2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Leeannitha]

Thank you @zaira 

[prufrock_]

yay usps found my iowa packet and got it into their hands

If last year was also an indicator, we have about a month until mid january when it becomes time to refresh the notifications pages every minute of every day out of anxiety and dread and enjoyment of watching others and ourselves live the dream. Enjoy the next month of relative calm!

something i did last year and feel good about not doing this year: once i hit submit, i don't reread anything. knowing what typos or mistakes i made in an sop won't help a thing, and would only cause more anxiety.

[pananoprodigy]

1 hour ago, prufrock_ said:

something i did last year and feel good about not doing this year: once i hit submit, i don't reread anything. knowing what typos or mistakes i made in an sop won't help a thing, and would only cause more anxiety.

SO deeply second this lol. 

[pananoprodigy]

Anybody applying to Arkansas? I just found out they have a free first round so I said what the heck and sent it in. They're a fully funded four year program which is kinda wild to me, but maybe cool? Can't decide. Curious if anybody has thoughts on the program!

[prufrock_]

1 hour ago, pananoprodigy said:

Anybody applying to Arkansas? I just found out they have a free first round so I said what the heck and sent it in. They're a fully funded four year program which is kinda wild to me, but maybe cool? Can't decide. Curious if anybody has thoughts on the program!

It looks like a great program but something to keep in mind is that it's a 2/2 teaching load, i believe for all 4 years. Also, the stipend doesn't cover CoL for the area, so even though it's fully funded, how are you going to pay for rent for 4 years when teaching 2/2 and also doing your own mfa work?

lets look at numbers for that stipend:

16,000 total stipend

minus 5 ish percent for taxes (it's a tiny bit less if you have no other income) = 15,276
minus 1,660 in fees each semester, 3320 in fees a year (that's correct, they do not cover fees, only tuition)
so 15,276 - 3320 = 11,956
minus health insurance that is at least 680 a year (30 percent of 2,239.00 - the yearly cost for ark students).
so 11956 - 680 = 11,276

so that 16,000 turns into an nonnegotiable 11,276  a year pretty quick.
aka 939 a month - but this also includes summer months, which you'd be free to work outside of the school.

As grad student's we're agreeing to live lean. But can you make 939 cover rent / food / bills? seems impossible when the rent there has quadrupled over the last decade. I just don't think the stipend has kept up with inflation and rent enough, especially for 2/2 @ 4 years.

anyway, procrastinating is fun. back i go to work. i could be wrong about all this btw!

[exvat]

On 10/16/2024 at 11:29 PM, exvat said:

If you're as prone to overthinking and spinning about this whole process as I am, then here's a little meditation I created for myself, based on a Buddhist Equanimity chant:

• Regardless of my wishes for them, my application decisions are not in my hands.

• I alone am responsible for the contents of my applications.

• May I accept my application decisions with equanimity.

• May I find a true source of happiness.

• May I find peace exactly where I am.

Hitting this a few times a week and finding it helpful, bumping for y'all.

[pananoprodigy]

17 hours ago, prufrock_ said:

It looks like a great program but something to keep in mind is that it's a 2/2 teaching load, i believe for all 4 years. Also, the stipend doesn't cover CoL for the area, so even though it's fully funded, how are you going to pay for rent for 4 years when teaching 2/2 and also doing your own mfa work?

lets look at numbers for that stipend:

16,000 total stipend

minus 5 ish percent for taxes (it's a tiny bit less if you have no other income) = 15,276
minus 1,660 in fees each semester, 3320 in fees a year (that's correct, they do not cover fees, only tuition)
so 15,276 - 3320 = 11,956
minus health insurance that is at least 680 a year (30 percent of 2,239.00 - the yearly cost for ark students).
so 11956 - 680 = 11,276

so that 16,000 turns into an nonnegotiable 11,276  a year pretty quick.
aka 939 a month - but this also includes summer months, which you'd be free to work outside of the school.

As grad student's we're agreeing to live lean. But can you make 939 cover rent / food / bills? seems impossible when the rent there has quadrupled over the last decade. I just don't think the stipend has kept up with inflation and rent enough, especially for 2/2 @ 4 years.

anyway, procrastinating is fun. back i go to work. i could be wrong about all this btw!

Omg thank you for laying this all out, my brain can't math so I've been mostly saving the stipend/financial considerations for later but this is SO helpful to see. Damn yeah, 2/2 for all 4 years is a little wild imo. I think I'd probs be okay with a 2/2 load as long as the stipend reflected that but you're right, this seems kinda unsustainable, at least for me at this point in my life.

Edited December 19, 2024 by pananoprodigy

[janetdamnit]

On 12/16/2024 at 1:18 PM, prufrock_ said:

i've read cases of this happening and people still getting in! The writing sample is what matters most; a program isn't going to deny you for an arts degree because of a clerical error.

They've since emailed saying they've received my app, should I mention the mistake or just leave it be?

[pananoprodigy]

1 hour ago, janetdamnit said:

They've since emailed saying they've received my app, should I mention the mistake or just leave it be?

Personally I would probably just leave it, but I don't think there's any harm in asking if you'd be able to submit an updated version. 

[Jane Wyman]

Seems a lot quieter around here than last year. Dare I hope that the applicant pool is smaller, or are people just asking ChatGPT their questions?

I'm in my first semester at a program that hasn't turned out to be a good fit. I've got 11 applications in and two more to go. It's been a heavy lift, and I can't help but worry that I won't get accepted or waitlisted anywhere. But wildly speculating isn't helpful either, especially in the depths of December.

[programedlove333]

30 minutes ago, Jane Wyman said:

Seems a lot quieter around here than last year. Dare I hope that the applicant pool is smaller, or are people just asking ChatGPT their questions?

I'm in my first semester at a program that hasn't turned out to be a good fit. I've got 11 applications in and two more to go. It's been a heavy lift, and I can't help but worry that I won't get accepted or waitlisted anywhere. But wildly speculating isn't helpful either, especially in the depths of December.

Lolll i think it may be that everyone is trying to relax before the chaos of january-april begins… i have been freaking out internally but have to tell myself that results wont come out in december even if im like what if…..

[Hjanep]

6 hours ago, Jane Wyman said:

Seems a lot quieter around here than last year. Dare I hope that the applicant pool is smaller, or are people just asking ChatGPT their questions?

I'm in my first semester at a program that hasn't turned out to be a good fit. I've got 11 applications in and two more to go. It's been a heavy lift, and I can't help but worry that I won't get accepted or waitlisted anywhere. But wildly speculating isn't helpful either, especially in the depths of December.

Could you talk a little bit about why your program isn’t a good fit? It would be helpful to hear if you’re comfortable sharing. TIA!

[Jane Wyman]

13 hours ago, Hjanep said:

Could you talk a little bit about why your program isn’t a good fit? It would be helpful to hear if you’re comfortable sharing. TIA!

A 2/2 teaching load makes it hard to maintain your writing practice, especially in programs that have an academic focus. I think a studio-style program is better-suited for my needs, but given my love of reading, I didn't think that going in. Sometimes you have to get into a situation to figure out if it's right for you.

[prufrock_]

On 12/20/2024 at 2:49 PM, Jane Wyman said:

Seems a lot quieter around here than last year. Dare I hope that the applicant pool is smaller, or are people just asking ChatGPT their questions?

The thread from last year didn't even break 1 page before mid jan, but this thread is already at 10 pages 😅

The MFA draft group right now is at 1.1k members; last years group currently has 1.7k members (but how many members show up between now and results? I'm guessing a lot, so it will probably hit that 1.7k number again).

[enby_qrs]

Anyone else hear back from Knoxville?

[pananoprodigy]

1 hour ago, WRS said:

Anyone else hear back from Knoxville?

Not me! Did you!? Congrats if so!!!

[enby_qrs]

53 minutes ago, pananoprodigy said:

Not me! Did you!? Congrats if so!!!

Thank you!! Yes, I did! I received a personalized note from the dean... I haven't heard any word from anyone else though. Over the moon about it, even if it's an invitation for Round 2.

Hope you hear something soon <33

[pananoprodigy]

Just got an email from Knoxville - I’m through to round 2 :)

[cooliejulie86]

11 minutes ago, pananoprodigy said:

Just got an email from Knoxville - I’m through to round 2

Same! Congrats!

[Mystic_Sunshine]

On 12/20/2024 at 2:49 PM, Jane Wyman said:

Seems a lot quieter around here than last year. Dare I hope that the applicant pool is smaller, or are people just asking ChatGPT their questions?

I'm in my first semester at a program that hasn't turned out to be a good fit. I've got 11 applications in and two more to go. It's been a heavy lift, and I can't help but worry that I won't get accepted or waitlisted anywhere. But wildly speculating isn't helpful either, especially in the depths of December.

it's probably a similar number. Just lots of people waiting. 

[Mystic_Sunshine]

Just wanted to pop and and say hope everyone had a nice holiday. Happy New Year!

[bibsy]

ahhh, i have a big question! 

i'm splitting my apps between creative writing: fiction programs and playwriting programs. my top choice for fiction is uc davis. they have several tracks, including a multi-genre/hybrid track, and several of their faculty members specialize in mixed form/experimental writing. i think it would be a GREAT fit for me, as i'd ideally like to straddle the line between creative writing and playwriting and explore the folk traditions of oral storytelling in my graduate studies. SO, BIG QUESTION: do you think that, if i outline this intention in my SoP, i could submit both a short story and an excerpt from a play of mine? 

here are their guidelines online:
 

Either ten to twelve poems or up to thirty pages (double-spaced) of prose. Hybrid-form work must not exceed thirty pages.

To apply for admission to our Creative Writing MFA program, you are encouraged to include, as a writing sample, your very best creative writing.  Typically, two—or at the most three—genres exist in a graduate Creative Writing program: Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction.  At UCD, we think of genre as a useful thing to consider… but we do not think of the various genres—however many you would like to list—as necessarily unmixable modes.  
 

For us, the value of a piece of writing is better gauged directly—by what it says to its readers, and by what that saying does to those readers—rather than by its successful or unsuccessful identification with one or another of the historically certified genres.  This is not to say that we don't believe in genre, or in the usefulness of plumbing each purported genre's history; it is to say, rather, or to notice… that the border between one genre and another is not so much a Great Wall as a small fence.

playwriting falls further outside the bounds of "multi-genre" than i think most programs expect, but it's my strongest writing and a theatrical writing background is intrinsic to my goals as a writer. i don't know, folks, what do ya think? i'm leaning toward just going for it, but if i receive a resounding "NO" from you folks, i'll reconsider.

[zaira]

3 hours ago, bibsy said:

i don't know, folks, what do ya think? i'm leaning toward just going for it, but if i receive a resounding "NO" from you folks, i'll reconsider.

Go for it! They seem open to whatever you feel is your best work. 

And if they reject you because you included a play among your samples, then it's probably not the best fit for you anyway. You'll want to find a program that digs what you're doing across all of your samples and wants to support you in your vision.  

[Rixor]

Just wanted to drop in and wish you all good luck!! I went through this last year, the process is so anxiety-inducing... If I can support y'all in any way, please lmk! 

[cooliejulie86]

Is anyone here also on Draft? If so, how long did it take for a moderator to approve you? I've been waiting a week so far, but maybe that's just because of the holidays...