2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Scribe]

4 hours ago, RobbieWrites said:

Thoughts on City College of New York vs. The New School for Fiction Creative Writing MFA? I'm a bit torn and haven't toured the campus for either (also won't be able to before decision day).

Look at what you know, faculty, cohort size, funding, alumni, etc. and ABSOLUTELY speak with current students. 

[Jane Wyman]

15 hours ago, pomelo said:

Someone in the MFA Draft FB group said UNCG wouldn’t get back to applicants until April 15 which is kind of ridiculous. At this point if you haven’t heard back from a program(s) it’s worth it to reach out to them. It’s almost April..

Good to know, thanks! And wow, April 15 ...

[pananoprodigy]

Don't really feel comfy bouncing this off anyone in my real life just yet so I'm tossing it here. I didn't get in anywhere this year (technically still waiting to hear from Oregon and Iowa lol). It was my first time applying and I only did 4 schools because I already have an MFA and I wasn't totally sure if I wanted another one. Now that time has passed I feel a lot clearer that actually yes, I DO want to do this, for sure, and I'm planning on applying to way more programs this time, as well as doing a lot more prep work. I've lived in my current city for just about 10 years, I love my friends and my apartment, and the idea of leaving is really, really scary. I think leaving for a specific purpose (like grad school) would lessen that a little, but I recently had the thought that I could actually leave this coming winter and move back home with my parents to save money while I apply. I work remote and if I were able to save what I'm currently paying on rent, I could theoretically start an MFA program in 2025 with about $20,000 of my own money saved up. However, I'd be gambling on the fact that I will, in fact, get in somewhere this time. If I don't I'll have moved across the country and uprooted my whole life just to be 33 living in my childhood bedroom. I could also continue my life as-is and plan to only move home next spring if I get accepted; I guess I wouldn't be saving THAT much more compared to moving in the winter. Idk, I guess I'm just wondering what y'all would do in this situation. I'm in so much debt from my other master's degree that the idea of going into this one with a big chunk of money is really really appealing.

[Hjanep]

31 minutes ago, pananoprodigy said:

Don't really feel comfy bouncing this off anyone in my real life just yet so I'm tossing it here. I didn't get in anywhere this year (technically still waiting to hear from Oregon and Iowa lol). It was my first time applying and I only did 4 schools because I already have an MFA and I wasn't totally sure if I wanted another one. Now that time has passed I feel a lot clearer that actually yes, I DO want to do this, for sure, and I'm planning on applying to way more programs this time, as well as doing a lot more prep work. I've lived in my current city for just about 10 years, I love my friends and my apartment, and the idea of leaving is really, really scary. I think leaving for a specific purpose (like grad school) would lessen that a little, but I recently had the thought that I could actually leave this coming winter and move back home with my parents to save money while I apply. I work remote and if I were able to save what I'm currently paying on rent, I could theoretically start an MFA program in 2025 with about $20,000 of my own money saved up. However, I'd be gambling on the fact that I will, in fact, get in somewhere this time. If I don't I'll have moved across the country and uprooted my whole life just to be 33 living in my childhood bedroom. I could also continue my life as-is and plan to only move home next spring if I get accepted; I guess I wouldn't be saving THAT much more compared to moving in the winter. Idk, I guess I'm just wondering what y'all would do in this situation. I'm in so much debt from my other master's degree that the idea of going into this one with a big chunk of money is really really appealing.

Ok this is probably a controversial take because it is the less fiscally conservative move but I wouldn’t move back in with your parents. The year(s) between now and starting your program are your life too and (me projecting my own family dynamic) living with your parents is not going to be super pleasant? In theory your other debt will go into forbearance while you’re in a program so you’re just kicking the can down the road but personally I would just keep living your current life and maybe try to get a side hustle or do something else to make up that $20k.

[pananoprodigy]

46 minutes ago, Hjanep said:

Ok this is probably a controversial take because it is the less fiscally conservative move but I wouldn’t move back in with your parents. The year(s) between now and starting your program are your life too and (me projecting my own family dynamic) living with your parents is not going to be super pleasant? In theory your other debt will go into forbearance while you’re in a program so you’re just kicking the can down the road but personally I would just keep living your current life and maybe try to get a side hustle or do something else to make up that $20k.

Thank youuu, that's a really good point that I have to remember (re: the years in between are also my life). My parents are cool and it would be nice to be closer to my little sister, who also lives at home, so I don't think it would be bad in that sense, but it definitely would be a huge adjustment for somebody (me) who's been used to living alone for like ten years lol.

[justasmidge]

This...was an interesting afternoon. So I decided to decline my spot at SLC because of lack of funding and wrote them a really nice letter saying that it wasn't feasible financially and wished them all the best.

Then I got an e-mail to check my portal and they sent me another acceptance letter, this time with the 12k a year scholarship. 

I'm wondering if maybe they forgot to give me the award in the first place? It just seems weird that they would accept me again after I declined. I wrote to the grad admissions staff asking if they could explain what happened because it is a little disappointing that, because of the lack of funding, I decided that I wasn't going to entertain the accepted students events...but if I knew I had funding, it would have been a different story. 

[Scribe]

4 hours ago, pananoprodigy said:

Don't really feel comfy bouncing this off anyone in my real life just yet so I'm tossing it here. I didn't get in anywhere this year (technically still waiting to hear from Oregon and Iowa lol). It was my first time applying and I only did 4 schools because I already have an MFA and I wasn't totally sure if I wanted another one. Now that time has passed I feel a lot clearer that actually yes, I DO want to do this, for sure, and I'm planning on applying to way more programs this time, as well as doing a lot more prep work. I've lived in my current city for just about 10 years, I love my friends and my apartment, and the idea of leaving is really, really scary. I think leaving for a specific purpose (like grad school) would lessen that a little, but I recently had the thought that I could actually leave this coming winter and move back home with my parents to save money while I apply. I work remote and if I were able to save what I'm currently paying on rent, I could theoretically start an MFA program in 2025 with about $20,000 of my own money saved up. However, I'd be gambling on the fact that I will, in fact, get in somewhere this time. If I don't I'll have moved across the country and uprooted my whole life just to be 33 living in my childhood bedroom. I could also continue my life as-is and plan to only move home next spring if I get accepted; I guess I wouldn't be saving THAT much more compared to moving in the winter. Idk, I guess I'm just wondering what y'all would do in this situation. I'm in so much debt from my other master's degree that the idea of going into this one with a big chunk of money is really really appealing.

I'm all about hard facts so just take this for what it is.

20K is not a big chunk of money. It is not. 
If you are more than 20K in debt it is nothing.

I do not know your income, debt amount, what your current MFA is in or what the one you wish to attain would be but I believe firmly you should not go into debt - AT ALL - for an MFA. There's millions and millions and MILLIONS of dollars in funding out there. Go get it. 

If moving back home is about the money, go ahead. Move home, apply next year, and take all that money you're planning to save and pay down your debt. If you don't want to do that, fine. But apply next year and pay down what you can in the meantime. If you work remote, you can likely continue while in a program for extra money. 

Do what you want. Do not put things in the way of that. 

[pananoprodigy]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

I'm all about hard facts so just take this for what it is.

20K is not a big chunk of money. It is not. 
If you are more than 20K in debt it is nothing.

I do not know your income, debt amount, what your current MFA is in or what the one you wish to attain would be but I believe firmly you should not go into debt - AT ALL - for an MFA. There's millions and millions and MILLIONS of dollars in funding out there. Go get it. 

If moving back home is about the money, go ahead. Move home, apply next year, and take all that money you're planning to save and pay down your debt. If you don't want to do that, fine. But apply next year and pay down what you can in the meantime. If you work remote, you can likely continue while in a program for extra money. 

Do what you want. Do not put things in the way of that. 

Unfortunately I already have the debt so it’s a bit too late for that.  lol

[pomelo]

10 hours ago, justasmidge said:

This...was an interesting afternoon. So I decided to decline my spot at SLC because of lack of funding and wrote them a really nice letter saying that it wasn't feasible financially and wished them all the best.

Then I got an e-mail to check my portal and they sent me another acceptance letter, this time with the 12k a year scholarship. 

I'm wondering if maybe they forgot to give me the award in the first place? It just seems weird that they would accept me again after I declined. I wrote to the grad admissions staff asking if they could explain what happened because it is a little disappointing that, because of the lack of funding, I decided that I wasn't going to entertain the accepted students events...but if I knew I had funding, it would have been a different story. 

Huh, that’s weird. Did you end up hearing back from them?

I am going to deny Sarah Lawrence’s offer too for the same reason. I got into a fully funded program and I’ve been telling most people that I’m still weighing both options, but realistically my heart is set on the fully funded program. I just haven’t but the bullet yet. I really wanted to attend their in-person admitted students event, but I don’t think it was a smart move to let us know only weeks in advance and to schedule it on a holiday weekend. (I don’t celebrate Easter but I’m on vacation this week). 
 

12 hours ago, pananoprodigy said:

I recently had the thought that I could actually leave this coming winter and move back home with my parents to save money while I apply. I work remote and if I were able to save what I'm currently paying on rent, I could theoretically start an MFA program in 2025 with about $20,000 of my own money saved up. However, I'd be gambling on the fact that I will, in fact, get in somewhere this time. If I don't I'll have moved across the country and uprooted my whole life just to be 33 living in my childhood bedroom. I could also continue my life as-is and plan to only move home next spring if I get accepted; I guess I wouldn't be saving THAT much more compared to moving in the winter. Idk, I guess I'm just wondering what y'all would do in this situation. I'm in so much debt from my other master's degree that the idea of going into this one with a big chunk of money is really really appealing.

I’m accepting an offer at a school in the Midwest and will be moving there in the fall. This will be my second big move in the last five years (first one was NC->Philly which was a considerably more lowkey move than the one I’ll be making for grad school). With that said, if I were you, I wouldn’t move simply because you’ll likely be doing it again less than a year later for grad school. I hate moving. You may be saving money on rent, but what about moving costs? Moving is expensive! The only way you’d get me to move back in with my parents is if I was applying to schools in that area (or if I was experiencing some kind of emergency). There are other ways to save up for grad school, which I def recommend doing because even if you get into a fully funded program, there will be moving costs—and living costs! A stipend can only help so much. Most MFAs I’ve met have some kind of side gig. I would make the choice that’s most beneficial for you and your writing. Improve your application and writing sample. Take some workshops. That’s what I would do!

[OctopusCactus]

17 hours ago, justasmidge said:

I'm wondering if maybe they forgot to give me the award in the first place? It just seems weird that they would accept me again after I declined. I wrote to the grad admissions staff asking if they could explain what happened because it is a little disappointing that, because of the lack of funding, I decided that I wasn't going to entertain the accepted students events...but if I knew I had funding, it would have been a different story. 

They didn't forget, schools just hold some funds in reserve to negotiate with. First offer does not equal final/best offer. I know multiple people who have successfully negotiated better funding for MFAs, and having a fully funded offer in your pocket is a great point of negotiating leverage! 

[alwriting]

On 3/26/2024 at 8:23 PM, itsbeensnowing said:

Anyone know wtf is going on with Southern Illinois University? Guessing not a lot of people here applied there but I haven't seen any acceptances on the results page. It's getting quite late for any program to still not even have their first wave of acceptances out. But maybe they do and it just doesn't include anybody on this site. (I'm not on facebook, so if there's been any word there, let me know.)

Also, any intel on waitlist movement for Urbana-Champaign? (Or if they're getting close to finalizing their slots?) Dunno if I should be waiting on them.

Anyways, less than three weeks until the big decision day. Hang in there, everyone!

Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. Wanted to offer some info on this (and some other schools if that's helpful to anyone). Just accepted an offer at IU for fiction and am consequently turning down an offer from SIU (they emailed me with an offer on Tuesday 3/26) & University of Arkansas (I know a while back some people were wondering about Arkansas). Best of luck, everyone! I've been very grateful for the info/community in this forum.

[pananoprodigy]

From university of Oregon: 
 

“Thank you for reaching out! The Creative Writing department has let us know that they will be sending out their final decisions in mid-April. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any updates on individual applications until that time. Thank you for your patience and understanding.“

Mid April when acceptances when out in January is crazy 

[ssuunn]

52 minutes ago, pananoprodigy said:

From university of Oregon: 
 

“Thank you for reaching out! The Creative Writing department has let us know that they will be sending out their final decisions in mid-April. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any updates on individual applications until that time. Thank you for your patience and understanding.“

Mid April when acceptances when out in January is crazy 

Not disagreeing, but the usual creative writing program director is on sabbatical, so a professor from a different department had to step in as the interim-director. That might have something to do with it, unfortunately. 

[ssuunn]

1 hour ago, alwriting said:

Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. Wanted to offer some info on this (and some other schools if that's helpful to anyone). Just accepted an offer at IU for fiction and am consequently turning down an offer from SIU (they emailed me with an offer on Tuesday 3/26) & University of Arkansas (I know a while back some people were wondering about Arkansas). Best of luck, everyone! I've been very grateful for the info/community in this forum.

Congrats! If you have questions about Bloomington, feel free to DM.
Good luck finding housing! My landlord asked me if I was going to renew for August 2024 on January 2 this year.

[prufrock_]

1 hour ago, alwriting said:

Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. Wanted to offer some info on this (and some other schools if that's helpful to anyone). Just accepted an offer at IU for fiction and am consequently turning down an offer from SIU (they emailed me with an offer on Tuesday 3/26) & University of Arkansas (I know a while back some people were wondering about Arkansas). Best of luck, everyone! I've been very grateful for the info/community in this forum.

Congrats, and thanks for letting us know!

The Ark waitlist seems rather large, so good luck yall!

[Sumire11]

On 3/26/2024 at 7:37 PM, triciadawn said:

4 hours ago, alwriting said:

Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. Wanted to offer some info on this (and some other schools if that's helpful to anyone). Just accepted an offer at IU for fiction and am consequently turning down an offer from SIU (they emailed me with an offer on Tuesday 3/26) & University of Arkansas (I know a while back some people were wondering about Arkansas). Best of luck, everyone! I've been very grateful for the info/community in this forum.

 

Hello @alwriting

Just to clarify, the Ark one was an offer for Fiction yes? 

[alwriting]

45 minutes ago, Sumire11 said:

Hello @alwriting

Just to clarify, the Ark one was an offer for Fiction yes? 

Yes, fiction!

[sunstitch]

On 2/28/2024 at 11:48 AM, airlinefood_enjoyer said:

hiiiii i got waitlisted too! Wishing you the best of luck. I would love to go there, but it isn't my definitive top choice. I'm waitlisted at 2 other places, and have 5 more pending that I hope might turn into an a or another w. 

I recall in the email reaching out about interviews, the director said there was a shortlist of 10 prose writers. I know they admit a cohort of 4. I'm guessing the waitlist is the 6 of us who got an interview but didn't get an initial acceptance offer. I may be a writer but I can do some math too 😏

I haven't heard anything back from Notre Dame yet. Not even a rejection. Any idea what this means? If they're going to reject me I'd like to know now so I can move on with a different school. But I also applied for both poetry and prose so I wonder if that somehow made things more difficult for me and the admissions process.

[snowonthedesert]

Hi everyone, I'm trying to decide between NYU and Columbia for poetry. Are there any significant issues with Columbia's program other than the lack of funding?

[airlinefood_enjoyer]

21 hours ago, sunstitch said:

I haven't heard anything back from Notre Dame yet. Not even a rejection. Any idea what this means? If they're going to reject me I'd like to know now so I can move on with a different school. But I also applied for both poetry and prose so I wonder if that somehow made things more difficult for me and the admissions process.

Hi hi

Just a disclaimer, take anything I say with a grain of salt. I think there's at least one person posting on here who didn't get an interview but got waitlisted, so I'm just going off my best guess. I haven't heard anything since my waitlist update in late February. I got notified via portal update rather than a personal email. 

My gut tells me if you haven't heard anything it's a soft rejection. With any of these applications I suppose it's never truly over until you get that official rejection, but I wouldn't count on anything from ND if you haven't heard from them yet. 

[twoolspun]

10 hours ago, snowonthedesert said:

Hi everyone, I'm trying to decide between NYU and Columbia for poetry. Are there any significant issues with Columbia's program other than the lack of funding?

First time poster, long-time lurker! Thought I could interject here.

I had a good friend go to NYU and another go to Columbia, and at the end of the day both are good programs but I think NYU takes the bait. From what I heard, the faculty at Columbia had clear favorites since the student groups are so big, but it is apparently better for making friends since there are so many people you can connect with. My friend said he wasn't the favorite so sometimes it was difficult to get as extensive feedback, but still said he liked it because of his community.

But even though NYU has a smaller group, the mentorship seems better at NYU. My friend's thesis professor was Ocean Vuong which was crazy. But also that's a lucky year, with big poets coming in. You also (I think) get more opportunities to share work on a bigger stage (like scheduled readings and stuff). 

So basically, Columbia is great for writing at your own speed and forming your own connections. NYU is great for closer shaping from the faculty and has more opportunities to learn from really stellar people. You've probably heard this a million times, but at this point, I would pick where the funding is. 

[LivingUnderABigRock]

20 hours ago, airlinefood_enjoyer said:

Hi hi

Just a disclaimer, take anything I say with a grain of salt. I think there's at least one person posting on here who didn't get an interview but got waitlisted, so I'm just going off my best guess. I haven't heard anything since my waitlist update in late February. I got notified via portal update rather than a personal email. 

My gut tells me if you haven't heard anything it's a soft rejection. With any of these applications I suppose it's never truly over until you get that official rejection, but I wouldn't count on anything from ND if you haven't heard from them yet. 

 

I've seen no reported rejections from Notre Dame yet. Likely meaning they haven't pushed them out, I crossed it off my list a long time ago but I guess there's always a chance!

 

Edit: Looks like last year they didn't send rejections till the end of April, but it does look like someone got a waitlist around that time as well. Who knows!

Edited April 1, 2024 by LivingUnderABigRock
more info

[pananoprodigy]

Is anyone still waiting for their fiction rejection from Iowa? 

[Sumire11]

With D-Day approaching, wanted to get this off my chest. 

This was my first cycle appplying (5r, 1w, 0p) but like a lot of you, I've been writing and submitting for a long time now. In fact, over the years, I've had approximately 200 submissions, and while I was able to publish a couple pieces here and there, most of them ended up as rejections. I have this one story that I am very proud of (I used it as a part of my portfolio) and while it got favourable reviews so far (it made a longlists and were finalists for publications) all of them turned to rejections. Story of my life. Everything's attainable. Everything's impossible.

This cycle, it has been the same story. I got waitlisted at my top choice (Arkansas) but with D-Day approaching, I'm not sure I will be able to make it off the list. I actually emailed the coordinators two weeka ago to hopefully get a status update, but it has been radio silence from them ever since the initial email. For context, I'm an international student, and with visa complications and such, time is of the essence. Furthermore, while I hate my current job, I do need to properly commit to it in the coming weeks, which means I might have to take another hiatus from writing. As such, I'd love nothing more than some news about Arkansas, as a lot of major, upcoming life decisions depend on this. 

Could anyone share when is the latest people have made it off the waitliat at Arkansas? Also, in case we don't make it, are we notified? Honestly, I'd just like to be put out of my misery at this moment.

Edited April 1, 2024 by Sumire11

[darr1]

Has anyone heard any updates at all regarding the Iowa waitlists??