2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Gradapp2024]

On 3/8/2024 at 3:09 PM, squarkshark said:

Hi, third year fiction applicant here and FINALLY getting bites (1a/2w/3r/4p) 

I usually write 100% new stories in June-August, and workshop them until December application deadlines. Last year I took Melissa Febos' Queer Week workshop at the FAWC. It was DAMN EXPENSIVE, but I slapped it on a credit card. FAWC and Lambda Literary are awesome. 

The problem with my very first cycle was not my excerpts. They were technically good. However, they were formulaic, and my SOP... SUCKED. It did zero work to sell me as a candidate, connect my stories to my overall craft mission, or say anything about me.

I started going to therapy and realized I was nonbinary. This year's SOP took me 20 drafts using Jess Silfa's Vanderbilt example. I talked about my gender journey, why I write, what scares me, why I write it, and why NOW. We're talking sex, death, boobs growing out of control, and Polly Pockets running ASMR channels. First sentence of the SOP was "This summer I was a Midwestern sea cucumber in an ocean of sexy trans Bostonian dolphins." 

Can't say this formula works for everyone- but fuck it! I hope this helps and/or excites you. The process is brutal, but it's a great chance to generate fresh content that feels authentically YOU

I don’t know that any one persons style or help can apply to anyone other than saying do it again and again until it feels right (which it seems you did). People who sell you their ideas are in the business of selling. We can’t forget that. Regardless though - for you personally I’m excited you are getting movement. That’s always amazing.

For me, as a first year applicant, I found that staying true to who I am worked best. I just started my SOP as a narrative of my background and where I grew up, the circumstances, and braided that with my influences, writing and end run on journey. I’m currently at:

3a/1w/6r/3p …

the first 6 school rejections were brutal - for sure - but I had a healthy perspective. Figure my sample was decent enough (maybe not the strongest) but hoped schools would notice the writing ability anyway. Which it seems they did all at the same time because since then I’m talking to four schools and have to make serious decisions soon.

My thought ultimately it this: every person works differently, individually, in a process that is equally brutal to us all on some level. We don’t all “win” or “lose” the same contest. That was my main take away. I realize I’m in a unique spot with multiple offers. But I have the same angst. The battle against rejection and then decision. The battle for writing space and denying laurels to keep figuring things out. The search for identity in craft and to help others in doing so. And if that can be done at a college or university then so be it. BUT that is not my or your or anyone’s worth. It’s a small part of everyone’s journey despite how significant it is at the time. You are the important part. You are the key cog. And how you decide is what matters.

i don’t mean this to be a soapbox. I’m simply saying keep writing, don’t be discouraged, don’t over value others opinion about your journey. You are the one that in the end has to be pleased with where you go (if anywhere) what you write (if anything) and how your life works out in the end (and they all will end). Continued great luck and cheers as you pursue you through your writing. May it positively impact others in the world.

TLDR Be yourself no matter what. Do what’s right for you. Screw everyone else. Write, write, write. Peace. 

[trenchywrench]

anyone else apply to the University of Maryland?

i’m just checking in because don’t believe i’ve seen it mentioned at all.

[nataliezimm]

2 hours ago, trenchywrench said:

anyone else apply to the University of Maryland?

i’m just checking in because don’t believe i’ve seen it mentioned at all.

I applied and haven’t heard anything yet … but I’ve seen some waitlists and acceptances on draft so I hate to say it but it may not be good news if we haven’t heard yet. What genre did you apply for? 

[trenchywrench]

21 minutes ago, nataliezimm said:

I applied and haven’t heard anything yet … but I’ve seen some waitlists and acceptances on draft so I hate to say it but it may not be good news if we haven’t heard yet. What genre did you apply for? 

fiction! from what i’ve been reading, poetry has tended to come out first from most schools. i’m not in Draft because i refuse to get Facebook. have there been fiction acceptances/waitlists? UMD only has 3 spots per genre…

[nataliezimm]

10 minutes ago, trenchywrench said:

fiction! from what i’ve been reading, poetry has tended to come out first from most schools. i’m not in Draft because i refuse to get Facebook. have there been fiction acceptances/waitlists? UMD only has 3 spots per genre…

Totally fair about Facebook lol - there’s at least one fiction acceptance and numerous waitlists reported on draft unfortunately

[trenchywrench]

54 minutes ago, nataliezimm said:

Totally fair about Facebook lol - there’s at least one fiction acceptance and numerous waitlists reported on draft unfortunately

thanks for letting me know! i’m going to wait until i get the actual rejection to put it into my spreadsheet, but it never hurts to have an idea of how you’re standing!

[nataliezimm]

11 minutes ago, trenchywrench said:

thanks for letting me know! i’m going to wait until i get the actual rejection to put it into my spreadsheet, but it never hurts to have an idea of how you’re standing!

I’m doing the same - it’s not officially over til you get the news either way! 

[prufrock_]

On 3/8/2024 at 3:54 PM, prufrock_ said:

ole miss round 2 fiction seems to be in a weird state - 1 waitlist in results here, but no acceptance/rejections listed here or in draft. Poetry results seem to be all out though! I thought i'd be hearing one way or another from them today (praise be the summoning circle).

Just got waitlisted for ole miss. Gosh, so close!

[rachy1997]

1 hour ago, prufrock_ said:

Just got waitlisted for ole miss. Gosh, so close!

congrats! that's something to be really proud of! I didn't apply there or anything, just good news

[sunnysequoia]

There’s a nonfiction waitlist for University of Arizona on Draft 👀 Best of luck everyone 😶

[Scribe]

3 minutes ago, sunnysequoia said:

There’s a nonfiction waitlist for University of Arizona on Draft 👀 Best of luck everyone 😶

i saw that and it made me think they might be moving faster than has been rumored? and maybe fiction comes soon? and maybe...

whatever. 

best of luck to you and the other cnfers. 

[minivercheevy_]

So... How far along do we think Iowa is with sending out their poetry decisions? I've counted five so far including the poet whose precociousness stirred the forums here a few pages back but who doesn't seem to be on either the forums or on Draft. Has anyone done any internet sleuthing to look for more acceptances? I don't have any other forms of social media to go stalking on. Which is probably a good thing at this point. 

 

edit: clarity

Edited March 10, 2024 by minivercheevy_

[Tuxedocat]

54 minutes ago, minivercheevy_ said:

So... How far along do we think Iowa is with sending out their poetry decisions? I've counted five so far including the poet whose precociousness stirred the forums here a few pages back but who doesn't seem to be on either the forums or on Draft. Has anyone done any internet sleuthing to look for more acceptances? I don't have any other forms of social media to go stalking on. Which is probably a good thing at this point. 

 

edit: clarity

Honestly, I have no idea. I mentioned on Friday I think that it seems like it’s over as someone in draft said they called and Iowa said they mailed all the decisions out. But it just doesn’t add up. They admitted someone that morning for poetry and hours later mailed out all the hundreds of application decisions? Or maybe they started mailing earlier in the week. But nobody received anything yet.

 

All I know is that fiction this year has been ahead of poetry by around 2 weeks from what I remember, yet nobody has gotten their fiction rejection letters or seen a portal update declining then. Only a select few fiction applicants reported getting an email about a portal status update saying their application was still in review by the department. People are speculating those who got the email are waitlisted. No such reports of an email for poetry applicants. 
 

While seeing records of 5 or so Iowa acceptances for poetry online is a small percentage of the class, it is totally possible that the other accepted people are not online or have not shared it publicly. To me, what’s more telling is the lack of any waitlists. I know Iowa does waitlists a bit differently, so if they’re waiting to hear if their offers of admission are accepted, then technically they might not be done with acceptances yet.

 

All that to say that getting an offer from Iowa at this point seems exceptionally rare, but until we start seeing those waitlist emails and rejection letters pour in, not impossible I suppose.

[minivercheevy_]

2 minutes ago, Tuxedocat said:

Honestly, I have no idea. I mentioned on Friday I think that it seems like it’s over as someone in draft said they called and Iowa said they mailed all the decisions out. But it just doesn’t add up. They admitted someone that morning for poetry and hours later mailed out all the hundreds of application decisions? Or maybe they started mailing earlier in the week. But nobody received anything yet.

 

All I know is that fiction this year has been ahead of poetry by around 2 weeks from what I remember, yet nobody has gotten their fiction rejection letters or seen a portal update declining then. Only a select few fiction applicants reported getting an email about a portal status update saying their application was still in review by the department. People are speculating those who got the email are waitlisted. No such reports of an email for poetry applicants. 
 

While seeing records of 5 or so Iowa acceptances for poetry online is a small percentage of the class, it is totally possible that the other accepted people are not online or have not shared it publicly. To me, what’s more telling is the lack of any waitlists. I know Iowa does waitlists a bit differently, so if they’re waiting to hear if their offers of admission are accepted, then technically they might not be done with acceptances yet.

 

All that to say that getting an offer from Iowa at this point seems exceptionally rare, but until we start seeing those waitlist emails and rejection letters pour in, not impossible I suppose.

Good observation about the waitlist. I do think this year seems abnormal as far as poetry decisions goes. Also, there was a poet who posted here a while ago about how Elizabeth Willis said they were "very, very early" in sending out poetry acceptances, and that was only last weekend. 

This is my first year applying, so I don't know how many reports there were last year about acceptances. Still, I feel like there'd be more buzz going around elsewhere online. I'm still holding out for some noble stalker to venture out into the digital woods and bring us some hope. But I guess we'll be hearing soon enough. Good luck. 

[Tuxedocat]

8 minutes ago, minivercheevy_ said:

Good observation about the waitlist. I do think this year seems abnormal as far as poetry decisions goes. Also, there was a poet who posted here a while ago about how Elizabeth Willis said they were "very, very early" in sending out poetry acceptances, and that was only last weekend. 

This is my first year applying, so I don't know how many reports there were last year about acceptances. Still, I feel like there'd be more buzz going around elsewhere online. I'm still holding out for some noble stalker to venture out into the digital woods and bring us some hope. But I guess we'll be hearing soon enough. Good luck. 

It's also my first year applying! However, I have some stats from last year since that might be helpful.

 

This year, more people have been reporting their stats in Draft. It's almost at 1.5k vs the 2023 one, which had just under 500 responses. That being said, 2023 lists 3 poetry acceptances and 1 waitlist for Iowa. In 2024, we have only 2 poetry acceptances in the sheet, but I think 2 additional accepted people in Draft did not post their results in the spreadsheet. So that is 4 acceptances and 0 waitlists for a spreadsheet recording about 3x as many results as last year. That is suspiciously low, but fiction is surely done with acceptances and they only have 5 acceptances in the spreadsheet.

[minivercheevy_]

12 minutes ago, Tuxedocat said:

It's also my first year applying! However, I have some stats from last year since that might be helpful.

 

This year, more people have been reporting their stats in Draft. It's almost at 1.5k vs the 2023 one, which had just under 500 responses. That being said, 2023 lists 3 poetry acceptances and 1 waitlist for Iowa. In 2024, we have only 2 poetry acceptances in the sheet, but I think 2 additional accepted people in Draft did not post their results in the spreadsheet. So that is 4 acceptances and 0 waitlists for a spreadsheet recording about 3x as many results as last year. That is suspiciously low, but fiction is surely done with acceptances and they only have 5 acceptances in the spreadsheet.

Here are my last two bargaining chips worth of cope: 

1) If we assume last year's spreadsheet should reflect this year's timeline, then theoretically we can hold out until the end of tomorrow and look forward to hearing about at least someone's waitlist later in the week.

2) I thought I heard that last year's spreadsheet was corrupted?  I think they lost a lot of data somewhere down the line, so maybe there were more reports on the sheet as well as on the Draft page separately. 

[ssuunn]

4 minutes ago, minivercheevy_ said:

2) I thought I heard that last year's spreadsheet was corrupted?  I think they lost a lot of data somewhere down the line, so maybe there were more reports on the sheet as well as on the Draft page separately. 

I don't think it was corrupted, but was open for editing and someone must've messed up the entire sheet lol. They had to restore it to a previous version, but I don't think it had that many more results lost in the process. I was watching it pretty much in real-time last year and this year's sheet has WAY more results posted.

[pomelo]

Good morning and happy Monday, everyone. I have a feeling a lot of decisions will go out this week! 

[dingledodie]

Hey yall! Anyone heard from the fiction track at the University of Montana? They’re my top choice so I’m hoping to hear from them ASAP. (It feels late that they haven’t sent out fiction decisions yet…) 

I was accepted into the University of Alaska Fairbanks last week with FULL FUNDING (still over the moon / in disbelief). They are my #2 of 9 - I’m waiting to hear back from Montana (#1) and Boise State University (#6).

Just curious if anyone’s heard / seen any movement specifically for Fiction? 

Also, congrats to all for your good news, and to those of you still in the trenches, I salute you 🫡 (I’m right there with ya til I hear from Boise and Montana!!!) 

**Edit to add: Fairbanks wants me to make my decision by 3/22 since there’s a TA/funding package involved but I’m like, eek!! Will I hear from Montana by then?? 

Edited March 11, 2024 by dingledodie
Adding clarifying info

[Scribe]

Ncsu is no longer a soft rejection. 
finally. 

[big_al15]

47 minutes ago, dingledodie said:

Hey yall! Anyone heard from the fiction track at the University of Montana? They’re my top choice so I’m hoping to hear from them ASAP. (It feels late that they haven’t sent out fiction decisions yet…) 

I was accepted into the University of Alaska Fairbanks last week with FULL FUNDING (still over the moon / in disbelief). They are my #2 of 9 - I’m waiting to hear back from Montana (#1) and Boise State University (#6).

Just curious if anyone’s heard / seen any movement specifically for Fiction? 

Also, congrats to all for your good news, and to those of you still in the trenches, I salute you 🫡 (I’m right there with ya til I hear from Boise and Montana!!!) 

**Edit to add: Fairbanks wants me to make my decision by 3/22 since there’s a TA/funding package involved but I’m like, eek!! Will I hear from Montana by then?? 

Congrats on University of Alaska Fairbanks!! I also applied to University of Montana's fiction track and have not heard anything yet. My application currently says, "Awaiting Decision", but I am hoping this week because I don't think my anxiety can take it anymore!!!! 

[dingledodie]

9 minutes ago, big_al15 said:

Congrats on University of Alaska Fairbanks!! I also applied to University of Montana's fiction track and have not heard anything yet. My application currently says, "Awaiting Decision", but I am hoping this week because I don't think my anxiety can take it anymore!!!! 

I’m right there with you!! Encouraging to know I’m not alone  and thank you!! I am so pumped about Alaska if that’s where I end up going - Montana would just be the cherry on (the already very exciting) top. 

good good good luck to you!!

[ssuunn]

1 hour ago, dingledodie said:

Just curious if anyone’s heard / seen any movement specifically for Fiction? 

I'm seeing a fiction waitlist for Montana logged on 3/2 on the Draft spreadsheet.

[chocolateoranges]

for anyone on Draft who has more knowledge--are we thinking Brown & U of Maryland are done sending out fiction acceptances at this point?

[dingledodie]

16 minutes ago, ssuunn said:

I'm seeing a fiction waitlist for Montana logged on 3/2 on the Draft spreadsheet.

Hmm, that’s interesting 🧐 I reached out to the admissions office this morning with a gentle nudge, so hopefully we have updates soon!

thank you for the input!

Edited March 11, 2024 by dingledodie
Saying thanks :)