2021 Applicants Forum

[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. 

[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.

[Ydrl]

2 hours ago, TroyMcClure said:

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

That’s what Maryland does to everyone who got rejected. Think of it as a soft no. In the old rejections on gradcafe there’s a lot of people confirming this. Also that’s what UNLV does, at least, last year they did.

[Ydrl]

14 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

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

Wow. I kept triple checking to make sure I didn’t do that and they didn’t even care.

[feralgrad]

Seconding @jka0124. I'd also add that people who got in with first draft SOPs probably (definitely) had outstanding portfolios. I think most of us are/were more anal about them than necessary, but they still matter -- especially when chosing between applicants of similar quality.

Edited February 8, 2021 by feralgrad

[Starbuck420]

14 minutes ago, feralgrad said:

they still matter

sure, not saying they don't matter, just pointing out that they are probably not worth obsessing over to the point that they are usually obsessed over 

[purgatoryparadise]

9 hours ago, jka0124 said:

As for the person who wrote the SOP the same day as the deadline and got in, I bet it was a good SOP. Some people are just really good at writing those kinds of things. 

Also keep in mind that the person in question was already in a Writing MFA and wanted to transfer to a new one, so she might have had her old (successful) one to work off of? Just a guess. Either way, she got it done so good for her.

[FairleyAlfy]

14 hours ago, Ydrl said:

That’s what Maryland does to everyone who got rejected. Think of it as a soft no. In the old rejections on gradcafe there’s a lot of people confirming this. Also that’s what UNLV does, at least, last year they did.

My application just says "application complete (active)" It said that from the beginning though. It hasn't changed. What does that mean?! haha 

[Ydrl]

1 hour ago, FairleyAlfy said:

My application just says "application complete (active)" It said that from the beginning though. It hasn't changed. What does that mean?! haha 

I’m not sure. They might not be reviewing yours quite yet. It might go in waves???

[panglosian]

5 hours ago, truffleshuffle said:

Also keep in mind that the person in question was already in a Writing MFA and wanted to transfer to a new one, so she might have had her old (successful) one to work off of? Just a guess. Either way, she got it done so good for her.

I spoke to her in the comments of the Draft post, she said that she did have an interview and that based on her conversation in the phone call she got the impression that they were spreading out interviews and acceptances. However the same night another girl also got an acceptance for fiction so I don't know, and there is already a poetry acceptance floating out there

[Nervis]

Hi all, 

New here. I'm wondering about interviews for Brooklyn College. I'm sure I'm jumping the gun even anticipating this, but I see that some people are accepted outright and some are scheduled for an interview (and typically after that they don't update their grad cafe status for accepted or declined). Are the interviews for people that they're on the fence about since it seems they don't require them for everyone? Do many people make it past the interview round or is that a major "weeding out" event? Sorry if this is at all redundant. I searched the forums and haven't seen this specific question answered. Thank you for any insight! 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Nervis

[FairleyAlfy]

47 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

I’m not sure. They might not be reviewing yours quite yet. It might go in waves???

Yikes...I submitted it so long ago...why am I not being reviewed? ? Anxiety is real right now. When did your status change?

[mrvisser]

Someone posted an acceptance to Rutgers-Camden on Draft. They didn't specify which genre. That's a school I really wish I'd applied to, but it's on my list for next year.

[panglosian]

4 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

Someone posted an acceptance to Rutgers-Camden on Draft. They didn't specify which genre. That's a school I really wish I'd applied to, but it's on my list for next year.

I just saw, and now I'm sweating. I'm a Camden County native, I'm really hoping to hear soon. They don't offer very much information on cohort/class size, but I know they only took seven students from BOTH genres combined last year.