2021 Applicants Forum

[orangeslice]

4 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

Any Wyoming applicants? There are some decisions on Draft. I almost applied there, but decided last-minute that I can't live in Laramie, despite its natural beauty.

I applied but haven’t heard anything. So far on draft I’ve only seen waitlists so here’s to hoping!

[mrvisser]

2 minutes ago, orangeslice said:

I applied but haven’t heard anything. So far on draft I’ve only seen waitlists so here’s to hoping!

Some schools (can't remember which off the top of my head) have sent out waitlists before acceptances, so here's hoping you're in!

[feralgrad]

5 hours ago, Graceful Entropy said:

While the OSU debacle certainly will instill some nervousness (and is clearly a huge fuck-up on their part), I think the difference is that those are technically considered informal offers w/out the contract.

I think the challenge here is that

a) It's not uncommon for official funding contracts to go out in the summer (I got mine right before the start of the semester)

b) Some contracts give students no recourse if funding dries up (On that note, read your contracts carefully)

Moreover, holding multiple offers til the 15th makes the process more difficult for others, but it doesn't take away opportunities. I don't think there's a clear-cut right thing to do, but I would encourage people to protect themselves. As wonderful as these programs and their faculty may be, they're at the mercy of a university system that runs as a business -- with all the unfairness and heartless choices that entails.

[feralgrad]

3 hours ago, SunFlower_ said:

Hello Everyone! Has anyone else noticed an entry in the New & Prospective Student Center for their portal for the University of Michigan? Specifically for the "View Financial Aid Documents Status" and "View Financial Aid Award Notices?"

[...]

Sorry to say that they probably just processed your FAFSA. I'm guessing this is coming from the university's financial aid office, which is many administrative steps removed from the MFA program.

[spacedumpster]

7 hours ago, JPReinhold said:

Yes - I don’t plan on holding on to 5 acceptances or something wild. I plan on holding my top 2 or 3 and while I wait for the dust to settle. I have real reasons and interest in the programs I’m holding onto - not just for funsies. I think there’s a good balance to be had here between strategy and courtesy.

Not sure how applicable this is to writing programs, but I know at least in fine arts, having a couple of offers on the table, and making your prospective schools aware of this can help you advocate for a better funding offer. 

[sinclair]

I've been rejected almost everywhere already and am picking my schools for next year. There is only so much I can spend on application fees, and I need to make choices. Which should I choose between: Rutgers Newark or Columbia. Also which between: Hunter and Syracuse? 

[mrvisser]

1 hour ago, sinclair said:

I've been rejected almost everywhere already and am picking my schools for next year. There is only so much I can spend on application fees, and I need to make choices. Which should I choose between: Rutgers Newark or Columbia. Also which between: Hunter and Syracuse? 

Syracuse is on my list for next year. As much as I'd love to go to school in NYC, the funding at Syracuse is good, the program has a great, longstanding reputation, and it's a cheap-ass city to live in.

[sinclair]

14 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

 Syracuse is good, the program has a great, longstanding reputation.

Isn't Hunter considered to be higher ranked and harder to get into? I heard Hunter is considered to be in the top 5, and Syracuse is in the league below that. 

[mrvisser]

14 minutes ago, sinclair said:

Isn't Hunter considered to be higher ranked and harder to get into? I heard Hunter is considered to be in the top 5, and Syracuse is in the league below that. 

Poets & Writers stopped ranking programs, but the last time they did their rankings Syracuse was #6 and Hunter was #28.

And even if Hunter was better-ranked, they don't fully fund people out of state, so that automatically rules them out for me.

Edited February 24, 2021 by mrvisser

[sinclair]

8 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

Poets & Writers stopped ranking programs, but the last time they did their rankings Syracuse was #6 and Hunter was #28.

And even if Hunter was better-ranked, they don't fully fund people out of state, so that automatically rules them out for me.

Poets and Writers last ranked 9 years ago. I was told that since then Hunter shot up ranks. Their faculty are all prize winners.  They had a student who won the National Book Award soon after graduating. What I can't understand is how Hunter could basically shoot up to #5 when they charge $8K tuition to out of state students and don't give a stipend. All the other top 50 schools don't charge anyone tuition and give stipends. It must cost more to run a school in New York, and students must be willing to accept the financial loss for that privilege. But Rutgers Newark is not so far away, and it gives a stipend like all fully funded schools.  

[eternalwhitenights]

28 minutes ago, sinclair said:

Poets and Writers last ranked 9 years ago. I was told that since then Hunter shot up ranks. Their faculty are all prize winners.  They had a student who won the National Book Award soon after graduating. What I can't understand is how Hunter could basically shoot up to #5 when they charge $8K tuition to out of state students and don't give a stipend. All the other top 50 schools don't charge anyone tuition and give stipends. It must cost more to run a school in New York, and students must be willing to accept the financial loss for that privilege. But Rutgers Newark is not so far away, and it gives a stipend like all fully funded schools.  

Marshall, you sly thing, you. Hello again!

[WhackAMole]

y'all are treating rankings like waaaaaaay more of an exact science than it is.  To choose a school based on being ranked 8th vs ranked 24th would be absurd.  Those are essentially the same ranking.

[eternalwhitenights]

4 minutes ago, WhackAMole said:

y'all are treating rankings like waaaaaaay more of an exact science than it is.  To choose a school based on being ranked 8th vs ranked 24th would be absurd.  Those are essentially the same ranking.

He's a troll. Don't pay him any mind. ?

[sinclair]

5 minutes ago, WhackAMole said:

y'all are treating rankings like waaaaaaay more of an exact science than it is.  To choose a school based on being ranked 8th vs ranked 24th would be absurd.  Those are essentially the same ranking.

Are you saying there is no generally held belief that Hunter is tougher to get into than Syracuse? Also, what is Marshall? 

[WhackAMole]

1 minute ago, eternalwhitenights said:

He's a troll. Don't pay him any mind. ?

unminded and ignored. thanks

[sinclair]

1 minute ago, WhackAMole said:

unminded and ignored. thanks

What are you guys talking about? I still think the consensus is that Hunter is better than Syracuse. Yes, it is not an exact science, but there is a basic consensus such as that Iowa is at or near the top. 

[largeheartedboy]

CNF University of New Hampshire acceptance on Draft.

[Graceful Entropy]

Marshall, marshall, marshall... a rogue by any other name.

On the off chance you aren't, and to direct others who might have similar worries: feel free to search earlier discussions in this thread regarding 'rankings'. I believe @mrvisser had a pretty good response about it all.

And while I know I sucked at looking into fee waivers initially, I realized I should just do it this time, and over half of my app fees got waived. Worth acknowledging that if you're having to work extra (like I did first time around) to get enough $$ for app fees, it also probably means that you are eligible for waivers.

FAFSA is a good first start; researching and emailing next.
Here's big ten's free app sign-up, which would give you access to like 14 great schools:
https://www.btaa.org/resources-for/students/freeapp/eligibility

[Graceful Entropy]

Frankly, I think I'm underselling this still. If you feel ANY pressure about app fees while applying to under ten places, please look into fee waivers. Not everyone will grant em (Syracuse! *shakes fist*), but I think a good portion will.

Remember, it's not like you're costing them anything, and asking won't hurt. There are people whose literal job is to help on this sort of front.

[mrvisser]

As someone else said, rankings are way too subjective to be defined, and that's why Poets and Writers stopped doing them. That said, Syracuse is always one of the most sought-after schools, seemingly just below that Iowa-Michener-Virginia tier, and schools like Hunter generally aren't as competitive as that because you don't have 1,000 kids competing for schools that aren't even fully funded. 

[Boomer not Ok]

Anyone waiting on Sarah Lawrence and Emerson? Any news? I've applied to 11 schools for fiction (mostly Northeast/NY area programs) and only heard from 1 so far. Any more news on NYU for fiction about partial/non-funded acceptances?

 

[cecsav]

While we're on the subject of rankings etc, would anyone be interested in sharing how they evaluated each program as a good (or not so good) fit to decide where to apply? This might help those who are considering applying next year. It could also just be interesting to see how others' brains work.

I first narrowed by funding (fully funded only), then location (I am not, for any school, willing to live further north than I do now; I absolutely hate winter), then faculty. Then I checked out every book I could find at my library and through interlibrary loan that's been written by the poetry faculty at the programs in the running. I documented a bunch of information such as size of program, length of program, cost of living, funding, literary journal, graduates from the program, and housing (and more!) in a spreadsheet and used that information to loosely rank my list of schools in my own personal order of preference. Of course, then I tacked on a partially/possibly funded "safety" school. As notifications begin to roll in, I find that I'm wishing more for some decisions than others, which has lead me to rearrange my list a bit. 

[rcsteel]

Someone on Draft got waitlisted at NCSU for poetry. Has anyone else heard back from them yet? Radio silence for me.

[M-Lin]

47 minutes ago, Boomer not Ok said:

Anyone waiting on Sarah Lawrence and Emerson? Any news? I've applied to 11 schools for fiction (mostly Northeast/NY area programs) and only heard from 1 so far. Any more news on NYU for fiction about partial/non-funded acceptances?

 

Same here. Waiting on both Sarah Lawrence and NYU. I applied to 7 schools and have heard from zero! ?

Just checked results - seems like there's a reported acceptance yesterday with full fellowship, not sure if was a late report or a new one, and it didn't specify genre. I've set a notification reminder on the result page for every school I applied to (only if people bothered to click the exact major - creative writing, fiction), so I'll know as soon as there's an update. 

This waiting game does feel like never-ending, doesn't it. 

Edited February 24, 2021 by M-Lin
more thoughts

[mess_mess]

23 minutes ago, rcsteel said:

Someone on Draft got waitlisted at NCSU for poetry. Has anyone else heard back from them yet? Radio silence for me.

radio silence for me too. i applied for fiction in early january. their website alluded to some kind of slightly rolling review process, right? wonder if anyone has heard back from fiction.