2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[GoldenTree]

2 hours ago, untemperedoddity said:

Does anybody know if international applicants tend to get calls? I keep waiting by the phone, but maybe an email is more likely.... This Iowa situation has me freaking out. Also, because I've heard they snail mail acceptances. I get mail months later in my country

I don't know the answer to this exactly but I do have the feeling that universities have access to international calling, especially admissions, just because of the amount of international students they do have on campus. I also think any professor worth their salt would know that international mail takes quite a while, and use other methods to contact you. Please don't worry. I'm sure you'll be notified in a timely manner. 

[Hjanep]

3 minutes ago, GoldenTree said:

I don't know the answer to this exactly but I do have the feeling that universities have access to international calling, especially admissions, just because of the amount of international students they do have on campus. I also think any professor worth their salt would know that international mail takes quite a while, and use other methods to contact you. Please don't worry. I'm sure you'll be notified in a timely manner. 

I saw someone from last year say Iowa emailed them to set up a call because they were international

[jadedoptimist]

20 hours ago, LivingUnderABigRock said:

I was a little surprised they would be making calls past 5pm but I guess it could make sense that they are trying to catch people when they aren't at work. 

 

Looking at the notifications from past years, is it typical for Iowa (or any other school) to call later in the night? Most of the timestamps im seeing are either at like 1pm or near midnight, and I don't know if that's because it's when they would actually call or if there's a lot of people who are applying from different timezones and they're using local time for their timestamp.

Anyone remember the post in last year or this year's draft that was like "Just got off the phone with [iowa faculty member] at this late hour!" and it was posted at 11:06 pm

[GoldenTree]

I kinda wanna ask how you all are coping in this limbo state of rejections, waitlists, and hopefully acceptances? I'm finally starting to feel better this week, I think partially due to the break of the AWP conference and because I've been able to distance myself a bit from this. In all honesty, this whole MFA decisions thing has definitely taken a lot of my focus and as someone who hasn't gotten in yet, it's not always easy to maintain hope. 

Some days I definitely feel emotionally not well due to this and I just want to get to the other side tbh, whether that's rejection or acceptance. No one ever talked about this waiting period in all those articles I read about applying but this feels like the most toxic part of the process for sure, at least for me. 

I didn't expect to be this way either. I've been rejected from lit journals and it doesn't even bother me in the slightest anymore. But this definitely feels different. 

Kind of a rant but yeah. Not sure if anyone else feels the same. 

Edited February 8 by GoldenTree

[epr]

17 minutes ago, garfieldlives said:

Oregon State or University of Oregon? Do you know what genre? I wish they would accept me on Draft 😅

Oregon State fiction and poetry. 
 

Colorado State nonfiction seems to be released as of like a minute ago. And that’s everything for draft so far today!

[girlgenius]

18 minutes ago, GoldenTree said:

I kinda wanna ask how you all are coping in this limbo state of rejections, waitlists, and hopefully acceptances? I'm finally starting to feel better this week, I think partially due to the break of the AWP conference. In all honesty, this whole MFA decisions thing has definitely taken a lot of my focus and as someone who hasn't gotten in yet, it's not always easy to maintain hope. 

 

honestly not coping well at all!! it definitely doesn't help that I really hate my job, which requires talking to clients all day, and I am so ready to quit. it's this combination of waiting for news that will take me away from this job while also hating the job itself more and more with each passing day, unable to focus during work because I just keep refreshing my email -- a lethal combo that leaves me completely drained, emotional, and anxious at the end of every day! (and that's not even taking into account the actual creative hopes and desires about getting into a program) it's my second time applying and the wait is even harder this year. you are not alone!!

Edited February 8 by girlgenius

[GoldenTree]

8 minutes ago, girlgenius said:

honestly not coping well at all!! it definitely doesn't help that I really hate my job, which requires talking to clients all day, and I am so ready to quit. it's this combination of waiting for news that will take me away from this job while also hating the job itself more and more with each passing day, unable to focus during work because I just keep refreshing my email -- a lethal combo that leaves me completely drained, emotional, and anxious at the end of every day! (and that's not even taking into account the actual creative hopes and desires about getting into a program) it's my second time applying and the wait is even harder this year. you are not alone!!

I appreciate your reply! It makes me feel less alone for sure! I would say "virtual hug" but Idk how you'd feel about that, so I'll say, virtual support definitely! ❤️ 

[Scribe]

Let an old man give some advice: This is nothing. It's everything too, but it's only one everything in a lifetime of everythings. I've heard a bit about privilege here, the idea that there's some unearned advantage or ability that makes unfair one process or another, or perhaps more importantly gives one some advantage in coping. In a process so inherently unfair, it can be difficult to see the privileges one has themselves.

If you are young and hanging your future on an acceptance, you can absorb this loss - the race is long. 

If you are miserable where you are and think this change will cure it, you may be right - but there's more change than this. You took the risk here. You can and will take others. Why wait to be forced. 

If you are in need of validation, remember this is rejection season not just for us, but for the programs. It's why god created waitlists. Iowa's worth is not determined by the number of applicants or who applies or who turns down their offer. The worth is determined by whatever students attend while they attend. 

To repeat, we find ourselves engaged and embroiled in a process unfair by any measure. There are to many variables for chance not to have an outsized roll. Life. 

 

Edited February 8 by Scribe

[garfieldlives]

1 hour ago, epr said:

Oregon State fiction and poetry. 
 

Colorado State nonfiction seems to be released as of like a minute ago. And that’s everything for draft so far today!

Ah, thanks! I applied to Oregon State for nonfiction. I'm hoping that means I still have a chance!

[sunnysequoia]

29 minutes ago, garfieldlives said:

Ah, thanks! I applied to Oregon State for nonfiction. I'm hoping that means I still have a chance!

Hey, fellow nonfiction writer here!  I also applied to Oregon State, so fingers crossed for both of us! What other schools did you apply to, if you don't mind sharing?

[jadedoptimist]

1 hour ago, GoldenTree said:

I kinda wanna ask how you all are coping in this limbo state of rejections, waitlists, and hopefully acceptances? I'm finally starting to feel better this week, I think partially due to the break of the AWP conference and because I've been able to distance myself a bit from this. In all honesty, this whole MFA decisions thing has definitely taken a lot of my focus and as someone who hasn't gotten in yet, it's not always easy to maintain hope. 

Some days I definitely feel emotionally not well due to this and I just want to get to the other side tbh, whether that's rejection or acceptance. No one ever talked about this waiting period in all those articles I read about applying but this feels like the most toxic part of the process for sure, at least for me. 

I didn't expect to be this way either. I've been rejected from lit journals and it doesn't even bother me in the slightest anymore. But this definitely feels different. 

Kind of a rant but yeah. Not sure if anyone else feels the same. 

I feel this so hard. I thought getting a waitlist notification would help me stop obsessing but it's just worse today. I got nothing at all done and I felt low-energy and tired. I'm so grateful that the process is started and I got a positive result but at the same time it's just reminded me how far we are from the process being over...

[garfieldlives]

40 minutes ago, sunnysequoia said:

Hey, fellow nonfiction writer here!  I also applied to Oregon State, so fingers crossed for both of us! What other schools did you apply to, if you don't mind sharing?

Wishing the best for both of us! Congrats on your acceptance, by the way. 

I applied to California College of the Arts, the University of Montana, Portland State University, Oregon State, and the University of Washington. I regret applying to so few programs, but I didn't want to move to the East Coast or Midwest, so my choices were slim. 

Where did you apply?

[ee921488]

2 hours ago, epr said:

Oregon State fiction and poetry. 
 

Colorado State nonfiction seems to be released as of like a minute ago. And that’s everything for draft so far today!

Do you know how many oregon state poetry people have come forward on draft?

[sunnysequoia]

17 minutes ago, garfieldlives said:

Wishing the best for both of us! Congrats on your acceptance, by the way. 

I applied to California College of the Arts, the University of Montana, Portland State University, Oregon State, and the University of Washington. I regret applying to so few programs, but I didn't want to move to the East Coast or Midwest, so my choices were slim. 

Where did you apply?

Thank you! Hoping for an acceptance for you, too

The fully funded schools I applied to UMass Amherst, Rutgers Camden, U of Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Miami U in Ohio, U of Minnesota, U of Iowa, WashU St. Louis, U of Arizona, and Oregon State. I also applied to Sarah Lawrence, NYU, and The New School but I'm not even considering them anymore since I've been accepted to Miami and waitlisted at Ohio State.

Very fair that you don't want to move! The west coast is beautiful and California weather is amazing (save for the recent torrential storms). I've just been here for my whole life and thus have a dire urge to get out of here and move to the midwest or east coast which are unfortunately going to be much colder LOL 

[Hjanep]

Hopkins fiction waitlist is out according to draft. Assuming that’s it for acceptances etc for fiction too but I guess we will see

[Jersh]

52 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

I feel this so hard. I thought getting a waitlist notification would help me stop obsessing but it's just worse today. I got nothing at all done and I felt low-energy and tired. I'm so grateful that the process is started and I got a positive result but at the same time it's just reminded me how far we are from the process being over...

Ugh I'm in the same gently bobbing, seemingly anchored-forever boat as you. Happy to have gotten waitlisted at Ohio State (and hopeful for what this bodes for my other apps!) but at the same time unable to relax until I get at least one acceptance. Plus I think UW Madison and Vanderbilt will be notifying next week and those are two of my top choices so...feeling super impatient!

[jadedoptimist]

30 minutes ago, Jersh said:

 I think UW Madison and Vanderbilt will be notifying next week and those are two of my top choices so...feeling super impatient!

click link for my mood if Vanderbilt is notifying soon

https://imgur.com/a/Z43xKGz

[writernity]

1 hour ago, Hjanep said:

Hopkins fiction waitlist is out according to draft. Assuming that’s it for acceptances etc for fiction too but I guess we will see

Not necessarily-- based on past years, acceptance/waitlist notifs can be spread out across a few days. I'm still holding hope for a little longer 🙏

[pomelo]

Good morning. I’m exhausted. This past week I’ve noticed I’ve been checking Gradcafe and Draft way less. Just last week I would check these pages as soon as I woke up, before I went to bed, and periodically throughout the day. Now I’m exhausted. Is it weird to already be jaded by this process? I didn’t expect to come to terms with this so early in, but at this point I feel like if a program accepts me, wonderful. If I get 10 rejections across the board, the most likely outcome, fine. I have a lot to figure out - I’ve already told my job I’m resigning in June and I don’t plan on renewing my lease - but if I have to re-apply next cycle, so be it. 

[ssuunn]

Just a heads up, Oregon State occasionally has to give out early admits if they want to consider a few applicants for a specific fellowship, and it looks like two people were considered for those (1 in fiction, 1 in poetry). Last year, someone was admitted in late Jan, with the rest of the admits/waitlists in mid-Feb.

Edited February 9 by ssuunn

[saramsarang]

1 hour ago, pomelo said:

Good morning. I’m exhausted. This past week I’ve noticed I’ve been checking Gradcafe and Draft way less. Just last week I would check these pages as soon as I woke up, before I went to bed, and periodically throughout the day. Now I’m exhausted. Is it weird to already be jaded by this process? I didn’t expect to come to terms with this so early in, but at this point I feel like if a program accepts me, wonderful. If I get 10 rejections across the board, the most likely outcome, fine. I have a lot to figure out - I’ve already told my job I’m resigning in June and I don’t plan on renewing my lease - but if I have to re-apply next cycle, so be it. 

Thank you for putting this on here, I'm in the same boat and I'm so incredibly exhausted as well. I feel like some part of this exhaustion could also be burnout since we worked so rigorously on our apps. Honestly, I don't know if it's weird? My friends all chalked it up to my general personality and mindset since I'm not a very optimistic person. But I was a little surprised at how fast I'd become jaded about the whole thing. I think in some sense we're just protecting ourselves by already expecting the worst, so that we can save ourselves some of the grief and pain of it in the future. This week especially I spent a whole lot of time wondering why I even applied to the MFA knowing it's such a crapshoot but I genuinely can't think of anything more I want to do with my life, so I came to a 'it is what it is' conclusion. Sometimes I think it's all we can do, hold on and ebb with life's flow. I'm sorry, I don't have any words of comfort to offer but I just wanted to say you're not alone. Please feel free to vent and rant as much as you want though. Sending you lots of hugs and I hope you can share the burden instead of carrying it by yourself!

[pomelo]

2 minutes ago, saramsarang said:

Thank you for putting this on here, I'm in the same boat and I'm so incredibly exhausted as well. I feel like some part of this exhaustion could also be burnout since we worked so rigorously on our apps. Honestly, I don't know if it's weird? My friends all chalked it up to my general personality and mindset since I'm not a very optimistic person. But I was a little surprised at how fast I'd become jaded about the whole thing. I think in some sense we're just protecting ourselves by already expecting the worst, so that we can save ourselves some of the grief and pain of it in the future. This week especially I spent a whole lot of time wondering why I even applied to the MFA knowing it's such a crapshoot but I genuinely can't think of anything more I want to do with my life, so I came to a 'it is what it is' conclusion. Sometimes I think it's all we can do, hold on and ebb with life's flow. I'm sorry, I don't have any words of comfort to offer but I just wanted to say you're not alone. Please feel free to vent and rant as much as you want though. Sending you lots of hugs and I hope you can share the burden instead of carrying it by yourself!

You basically put into words how I’ve been feeling. It’s helpful to know I’m not the only one. I genuinely am so happy for everyone who’s shared their acceptances. I’m not jealous in the way I thought I would be. I want everyone to succeed and I know my turn will come someday. Maybe it’s this cycle, maybe it’s the next one. I do feel the same fire for the MFA - I want this! I know I do! But the burnout is real. I hope you’re doing okay in all of this too. 

[Gradapp2024]

On 2/7/2024 at 9:22 AM, Tomatotomato53 said:

uggh, I can’t attach a screenshot here, but Facebook shows the draft group hasn’t added any new members in a week…

Took about a week for draft to admit me. Kinda the same thing there. Lots of speculation and somewhat unverifiable acceptance rejections. They have a spread sheet (which is cool) but that too is honor code, ya know?

[epr]

Someone just reported a JHU fiction rejection on the draft spreadsheet. My portal hasn’t been updated yet, but I figure it’s a matter of time. Ah well. 

[Hjanep]

10 minutes ago, epr said:

Someone just reported a JHU fiction rejection on the draft spreadsheet. My portal hasn’t been updated yet, but I figure it’s a matter of time. Ah well. 

They messaged JHU admissions to ask if they were rejected if they hadn’t gotten an admission/waitlist by now and admissions said yes