2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[hopeful poet 2025]

16 minutes ago, Tuxedocat said:

Did you apply to Rutgers-C for multi-genre instead of poetry? I wanted to apply but they said the only poet faculty member is on sabbatical so they wouldn’t accept applicants of only poetry. 

Yes, for multi-genre. I have been doing a lot of hybrid work, so I went for it. It is the only program I did multi-genre, though some others are untracked programs. Really like the Camden location/have a large community in the Philly area. We will see what happens! 

[hopeful poet 2025]

28 minutes ago, rrrooossseee said:

hey all, been lurking for a bit but i just created an account after hearing back from one of my schools, syracuse, with a poetry rejection (sorry to read about yours as well, hopeful poet).

still waiting on university of michigan, iowa, and concordia (in montreal, where i'm located). i only applied to four, which makes the rejection a little unnerving, but i'm trying to stay positive. i also really appreciated this section in my rejection letter, which might help if you're dealing with a rejection, too.

"This is a complicated judgment which depends a great deal on the abilities and opinions of those instructors here who must be able to feel that they could clearly serve the development of your writing.  Their consensus not to recommend admission to the program should in no way be interpreted as a discouragement of your writing."

anyways, thought i'd just say hi and check in. good luck everyone ❤️ 

thank you!! i also have been lurking, made this account to report the rejection. it is nice to have this community! i have heard good things about Concordia. best of luck!!! 
 

& congrats to everyone who has gotten acceptances and waitlists already!

[epr]

Litowitz just had a 2nd poetry acceptance go up on the sheet.  Seems like they may be staggering contacting folks this year so I’ll eat my words, looks like they’re not done yet!

[Hjanep]

3 minutes ago, epr said:

Litowitz just had a 2nd poetry acceptance go up on the sheet.  Seems like they may be staggering contacting folks this year so I’ll eat my words, looks like they’re not done yet!

These slow burn poetry acceptances are killing me. Where are the fiction results?

[cooliejulie86]

4 minutes ago, epr said:

Litowitz just had a 2nd poetry acceptance go up on the sheet.  Seems like they may be staggering contacting folks this year so I’ll eat my words, looks like they’re not done yet!

And they're taking two per genre - interesting. is that typical for Litowitz?

[strawberrymatcha]

Just now, Hjanep said:

These slow burn poetry acceptances are killing me. Where are the fiction results?

for real… I guess last year they didn’t do fiction so there isn’t as much to go off of there, though it seemed like last year they sent all acceptances/waitlists out one day then rejections the next. fingers crossed, good luck to everyone (and congrats to everyone who’s heard back already!!)

[bibsy]

already posted on the draft and the playwriting thread, but since i am of two worlds in this process, sharing here as well:

l o l, Y'ALL, i messed up so bad. I GOT MY INTERVIEW TIME WRONG FOR UT AUSTIN (for playwriting). i confused my timezones and emailed kirk lynn to ask for clarification on whether i was to meet with them at 10:30 or 10:50. he said, "i had you down for 10:50. can you hop on now?" i said, no worries, i'd see him at the scheduled time... and then i realized i was doing my timezone math incorrectly and had missed my window by an hour ohhhh MANNN. anyway, everything was fine! i spoke with kirk lynn and patrick shaw, who were both wildly personable. i was probably a little frazzled, but i don't feel like the mixup had a severe impact on our convo (though they were very gracious to meet with me at a different time). i love to interview, so i had fun!

i really feel like, since we were able to meet right away, this was a minor bump in the road, and i was grateful for our conversation. some things i learned:

from here, there's no set process (for playwriting). some years, they find out what they need to know from this round of interviews and extend offers. other years, they invite finalists to campus. they'll have a path forward sometime next week.

i know we know this, but it's nice to hear it from the horse's mouth directly: the main difference between michener and ut proper is the source of funding. while michener students aren't supposed to teach, if a michener student is very interested in pedagogy, the faculty will collaborate with them to expose them to those opportunities, even if the channels are less official. and if a non-michener student is very interested in cross-genre work, faculty usually have success getting them into those classes. (disclaimer, of course, that this was from the theatre and dance perspective. attitudes might be different in NWP) 

[snottlebie]

14 minutes ago, cooliejulie86 said:

And they're taking two per genre - interesting. is that typical for Litowitz?

I think they typically took at least 2, but possibly more. But they used to rotate genres, 2 genres open for apps at one time. This year, they're doing all 3 genres.

[KennyK]

Hoping to hear something from JH today *fingers crossed*

[KennyK]

Also side note: Does JH accept spec fiction? 

[cooliejulie86]

Litowitz Fiction acceptance on the Draft board

Edited February 5 by cooliejulie86

[strawberrymatcha]

Looks like there’s a Litowitz poetry waitlist as well

[decayingballads21]

3 hours ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

yeah waiting on oregon state for fiction. it's possible that other accepted ppl aren't on draft

Do we think Oregon state is done notifying? 

[Catpaw]

21 minutes ago, KennyK said:

Also side note: Does JH accept spec fiction? 

I know you are likely hoping for a clear-cut yes or no answer, but my cautious answer would be "it depends on the writing sample." And possibly depends on who you list as your writing influences, too, in conjunction with the sample.

My impression of JH's faculty is that they're not particularly focused on spec fic, though I could be missing someone on the roster who is... Still, I think that if you are submitting spec fic which can read as in some way as either experimental or fabulist, and which has a focus on the language on a sentence level, then you'll likely be fine. (I also realize that many people define spec fic very differently, so I didn't want to get too into the weeds with this answer and then have it turn out we were thinking of completely different things as 'spec fic'!)

[KennyK]

13 minutes ago, Catpaw said:

I know you are likely hoping for a clear-cut yes or no answer, but my cautious answer would be "it depends on the writing sample." And possibly depends on who you list as your writing influences, too, in conjunction with the sample.

My impression of JH's faculty is that they're not particularly focused on spec fic, though I could be missing someone on the roster who is... Still, I think that if you are submitting spec fic which can read as in some way as either experimental or fabulist, and which has a focus on the language on a sentence level, then you'll likely be fine. (I also realize that many people define spec fic very differently, so I didn't want to get too into the weeds with this answer and then have it turn out we were thinking of completely different things as 'spec fic'!)

Thank you for the explaining! 

[Tinky C. Clown]

53 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said:

Do we think Oregon state is done notifying? 

i’d bet probably maybe yes??? i think they accepted 4 last year so it’s somewhat likely the other 3 are not drafting 

[decayingballads21]

33 minutes ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

i’d bet probably maybe yes??? i think they accepted 4 last year so it’s somewhat likely the other 3 are not drafting 

I meant for all genres 

[shadygrove]

4 hours ago, hopeful poet 2025 said:

thank you!! i also have been lurking, made this account to report the rejection. it is nice to have this community! i have heard good things about Concordia. best of luck!!! 
 

& congrats to everyone who has gotten acceptances and waitlists already!

I too appreciate the tenderness of the rejection from Syracuse. Got mine a few hours ago too 🥲 I only applied to three programs, so it doesn't feel great. (Genuinely shocked by how many programs some folks were able to apply to?! Soo jealous. Just my three apps were a big financial burden fr me!)

Fingers crossed for us all as (hopefully) more poetry notifs come rolling in!!! Hope everyone is taking care of themselves and not stressing too hard ❤️ 

[colonelsaunders]

Quick question: what is draft? I've seen it referenced on here so often that I decided to create an account for the sole purpose of asking. Here is what I've gathered about it so far: it seems as though there is some magical spreadsheet associated with it that informs everyone but me on which programs are currently sending out rejections. Also, no one else has asked what it is, so it must be relatively popular, but when I try to find it on google I'm only met with sports articles and various dictionary definitions. Then when I rephrase my question as, "draft creative writing MFA," all I find are more equally useless articles, some of which being quite deceptive, like a post made on r/Writing titled, "what is draft?" which turned out to be someone asking what a literal draft was.

I think I'm going insane here, and I'm starting to believe it's one big inside joke created for the sake of torturing me, Colonelsaunders, which, yes, yes, is my legal first name, and no, my parents are not fans of George Saunders, so don't go thinking my name is some sort of half-baked pun. They just made a typo on my birth certificate. And I'd appreciate it if no one who replies to this post comments on my name because it's a big insecurity of mine.

With love and care,

Colonelsaunders Anders-Flanders Gillanders Jr.

 

Edited February 6 by colonelsaunders

[LulusMom]

It's a Facebook group called MFA draft '25. You have to ask the mods to let you in. On there is a spreadsheet that shows acceptance dates from past years, and that people update as they hear back from places. 

[Tinky C. Clown]

19 minutes ago, colonelsaunders said:

Quick question: what is draft? I've seen it referenced on here so often that I decided to create an account for the sole purpose of asking. Here is what I've gathered about it so far: it seems as though there is some magical spreadsheet associated with it that informs everyone but me on which programs are currently sending out rejections. Also, no one else has asked what it is, so it must be relatively popular, but when I try to find it on google I'm only met with sports articles and various dictionary definitions. Then when I rephrase my question as, "draft creative writing MFA," all I find are more equally useless articles, some of which being quite deceptive, like a post made on r/Writing titled, "what is draft?" which turned out to be someone asking what a literal draft was.

I think I'm going insane here, and I'm starting to believe it's one big inside joke created for the sake of torturing me, Colonelsaunders, which, yes, yes, is my legal first name, and no, my parents are not fans of George Saunders, so don't go thinking my name is some sort of half-baked pun. They just made a typo on my birth certificate. And I'd appreciate it if no one who replies to this post comments on my name because it's a big insecurity of mine.

With love and care,

Colonelsaunders Anders-Flanders Gillanders Jr.

 

this has definitely been explained multiple times here but search “mfa draft ‘25” on facebook. it’s a private group that you request to join and there you will find said spreadsheet link.

[Prosaic Ioniser]

I feel as though my life has been on pause ever since I hit submit on my last application in December. I'm starting to go insane, I can't really focus on anything else (like my current freelance work or job applications - I'm going through the motions but I don't care about them)!! I really hope this month will send some answers, I'm going crazy, especially when I know how small the chance of getting in even is...

A big congrats to everyone who's already received their first acceptances though! 

[zaira]

23 minutes ago, Prosaic Ioniser said:

I feel as though my life has been on pause ever since I hit submit on my last application in December. I'm starting to go insane, I can't really focus on anything else (like my current freelance work or job applications - I'm going through the motions but I don't care about them)!! I really hope this month will send some answers, I'm going crazy, especially when I know how small the chance of getting in even is...

A big congrats to everyone who's already received their first acceptances though! 

Likewise, friend! If it helps, I'd imagine most of us will have the majority of our answers by the end of this month, save for a few schools that report in early March. Only a few weeks more! You got this. 

[Prosaic Ioniser]

46 minutes ago, zaira said:

Likewise, friend! If it helps, I'd imagine most of us will have the majority of our answers by the end of this month, save for a few schools that report in early March. Only a few weeks more! You got this. 

You are right. Thanks! Good luck to you too

[programedlove333]

this may be minor, but I just realized that Ole Miss asked for contact info on every page, but I only put my phone and email  on my cover page, and the rest just had my name. Hopefully it is fine but I am also just like oh my godddd