2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[sylviaplathtears]

NYU where art thou.. 

[pomelo]

2 hours ago, InfernalDesireMachines said:

All right, I have been officially accepted into Iowa! There were over 900 applicants this year, apparently, which makes me feel insane that I'd be picked. Especially considering I'd been batting 6/6 rejections, plus one soft rejection. Technically I haven't heard back from Brown or UVA yet but I plan to accept Iowa's offer.

Congrats!! Hope you make time to celebrate. This is such an awesome feat.

Can I ask, by 900 apps did they mean overall or just fiction?

[InfernalDesireMachines]

Just now, pomelo said:

Congrats!! Hope you make time to celebrate. This is such an awesome feat.

Can I ask, by 900 apps did they mean overall or just fiction?

Thanks! 900 just in fiction.

[pananoprodigy]

20 minutes ago, InfernalDesireMachines said:

Thanks! 900 just in fiction.

900 just in fiction is CRAZY, I hope you're getting yourself a little or not-so-little treat today to celebrate! CONGRATS!

[ghostinthegraveyard]

If you happen to be a Brown playwriting applicant, one of the folks in the Draft FB group reached out to them and they said that they'll be notifying people next week. Not sure if that means for interviews or for full acceptance.

[branch]

 

I come bearing news of today's minor heart attack: I logged in to my NCSU application and the status has changed from "Awaiting Decision" to "Department Review." Which seems like a step backwards somehow? I suspect this means that rejection (or, who knows, maybe a waitlist!) is on its way this week. 

Also, over the weekend, I saw I had an email from "The University of Arizona" in my Updates tab (which only shows the sender). I had a brief out-of-body experience only to click in and see that it was their undergrad program asking me to complete my undergrad account creation. Because I created an undergrad account by accident while trying to access the MFA application. Classique!

On 2/19/2024 at 10:57 PM, lemmmein said:

Ah that was me with NCSU. So sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I get the sense they're done. I'm local, so I went to a reading last week and the current students I met mentioned they knew two of the other people in my potential fiction cohort (a current undergrad and a current MA student they'd taken classes with). It seems like networking or locality might really matter for NCSU? But also this was my 3rd round and I've lived in the area the whole time? Either way, I'm sorry to have that insight to share.

ETA: I don't know anything about waitlist though!! I got my call Thursday, and I still haven't gotten the official offer email because of the holiday. So those could go out this week? I hope the best for you there! Also, I hope it's not weird to say I liked your intro post and it sounds like I'd enjoy studying with you.

It's not weird to say at all—I feel the same way! :') Who knows, maybe our paths will cross in 2025; I'll definitely be applying again. 

Your insight is super valuable and it means a lot to me that you took the time to share it. I'm soooo happy that your hard work re-applying paid off and that you'll get to thrive at a program that's local to you!!! And with such amazing faculty, too. I will file away that networking might be something that they look for in an applicant and will do everything in my power to be as annoying as possible to them over the next year so that they recognize my name when they're forced to see it and read my sample again this winter. >:)

Strength to everyone this week!

[jka0124]

59 minutes ago, pananoprodigy said:

900 just in fiction is CRAZY, I hope you're getting yourself a little or not-so-little treat today to celebrate! CONGRATS!

The highest I’ve seen just for fiction is 1500. Iowa competition is nuts. 
 

To be fair, some of those applicants are obvious no’s—people who aren’t on draft or gradcafe or have never taken a workshop or even read much. They hear about Iowa, they think, “I can write a novel!” and apply. Not to knock their efforts, it’s just not…Iowa level, if that makes sense. 

[taliaj]

Did anyone hear back from Boise State (for Fiction, specifically)? I've heard some poetry people hear back, and I know they said March but I'm an over-worrier. Congrats to all who have gotten their acceptances to various places, and good luck all!

[writercl]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:14 PM, TPike said:

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

Both my NWP and Michener applications say "in review". I have heard that they give out most acceptances in one day but i am not sure-

[Rixor]

16 minutes ago, taliaj said:

Did anyone hear back from Boise State (for Fiction, specifically)? I've heard some poetry people hear back, and I know they said March but I'm an over-worrier. Congrats to all who have gotten their acceptances to various places, and good luck all!

I haven't. I've been counting it as a 'soft rejection,' but I really haven't heard anything about it anywhere. 

Actually now that you mention it, previous years' results on Gradcafe show that a lot of people doing fiction seem to get notified ridiculously late, all the way in April.  

[writercl]

"NWP typically accepts three poets and three fiction writers into the program each year for a total cohort of eighteen students. MCW accepts an incoming class of twelve students per year distributed across four genres (typically with more fiction writers and poets than screenwriters or playwrights) for an overall cohort of thirty-six students. However, given shared courses and events, the cohorts of both programs intermingle to create one community."

From the NWP website

[prufrock_]

4 minutes ago, writercl said:

"NWP typically accepts three poets and three fiction writers into the program each year for a total cohort of eighteen students. MCW accepts an incoming class of twelve students per year distributed across four genres (typically with more fiction writers and poets than screenwriters or playwrights) for an overall cohort of thirty-six students. However, given shared courses and events, the cohorts of both programs intermingle to create one community."

From the NWP website

oof I didn't realized NWP only let in three people. I was feeling rather confident about that one until just now!

 

I wanted to live in austin texas so I could pretend I was in Friday Night Lights. Two dreams dying with one rejection!

[writercl]

3 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

oof I didn't realized NWP only let in three people. I was feeling rather confident about that one until just now!

 

I wanted to live in austin texas so I could pretend I was in Friday Night Lights. Two dreams dying with one rejection!

im so sorry 😭😭😭 i believe in you!! & even if you don't get in this year, you got it next year!

[lychees]

Just received an email notifying me that I'm waitlisted for University of New Mexico — bringing the total up to three waitlists so far! Here's to hoping that more good news comes to everyone this week. 

[writercl]

did anyone apply to UH (university of Houston)? and do we know how competitive the program is?

[BlueJayBird]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:09 PM, Scribe said:

Yeah maybe. I don’t know how enforceable it is but let us know what you find out. 

I followed up with NAU about them asking that I respond to my TA offer by March 8, since they signed the CGS April 15 Resolution. They said it's a request to do them the courtesy of responding by then, not a definitive deadline in order to keep the offer. The true deadline is April 15!

[darr1]

Bernie meme:

i am once again asking for news from Minnesota, UNLV, Virginia, Arizona….

[ssuunn]

10 minutes ago, writercl said:

did anyone apply to UH (university of Houston)? and do we know how competitive the program is?

I applied there and I have no idea how competitive it is. I know that it's more known for its PhD Creative Writing program. There was someone last year who got in off the waitlist who was active in Draft; but I'm not sure in terms of acceptance rate, how big the waitlist was, etc. From last year's list, someone said there were 5 fiction admits, but then someone else said 4-6 total for both poetry and fiction. Shrug

 

2 minutes ago, darr1 said:

i am once again asking for news from Minnesota, UNLV, Virginia, Arizona….

Virginia traditionally doesn't notify until early March, so we may have another week on them. Not sure what's going on with the others, though.

Edited February 26 by ssuunn

[Karmazinov]

Anyone know when to expect word from Brown, UMass, and Rutgers?

[writercl]

6 minutes ago, writercl said:

did anyone apply to UH (university of Houston)? and do we know how competitive the program is?

nvm on the second half of the question- looked it up & they accept 20 across 2 genres! (they also said among "hundreds of applications")

[foundress of nothing]

32 minutes ago, writercl said:

"NWP typically accepts three poets and three fiction writers into the program each year for a total cohort of eighteen students. MCW accepts an incoming class of twelve students per year distributed across four genres (typically with more fiction writers and poets than screenwriters or playwrights) for an overall cohort of thirty-six students. However, given shared courses and events, the cohorts of both programs intermingle to create one community."

From the NWP website

Michener accepted 4 this year from 450 applicants (just fiction, saw that stat from "alethewriter" on tiktok) not sure about the other genres!

[sylviaplathtears]

3 minutes ago, Karmazinov said:

Anyone know when to expect word from Brown, UMass, and Rutgers?

I believe Umass acceptances and waitlists have gone out but I don't think there's been any movement on the other two

Edited February 26 by sylviaplathtears

[aurqcyei]

5 minutes ago, Karmazinov said:

Anyone know when to expect word from Brown, UMass, and Rutgers?

If you're talking about Amherst, they should be done notifying for fiction. I was called a few weeks ago, along with a few others from what I can see on the Draft spreadsheet. I think a previous post indicated Brown might be next week if playwrighting and the other genres come out at the same time.

Edited February 26 by aurqcyei

[pananoprodigy]

6 minutes ago, darr1 said:

Bernie meme:

i am once again asking for news from Minnesota, UNLV, Virginia, Arizona….

Arizona in particular is pretty late compared to the last few years 😕

[ssuunn]

6 minutes ago, writercl said:

nvm on the second half of the question- looked it up & they accept 20 across 2 genres! (they also said among "hundreds of applications")

FYI that is probably 20 admits across both the MFA and the PhD programs. (That same language is used for both the MFA and PhD info pages.) I'm guessing that it could be 5 fiction/5 poetry for the MFA and 5 fiction/5 poetry for the PhD, but I genuinely don't know the breakdown on that.