2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[LB349]

Brooklyn, Brooklyn....

[pomelo]

Anyone else waiting on Sarah Lawrence? Last year they released decisions around this time. The year before, the second week of March. 

 

Also, what is up with UMass Amherst? Did they release all decisions? I kinda gave up hope because I didn’t get an interview but still. 

[nothingnothing]

Prestigious, elitist, selective, and so on are predicated on highly problematic ideas. Going to such institutions, one should be wary. We need not go into the long list of successful artists from the mud that never went to any academic institution, let alone a prestigious one. Is the goal just to be read by other writers within the academy? Or to be read by the petit-bourgeoisie. Will the lumpens and lumpen proletariats read your work?

[justasmidge]

1 hour ago, pomelo said:

Anyone else waiting on Sarah Lawrence? Last year they released decisions around this time. The year before, the second week of March. 

 

Also, what is up with UMass Amherst? Did they release all decisions? I kinda gave up hope because I didn’t get an interview but still. 

I'm also waiting on Sarah Lawrence! Hopefully this week, we'll here something. I think we're going to hear of a lot of news this week.

[lychees]

Just got accepted to Northern Michigan University! Teaching assistantship, tuition waiver, and stipend for all three years. Some good news to begin the week

[triciadawn]

Are Iowa and NYU done? 

[ssuunn]

If anyone here was accepted/waitlisted at Oregon, I am visiting Eugene on Thursday next week. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to know the vibe of the city/program/workshop/etc! And if you plan on going there regardless, also hmu!

[justasmidge]

8 minutes ago, triciadawn said:

Are Iowa and NYU done? 

I don't think NYU is done - we haven't heard anything about the waitlists. 

[Jackedup]

Y'all think Iowa is finished? Seems like stuff has been trickling in from them pretty slowly 

[dasiena]

I'm being slowly tortured because I only applied to two schools & apparently they both like to take their sweet time. I would at least like to *know* something. Even if it's a rejection.

If you've at least heard back from *a* school, I'm jealous. Nothing has arrived in my inbox, not a peep.

Also if I reapply next year I think I might just chill and not join Draft/this forum because watching everyone get their results, hundreds and hundreds of results, is like a tiny little hit of dopamine that turns into confusion and anxiety.

(iowa? brown? r u there)

[Rixor]

I like to pretend the schools that are taking so long are doing so because every single applicant was amazing and they're all in a little conference room together arguing like 'how on earth do we choose between all these lovely writers?'

 

[pananoprodigy]

10 minutes ago, dasiena said:

I'm being slowly tortured because I only applied to two schools & apparently they both like to take their sweet time. I would at least like to *know* something. Even if it's a rejection.

If you've at least heard back from *a* school, I'm jealous. Nothing has arrived in my inbox, not a peep.

Also if I reapply next year I think I might just chill and not join Draft/this forum because watching everyone get their results, hundreds and hundreds of results, is like a tiny little hit of dopamine that turns into confusion and anxiety.

(iowa? brown? r u there)

I feel this 🙃 I only applied to four and haven't heard from any of them yet. I'm also at the point where I'm longing for anything, even if it's a rejection. And I think I'm with you re: forums for next year. As much as it's been helpful to have this community during the Time of Angst, I wonder if it would be so angst-ridden for me in the first place if I wasn't constantly checking to see what other people have heard lol

[aurqcyei]

I honestly just want Brown to release results and informally end my cycle. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Everything else pending on my end is either a soft rejection or, at best, a possible waitlist. Still waiting for the Kleenex that Iowa's going to send in my mailbox. I've never received a paper rejection from anything before, so I'll probably nail it to my wall a la Stephen King style.  

To be completely realistic though: given that fiction/poetry acceptances are out, I'm guessing if more Iowa results come out, it'll be waitlists. If I'm really inhaling the copium/hopium (whatever lingo) from past years, maybe a trickle stream of acceptances in the next few weeks, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Also, re: Brown: I checked Draft '23 and no one who reported a Brown fiction/poetry acceptance indicated they had to interview beforehand. Brown seems to only interview playwrighting applicants, which is a different department from the Literary Arts. Guessing that Gradcafe result is either a troll (they put their matriculation semester as Fall 25 lol) or just for the Theatre Arts department. Given last year's results, we'll probably hear back next week. They seem to take longer since, according to their site, two faculty members review each app?  

2 hours ago, pomelo said:

Also, what is up with UMass Amherst? Did they release all decisions? I kinda gave up hope because I didn’t get an interview but still. 

From what I know, fiction results released in early/mid Feb. They take a while to release rejections for some reason, but they already invited prospies to an event in April. 

Edited March 4, 2024 by aurqcyei

[pomelo]

37 minutes ago, aurqcyei said:

From what I know, fiction results released in early/mid Feb. They take a while to release rejections for some reason, but they already invited prospies to an event in April. 

Oof that sucks but also good to know. Thank you. These soft rejections are killing me. If some programs can release all their decisions within a few days, why can’t all programs? I feel so silly waiting on a response from UMass (and other programs) meanwhile they’ve already made their mind up about me. Booo

[aurqcyei]

37 minutes ago, pomelo said:

Oof that sucks but also good to know. Thank you. These soft rejections are killing me. If some programs can release all their decisions within a few days, why can’t all programs? I feel so silly waiting on a response from UMass (and other programs) meanwhile they’ve already made their mind up about me. Booo

I feel you. I'd rather know ASAP if they aren't going to take me in the first place (thank you, BU, lol). I do think some programs hold off on sending rejections until they fill out/mostly confirm their cohort, so I get that too from their end. 

Edited March 4, 2024 by aurqcyei

[Mxxyr]

1 hour ago, Jackedup said:

Y'all think Iowa is finished? Seems like stuff has been trickling in from them pretty slowly 

I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up or down, but speaking with Elizabeth Willis I learned:

Iowa only accepted 20 poets this year. Still accepted 25 fiction writers. 
 

They *just* started making calls. We may not even get our funding packages for a few weeks or so. And she said that the poetry department especially likes to take their time. The convo I had with her was fairly long. So I assume they are finding times in the day to set aside to make the acceptance calls and have enough time to talk extensively with the prospective student. 
 

good luck everyone regardless!! 

[aurqcyei]

Just now, Mxxyr said:

I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up or down, but speaking with Elizabeth Willis I learned:

Iowa only accepted 20 poets this year. Still accepted 25 fiction writers. 
 

They *just* started making calls. We may not even get our funding packages for a few weeks or so. And she said that the poetry department especially likes to take their time. The convo I had with her was fairly long. So I assume they are finding times in the day to set aside to make the acceptance calls and have enough time to talk extensively with the prospective student. 
 

good luck everyone regardless!! 

asdflknsafsd I seriously just tucked and smothered my hopes into bed last week, but are you possibly indicating that Iowa is still making calls for both genres?

[Mxxyr]

3 minutes ago, aurqcyei said:

asdflknsafsd I seriously just tucked and smothered my hopes into bed last week, but are you possibly indicating that Iowa is still making calls for both genres?

I can’t speak on fiction because I didn’t inquire directly about that, but I do know they are fairly early in the process of notifying poetry prospectives. 

[TheGreatLoudini]

why do schools wait so long to send rejections? its like bruh I know I didnt get in just send me the official rejection already

[Rixor]

So, thinking back on that "signs" discussion, I'd like your advice.

My first acceptance, which is at risk of being cancelled, just had their prospective student meet & greet cancelled do to a freak blizzard. 10 feet of snow.

Scrolling on TikTok, I saw a video of a plane crash at the city where that college is. Sad to watch and learn about it, but I know that means nothing on its own.

Then, an hour ago, I took my brother's car to get groceries for my mom, and when I went back out of the parking lot... It'd vanished. Someone stole it. It's a 199x junk sedan. It's been stolen while my grandfather's in for a risky procedure for his cancer. 🙃

Currently working out the legal stuff but--how do you stop noticing "bad" signs? Everything is indicating to me that maybe I should stay in my tiny hometown forever, and that I'm not meant to leave, and I know that's super irrational but I struggle to know how else to read it. 

[Scribe]

11 minutes ago, Rixor said:

So, thinking back on that "signs" discussion, I'd like your advice.

My first acceptance, which is at risk of being cancelled, just had their prospective student meet & greet cancelled do to a freak blizzard. 10 feet of snow.

Scrolling on TikTok, I saw a video of a plane crash at the city where that college is. Sad to watch and learn about it, but I know that means nothing on its own.

Then, an hour ago, I took my brother's car to get groceries for my mom, and when I went back out of the parking lot... It'd vanished. Someone stole it. It's a 199x junk sedan. It's been stolen while my grandfather's in for a risky procedure for his cancer. 🙃

Currently working out the legal stuff but--how do you stop noticing "bad" signs? Everything is indicating to me that maybe I should stay in my tiny hometown forever, and that I'm not meant to leave, and I know that's super irrational but I struggle to know how else to read it. 

DUDE! sorry about the wheels.

and you're right, super irrational. as long as you're looking at things super irrationally, aren't all these things just as likely to indicate something good is going to happen?

[decayingballads21]

anyone get a rejection from Wyoming or know if they’re still notifying acceptances/waitlists?

[Hank Moody]

I've been wondering about that too. Especially because all the Wyoming acceptances/waitlists I saw on draft were nonfiction or hybrid and none for fiction.

Edited March 4, 2024 by Hmoody

[bluespruce]

34 minutes ago, Rixor said:

So, thinking back on that "signs" discussion, I'd like your advice.

My first acceptance, which is at risk of being cancelled, just had their prospective student meet & greet cancelled do to a freak blizzard. 10 feet of snow.

Scrolling on TikTok, I saw a video of a plane crash at the city where that college is. Sad to watch and learn about it, but I know that means nothing on its own.

Then, an hour ago, I took my brother's car to get groceries for my mom, and when I went back out of the parking lot... It'd vanished. Someone stole it. It's a 199x junk sedan. It's been stolen while my grandfather's in for a risky procedure for his cancer. 🙃

Currently working out the legal stuff but--how do you stop noticing "bad" signs? Everything is indicating to me that maybe I should stay in my tiny hometown forever, and that I'm not meant to leave, and I know that's super irrational but I struggle to know how else to read it. 

So sorry about your car and that all this is piling up! Just chiming in here to say that I don't know about you, but even when too many good things happen to me in a row I start wondering whether I'm destined to experience something awful soon. And that's not to say that I'm right — but that our anxiety brains can twist anything into a bad omen or an excuse to stress! If you're worried about noticing bad signs, you'll see them everywhere. None of these events are connected to your future or your potential or your talent as a writer. Keep your head up, you'll get through this.

[triciadawn]

How hard is it to get a scholarship at New School? I received a 35 percent scholarship, but I’m not sure if this means anything.