2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[triciadawn]

9 minutes ago, foundress of nothing said:

it sounds like everyone who was accepted (domestically at least, for fiction) got voicemails on Tuesday already 😭

I think I only saw 2 acceptances for fiction in draft spreadsheet. 

[foundress of nothing]

I could be wrong but I believe they typically call all the admits in one day (per genre)

[Rixor]

Going to ramble a bit. I'm a first-gen student so my family doesn't understand, and I don't really know anyone else who understands this process. I'll throw it up here in hopes of feeling better. 

I got so, so excited about my first acceptance!! Started reseaching the city, daydreaming about it, reading the work of the professors... And then I found out (I don't know the whole story) that the program is at-risk of being cancelled. News articles about the uni say that the admin has been acting a little unfavorable so even if the CW faculty is amazing, I'm bracing myself for cancellation.  

My second acceptance is to a wonderful school that I toured for undergrad, but I don't know if I'll get funding. I checked the box on my application that said "I cannot attend without funding" and got an acceptance anyways, so I'm hoping that's the case, but knowing that another admitted student on this forum got a TA-ship offer the day after their letter makes me think they might've passed me up. (I'm so happy for you, by the way!! Not trying to detract from your accomplishment!) When I emailed, they told me I'll know within the next few weeks.

So, that leaves me with three waitlists. I'm extremely grateful for them, but they're also so vague that it's scary. I've got two programs I'm accepted into, but might not be able to attend. It also leaves me with one hard rejection, two soft rejections (Boise and USF), and only two left pending: Las Vegas, and UDub. I keep overthinking my application for the second one in particular. One of my short stories took place in Seattle, and in my SOP I wrote about how much I adore the city. That's entirely honest--I really do love the city, the multiculturalism, its history, its unique ecology, the people I met when I did volunteerwork there--but I keep thinking, man. It's honest, but that's probably not what they're looking for! I probably come across as a total, like... 'Seattle-weeaboo.' I do admire the CW faculty and their work, but to my knowledge, it's a bad idea to single out professors' work because it can make the professors you don't include feel a little bummed out. And I'd've been lying if I had said I was familiar with all of the professors' works. 

But yeah. Back in limbo. This process is tough and I can't help but dread checking the spreadsheet in case UNLV and UW-S notices go out without me getting one.

[CLCH]

8 minutes ago, foundress of nothing said:

I could be wrong but I believe they typically call all the admits in one day (per genre)

That's definitely not what I have heard. In a previous year someone I know was accepted there weeks later than when they first notified for fiction. He recently told me that they often spread out calling because they don't often know how funding will work for everyone.

[3feetofsnow]

2 hours ago, 3feetofsnow said:

Another USC acceptance just went out to a fiction applicant so it looks like they’re doing a slow rollout and there’s still a possibility that mine is coming, and a definite possibility of making the wait list… here’s hoping!

Nevermind it’s backdated to the same day the others were sent out, here’s hoping for a waitlist…

[3feetofsnow]

Ooh but someone with a UW Madison acceptance just got into Michigan on top of the one who got into I think it was Vandy, so my odds there are looking up!

[pananoprodigy]

Where oh where is Arizonaaaa😩

[3feetofsnow]

3 minutes ago, pananoprodigy said:

Where oh where is Arizonaaaa😩

Right?? Does anyone know the general timeline for when they notified last year?

[sylviaplathtears]

I cannot take this waiting ... 

[jadedoptimist]

1 minute ago, sylviaplathtears said:

I cannot take this waiting ... 

The weekend is an endless gulf between me and more news. Which I seek, like an anteater seeks ants, or, like, a vacuum. I'm not a good writer right now. Let's have a weekend thread! Distraction!

What is everyone doing this weekend? 

- I'll probably go for a walk in the woods to try to disconnect for at least 30 minutes. (Don't laugh).

[triciadawn]

59 minutes ago, foundress of nothing said:

I could be wrong but I believe they typically call all the admits in one day (per genre)

Wait so all of Iowa is out?? 😭

[3feetofsnow]

Just now, jadedoptimist said:

The weekend is an endless gulf between me and more news. Which I seek, like an anteater seeks ants, or, like, a vacuum. I'm not a good writer right now. Let's have a weekend thread! Distraction!

What is everyone doing this weekend? 

- I'll probably go for a walk in the woods to try to disconnect for at least 30 minutes. (Don't laugh).

I have a walk in the woods with a couple very sweet dogs and a Black Sails marathon planned with a friend

[ghostinthegraveyard]

2 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

The weekend is an endless gulf between me and more news. Which I seek, like an anteater seeks ants, or, like, a vacuum. I'm not a good writer right now. Let's have a weekend thread! Distraction!

What is everyone doing this weekend? 

- I'll probably go for a walk in the woods to try to disconnect for at least 30 minutes. (Don't laugh).

I have tickets for a show tonight that I'm tempted to skip to sit here and keep refreshing... but I should probably follow through and go.

I'll be in rehearsals all day tomorrow, thank God, haha. I think some time away from the screens could do me some good... I'm sure I'm not the only one 😵

I took a nice walk and unplugged the other day and felt much more at ease after... at least for a little bit. Wishing you the same, @jadedoptimist!!

[Scribe]

7 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

The weekend is an endless gulf between me and more news. Which I seek, like an anteater seeks ants, or, like, a vacuum. I'm not a good writer right now. Let's have a weekend thread! Distraction!

What is everyone doing this weekend? 

- I'll probably go for a walk in the woods to try to disconnect for at least 30 minutes. (Don't laugh).

Going to the circus. 

[sylviaplathtears]

12 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

The weekend is an endless gulf between me and more news. Which I seek, like an anteater seeks ants, or, like, a vacuum. I'm not a good writer right now. Let's have a weekend thread! Distraction!

What is everyone doing this weekend? 

- I'll probably go for a walk in the woods to try to disconnect for at least 30 minutes. (Don't laugh).

@jadedoptimist a walk in woods is so nourishing. I wish I had woods near me!  I will be trying to escape the winter and grad school blues by going to an art gallery tonight and hopefully finishing A Portrait of Lady this weekend. 

[CLCH]

25 minutes ago, triciadawn said:

Wait so all of Iowa is out?? 😭

I don't believe so. I think they're still notifying. 

[decayingballads21]

Hey party animals! Does anyone know when Idaho and Wyoming typically notify? Not much data on the spreadsheet last year. Any insight is appreciated! 
sending love, hope and positive vibes to all of you!! 

[Scribe]

ugh. staring down the barrel of six soft rejections.

Iowa, NWP, Vandy, UCR, New Mexico, and NCSU. Just pull the fucking trigger already people! Look, i know there are a few moonshots in there and that I've known for a while but COME ON! rip the band aid off. I'm shivering at the thought of what the next two weeks look like. i feel like i can only steel myself so much and then one day I'm Going to have a dozen or more rejections in my box at the same time. 

I need a win. 

 

[TPike]

Are many others still “in review” for Michener? And does anyone know what this means at this point?

[BlueJayBird]

1 hour ago, Rixor said:

Going to ramble a bit. I'm a first-gen student so my family doesn't understand, and I don't really know anyone else who understands this process. I'll throw it up here in hopes of feeling better. 

I got so, so excited about my first acceptance!! Started reseaching the city, daydreaming about it, reading the work of the professors... And then I found out (I don't know the whole story) that the program is at-risk of being cancelled. News articles about the uni say that the admin has been acting a little unfavorable so even if the CW faculty is amazing, I'm bracing myself for cancellation.  

My second acceptance is to a wonderful school that I toured for undergrad, but I don't know if I'll get funding. I checked the box on my application that said "I cannot attend without funding" and got an acceptance anyways, so I'm hoping that's the case, but knowing that another admitted student on this forum got a TA-ship offer the day after their letter makes me think they might've passed me up. (I'm so happy for you, by the way!! Not trying to detract from your accomplishment!) When I emailed, they told me I'll know within the next few weeks.

So, that leaves me with three waitlists. I'm extremely grateful for them, but they're also so vague that it's scary. I've got two programs I'm accepted into, but might not be able to attend. It also leaves me with one hard rejection, two soft rejections (Boise and USF), and only two left pending: Las Vegas, and UDub. I keep overthinking my application for the second one in particular. One of my short stories took place in Seattle, and in my SOP I wrote about how much I adore the city. That's entirely honest--I really do love the city, the multiculturalism, its history, its unique ecology, the people I met when I did volunteerwork there--but I keep thinking, man. It's honest, but that's probably not what they're looking for! I probably come across as a total, like... 'Seattle-weeaboo.' I do admire the CW faculty and their work, but to my knowledge, it's a bad idea to single out professors' work because it can make the professors you don't include feel a little bummed out. And I'd've been lying if I had said I was familiar with all of the professors' works. 

But yeah. Back in limbo. This process is tough and I can't help but dread checking the spreadsheet in case UNLV and UW-S notices go out without me getting one.

This is so challenging, limbo is the hardest place to be. I'm sorry you're going through that uncertainty. It's crazy that that program might get cancelled! That sucks SO hard. That first-acceptance excitement is so real, and I can only imagine how emotional it is for that opportunity to be in question now.

It's so easy to second-guess and critique your applications after the fact (I found a typo in the final, what I hoped to be hard-hitting sentence of my SOP after sending a version of it to four different schools...ugh). I think if you wrote honestly and to the best of your ability at the time, that's all you can ask of yourself. Write the things you love. Changing your writing to fit what you think a program wants means that if you do get accepted based on that change, you might not actually feel at home there as your true writer self.

I'm making an assumption here, but I know you replied to my post asking about my TA notification, so I'm guessing you might be referring to that school for the funding issue. They asked me to accept or decline the position by March 8, so maybe that's a more concrete date around which you can center your expectations for when second-round TA offers might go out. I hope that alleviates at least a tiny bit of uncertainty, and I really hope you get a TA offer!!!

I'm sending good vibes your way

[jadedoptimist]

3 minutes ago, TPike said:

Are many others still “in review” for Michener? And does anyone know what this means at this point?

Yes, I am! I believe many are. At least one of the reported rejections on the spreadsheet came from someone with a B-name... so I'm thinking they're slowly going through and sending out rejections.

[TPike]

3 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

Yes, I am! I believe many are. At least one of the reported rejections on the spreadsheet came from someone with a B-name... so I'm thinking they're slowly going through and sending out rejections.

Ahh, ok thank you! 

[Scribe]

14 minutes ago, BlueJayBird said:

This is so challenging, limbo is the hardest place to be. I'm sorry you're going through that uncertainty. It's crazy that that program might get cancelled! That sucks SO hard. That first-acceptance excitement is so real, and I can only imagine how emotional it is for that opportunity to be in question now.

It's so easy to second-guess and critique your applications after the fact (I found a typo in the final, what I hoped to be hard-hitting sentence of my SOP after sending a version of it to four different schools...ugh). I think if you wrote honestly and to the best of your ability at the time, that's all you can ask of yourself. Write the things you love. Changing your writing to fit what you think a program wants means that if you do get accepted based on that change, you might not actually feel at home there as your true writer self.

I'm making an assumption here, but I know you replied to my post asking about my TA notification, so I'm guessing you might be referring to that school for the funding issue. They asked me to accept or decline the position by March 8, so maybe that's a more concrete date around which you can center your expectations for when second-round TA offers might go out. I hope that alleviates at least a tiny bit of uncertainty, and I really hope you get a TA offer!!!

I'm sending good vibes your way

Did they sign the GCS april 15 resolution?

[Scribe]

2 hours ago, Rixor said:

Going to ramble a bit. I'm a first-gen student so my family doesn't understand, and I don't really know anyone else who understands this process. I'll throw it up here in hopes of feeling better. 

I got so, so excited about my first acceptance!! Started reseaching the city, daydreaming about it, reading the work of the professors... And then I found out (I don't know the whole story) that the program is at-risk of being cancelled. News articles about the uni say that the admin has been acting a little unfavorable so even if the CW faculty is amazing, I'm bracing myself for cancellation.  

My second acceptance is to a wonderful school that I toured for undergrad, but I don't know if I'll get funding. I checked the box on my application that said "I cannot attend without funding" and got an acceptance anyways, so I'm hoping that's the case, but knowing that another admitted student on this forum got a TA-ship offer the day after their letter makes me think they might've passed me up. (I'm so happy for you, by the way!! Not trying to detract from your accomplishment!) When I emailed, they told me I'll know within the next few weeks.

So, that leaves me with three waitlists. I'm extremely grateful for them, but they're also so vague that it's scary. I've got two programs I'm accepted into, but might not be able to attend. It also leaves me with one hard rejection, two soft rejections (Boise and USF), and only two left pending: Las Vegas, and UDub. I keep overthinking my application for the second one in particular. One of my short stories took place in Seattle, and in my SOP I wrote about how much I adore the city. That's entirely honest--I really do love the city, the multiculturalism, its history, its unique ecology, the people I met when I did volunteerwork there--but I keep thinking, man. It's honest, but that's probably not what they're looking for! I probably come across as a total, like... 'Seattle-weeaboo.' I do admire the CW faculty and their work, but to my knowledge, it's a bad idea to single out professors' work because it can make the professors you don't include feel a little bummed out. And I'd've been lying if I had said I was familiar with all of the professors' works. 

But yeah. Back in limbo. This process is tough and I can't help but dread checking the spreadsheet in case UNLV and UW-S notices go out without me getting one.

You listen and listen good! You Are Killing It.

Now, I get it. It's more than uncertainty. There's a feeling that even if you didn't put your eggs in one basket, all those baskets are on one wagon - 2024. Is this really it? I'm not talking about the disappointment, i'm talking about the idea that this year is it? Is it? No. So at least as far as that goes, you're in the same boat you were before you heard from anyone. 

You're second guessing.  your seattle story was written and sent out before now. you've known for months. What changed? nothing. you're still killing it. (Is UDub a nickname for Seattle? I wish i knew that before i applied there!) 

You have me a little worried because I tried to mention at least one faculty member wherever I could. One of us is right, one of us not so much. Nothing to do now. 

If you count up the letters in the first sentence of my Columbia SOP and divide by two, that is exactly where you'll find my typo. It's right there in the mathematical middle. I knew Columbia was out that night. Ugh.  

Yes, the soft "r" is a special hell. 

I'm with you, even the unimaginable maybe yes/maybe no. I didn't think it could be worse than an unranked waitlist. Wrong again. I suck. You don't. 

If next year comes and I find myself doing this again, and it would take a LOT for that to happen, there won't be second guessing. There won't be fear. There won't. I know this doesn't really help much, not when you're living it, but you are not your MFA.

[BlueJayBird]

23 minutes ago, Scribe said:

Did they sign the GCS april 15 resolution?

Huh, it looks like they did! Maybe I should inquire about that.