2022 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[MissMosquito]

2 hours ago, koechophe said:

I'm fiction. I know enough about poetry that I "could" be helpful (took some classes in it, write it occasionally) but am not an expert. 

I'll DM you once I've picked a poem to workshop. Thanks for the offer. Wish we had a forum as community oriented as this one year round!

[LifesaBattle]

8 hours ago, oubukibun said:

Felicitations to everyone who tried again this year and need not try again!

I'd like to believe one of the 6 schools left has a phone call with my name on it, but it's difficult to clutch that dream and not confuse it for delusion.

However, @MDP was very courteous to look at my portfolio + an additional 'not ready to be seen by professionals' poem and gave valuable time to make detailed and insightful comments (that also weren't afraid to be honest, which is key!).  We pretty much agreed on what my primary deficiency is, haha, but I gathered there was overall enjoyment and satisfaction with the work itself, in progress as it is.  And yes, I definitely often bite more than I can chew, haha.

Some days we really have to harness hope from wherever place we can find it.  I've struggled with finding its hiding place more often lately, hope finding new and despicable places to keep away from me.  Today it was a stray Yeats comment, and tomorrow it will be something else...  But hope is here.

If I am not accepted into any schools, I will not be returning for a third try.  As a devoted acolyte of Sisyphus, I have to focus my boulder-rolling energy to other endeavors (like teaching overseas, finding new words for stale thoughts, eating a grapefruit with dirty toes on a South Pacific beach).

So, as a stranger to other strangers, passing on by the tides, toodles for now, and be sure to tend to yourselves.  It does no good to work with a hollow soul.

 

m.

Hey dude. I'm usually more of a lurker, @oubukibun, but I wanted to hop on and respond to you. I know how you feel right now, and this time of year can be the ABSOLUTE PITS. Writing is such a personal thing, and we love it so much, that there is virtually no way not to get your hopes up during MFA season. If you are committed not to try again, I will leave you to your decision, however...

You shouldn't quit. Don't stop writing and don't stop applying. Writing is subjective certainly, but this is part of your journey to get better. Get rejections, collect them even. Apply to a few smaller schools every year, ones with full funding but without the crazy name recognition. Write like an addict, read like you did when you were 11, find places to submit, and you will get better. And definitely don't quit. All this is just emotional weightlifting to make you stronger bb.

Anyways, there are lots of very kind and supporting people on here, so keep reaching out and keep talking about it. Again, I'm so sorry you're feeling down. If you find a solution for that hollow soul business, you should let us know, because a great deal of us could use that kind of help.  I hope to see you back next year. 

[koechophe]

8 hours ago, MissMosquito said:

I'll DM you once I've picked a poem to workshop. Thanks for the offer. Wish we had a forum as community oriented as this one year round!

Honestly would love to keep in touch with a few people here who want to workshop things. My undergraduate was great for a lot of things, but I didn't get that much good quality feedback on my writing, nor did I have the chance of working with people who were that serious about it (TBF I was English with an emphasis in CW, not creative writing, and my academic writing did improve tremendously). Workshopping really helps, especially when it's not incredibly basic (which is what I spent most of my undergraduate giving advice on).

Idk, let's see where the chips fall for all of us, but either way, I'm always down for some workshop buddies ?

[oubukibun]

Goodness!

I apologize, I didn't think my post would read the way it did.  I'm certainly not going to stop writing, especially as I suspect I'm still in my infancy as far as that's concerned.  I just don't want to focus on applying to schools again when I can use that money and effort on something that'll provide more opportunities for me to travel and learn about the world.  I'm very nomadic that way, and having moved consistently since arriving in America at seven years of age (English was not my first language, though it clearly is my primary now, haha) seemed to have made that an integral part of how I function, for better and for worse.

I think workshopping here would be lovely, so I retreat to my waiting corner now, assuring @LifesaBattle that I am not suing for peace just yet. 

 

Toodles everyone!  And huzzah, for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

[MDP]

8 hours ago, koechophe said:

Honestly would love to keep in touch with a few people here who want to workshop things. My undergraduate was great for a lot of things, but I didn't get that much good quality feedback on my writing, nor did I have the chance of working with people who were that serious about it (TBF I was English with an emphasis in CW, not creative writing, and my academic writing did improve tremendously). Workshopping really helps, especially when it's not incredibly basic (which is what I spent most of my undergraduate giving advice on).

Idk, let's see where the chips fall for all of us, but either way, I'm always down for some workshop buddies ?

I agree! I would be happy to put together a spreadsheet of emails that we can all access -- a little database of workshop buddies to pick from at random throughout the year. DM me your email if you'd like to be added and I'll share it with everyone as a Google doc  

[MDP]

16 hours ago, oubukibun said:

Some days we really have to harness hope from wherever place we can find it.  I've struggled with finding its hiding place more often lately, hope finding new and despicable places to keep away from me.  Today it was a stray Yeats comment, and tomorrow it will be something else...  But hope is here.

If I am not accepted into any schools, I will not be returning for a third try.  As a devoted acolyte of Sisyphus, I have to focus my boulder-rolling energy to other endeavors (like teaching overseas, finding new words for stale thoughts, eating a grapefruit with dirty toes on a South Pacific beach).

It was great to read your work, btw, and I would love to read it again any time. I admire your balanced view on this whole process and am excited to see how your writing grows! Hope is definitely crucial for me too, even tiny glimmers. 

[neche]

I definitely admire the sense of community on here. The amount of workshopping that's been going around almost feel like we could as well be our own MFA Program (without the funding, of course... and the residency).

@MDP I'd definitely want my email in the spreadsheet.

[Rm714]

Has it felt like a slow two days to anyone else? There's been a lull at work and I've been trying to limit the amount of times I've been allowing myself to refresh my email, haha. I wish I were busier so that I could have a more active distraction. 

[MDP]

30 minutes ago, Rm714 said:

Has it felt like a slow two days to anyone else? There's been a lull at work and I've been trying to limit the amount of times I've been allowing myself to refresh my email, haha. I wish I were busier so that I could have a more active distraction. 

100%. The waiting game is agonizing at this point, since I feel like some of my schools could notify any minute or in several weeks.

2 hours ago, neche said:

@MDP I'd definitely want my email in the spreadsheet.

I just shared the spreadsheet with everyone who DM'd me! Send me a message on here with your email if you'd like me to share the Google doc with you  

[hayesian19]

Hi, all! Is there any precedent for deferring a fully-funded acceptance? Had some recent unexpected expenses, and my income is just barely over the poverty line. It would be really difficult for me to move this fall, and I’m nervous that I would just have to reapply (which is no guarantee, especially with how competitor fully funded programs are.) 

[MDP]

Just saw the University of Idaho acceptance posted on results page and my weary brain read it as University of Iowa. Sigh!

[DeepSyntax]

Found the troll

[MDP]

Finally heard from a school! Rejected from University of Michigan. Got the email ten minutes ago. Not too bummed about this one...I had talked to a student there and while the program is excellent, the cost of living is apparently nuts. Not to mention the cold, ha.

[haleydanielle]

I know this probably isn't the best place for this question, but I'm starting to consider applying to MFA programs and I was wondering - does anyone have any ideas on online programs? My undergrad is in Creative Writing (fiction) and my masters is in English Lit, and I can't really imagine completing those online. However, because of just general life stuff, it would definitely be awesome if I could find a good program that I won't have to move my family for. I still want a good program, though, and I know sometimes you can't have both. I'm still doing research, of course, but thought I'd check here as well! 

Good luck to 2022 applicants!!! 

[Yellow62]

Looks like Michigan is accepting, waitlisting, and rejecting for both genres right now. Honestly, I prefer this chaos spray method of notifying as opposed to the stilted acceptances->waitlists->rejections method most schools seem to abide by. Good luck to everyone who applied!

[koechophe]

Also rejected from Michigan. Is it telling that I actually forgot I'd applied there until I got the rejection letter? Anyway, glad I've had at least one school talk to me lol. 

[MDP]

1 hour ago, haleydanielle said:

I know this probably isn't the best place for this question, but I'm starting to consider applying to MFA programs and I was wondering - does anyone have any ideas on online programs? My undergrad is in Creative Writing (fiction) and my masters is in English Lit, and I can't really imagine completing those online. However, because of just general life stuff, it would definitely be awesome if I could find a good program that I won't have to move my family for. I still want a good program, though, and I know sometimes you can't have both. I'm still doing research, of course, but thought I'd check here as well! 

Good luck to 2022 applicants!!! 

Check out this database and sort by Residency > Asc. It'll pull up a lot of low-res programs, which may be what you're looking for! My mom did a low-res MFA via Antioch because she's a tenured professor and wasn't going to leave her job for an MFA. She did most of her workshopping and classes online/via phone/Zoom and spent one or two weeks a year on the campus itself. 

[oatcrust]

Also rejected from Michigan. First school I'm hearing back from and thought going on this forum would lessen the blow. Hah!

[questioningquestions]

19 minutes ago, Cindee said:

This makes no sense. Michigan rejected me. They didn’t even put me in the top 12%. They tell you that. For all I know, they stuck me in the 80% rejected instantly. For all I know, they think of me as little as I think of @koechophe. For all know, they judge @mrvisser years ahead of me. Preposterous. 

That's really awful for you I was in the top 12%. Better luck next time ❤️ @mrvisser and @koechope seem cool and I sense they'll get into their fave programs! 

[palaver]

I mean, these people are in fact humans who have a tremendous capacity for improvement--and i'm sure they have improved within the intervening years! And as @questioningquestions said, I hope that they do get into the programs that they wish to attend. The sort of troubling bitterness that wishes ill will upon another can really corrode a person.

[haleydanielle]

3 hours ago, MDP said:

Check out this database and sort by Residency > Asc. It'll pull up a lot of low-res programs, which may be what you're looking for! My mom did a low-res MFA via Antioch because she's a tenured professor and wasn't going to leave her job for an MFA. She did most of her workshopping and classes online/via phone/Zoom and spent one or two weeks a year on the campus itself. 

This is great! Thank you! I just figured out the difference between full- and low-res (I'm clearly super new to this process), so I'm glad to have a way to find them all at once.

Thank you again!!  

[Ogilvie]

hey booch, i'm in at [redacted]  this time. since the last time i applied (7years ago) i did not read 50 novels. i might have read 50 recipes for how to boil an egg--who cares? you know what i definitely did do? smoked a ton of weed and neth and had hundredz of ours of batshit crazy sex, plus i wirked out a lot at the gym!  fuck the new yorker and fuck you!!!

also, mickey dolenzes to u for michigan stomping on ur dreamz. WHAT A SHANE! such a CHILL program, SO AVANT-GARDE! and oh yeah eileen pollack used to teach there, SO CUTING EDG! did u write about talking toiletz? that could be why u didnt get in, MICHIGAN DOESNT APPROVE OF TALKING TOILETZ! that's straight from the tips of eileen pollack's fingerz!

 

https://forge.medium.com/an-mfa-admissions-officer-on-making-your-

Edited February 17, 2022 by Ogilvie

[xenawins]

Started the morning out with the rejection from Mich. I feel better knowing at least!

...AND THEN I GOT NOTIFIED I'M ON THE WAITLIST AT ASU!!  I'm so pleased, this makes waitlist #2 and just feels like a huge boost and validation, no matter what ends up happening. I'm going to keep on writing whether I end up in a program this year or not, but gosh, it always feels nice to be noticed!

[MDP]

1 hour ago, haleydanielle said:

This is great! Thank you! I just figured out the difference between full- and low-res (I'm clearly super new to this process), so I'm glad to have a way to find them all at once.

Thank you again!!  

Sure thing! I found that site super helpful when researching programs. I think it also has a list feature so you can keep all the programs you're interested in in one place.

20 minutes ago, xenawins said:

I GOT NOTIFIED I'M ON THE WAITLIST AT ASU!! 

Congrats!!!! What an awesome pick-me-up, especially following a rejection  

Edited February 17, 2022 by MDP
word

[smrgblrg]

Has anyone else applied for CNF at Rutgers Camden? I see in the portal that now it says “decision made” but I can’t see what the decision is … probably waitlisted or rejected I would guess? ? no email either. Has anyone seen something like this before?