed to move past, something which is supposed to be logical in the times and places it arrives. When the pain hits me, brutally, at the most unexpected moments, I find myself comforted by the final lines of this poem:

"Grief is a floating barge-boat,

                                                    who knows where it's going to moor?"

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/05/10/toadstools

My sister was 30, too. I'm sorry for your loss, and thank you so much for sharing. 

[sylviaplate]

On 2/5/2021 at 1:42 PM, goodcynara said:

I am so sorry to hear this. My whole project is about grief resulting from the traumatic, sudden loss of my little sister to suicide. I hope to write the thing I needed when it happened and couldn't find. I still haven't found anything that really nails it for me, but depending on your taste, you might check out Forrest Gander's "Be With," C.S. Lewis' "A Grief Observed," and Max Porter's "Grief is the Thing With Feathers." Allie Brosh's new illustrated book of cartoons, "Solutions and Other Problems" has a chapter on the loss of her sister, who drove her car in front of a train. (Much of the rest of Brosh's book will make you howl with laughter.) Every loss is different. A woman in my writer's group said that when she lost her mother, Mary Oliver's "In Blackwater Woods" kept her sane.

Thank you so much, and so sorry for your loss. I appreciate you (and everyone else) sharing pieces with which you have such personal, deep connections. I read Allie Brosh's first illustrated book and remembered how well she conveyed her experience with depression. I'll definitely be checking out the new one. 

[Ydrl]

Maryland status update: Under Program Review. Anyone else apply to Maryland, if so, what’s your portal say?

If your status is “under graduate school review” that’s bad.

If your status is “recommended for admission” that’s very good.

 

(Also, fun fact: It was one year ago today that I got rejected from WashU. Ah, memories.)

Edited February 7, 2021 by Ydrl
Fun Fact

[TroyMcClure]

2 hours ago, Ydrl said:

Maryland status update: Under Program Review. Anyone else apply to Maryland, if so, what’s your portal say?

If your status is “under graduate school review” that’s bad.

If your status is “recommended for admission” that’s very good.

 

(Also, fun fact: It was one year ago today that I got rejected from WashU. Ah, memories.)

My Maryland app says the same as yours (Under Program Review). I'm curious, why is 'under graduate school review' bad?

[JPReinhold]

On 2/5/2021 at 9:41 PM, Starbuck420 said:

lol me too

I seriously do wonder how many other MFA seekers are double dipping from the great, lukewarm fondue pot of grad school

Hey now - that first master's made me a lot of money. Now I can afford to get an MFA ?

[panglosian]

Draft says we've got two Umass calls for acceptances, one for fiction and one for poetry. My portal has not been updated with an a/w/r so I'm not sure if they're getting through calls first or what. 

[jka0124]

Just now, panglosian said:

Draft says we've got two Umass calls for acceptances, one for fiction and one for poetry. My portal has not been updated with an a/w/r so I'm not sure if they're getting through calls first or what. 

Calls usually go out first. Then they change the portal accordingly. 

[panglosian]

Just now, jka0124 said:

Calls usually go out first. Then they change the portal accordingly. 

I have the flu right now, this stress is NOT good for my healing process T.T

[Starbuck420]

you're hearing it more and more, folks: the SOP might only barely matter. Seeing a UMass admit in Draft claim that she started her SOP the day it was due 

[WhackAMole]

58 minutes ago, Starbuck420 said:

you're hearing it more and more, folks: the SOP might only barely matter. Seeing a UMass admit in Draft claim that she started her SOP the day it was due 

I hope so.....I wrote my first 6 in 6 hours laying on the floor sick with COVID.  I'm too scared to even reopen the files. 

Spent all my time on my portfolio and left about a week for my SOP....and then was sick all week. Got up at 6pm, 6 hours before deadline, set a timer for 60 mins and started typing......Ding!   

Send.

Repeat.

Last submission 11:59pm.

[mrvisser]

1 hour ago, Starbuck420 said:

you're hearing it more and more, folks: the SOP might only barely matter. Seeing a UMass admit in Draft claim that she started her SOP the day it was due 

Somebody else on Draft got into George Mason and said they sent an SOP with the wrong school name.