2023 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[jjooeeyy]

someone just posted on draft they were accepted to mississippi (for fiction). i didn't even know they advanced to phase 2... i guess they don't update their website consistently?

edit: whoops, seems like they just notified those who advanced

Edited February 21, 2023 by jjooeeyy

[Ydrl]

I don't want to alarm anyone, but the poetry decisions for Iowa might finalized. Don't know when notifications are going out though... Watching the professors spend hours of their weekends here just pouring over the manuscripts together around a table was a wild sight. Godspeed to you all, drink water.

[halsklo]

1 hour ago, poefire said:

Received an acceptance email from Michigan for poetry this morning, holy fuck.

Also weird that it looks like the people last week got phone calls whereas people this week are getting emails?

congratulations!!!!! 

[CLCH]

14 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

I don't want to alarm anyone, but the poetry decisions for Iowa might finalized. Don't know when notifications are going out though... Watching the professors spend hours of their weekends here just pouring over the manuscripts together around a table was a wild sight. Godspeed to you all, drink water.

Any sense of how much longer it should take them to call everyone in Fiction? I don't feel like I've seen enough people get acceptance calls for me to assume they are done.

[lanadelreystan]

15 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

I don't want to alarm anyone, but the poetry decisions for Iowa might finalized. Don't know when notifications are going out though... Watching the professors spend hours of their weekends here just pouring over the manuscripts together around a table was a wild sight. Godspeed to you all, drink water.

Omg do you know any more info? Like cohort size? Or when they might notify? 

[halsklo]

do we know of any jhu acceptances yet? i’ve only seen waitlist announcements (wishing i was one of the wl crew ?) 

[Nightmaric]

6 minutes ago, CLCH said:

Any sense of how much longer it should take them to call everyone in Fiction? I don't feel like I've seen enough people get acceptance calls for me to assume they are done.

I would also like to know this if @Ydrl or anyone else has any insight.

[ach1024]

On 2/15/2023 at 12:43 PM, treaux said:

Welcome!! Fellow film industry escapee here... 

The last couple of weeks have been incredibly stressful for me; it got to the point where I was waking up multiple times every night from anxiety. The most helpful thing that I have done for myself is LEAVING DRAFT. I know for some people Draft is a really helpful community, but for me it just made me feel constantly on edge because my brain was always on alert, preparing for news. I think the nature of my anxiety is such that the constant trickle of new information via Draft, forums, etc. only feeds the anxiety — the best thing is to just remove those sources of information (which, frankly, are not that relevant to me! All the information I need will be delivered to my inbox in due time) and try and distract my brain with other things. 

Thanks for writing this! it made me feel a lot better. I'm going to try to follow this advice. Was hoping I'd be able to get a long break from wonderful worlds of premiere pro and avid this fall but it's seeming less and less likely... lol

[ach1024]

10 minutes ago, halsklo said:

do we know of any jhu acceptances yet? i’ve only seen waitlist announcements (wishing i was one of the wl crew ?) 

someone posted about a fiction acceptance to draft around the time the waitlist announcements went up ? 

[dagreenkat]

4 hours ago, jjooeeyy said:

I just got a waitlist there as well!

I also got on the waitlist for UofSC! I’m honestly thrilled. It’s in the top half of my preferred programs, and a much needed ego boost after 3 straight rejections. (Now 3r/1w/4p). I emailed back asking about how many acceptances they sent and some other info because it was honestly confusing. One part said in 2013 they took 18% of 170 apps (30!) total, and another said that they take 4 each in poetry and fiction. Hopefully they let us know how big the waitlist is and if it’s ranked.

(And, selfishly, if you already have a preferred acceptance, consider taking yourself off the waitlist :p) 

[crosie]

4 minutes ago, dagreenkat said:

I also got on the waitlist for UofSC! I’m honestly thrilled. It’s in the top half of my preferred programs, and a much needed ego boost after 3 straight rejections. (Now 3r/1w/4p). I emailed back asking about how many acceptances they sent and some other info because it was honestly confusing. One part said in 2013 they took 18% of 170 apps (30!) total, and another said that they take 4 each in poetry and fiction. Hopefully they let us know how big the waitlist is and if it’s ranked.

(And, selfishly, if you already have a preferred acceptance, consider taking yourself off the waitlist :p) 

I asked him those questions, the response I got was I’m “high on the waitlist” and nothing else. So I think it’s ranked, but no clue how long. 

[jjooeeyy]

6 minutes ago, dagreenkat said:

I also got on the waitlist for UofSC! I’m honestly thrilled. It’s in the top half of my preferred programs, and a much needed ego boost after 3 straight rejections. (Now 3r/1w/4p). I emailed back asking about how many acceptances they sent and some other info because it was honestly confusing. One part said in 2013 they took 18% of 170 apps (30!) total, and another said that they take 4 each in poetry and fiction. Hopefully they let us know how big the waitlist is and if it’s ranked.

(And, selfishly, if you already have a preferred acceptance, consider taking yourself off the waitlist :p) 

i decided not to ask where i was on the waitlist/if it was ranked.

[1badgloop]

Just got an email from University of Miami - I'm a finalist there and they'd like to interview me!! Crazy!!

[Ydrl]

1 hour ago, CLCH said:

Any sense of how much longer it should take them to call everyone in Fiction? I don't feel like I've seen enough people get acceptance calls for me to assume they are done.

I don't think they're done yet. I'm not sure as I'm poetry side of things.

[Ydrl]

1 hour ago, lanadelreystan said:

Omg do you know any more info? Like cohort size? Or when they might notify? 

I can only assume similar cohort to last year which was 30 fiction and 20 poets.

[dagreenkat]

1 hour ago, crosie said:

I asked him those questions, the response I got was I’m “high on the waitlist” and nothing else. So I think it’s ranked, but no clue how long. 

He said he didn’t know where those 2013 numbers came from (before he was director), but it is indeed 4 people per subject. The way he talks about the waitlist makes me think it is ranked. I’m “very high on the waitlist” myself, apparently. Not sure what that adjective really means. I guess they don’t want to say how large the waitlist is because it would signify how many accepted students usually accept their spots at the school.

[treaux]

Anyone get or see anything from Michigan for fiction? Seems like all the posts on the results board are for poetry. 

[snarkdarklark]

11 minutes ago, treaux said:

Anyone get or see anything from Michigan for fiction? Seems like all the posts on the results board are for poetry. 

There are four or so acceptances for fiction on the Draft page. Not sure if that’s all the acceptances since poetry seemed to be staggered (some got calls last week and the rest got emails today?), but big congrats to everyone accepted!!

[treaux]

14 minutes ago, snarkdarklark said:

There are four or so acceptances for fiction on the Draft page. Not sure if that’s all the acceptances since poetry seemed to be staggered (some got calls last week and the rest got emails today?), but big congrats to everyone accepted!!

Thanks for the intel! I’m just going to assume a rejection then. Ah well, onward and upwards

[dagreenkat]

9 minutes ago, treaux said:

Thanks for the intel! I’m just going to assume a rejection then. Ah well, onward and upwards

I was hoping they weren’t done. Hope they notify the rest of us soon either way!

[crosie]

1 hour ago, treaux said:

Anyone get or see anything from Michigan for fiction? Seems like all the posts on the results board are for poetry. 

Still kind of in shock but I got accepted for fiction today. Waitlists seem to be pending though? 

[ACPF]

Just got an acceptance call for Iowa for poetry! At this hour!!!

[dagreenkat]

2 hours ago, crosie said:

Still kind of in shock but I got accepted for fiction today. Waitlists seem to be pending though? 

Email or call? Holding out for… waitlist, I guess. Entering the last half of my applications is so scary ? Hoping for a full acceptance somewhere in the remaining.

Edited February 22, 2023 by dagreenkat

[crosie]

7 hours ago, dagreenkat said:

Email or call? Holding out for… waitlist, I guess. Entering the last half of my applications is so scary ? Hoping for a full acceptance somewhere in the remaining.

Email! You definitely have got this! 

[Catpaw]

My friend and I both got our rejections from WashU just now — the e-mail to check the portal finally showed up in our inboxes about fifteen minutes ago.