2023 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Norwood]

37 minutes ago, exsistingonline said:

I also have not been accepted into the draft. I am rather new this and just found this forum yesterday, is there a reason they wont accept join requests?

I had to wait like a week and a half to get approved after I requested. The admins are (I think) all either current MFA students or people who graduated recently, so I think it's just a matter of them not checking on it every day. For what it's worth, people on this forum have already mentioned all the acceptances that have been posted on there this year so far, so you haven't missed anything really. 

[Leeannitha]

5 hours ago, alligator mississippiensis said:

Hey all! I’ve been lurking on the forum the last 2 years and (no one asked for it, but) here’s my two cents on hope and persistence in writing/applications: 

As a writer, there is so little I can control. I can’t control whether I’ll be published, whether I’ll be accepted into an MFA program, if people like my stories or if I’ll ever make money from my work. The only thing I can control is my endurance and dedication to writing, so this is what I focus on. 

Here is a quote for the fabulous Melissa Febos on the subject! 

 

“I have found a church in art, a form of work that is also a form of worship - it is a means of understanding myself, all my past selves, and all of you as beloved. 

This is why I will never stop doing it, even if no publisher ever again wants to share the results. Ironically, this kind of investment in the process is a boon to those who seek publication. Tenacity is often cited as the most common characteristic of successful authors. Of many of the talented people I’ve met - classmates, students, friends - many of them no longer write. The ones who have kept doing so have made it central to their lives both external and internal. Writing is hard. It is not the most apparently useful kind of work to do in the world. Most of us are not out here saving any lives but our own, though its power to do that (at least in my case) is uncontestable. The older I get, the less convinced I am about most things, but this is one of the great facts of my life.

I cannot imagine nurturing a devotion to any practice more consistently than one which yields the reward of transformation, the assurance of lovability, and the eradication of regret. No professional ambition could possibly matter more than the freedom to return, again and again.” - Melissa Febos, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative 

 

Good luck to you all ❤️ 

Thank you for sharing this ?

If anyone else has any great quotes/book recommendations to help people through rejections and uncertainty, I would love to hear them. 
 

(Also: @feralgrad when you say 2:2 do you mean you teach 2 classes for 2 semesters? 2 classes over 2 years??? My brain is mush ?)

[jjooeeyy]

5 hours ago, jjooeeyy said:

It appears that someone in Draft got an acceptance email for the University of Miami today.

It was Miami University, not University of Miami. Whoops!

[c_eddy]

4 hours ago, jjooeeyy said:

It was Miami University, not University of Miami. Whoops!

Do you know which concentration the Miami U acceptance was in ?

[treaux]

1 hour ago, c_eddy said:

Do you know which concentration the Miami U acceptance was in ?

Fiction, I think. 

[ElleNoelle]

11 hours ago, Norwood said:

I had to wait like a week and a half to get approved after I requested. The admins are (I think) all either current MFA students or people who graduated recently, so I think it's just a matter of them not checking on it every day. For what it's worth, people on this forum have already mentioned all the acceptances that have been posted on there this year so far, so you haven't missed anything really. 

I was let in a few days ago, so they’re definitely still letting people in—I will echo that you haven’t missed anything big!

[fishloch]

Hi. Fiction applicant here.

Has anyone heard from University of Alabama yet? I just got a response.

Thanks.

[Disappointment]

29 minutes ago, fishloch said:

Hi. Fiction applicant here.

Has anyone heard from University of Alabama yet? I just got a response.

Thanks.

I logged into the portal this morning to find my rejection waiting.

[Blaze]

Hi friends!!

Did anyone hear back from Cornell? I saw on the result page that someone already got an acceptance, but there is nothing in my portal. Even a rejection is better than waiting now ... ?

[lanadelreystan]

2 minutes ago, Blaze said:

Hi friends!!

Did anyone hear back from Cornell? I saw on the result page that someone already got an acceptance, but there is nothing in my portal. Even a rejection is better than waiting now ... ?

I saw that, too! No notification for me, either... Probably a rejection ?

[Blaze]

2 minutes ago, lanadelreystan said:

I saw that, too! No notification for me, either... Probably a rejection ?

Thanks for replying!! Then Cornell is the first school I know that sends out acceptance wayyyy earlier than any other decisions... I mean, sure. But that's still kinda mean ? 

Anywayyyy, congrats to those who got in!!  (´▽`)☆´

[Grass_y]

I've only seen results for Cornell Poetry any fiction applicants hear back yet?

Edited February 2, 2023 by Grass_y
typo

[fishloch]

1 hour ago, Disappointment said:

I logged into the portal this morning to find my rejection waiting.

Me too. They emailed me. Any acceptances from Alabama?

[jjooeeyy]

I'm definitely feeling anxious waiting on these results. Anyone else writing new material during this period and wishing they could go back in time to add it to their writing sample? ?

[flowerpot]

I'm writing smut fanfiction. I can't focus on "real projects."

[bw_grad]

applied to northwestern litowitz and USC's phd in creative writing! glad i found this thread

Edited February 2, 2023 by bw_grad

[belizaparker]

3 hours ago, fishloch said:

Hi. Fiction applicant here.

Has anyone heard from University of Alabama yet? I just got a response.

Thanks.

seems like everyone in the thread so far was rejected from ua, including yours truly ?

[fishloch]

13 minutes ago, belizaparker said:

seems like everyone in the thread so far was rejected from ua, including yours truly ?

Same in draft. I didn't think Alabama was too selective. Isn't it a kind of 'safe' school for many? 

[belizaparker]

3 minutes ago, fishloch said:

Same in draft. I didn't think Alabama was too selective. Isn't it a kind of 'safe' school for many? 

i didn't think so, either. i applied because i'm from alabama and tuscaloosa is two hours away from where i live, and i thought it would be a safer option in general.

i'm surprised decisions came out this early, too. i have a friend who's there right now for undergrad who also applied for the mfa, and she'd heard that decisions wouldn't come out until march. she was rejected too, unfortunately

[jjooeeyy]

19 minutes ago, fishloch said:

Same in draft. I didn't think Alabama was too selective. Isn't it a kind of 'safe' school for many? 

I'd push back on the idea of any fully-funded MFA program being a 'safe' school. Perhaps some programs are underrated or undervalued, but it's still difficult to obtain acceptance when a program only accepts 5 or so in each genre per cohort. Not sure how up-to-date it is, but Alabama currently lists 18 students on their site, and their program can be extended to 4 years; so that looks like roughly 4-6 students per genre, (since I don't think they offer CNF.)

[CLCH]

Has anyone heard anything about Brown?

[Disappointment]

55 minutes ago, fishloch said:

Same in draft. I didn't think Alabama was too selective. Isn't it a kind of 'safe' school for many? 

My understanding was that they had a 3-4% acceptance rate any given year, which is comparable to most of the more widely heralded programs.

[Grass_y]

36 minutes ago, CLCH said:

Has anyone heard anything about Brown?

No, not yet at least. I wonder when they usually notify? 

[DaisiesinVodka]

Has anyone heard of any acceptances from alabama yet? my portal still says my application is in review and i havent received any emails. 

[Disappointment]

1 minute ago, DaisiesinVodka said:

Has anyone heard of any acceptances from alabama yet? my portal still says my application is in review and i havent received any emails. 

They haven't notified admits or waitlisters yet. Not sure if this was the only wave of rejections or if more will follow.