2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[3feetofsnow]

6 hours ago, Reduwanul Hoque said:

Yesterday, I reached out to the director of creative writing at USF to inquire about the status of my application after noticing several acceptances and waitlist notifications on draft. She said "We will have final decisions by April 16. I'm sorry for the long delay!" Although I anticipate a rejection, is it still possible to hold onto some hope?

Hi, I am on the USF waitlist and the email they sent said the latest I’d receive notice of being advanced into the program was April 16. It may be that the waitlist is not yet finalized, or they may hold off on rejections until then in case they get so many people abdicating that they need to pull from those who almost made the waitlist (but that seems like a long shot). I’m sorry not to have better news for you

[Reduwanul Hoque]

4 minutes ago, 3feetofsnow said:

Hi, I am on the USF waitlist and the email they sent said the latest I’d receive notice of being advanced into the program was April 16. It may be that the waitlist is not yet finalized, or they may hold off on rejections until then in case they get so many people abdicating that they need to pull from those who almost made the waitlist (but that seems like a long shot). I’m sorry not to have better news for you

I still haven't seen any rejection from USF on the draft. Perhaps all rejection notifications will be sent out together, and I might be on that list.

[3feetofsnow]

3 minutes ago, Reduwanul Hoque said:

I still haven't seen any rejection from USF on the draft. Perhaps all rejection notifications will be sent out together, and I might be on that list.

Yes, this seems most likely. Hopefully they don’t wait all the way until the deadline to give you a final answer, that’s a long time to go without news! I’m in a similar boat with South Carolina, only no waitlists have been logged yet so I’m still holding out hope…

Edited February 18 by 3feetofsnow

[Reduwanul Hoque]

5 minutes ago, 3feetofsnow said:

Yes, this seems most likely. Hopefully they don’t wait all the way until the deadline to give you a final answer, that’s a long time to go without news! I’m in a similar boat with South Carolina, only no waitlists have been logged yet so I’m still holding out hope…

Yes, it's quite stressful this time around. Have you received acceptance from any university?

[3feetofsnow]

43 minutes ago, Reduwanul Hoque said:

Yes, it's quite stressful this time around. Have you received acceptance from any university?

No unfortunately, I am on the waitlists at USF and UW Madison but no acceptances yet. This is my first time applying. How about you?

[Reduwanul Hoque]

7 minutes ago, 3feetofsnow said:

No unfortunately, I am on the waitlists at USF and UW Madison but no acceptances yet. This is my first time applying. How about you?

I hope your waitlisted options turn into acceptances soon. This is my first time applying too. I received a rejection from BU. Now, I'm waiting to hear back from UCSD, Brown, UNLV, Notre Dame, USF, and Rutgers-Camden.

[3feetofsnow]

19 minutes ago, Reduwanul Hoque said:

I hope your waitlisted options turn into acceptances soon. This is my first time applying too. I received a rejection from BU. Now, I'm waiting to hear back from UCSD, Brown, UNLV, Notre Dame, USF, and Rutgers-Camden.

Thank you, and good luck to you as well! I’m waiting on Brown and Rutgers-Newark myself! Along with USC, Cornell, UMich, U of Arizona, and Georgia College. (I haven’t heard back from Vanderbilt but I’m pretty sure their As and Ws are all already out, sadly.)

Edited February 18 by 3feetofsnow

[Scribe]

recommender issue. 

One of my recommenders is ... different. He's responded to most (?) of my schools but not all. He's "bad with email". I was skeptical of asking him for a recommendation because I knew he was like that but was told when it came to deadlines like this he wouldn't let me down. 

He's let me down. 

I can't even keep track of where he's responded and where he hasn't (I should have left a column for that on my spreadsheet). I just got an email from UTK saying they haven't received his rec.

should i even bother now? Honestly, I'm afraid to even look and see where he's let me down. 

[Hjanep]

Do we think holiday weekend = arctic winter for decisions?

[3feetofsnow]

6 minutes ago, Hjanep said:

Do we think holiday weekend = arctic winter for decisions?

Oh for sure, even regular weekends are usually dry spells.

[itsbeensnowing]

7 minutes ago, Scribe said:

recommender issue. 

One of my recommenders is ... different. He's responded to most (?) of my schools but not all. He's "bad with email". I was skeptical of asking him for a recommendation because I knew he was like that but was told when it came to deadlines like this he wouldn't let me down. 

He's let me down. 

I can't even keep track of where he's responded and where he hasn't (I should have left a column for that on my spreadsheet). I just got an email from UTK saying they haven't received his rec.

should i even bother now? Honestly, I'm afraid to even look and see where he's let me down. 

It's probably worth going through your applications and getting ahead of the issue. Some schools might not do you the courtesy of reaching out about it before getting in the thick of applications. (I think most would, but you never know.) One rec being late isn't the end of the world but you'd want it in as soon as possible.

This is part of why I used Interfolio, though that's presented some of its own issues.

[Scribe]

2 minutes ago, itsbeensnowing said:

It's probably worth going through your applications and getting ahead of the issue. Some schools might not do you the courtesy of reaching out about it before getting in the thick of applications. (I think most would, but you never know.) One rec being late isn't the end of the world but you'd want it in as soon as possible.

This is part of why I used Interfolio, though that's presented some of its own issues.

I’m trying, and have been trying. All I can do is send reminders. Some schools’ portals don’t list specific recommendation status. Some don’t inform you of receipt at all. There’s probably only half a dozen left he either hasn’t sent or I can’t determine. 
ugh. It’s so late already. 
I’ll do some more mining in a bit. 

[jadedoptimist]

7 minutes ago, 3feetofsnow said:

Oh for sure, even regular weekends are usually dry spells.

Yup. I love how we're all just online trying to get through this weekend, even though we'd usually be savoring it!

7 minutes ago, itsbeensnowing said:

It's probably worth going through your applications and getting ahead of the issue. Some schools might not do you the courtesy of reaching out about it before getting in the thick of applications. (I think most would, but you never know.) One rec being late isn't the end of the world but you'd want it in as soon as possible.

This is part of why I used Interfolio, though that's presented some of its own issues.

I agree @Scribe. There's still time to get this sorted out. I had issues with one of my recommenders (earlier in the process though) and I swallowed my pride and double-emailed him and he came through. I'm sorry you're dealing with this and I hope it works out!

[3feetofsnow]

@Scribe you might also consider calling him. It’s much harder to miss than an email! You may even be able to hash out together which ones he still has left to do.

Edited February 18 by 3feetofsnow

[jadedoptimist]

Anyone taking bets on whether iowa will start calling this wk?

[3feetofsnow]

4 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

Anyone taking bets on whether iowa will start calling this wk?

I didn’t even try for Iowa or Michener this time around, I figured my chances were so small! Maybe if I do this again next year I’ll go for broke, haha. Do you know when they sent things out last year?

[jadedoptimist]

1 minute ago, 3feetofsnow said:

I didn’t even try for Iowa or Michener this time around, I figured my chances were so small! Maybe if I do this again next year I’ll go for broke, haha. Do you know when they sent things out last year?

Last year I believe Iowa began the week of Valentine's with a fiction acceptance (the guy posted it here and on Draft) and stretched into late March. Michener, I'm not so sure about, though I did apply.

[3feetofsnow]

8 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

Last year I believe Iowa began the week of Valentine's with a fiction acceptance (the guy posted it here and on Draft) and stretched into late March. Michener, I'm not so sure about, though I did apply.

Oh wow they really like to drag it out huh? Is this your first application cycle? I feel like it took me so long to find even these resources and I have no idea how to go about tracking the trends for different schools!

Edited February 18 by 3feetofsnow

[jadedoptimist]

21 minutes ago, 3feetofsnow said:

Oh wow they really like to drag it out huh? Is this your first application cycle? I feel like it took me so long to find even these resources and I have no idea how to go about finding the trends for different schools!

Yes, this is my first time applying! However, I am in the 23 Draft (but you can only scroll so far back before FB glitches and dies.) Also, I just looked at the 23 spreadsheet and I may have been wrong about acceptances going out until late March. It might be more like early March. Last year someone on Draft got an acceptance for poetry on 3/6, and the year before someone on here got an acceptance for poetry on 3/2. Basically I've just cobbled together a sense of when they notify based on posts from past years. Most of this information has only entered my brain over the past few weeks, because I only found gradcafé recently. 

Edited February 18 by jadedoptimist
Edit: also, poetry acceptance last year on 2/21.

[Hjanep]

17 minutes ago, jadedoptimist said:

Yes, this is my first time applying! However, I am in the 23 Draft (but you can only scroll so far back before FB glitches and dies.) Also, I just looked at the 23 spreadsheet and I may have been wrong about acceptances going out until late March. It might be more like early March. Last year someone on Draft got an acceptance for poetry on 3/6, and the year before someone on here got an acceptance for poetry on 3/2. Basically I've just cobbled together a sense of when they notify based on posts from past years. Most of this information has only entered my brain over the past few weeks, because I only found gradcafé recently. 

Michener started acceptances 2/24 last year and then rejections 3/1 ish I think. Also Iowa has a track record of calling people over weekends as well so…. TBD. 
 

You can also use the search bar in ‘23 draft to find more info about specific programs. I’m glad we’re the same kind of sick. Like having this information gives us any kind of leg up? Haha

[jadedoptimist]

Oh, I am definitely the same kind of sick. I told myself early in the process I wasn't going to judge myself for caring about the results. I think it would make me even more lame to pretend that I don't care whether I get in...

[Renrenrenren]

Those who are mentioning BU rejections— (I’m assuming you are talking about Boston University? Though I realize it could be another school) did you apply for the early deadline? I haven’t heard anything either way, and was curious. I didn’t apply early for Boston

[BarryDairy]

1 hour ago, jadedoptimist said:

Anyone taking bets on whether iowa will start calling this wk?

I am really hoping they start sending out fiction acceptances this week. I reached out to them about a deferment issue, wondering on eta when they'd have responses out with no luck.

I do have a lot of trust in my work, recommenders, and publishing background that I think I have a good chance of getting in, but I know if I don't hear from them by the 25th that I need to say yes to the dress with another school that has already accepted me instead of losing my spot holding out for a chance. 

[jadedoptimist]

4 minutes ago, BarryDairy said:

I am really hoping they start sending out fiction acceptances this week. I reached out to them about a deferment issue, wondering on eta when they'd have responses out with no luck.

I do have a lot of trust in my work, recommenders, and publishing background that I think I have a good chance of getting in, but I know if I don't hear from them by the 25th that I need to say yes to the dress with another school that has already accepted me instead of losing my spot holding out for a chance. 

Hjanep (not sure about their genre!) asked last week and someone got back saying it was "in faculty hands" meaning they have eliminated the vast majority of apps and decisions could be coming soon.

[branch]

On 2/16/2024 at 6:00 PM, messindistress said:

Hi all. Been scrolling through the thread for a couple days now and I just decided to sign up. 😕

I applied to a lot of schools with a speculative fiction writing piece (it's the only genre I'm able to write in) and so far all I've been getting are rejects haha. Can't help but wonder if it was one of the worst life decisions I made.

Anyway, congrats to all who got the good news.

(waves) I did the same thing! I was really selective about which schools I was applying to and did a lot of research into ones that were provably open to “genre” fiction (a meaningless distinction if you ask me but whatever). It was wild to see one or two programs that literally said in their FAQ not to apply if you wrote specfic. The elitism is real & bizarre.

I write almost exclusively specfic and went to Clarion in 2022, which I can’t recommend enough for writers of the genre. Similar workshops like Odyssey and Taos Toolbox are also, I hear, excellent. And the Lambda Literary retreat now has a track for speculative fiction! Clarion alumni have also gone on to get MFAs (Alyssa Wong & Carmen Maria Machado are the two that come to mind) after their time at the workshop, so it is possible! Carmen Maria Machado went to Iowa!

I don’t think it’s a mistake to have applied as the writer that you truly are.  If you had to deny the kind of stories you like to write in order to attend a program, would that really be the right place for you? There are many, many spaces out there for your work and plenty to discover. If you ever want to chat about Clarion or specfic magazines/submitting in the speculative fiction world, please DM me!! 
 

AND GOOD LUCK!