2022 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[MDP]

WashU rejections are apparently out. (EDIT: didn't see comment above, haha)

Edited February 8, 2022 by MDP

[retrotyping]

Hey everyone, I was recently invited to interview with a program I applied to, and I’m wondering if you all have advice on what to expect and what I should be sure to talk about. They did mention to be prepared to talk about my goals as a writer and what I hope to gain from and contribute to the program. The interview will be very short, so I wonder if it’s mostly about fit for and a screening of sorts for personality? I’d love to hear about any of your experiences! 

[MDP]

3 hours ago, MissMosquito said:

I dreamt that Omar Navarro, the head of the Mexican drug cartel, was admitted to the psychiatric hospital where I'm a nurse, and it was my job to tell him he couldn't have his belt while on the unit, or cell phone, or the pile of cash and guns he brought with him. 

This is great BTW. I love absurdist dreams.

[koechophe]

7 minutes ago, retrotyping said:

Hey everyone, I was recently invited to interview with a program I applied to, and I’m wondering if you all have advice on what to expect and what I should be sure to talk about.

My biggest advice is that if they're doing interviews, it's likely because they've accepted people and then later realized that those people have an attitude problem.

So maybe don't focus so much on what you should talk about, but your attitude and how you come across. Make sure you do what you can to show humility, while also showing enough confidence that people don't think you'll crumble or give up. Tough balance, I know, but just show you're the type of person they'd like to spend time around.

Out of interest, where are you interviewing, and in what genre? I've seen a lot more interview requests this year than last year, and I'm curious which programs are switching over. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by koechophe

[MDP]

26 minutes ago, retrotyping said:

Hey everyone, I was recently invited to interview with a program I applied to, and I’m wondering if you all have advice on what to expect and what I should be sure to talk about. They did mention to be prepared to talk about my goals as a writer and what I hope to gain from and contribute to the program. The interview will be very short, so I wonder if it’s mostly about fit for and a screening of sorts for personality? I’d love to hear about any of your experiences! 

What a great sign! Congrats. I think interviews are usually about personality -- making sure an applicant will mesh well with the rest of the cohort, making sure that they aren't too much of an asshole (or too much of a baby), etc. To my knowledge, a lot of schools conduct these because they really like your portfolio/at the very least are seriously considering you. Could just want to verify that you have adequate social skills, lol.

[Ydrl]

1 hour ago, MDP said:

I do! I'm reading the collected journals of Sylvia Plath right now. Brilliant but so bleak. And it kills me that Ted Hughes destroyed her final journal (with entries dating to within three days of her death!) Terrible loss. He was a bastard.

The Tent by Margaret Atwood. Fictional Essays. Amazing. One of my favorite books.

[MDP]

13 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

The Tent by Margaret Atwood. Fictional Essays. Amazing. One of my favorite books.

Ahhh that's a great one!

Unrelated: not that it's useful to speculate about all this, but it looks like WashU, Northwestern, U Oregon, Ohio State, Miami U (OH) and Syracuse have all notified about a week or two earlier than they did last year. Hoping this will be the trend for the rest of the season...

[MDP]

Also unrelated: who here was a Cornell applicant during the infamous 2020 Valentine's Day rejection? Major insult to injury. An honor to be a part of that bloodbath.

[Rm714]

7 minutes ago, MDP said:

Also unrelated: who here was a Cornell applicant during the infamous 2020 Valentine's Day rejection? Major insult to injury. An honor to be a part of that bloodbath.

Omg, I was just telling my partner I was certain I wouldn't hear back from any programs on Valentine's Day. I can't believe Cornell did that in 2020, that's actually so cruel!

[MDP]

Just now, Rm714 said:

Omg, I was just telling my partner I was certain I wouldn't hear back from any programs on Valentine's Day. I can't believe Cornell did that in 2020, that's actually so cruel!

Oh it was brutal! And to top it off I got the email while in my creative writing senior seminar. I spent that night drinking alone, lol. Oh the sorrow...

[koechophe]

Question to pass the time:

What's the nicest rejection letter you've gotten?

For me, it was actually a non-form email from a faculty member (I'd emailed the program to verify my rejection because the other rejections had gone out, and it was still crickets.)

It ended with "I’m sorry we were not able to offer you admission this year.  We would welcome your application again next year, if you choose not to accept another offer." 

Made me feel better than the rest of the form letters I got tbh. I didn't reapply to that school this year, but if it's straight rejections again, this school will probably be on my list again. 

Anyone have any rejection letters that actually managed to make you feel sort of good? 

[Kunsthalle]

Hi everyone, this is my first cycle and I have 3 rejections so far. Can I assume that I'll probably get rejected by the other schools as well? I guess my question is if there is a tendency of "winner takes it all" for MFA acceptances. 

[Yellow62]

1 minute ago, Kunsthalle said:

Hi everyone, this is my first cycle and I have 3 rejections so far. Can I assume that I'll probably get rejected by the other schools as well? I guess my question is if there is a tendency of "winner takes it all" for MFA acceptances. 

Not at all! While there do tend to be a few superstars who get into a handful of the top programs each cycle, this process is so subjective that who appeals most to admission committees varies from school to school. Every year there are people who only get into one or two programs, but that's all it takes! Don't count yourself out yet

[MDP]

1 hour ago, koechophe said:

Question to pass the time:

What's the nicest rejection letter you've gotten?

For me, it was actually a non-form email from a faculty member (I'd emailed the program to verify my rejection because the other rejections had gone out, and it was still crickets.)

It ended with "I’m sorry we were not able to offer you admission this year.  We would welcome your application again next year, if you choose not to accept another offer." 

Made me feel better than the rest of the form letters I got tbh. I didn't reapply to that school this year, but if it's straight rejections again, this school will probably be on my list again. 

Anyone have any rejection letters that actually managed to make you feel sort of good? 

Best for me was the rejection I got from University of Michigan in 2020 letting me know that I made it to the top 15% of the applications before getting axed. Kind of bittersweet because it felt like a “so close, yet so far” type of thing, ha. 

[MDP]

33 minutes ago, Kunsthalle said:

Hi everyone, this is my first cycle and I have 3 rejections so far. Can I assume that I'll probably get rejected by the other schools as well? I guess my question is if there is a tendency of "winner takes it all" for MFA acceptances. 

I’ve heard MANY stories of people who get rejections from everywhere but, say, Iowa or Cornell. It really is so subjective, and I agree with Yellow, don’t count yourself out! It ain’t over til it’s over  

[Kunsthalle]

38 minutes ago, Yellow62 said:

Not at all! While there do tend to be a few superstars who get into a handful of the top programs each cycle, this process is so subjective that who appeals most to admission committees varies from school to school. Every year there are people who only get into one or two programs, but that's all it takes! Don't count yourself out yet

Thank you  and @MDP 

[Nightwitch]

On 1/4/2022 at 11:53 PM, hot_toddy said:

Anyone heard back from Ole Miss? 

I saw a person got accepted on the submit results page!

[Nightwitch]

9 hours ago, Artel said:

 

I do recommend you take the New Yorker test which will at least tell you if you are in the 80% of applicants who get rejected from all fully funded schools, after one page of their writing sample.

What is the new yorker test?

 

[retrotyping]

2 hours ago, Nightwitch said:

What is the new yorker test?

 

This person made up a “test” to verify your likelihood of being admitted to a program. It involves pairing your writing with two current pieces from the New Yorker and asking someone who is unfamiliar with much literature (the mastermind of the “test” refers to this type of person as “illiterate”) to pick out the one that is different. If they pick yours, you’re not getting in. It operates on the assumption that people are published in the New Yorker based on their writing and merit alone as well as the assumption that admissions committees exclusively read the New Yorker despite the majority of them working, editing, and publishing in other journals. The same person who made up this test consistently makes up statistics about admissions rates etc. There’s been much speculation around whether or not this person is actually a writer and applying to programs. I would say they are certainly a humanist, perhaps not a writer, but they’re not in any field that would require them to know what an independent variable is. They feed on this forum being full of people who are putting their work out into the world and the vulnerability that goes along with that. Having an idea of what work is being published and contemporary literature might be constructive to your writing, but only you can decide that, and any advisor to your admissions process worth their weight would tell you to read wider than the New Yorker. Ignore whatever this person says.

Edited February 9, 2022 by retrotyping

[Nightwitch]

10 minutes ago, retrotyping said:

This person made up a “test” to verify your likelihood of being admitted to a program. It involves pairing your writing with two current pieces from the New Yorker and asking someone who is unfamiliar with much literature (the mastermind of the “test” refers to this type of person as “illiterate”) to pick out the one that is different. If they pick yours, you’re not getting in. It operates on the assumption that people are published in the New Yorker based on their writing and merit alone as well as the assumption that admissions committees exclusively read the New Yorker despite the majority of them working, editing, and publishing in other journals. The same person who made up this test consistently makes up statistics about admissions rates etc. There’s been much speculation around whether or not this person is actually a writer and applying to programs. I would say they are certainly a humanist, perhaps not a writer, but they’re not in any field that would require them to know what an independent variable is. They feed on this forum being full of people who are putting their work out into the world and the vulnerability that goes along with that. Having an idea of what work is being published and contemporary literature might be constructive to your writing, but only you can decide that, and any advisor to your admissions process worth their weight would tell you to read wider than the New Yorker. Ignore whatever this person says.

Oh alright   I hadn't been checking gradcafe for a while, so I had no idea of what was happening, or what was being said. Thank you so much for the warning! I really appreciate it  Thinking about it, the test doesn't make much sense, and is kinda offensive to the person they're showing the pieces to ?

[Roalddahli]

@retrotyping What a gorgeous explanation. But of course, you are a writer.

[Roalddahli]

I hope that doesn't come across as sarcastic. I genuinely think your response to @Nightwitch was a brilliant explanation of a very boring person

[CathyandRuth]

Has anyone been waitlisted by Oregon yet?

[MDP]

40 minutes ago, CathyandRuth said:

Has anyone been waitlisted by Oregon yet?

Based on last year's Results page, it looks like their Waitlists go out a week or two after acceptances, so could be sometime this week or next if they follow a similar timeline.

[koechophe]

1 hour ago, Artel said:

Some people complain that I single out the New Yorker. You could use the test with any of the top ten journals. You could do it with The Paris Review. The assumption is a standard literary journal will universally use conventions that beginners are not using.

Okay, then, show an "illterate" person (as you so kindly phrase it) these four pieces. Don't be shy:

https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/7851/this-then-is-a-song-we-are-singing-sterling-holywhitemountain

https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/gravity

https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/7803/mathematics-under-which-is-love-whose-bed-is-language-adania-shibli

https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/7821/we-all-fall-down-mckenzie

You can shove any other piece in with these ones, and i'd bet you anything, they'd say the odd man out is piece 1. Or maybe even piece three or four. 

I also bet if an unknown author sent in piece 1 as their application materials, it would be rejected after the first page by most adcoms too. 

The "concretion" you love is utterly lacking from pieces 1 and 3. The need to "start in scene" and not confuse readers at the get-go is lost from piece 2. 

We're in the post-modern age, and form and expression are fluctuating extremely heavily. "Literary conventions" are shifting, inconsistent and malleable. Say whatever you want about the pieces I've gotten published. Keep using me as your example of someone who tragically refuses to acknowledge their failures as a writer. I sincerely don't care. You don't know me, and you don't know my writing. 

When you do things like say "I'm pretty sure other forum users fail my test" even though you've never seen any of their writing, you show your true colors: You're just here to get a high on putting other people down, because the truth is, you're miserable at the fact that you still can't get in.

But maybe, if you actually tried to be a decent human being, you'd have a much more rewarding experience here. 

Edited February 9, 2022 by koechophe