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Posted

Please stop mass-reporting frock's posts because you don't like their content.  There are human moderators on this forum who don't want to spend all our time deleting accounts you don't like.  If he posts something abusive or starts spamming, he will be banned; otherwise, ignore posts you disagree with and don't respond.

Posted

For those of us who are staring down a possible clean sweep of rejections this year and want to prepare for next season, would any fiction kids be willing to form a critique group? Thoughts are that it would either be over zoom (traditional workshop-style) or maybe just laid back exchange of google docs over email.

Posted (edited)

Hello all, I've been lurking for a while. Thought I'd say hi and give my wishes to everyone applying this cycle. Good luck!

Like everyone else, I'm anxiously waiting on Iowa and U-Wash Seattle, seeing as there have been a few results for those this past week. I've been smashing that refresh button on the results page even though I know what matters is the e-mail... I keep worrying when I see a missed call on my phone, even though it's unlikely any school would reach out to me via call since I live far from the US.

Also I haven't been able to write anything for a month since sending my last appanyone else have this problem? I keep looking at drafts I haven't touched in ages and tabbing away.
 

Edited by fireflystasis
Posted (edited)

Since it's that time of year... [gets on soapbox again]

As y'all may know if you've read previous years' forums, I went through two application cycles before I entered an MFA program. My first cycle, I got into a couple programs, but I was unable to secure the funding I needed. Having to wait a year turned out to be really good for me. Looking back, I wasn't ready for grad school that first year (in terms of craft /and/ life circumstances). In the year between app cycles, I grew a lot as a person and a writer, in ways that wouldn't have been possible while in a grad program.

Of course, those gains didn't fall into my lap. I was very intentional about learning from my experience the first year. I would say my biggest tips are:

  1. Apply to some less well-known programs, which will improve your chances way more than applying to many highly competitive programs. Many state schools have great funding and faculty despite not being household names!
  2. Keep looking for writing opportunities outside of the MFA world. Many of y'all are already doing the second one. @pattycat, your critique group is a great idea! I'd be more than happy to participate during the summer, when my workload is lighter.

Long story short, I know it's rough right now. It's totally normal to feel discouraged and disappointed. But I hope you can also appreciate the work you did. Even if you don't end up applying again, your efforts planning, writing, and asking for LORs are still worth something! That's valuable experience you can use in many other contexts. You should be proud of yourself for that hard work, especially at a time when everything feels harder than ever. Not everyone would have done that :)

Edited by feralgrad
Posted
1 hour ago, pattycat said:

For those of us who are staring down a possible clean sweep of rejections this year and want to prepare for next season, would any fiction kids be willing to form a critique group? Thoughts are that it would either be over zoom (traditional workshop-style) or maybe just laid back exchange of google docs over email.

omg love this and it would be such a nice bit of community / consolation. great thinking.

Posted

Just want to confirm so I can stop stressing over this weekend - it's safe to say U Washington Poetry calls have all been made right? It's been a few days since the first applicant was accepted and the other writers likely just aren't here or on Draft, right? 

Posted
13 hours ago, teasel said:

Just found a rejection from Cornell in my inbox.  I was expecting it but damn, it still stings!! At the same time, it's a relief to be hearing back from places.   Gonna cope with this by buying a new houseplant & hope I don't get too many more rejections (it's already starting to look like a greenhouse in here).    (0a/3w/4r/5p)   

 

 

I decided to cope with covid and upstate NY winter by turning the house into a jungle. Now we have fungus gnats... My housemates are losing their minds...

Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, aa2427 said:

Just want to confirm so I can stop stressing over this weekend - it's safe to say U Washington Poetry calls have all been made right? It's been a few days since the first applicant was accepted and the other writers likely just aren't here or on Draft, right? 

See mrvisser's post below mine for probably better info, I'mma leave my original post below this just in case.

**(From what I understand Historically U Washington doesn't send out rejection letters until all their cohort positions are accepted which leads to some offers not being sent out until April. I'm waiting on U Washington Fiction myself and I've just resigned myself to not knowing until then.)

Edited by Sorensen
Posted
13 minutes ago, aa2427 said:

Just want to confirm so I can stop stressing over this weekend - it's safe to say U Washington Poetry calls have all been made right? It's been a few days since the first applicant was accepted and the other writers likely just aren't here or on Draft, right? 

think they probably sent out all their poetry acceptances, but I can't say for sure. I'm applying for fiction, and I contacted someone in the department. They said "the poetry committee has begun making their first offers." Sorry, I know that isn't a for-sure answer on whether all offers have gone out.

But for fiction people, she said they had twice as many applicants as poetry and haven't made any decisions yet. She said fiction would probably hear by the end of next week. My pain has been delayed for now.

Posted
10 minutes ago, fishfish24 said:

I decided to cope with covid and upstate NY winter by turning the house into a jungle. Now we have fungus gnats... My housemates are losing their minds...

Have you tried hydrogen peroxide in soil? Should kill the larvae 

Posted
10 minutes ago, eternalwhitenights said:

The time has come, the walrus said, for me to officially start shitting bricks.

Here we go.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH 

Nothing for fiction mentioned yet! 

Posted
3 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

think they probably sent out all their poetry acceptances, but I can't say for sure. I'm applying for fiction, and I contacted someone in the department. They said "the poetry committee has begun making their first offers." Sorry, I know that isn't a for-sure answer on whether all offers have gone out.

But for fiction people, she said they had twice as many applicants as poetry and haven't made any decisions yet. She said fiction would probably hear by the end of next week. My pain has been delayed for now.

Thank you, hearing their vague words through you does help. :) I can't wait to overanalyze what "first offers" means. The waiting until April also feels so cruel...but that's the nature of the game I suppose. Best of luck to you in your waiting game!

Posted
13 minutes ago, woweezowee said:

Have you tried hydrogen peroxide in soil? Should kill the larvae 

Did the fourth round of peroxide today ?

Posted
Just now, fishfish24 said:

Did the fourth round of peroxide today ?

Yeesh! Sorry to hear that. There's also a product called mosquito bits that maybe could help? Good luck!

Posted
12 minutes ago, aa2427 said:

Thank you, hearing their vague words through you does help. :) I can't wait to overanalyze what "first offers" means. The waiting until April also feels so cruel...but that's the nature of the game I suppose. Best of luck to you in your waiting game!

Same to you! Just never know. Seem some schools just keep people on waitlists until April or later, and sometimes you don't even know you're on the waitlist until you get an offer. 

Posted
7 minutes ago, woweezowee said:

Yeesh! Sorry to hear that. There's also a product called mosquito bits that maybe could help? Good luck!

Thanks! I'll check it out!

Posted
1 hour ago, babypoet2k said:

update from draft re: iowa poetry (somebody called them and asked. everybody say thank you.)

"all acceptances will be made within the week."

Thanks for sharing this! Just to clarify (i.e.to help my wild anxiety grow): this means they'll be done sending acceptances a week from today?

Posted
10 minutes ago, kraftyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy said:

Thanks for sharing this! Just to clarify (i.e.to help my wild anxiety grow): this means they'll be done sending acceptances a week from today?

I interpreted it as by the end of the day today, or possibly through the weekend at the latest. 

If I don't hear from Iowa or U Washington re poetry soon I'm gonna lose it tbh

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