2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[prufrock_]

wow, emailing the director of JHU and personally asking they were declined is a rather bold move.

[jadedoptimist]

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

Edited February 9 by jadedoptimist
typo

[TheGreatLoudini]

26 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. 'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US.

Been lurking for a little while but saw this and figured I would chime in. If you are looking for private school teaching jobs, check out this website: https://careers.nais.org/jobseekers/ it is an excellent tool for finding that kind of work. I got multiple interviews and ended up getting hired at an all girls school a few years ago. Hope you don't need this info though because you get in to your dream program!

[triciadawn]

53 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

That’s a good plan! But you still have time for pubs and maybe you’ll get accepted somewhere this cycle! 

I’m 31 and just finished my bachelor’s degree last year (life stuff had me in and out of school). I just landed a remote internship at one of the ~fancy literary agencies, so that’s been keeping my mind off mfa apps! My backup plan is to get an entry-level publishing job afterwards. 

[jadedoptimist]

26 minutes ago, triciadawn said:

That’s a good plan! But you still have time for pubs and maybe you’ll get accepted somewhere this cycle! 

I’m 31 and just finished my bachelor’s degree last year (life stuff had me in and out of school). I just landed a remote internship at one of the ~fancy literary agencies, so that’s been keeping my mind off mfa apps! My backup plan is to get an entry-level publishing job afterwards. 

Yes, I'm going to try to submit some poems to literary journals this spring for the first time since high school! It can't be that much harder than apps, lol. 

A remote literary agency internship sounds really cool! Are you reading fiction submissions for them?

[Kriskris2024]

1 hour ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

Turning 30 this year! I graduated from undergrad in 2016 and have a few published things under my belt. I’m applying to MFAS to eventually become a creative writing professor. I’m currently a full-time creative but I need health insurance now (lol) so if MFAS don’t work out I’ll probably just get a regular suit and tie job to hold me over until next cycle. 

[Scribe]

2 hours ago, prufrock_ said:

wow, emailing the director of JHU and personally asking they were declined is a rather bold move.

It means they’re assholes. 

[lemmmein]

54 minutes ago, triciadawn said:

That’s a good plan! But you still have time for pubs and maybe you’ll get accepted somewhere this cycle! 

I’m 31 and just finished my bachelor’s degree last year (life stuff had me in and out of school). I just landed a remote internship at one of the ~fancy literary agencies, so that’s been keeping my mind off mfa apps! My backup plan is to get an entry-level publishing job afterwards. 

Ah hey, 31 here too! I'm a freelance writer which is fun and validating but also I cannot keep interviewing other people about their work and not investing in my own. I've started half-jokingly talking about selling all my stuff and doing the digital nomad thing if I don't get in anywhere, but I actually love my town? Who knows what happens after the next few weeks and/or months!

[lemmmein]

9 minutes ago, Scribe said:

It means they’re assholes. 

Ok I thought that too, but I've been out of academia so long I wasn't sure. Does seem like a wild move to me.

[justasmidge]

2 hours ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

Oooh I love me a good distraction post. I will be 37 in May which is really wild to think about because I don't feel like it (but then again, NYC tends to be Never-Never-Land when it comes to age). I manage public transportation projects, which is a good gig, but after taking a few writing workshops last year, I got the hook and wanted to pursue writing. If I get in, I will be working full time and (hopefully) going to school full time, but I used to be a campaign organizer where we used to pull 80+ hour weeks and I did do full time internship/full time school for my last Master's....which I legit got 10 years ago. It is bonkers how fast time flies by.

 

[prufrock_]

yes, that's what i meant, hah!

 

also! Grats on whoever listed their WashU acceptance!! I applied there, it looks great!

[Scribe]

4 minutes ago, lemmmein said:

Ok I thought that too, but I've been out of academia so long I wasn't sure. Does seem like a wild move to me.

Be mean. Be cruel. Be arrogant. 
Don’t be dismissive. Don’t ignore humans. 

[lemmmein]

11 minutes ago, Scribe said:

Be mean. Be cruel. Be arrogant. 
Don’t be dismissive. Don’t ignore humans. 

I'm confused. Is this at me? Or JHU? I don't think they're being dismissive for not sending out rejections right away. It's pretty standard to wait a while to see how the acceptances/wait list play out I believe.

[Scribe]

1 minute ago, lemmmein said:

I'm confused. Is this at me? Or JHU? I don't think they're being dismissive for not sending out rejections right away. It's pretty standard to wait a while to see how the acceptances/wait list play out I believe.

Lol. At JHU. 

[jadedoptimist]

3 minutes ago, Scribe said:

Lol. At JHU. 

I'm interested in an elaboration of your thoughts on this matter (the dude who emailed JHU director) if you're willing ?

[GoldenTree]

2 hours ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

I hope we're still doing the distraction thread? I'd honestly love to know more about everyone. I'm gonna be 22 in a couple of months and graduating college soon. I have around 10 publications ranging in genre. Tbh I haven't really thought much about my backup plan if I don't get it. I'm an English & Creative Writing major and this is what I've been working towards for 4 years. And like @Kriskris2024, I'd love to teach creative writing. As backups, I've also thought about life coaching. That being said, if I don't get in, I'll likely not try again next year, but try for low residencies for spring admission and get a job to pay for it. This is kind of now or never for me with these fully funded programs for personal reasons, thus I applied to 15, now 16 since I'm doing a last minute application. 

Edited February 9 by GoldenTree

[Scribe]

2 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

I'm interested in an elaboration of your thoughts on this matter (the dude who emailed JHU director) if you're willing ?

Look, a director at John’s Hopkins is not an imbecile. They’ve heard of the internet. They know people communicate and they know people are waiting for communication from them. 
So do it. It doesn’t take much to send out a thanks but no thanks email. Hit enter- once. It’s that easy.

As for waiting for the acceptance/waitlist to play out, why? Is there a double secret waitlist?  
Once a waitlist has been established send out the rejections too. There’s no reason no to. 
And if this is standard practice, it’s a pretty low standard. 

[writernity]

2 hours ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

I love learning about everyone here! 😁 I'm 25, graduated December '21 with a psych degree and creative writing minor. I'm unpublished for fiction (though I haven't sent anything out in a while, I should get back on that 😅) but have been writing, developing, and publishing a bunch of visual novel games over the past 2 years. I also voice act and draw.

My plan is to be a creative writing teacher, either as a professor or working with underserved populations, like prison rehabilitation programs or underfunded schools. If I don't get in anywhere with enough funding this year, I'll have to consider future plans, and will probably either reapply next cycle or try to pursue game writing/dev + acting as a career. Or do both and see where life takes me! For now, I'm working as a tutor for general k-12 reading/writing/math and SAT reading/writing.

[GoldenTree]

39 minutes ago, Scribe said:

Look, a director at John’s Hopkins is not an imbecile. They’ve heard of the internet. They know people communicate and they know people are waiting for communication from them. 
So do it. It doesn’t take much to send out a thanks but no thanks email. Hit enter- once. It’s that easy.

As for waiting for the acceptance/waitlist to play out, why? Is there a double secret waitlist?  
Once a waitlist has been established send out the rejections too. There’s no reason no to. 
And if this is standard practice, it’s a pretty low standard. 

Scribe! I couldn't agree more! It's wrong, leaving people hanging on with the tiniest spark of "maybe a miracle will happen" when that person is already marked "rejected." 

It is a low standard and it seems like some of these MFA programs, at least in terms of applications, seem to lack consideration for applicants. Maybe this is because they're able to sit up in their towers and pick handfuls out of thousands like kings. Still, It's disappointing. 

Edited February 9 by GoldenTree

[writernity]

27 minutes ago, Scribe said:

Look, a director at John’s Hopkins is not an imbecile. They’ve heard of the internet. They know people communicate and they know people are waiting for communication from them. 
So do it. It doesn’t take much to send out a thanks but no thanks email. Hit enter- once. It’s that easy.

As for waiting for the acceptance/waitlist to play out, why? Is there a double secret waitlist?  
Once a waitlist has been established send out the rejections too. There’s no reason no to. 
And if this is standard practice, it’s a pretty low standard. 

I don't think it's particularly an "asshole" move to take some time sending rejections. There are a lot of moving parts those of us outside may not be aware of. All of these decisions made may involve several steps and processes between faculty committees and admissions staff, and who of us knows what the process looks like in organizing applications and updating all portals? We have no idea what kinds of considerations are being made behind the scenes-- maybe it's even just that they have to manually select all of the 450+ applicants on the portal that they're rejecting before a mass update goes out, and that clicking around can take more time than you think, or any number of other reasons. Maybe there ARE some extra waitlist considerations being made. It's a big privilege that we even have internet access and a community sharing information, when even 20 years ago we'd be waiting in the dark for snail mail. I know the waiting sucks, but a couple of extra days or weeks of waiting isn't going to kill us.

[Scribe]

2 minutes ago, writernity said:

I don't think it's particularly an "asshole" move to take some time sending rejections. There are a lot of moving parts those of us outside may not be aware of. All of these decisions made may involve several steps and processes between faculty committees and admissions staff, and who of us knows what the process looks like in organizing applications and updating all portals? We have no idea what kinds of considerations are being made behind the scenes-- maybe it's even just that they have to manually select all of the 450+ applicants on the portal that they're rejecting before a mass update goes out, and that clicking around can take more time than you think, or any number of other reasons. Maybe there ARE some extra waitlist considerations being made. It's a big privilege that we even have internet access and a community sharing information, when even 20 years ago we'd be waiting in the dark for snail mail. I know the waiting sucks, but a couple of extra days or weeks of waiting isn't going to kill us.

THIS is what I'm talking about. People being treated like shit is a baseline and has been for so long it isn't even recognized. We are NOT privileged to have the internet anymore than those 40 years ago were privileged to have the postal system. It's the way it is. Wow! I thought I was old. "You kids don't know how lucky you have it; in the old days..." Well that was the old days. 

And another thing dammit! Even if you are correct about there being a lot of moving parts or about a twenty first century computer system in what is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country being powered by hamster wheel, not fixing it is pretty good evidence of the value they put on the rest of us. 

I could mass email 450 plus people in an hour or two.

And I AM an imbecile. 

[pomelo]

3 hours ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

So glad to be in yalls company and I hope we get to cross paths one day!

I’m 26, graduated in ‘20, have worked at the same land protection nonprofit for almost 4 years now. I have a Bachelor’s in Education (major: Human Development and Family Studies, minor: Asian Studies). I have published an essay and a short story in literary journals. I published a children’s book (non traditionally) and I have a small piece in an anthology published by HarperCollins. I have always enjoyed writing but have only recently begun taking it seriously—and myself seriously as a writer. If I go the MFA route, I want to be an educator, writer, editor, really anything this world has to offer writers. If I don’t go the MFA route this cycle, I want to live and work abroad, and I’m looking at jobs, fellowships, and residencies in the environmental, urban planning, and writing fields. We’ll see what happens!

[epr]

5 minutes ago, writernity said:

I don't think it's particularly an "asshole" move to take some time sending rejections. There are a lot of moving parts those of us outside may not be aware of. All of these decisions made may involve several steps and processes between faculty committees and admissions staff, and who of us knows what the process looks like in organizing applications and updating all portals? We have no idea what kinds of considerations are being made behind the scenes-- maybe it's even just that they have to manually select all of the 450+ applicants on the portal that they're rejecting before a mass update goes out, and that clicking around can take more time than you think, or any number of other reasons. Maybe there ARE some extra waitlist considerations being made. It's a big privilege that we even have internet access and a community sharing information, when even 20 years ago we'd be waiting in the dark for snail mail. I know the waiting sucks, but a couple of extra days or weeks of waiting isn't going to kill us.

Agreed—people forget that there’s only one administrative coordinator for a lot of these programs. That person is responsible for communicating grad decisions, helping current grad students, coordinating undergrads and ANY other departmental stuff going on. Add on the number of applications and it’s an overwhelming position. The fact that they can make and communicate decisions in less than two months considering the number of applicants is genuinely astounding and shows how fricken hard everyone on their end (staff, faculty, students, etc) are working. 

I’ve been in a hiring position before and going through 40 applicants with only two pieces of material (a cover letter and resume) took like 6 weeks in order to fairly assess everyone and narrow down to one candidate. Now imagine how much harder that is for hundreds.

It seems to be really normal for rejections to lag behind acceptances by 1-2 weeks and JHU literally just released their results. It sucks to be rejected, but there’s no malice behind it ya’ll.

[Scribe]

Another question for the hive: Has anyone actually checked a portal and seen a real status update? I've looked a few and many don't seem to even have a space to indicate an actual status. 

[brdiget]

3 hours ago, jadedoptimist said:

I wanna learn more about you guys! Distraction thread? How old are you guys in this thread? I'm 23, two years out of undergrad with zero big accomplishments in between, no pubs either. I'm currently enrolled in a Teacher Prep program, so if MFAs don't work out I'll probably be looking for secondary English teaching jobs at private schools in the US. 

I'm 22 and finishing my undergrad in english and creative writing in montreal! i love anne carson and chopin. im wearing an anne carson t shirt right now and its my most prized possession

Edited February 9 by brdiget