2022 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[adwalker4394]

2 hours ago, Sydup said:

Okay. Serious question here. 

It's looking like I was only accepted by one program, and I don't think I want to attend due to a deficit of funding. If attended, I would have to pay a portion out of pocket each year, and I am not in the position where I can financially do that. Currently, I have a great job as a copywriter and an excellent WFH schedule that allows me to write my novels at home during work hours. While I am in positive denial of being corporate fodder, I know that I am going to have to face yet another year of office work.

Which is actually great. I need another year to save for a cross-country move if I am to be accepted in any of my schools. 

This will be my third time applying, and I am looking for fully-funded MFAs that accept writing samples of speculative fiction. I am simply not a literary fiction writer. My writing sample that I am preparing for next year will be in the sub-genres of magical realism and fantastical noir. I only want to apply to a maximum of five programs, which means I must make every application count. 

Does anyone know which schools accept speculative fiction? I have heard Brown University and University of Arizona. I see only a waste of $50-100 per application if I apply to programs that strictly accept literary fiction samples. 

Thanks for any and all info!

I have a friend at UIUC who writes speculative and I believe he's mentioned that someone in his cohort writes pretty heavy genre stuff. I'm surprised I haven't seen Illinois on any of the genre lists, though I'm not entirely sure what he sent in with his sample (he used to write both spec and realistic fiction but has really been writing only spec for some time now). 

I'd also say any program that's genre-fluid so Northern Michigan, Iowa State, Louisiana State (not technically open-genre, but they encourage and allow multi/hybrid genre). I know Mona Awad is an alum of the PhD at University of Denver and her stuff is heavily spec. She also teaches at Syracuse with George Saunders and I think it would be absurd if they wouldn't be chill with speculative having two of the most prolific speculative writers out there right now. 

I also think it really comes down to who is reading your app and how strong the stor(y)ies are. I think there are plenty of speculative pieces that could pass the "New Yorker test", since Karen Russell and George Saunders have stories in the New Yorker and Kelly Link was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize with her last collection. I think as more time passes, the more programs (and profs/adcomm particularly) will open up to speculative as just a legitimate genre and "literary" (as if speculative can't be literary). 

[1moreX]

6 hours ago, Ydrl said:

Officially declined my FSU offer, hopefully this makes someone's day somewhere out there.

Thanks for letting us know. That's helpful. Were you accepted at FSU in poetry? I'm waitlisted there in fiction.

[somemoretrees]

This "New Yorker test" thing is such a misguided way of viewing your writing, like, are there certain formulaic tendencies in the literary fiction that gets published today? Sure. But that's honestly one of the biggest weaknesses in contemporary writing. I don't really like much of the stuff that gets published in journals like the New Yorker for this exact reason. 

Also there are so many other cool places to publish besides the New Yorker. Literary journals (and MFA adcoms) all have their own aesthetic preferences, contemporary fiction is not a monolith. MFA programs want to see inventive and exciting prose. They want to see a strong and singular voice in development. They do not want to see recycled tendencies and overused conventions. 

The kind of thinking that produces the "New Yorker test" is just so reductive, I mean come on now, we're supposed to be creative writers, lol.

Edited March 10, 2022 by somemoretrees
spacing was weird

[1moreX]

On 3/4/2022 at 2:37 AM, RosA-R said:

No, I'm CNF and Brooklyn only does fiction and playwriting. I only applied to Sarah Lawrence, Hunter, and CCNY. I already live in Brooklyn and I didn't want to apply to any programs outside of here, but I am happy to know there is someone here hopeful to be in the city!

To everyone: I applied only to local schools, even if they weren't fully funded, because I figured I already live here with my family and work, so I would be able to handle it. However, I see a lot of people are applying to programs, fully funded or not, all over the country. For my own knowledge in the event I need to apply again, what sort of planning did you all do to justify moving and living costs (car, housing, adjusting to lower wages in the case of some schools), even for a fully funded program? 

Just got the phone call - accepted at Brooklyn. Have you heard anything from the other NY schools? I haven't heard a peep. I expect they're coming really soon.

[Ydrl]

3 hours ago, 1moreX said:

Thanks for letting us know. That's helpful. Were you accepted at FSU in poetry? I'm waitlisted there in fiction.

Yes I'm poetry

[koechophe]

22 minutes ago, 1moreX said:

Just got the phone call - accepted at Brooklyn.

Hey, congrats! Are you excited about the offer?

 

[RosA-R]

21 minutes ago, 1moreX said:

Just got the phone call - accepted at Brooklyn. Have you heard anything from the other NY schools? I haven't heard a peep. I expect they're coming really soon.

Congrats!!!!!!!! No, nothing as far as I know! I was so nervous thinking decisions would go out last week! I didn't expect it to take so long, especially for Sarah Lawrence.

[1moreX]

1 minute ago, koechophe said:

Hey, congrats! Are you excited about the offer?

 

Thank you. Yes, very excited. I like the way Brooklyn handled me -- quick note that I was a finalist, immediate zoom interview, openness and honesty, so receptive to my writing and my personal case. My other acceptance so far (which shall remain nameless) was the opposite, kind of cool.

[1moreX]

8 minutes ago, RosA-R said:

Congrats!!!!!!!! No, nothing as far as I know! I was so nervous thinking decisions would go out last week! I didn't expect it to take so long, especially for Sarah Lawrence.

Thank you. Fingers crossed for you RosA-R.

[koep]

@somemoretrees , you might misunderstand the New Yorker test and why it is so useful. The purpose of the test is really to see if your writing sample abides by the rules that don’t change, the rules that were followed since writing was invented. They are things like preferring concrete images to abstractions. Don’t explain too much. Dialogue is not for exposition; narrate for exposition. Few adverbs. You can open a long craft book and get a list. These rules are called craft. You call them recycled formulas. MFA schools do not want you to be inventive by breaching them.

Unimportant writing conventions do change a little. The average sentence length has changed. If you took a writing from the 1800s, it will stick out against New Yorker articles today because the sentences will be longer. (This is why you use New Yorker stories from this decade.)

It is pretty meaningless to talk about these permanent rules in the abstract sense. Consider the stories @koechopheposts here. He says a lot of things like “Hundreds of different memories try to surface, and with the comb continually brushing my hair, it’s hard to shove them back down. Every single strand of hair stores different memories, different bits of knowledge and emotion. And I really don’t want to have him cut them in half.” Compare it with the stories of the girl who just got into Brown; she says things like “I painted a white porcelain bathtub overflowing with water, the faucet still running. I painted an aloe vera plant in the desert, a piece of itself broken off and lying in the sand. I painted a knife inside an orange, the blade completely hidden, its blue handle sticking out like a nose.” The Brown writing explains a lot less. It passes the New Yorker test. 

[koechophe]

5 hours ago, somemoretrees said:

This "New Yorker test" thing is such a misguided way of viewing your writing

Let's call it what it is, it's the troll's way of trying to make themselves feel better than everyone else.

They posted earlier this year about how their writing would pass the New Yorker test, and that means they were in the 80% and didn't need to be worried about whether they got in or not (and look how well that worked...)

They also posted, without ever having read Ydrl's stuff, that it likely wouldn't pass the New Yorker test, and the troll said the same about MrVisser, again without reading any material. This shows the troll's true colors: It's not about trying to help people figure things out, it's all a statement of "I'm better than you."

There's no need to treat this like an intellectual argument--it's all about feeding a delicate ego. 

[koep]

@koechophe writes "They posted earlier this year about how ... they ...  didn't need to be worried about whether they got in or not (and look how well that worked...)" 

I can't deny that. 

 

@koechophe writes "They also posted, without ever having read Ydrl's stuff, that it likely wouldn't pass the New Yorker test, and the troll said the same about MrVisser, again without reading any material."

That I don't remember, but I was surprised when they got in. I mean they were rejected a lot of times. Anyone would have been surprised. 

Edited March 10, 2022 by koep

[sb2798]

who hurt you?

[nicolette7766]

Has anyone on here had an interview for a spot in a MFA program? I just had one for the first time and I am still anxious haha. I was curious to hear about other people’s experiences. 

[sassydragon]

16 minutes ago, nicolette7766 said:

Has anyone on here had an interview for a spot in a MFA program? I just had one for the first time and I am still anxious haha. I was curious to hear about other people’s experiences. 

Omg, me too. I feel like we interviewed for the same place. I don't have a great feeling about my interview? Felt like I was too anxious and my anxiety was clear in the way I responded. I'm interested in hearing others' thoughts too.

[nicolette7766]

2 minutes ago, sassydragon said:

Omg, me too. I feel like we interviewed for the same place. I don't have a great feeling about my interview? Felt like I was too anxious and my anxiety was clear in the way I responded. I'm interested in hearing others' thoughts too.

Haha yes same! I was super awkward at some parts lmao They were really nice though and I liked them a lot.

I will say though I am very nervous because they only admit a very few amount of people. Hopefully we both get in! Fingers crossed for the both of us 

[sassydragon]

@nicolette7766 (forgot to quote, so I'm just tagging) Yess! I had the same feeling. I felt like my interview was quite short too, but maybe that was enough? They do seem very nice and I hope we both get in. (If it's the same place) they did mention they'll either accept or waitlist, so that's nice!

Edited March 10, 2022 by sassydragon

[nicolette7766]

4 minutes ago, sassydragon said:

@nicolette7766 (forgot to quote, so I'm just tagging) Yess! I had the same feeling. I felt like my interview was quite short too, but maybe that was enough? They do seem very nice and I hope we both get in. (If it's the same place) they did mention they'll either accept or waitlist, so that's nice!

Miami, right? And yeah, my interview felt short but then I looked at the time and realized it’d been a half hour (which I guess is still kinda short but I was expecting fifteen minutes) ? I was definitely relieved to hear I’d either be accepted or waitlisted. Because I think some programs can still reject you even if you make it to the interview stage? Not sure. Either way, it’d be awesome to be in the same cohort!

[sassydragon]

Just now, nicolette7766 said:

Miami, right? And yeah, my interview felt short but then I looked at the time and realized it’d been a half hour (which I guess is still kinda short but I was expecting fifteen minutes) ? I was definitely relieved to hear I’d either be accepted or waitlisted. Because I think some programs can still reject you even if you make it to the interview stage? Not sure. Either way, it’d be awesome to be in the same cohort!

Yep, Miami haha. Same same. I am so glad it won't be a rejection. Rooting for us and hoping we'd be in the same cohort!

[chuey]

50 minutes ago, nicolette7766 said:

Has anyone on here had an interview for a spot in a MFA program? I just had one for the first time and I am still anxious haha. I was curious to hear about other people’s experiences. 

I did! I definitely had prepared for more writing/teaching practice questions rather than just generic job interview questions, and was very thrown off when I got faaar more of the latter than I expected. I think the beginning of my interview went terribly but the second half went much better? I got good news from the program eventually so I guess it wasn't as bad as I imagined haha

[MDP]

WAITLISTED AT HOLLINS!!!!!!!

[Rm714]

1 minute ago, MDP said:

WAITLISTED AT HOLLINS!!!!!!!

I ACTUALLY YELLED "YES!!!!" OUT LOUD! I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU @MDP! LITERALLY PRAYING TO THE WAITLIST GODS FOR YOU!

[koechophe]

15 minutes ago, MDP said:

WAITLISTED AT HOLLINS!!!!!!!

That's so great! I'm really glad to hear you finally got some good news. Here's hoping it goes through!

[VillaTheKilla]

29 minutes ago, MDP said:

WAITLISTED AT HOLLINS!!!!!!!

Congrats!!!

[retrotyping]

35 minutes ago, MDP said:

WAITLISTED AT HOLLINS!!!!!!!

Congratulations! I literally came straight here to see if you got good news lol, I know you were excited about this one! I’m waitlisted for fiction too — maybe we’ll be cohort members!