2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[AyvaM]

what do we think of the uc davis notification in Draft? it claims they were notified an entire week ago on 2/3. [I literally didn't even apply to uc davis lol. i'm just nosy]

Edit: ah I missed the one other uc davis notif on 1/31. Fineeee genuine congrats to them!! 🙃🌻 enough armchair detective from me

Edited February 9 by AyvaM
My schools haven't announced yet so my brain is acting out 🥲😭

[bibsy]

18 hours ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Is anyone else feeling equally terrified of getting into a top program as they are of not getting in? I applied to 12 programs, mostly in the Northeast where I live but also a few elite programs that are further away from me (Iowa, Michener, Helen Zell). I've already gotten a partially-funded offer in the city that I live in. Part of me wants more than anything to get into one of these further away funded schools, but part of me feels like it would be "easier" if I just don't get in and can accept this lesser offer and not have to move. I big part of this is that my partner of 2 years might not be able to move with me if I move away for grad school, and I've never done long distance before. I applied to some other funded programs (Cornell, Syracuse, Rutgers) that are more like a 5 hour drive from him rather than a plane ride, but even that distance would be challenging I'm sure. But if I do get into a funded program, it would be very difficult for me to justify turning it down so that I can live near him, and if I didn't go I would probably end up being resentful or wondering if I had made a big mistake. 

It's just a lot to think about and not knowing where I'll be living next year is making me really anxious. I spend a third of my time hoping I'll get into a top funded program, a third of it freaking out about what will happen to my relationship and my friendships if I do, and a third of it telling myself I'm silly for even thinking about it when I probably won't get in. 

ugh, i feel this so strongly. especially because i took totally different strategies with my fiction apps vs my playwriting apps. most of the fiction programs i applied to are in california. i'm not as experienced in fiction, so i think i could gain a good deal from a broader swath of programs and prioritized being closer to home. i've lived in socal for about 4.5 years, and i love it here. i have a community i'm reticent to leave and a fairly new romantic relationship that i'm very serious about (though we're both comfortable with long distance; i just don't WANT to be away because i love this person so much!)

with playwriting, though?? l o l, i only applied to ut austin, yale, and iowa, because those are the three programs that really resonate with me and that i'm confident would elevate my existing body of professional work. 

but that means i'm staring down a three-pronged fork in the road:

path 1: study fiction in-state
path 2: study playwriting somewhere across the country
path 3: grad school's not in the cards, keep on the job hunt grind

honestly, i'm kinda hoping i ONLY find myself accepted to either fiction programs or ONLY find myself accepted to playwriting programs so that i don't have to weigh all the lifestyle factors. there would be worse problems to have, obviously, and it's not like i anticipate being spoiled for choice! but i have created quite a massive divide in possible futures for myself, haha

[Leeannitha]

On 2/8/2025 at 9:23 PM, Jitterbug98 said:

Is anyone else feeling equally terrified of getting into a top program as they are of not getting in? I applied to 12 programs, mostly in the Northeast where I live but also a few elite programs that are further away from me (Iowa, Michener, Helen Zell). I've already gotten a partially-funded offer in the city that I live in. Part of me wants more than anything to get into one of these further away funded schools, but part of me feels like it would be "easier" if I just don't get in and can accept this lesser offer and not have to move. I big part of this is that my partner of 2 years might not be able to move with me if I move away for grad school, and I've never done long distance before. I applied to some other funded programs (Cornell, Syracuse, Rutgers) that are more like a 5 hour drive from him rather than a plane ride, but even that distance would be challenging I'm sure. But if I do get into a funded program, it would be very difficult for me to justify turning it down so that I can live near him, and if I didn't go I would probably end up being resentful or wondering if I had made a big mistake. 

It's just a lot to think about and not knowing where I'll be living next year is making me really anxious. I spend a third of my time hoping I'll get into a top funded program, a third of it freaking out about what will happen to my relationship and my friendships if I do, and a third of it telling myself I'm silly for even thinking about it when I probably won't get in. 

In almost the same exact position as someone in a relationship of almost 2 years. I reminded myself that I applied to these programs in the past before I even met him and that this is what’s best for me. I don’t want to feel stuck here and turn down a chance I would be extremely lucky to have. He is not able to move with me currently but might be able to move in a year or so. It’s the best option for me to choose myself and the dreams I had before I even met him and he understands that. It will be hard but regardless what happens we will both do our best to make it work for each other. 

[Chex]

Pardon my French and this digression, but who the phuck is Mark Eriksson? Some spammer on the results page keeps posting jabs about them. 

P.S: Just Googled. Seems like some kind of professor (if I got the right person). LOL, way to obsess. Just let it go, dude, damn! 

[nauseated]

not really the schools we are talking about these days but when are results for NWP/Michener commonly announced?

[zaira]

7 minutes ago, nauseated said:

not really the schools we are talking about these days but when are results for NWP/Michener commonly announced?

Michener accepted and waitlisted poetry and fiction on 2/20 last year. Rejections came on 2/21 I believe, and it seems like people had to check the portal to see the rejection since they didn't get an email. 

[DJ Lambchop]

Who’s ready for some rejections this week!!!!! Yeah, lemme hear you!!!!! Woo woo woo!

[Mystic_Sunshine]

1 hour ago, DJ Lambchop said:

Who’s ready for some rejections this week!!!!! Yeah, lemme hear you!!!!! Woo woo woo!

what schools do we think will notify this week? looks like for me I'm thinking it's pretty silent this week with news in the next 2. 

[strawberrymatcha]

fingers crossed for JHU?? it looks like last year they sent out acceptances on 2/5

[pananoprodigy]

15 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

what schools do we think will notify this week? looks like for me I'm thinking it's pretty silent this week with news in the next 2. 

🕯️ Manifesting U of Oregon and Wyoming 🕯️

[crossingmyfingers1212]

34 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

what schools do we think will notify this week? looks like for me I'm thinking it's pretty silent this week with news in the next 2. 

ahh I hope UMass or maybe Syracuse??

[exvat]

Any and all news is welcome at this point. I'd like to just move forward with whatever path is ahead.

[everything bagel lover]

40 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

what schools do we think will notify this week? looks like for me I'm thinking it's pretty silent this week with news in the next 2. 

Hoping from good news from UNLV and UWY this week! Maybe even a shot in the dark hope that CSU is spreading out their fiction notifs but I don't think that's the case tbh 

[programedlove333]

57 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

what schools do we think will notify this week? looks like for me I'm thinking it's pretty silent this week with news in the next 2. 

wash u stl and ole miss probably… next week feels like its gonna be the The Week but we may be surprised!

[pananoprodigy]

Just got an email rejection from Cornell (fiction). waaah

[prufrock_]

Why are we thinking UWY might come out soon? They had a very late deadline (1/20!)

 

[DJ Lambchop]

For Cornell being a supposedly great MFA program, they sure overused the word "very" in their rejection email. 

[everything bagel lover]

5 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

Why are we thinking UWY might come out soon? They had a very late deadline (1/20!)

 

omg you're right, I saw someone else say they were manifesting UWY and so I tossed it back on my list for this week 

UNLV has a 1/15 deadline and historically has sent out noticed pretty early given that (I maybe have gone into the Wayback machine to compare previous deadlines with previous acceptance notifs)

[vilum]

1 minute ago, DJ Lambchop said:

For Cornell being a supposedly great MFA program, they sure overused the word "very" in their rejection email. 

Lol I wanted to apply to Cornell but they were so inflexible with my language situation that I just got frustrated and didn't go through with the application. I completed all my schooling at English-speaking institutions in Italy and didn't see the point in taking a 270 euro language test...

[zaira]

Sending lots of hugs to my fellow Cornell rejection gang. Not a great start to the season, but we still have tons of results ahead of us. 

[choltebito]

On 2/8/2025 at 9:23 PM, Jitterbug98 said:

Is anyone else feeling equally terrified of getting into a top program as they are of not getting in? I applied to 12 programs, mostly in the Northeast where I live but also a few elite programs that are further away from me (Iowa, Michener, Helen Zell). I've already gotten a partially-funded offer in the city that I live in. Part of me wants more than anything to get into one of these further away funded schools, but part of me feels like it would be "easier" if I just don't get in and can accept this lesser offer and not have to move. I big part of this is that my partner of 2 years might not be able to move with me if I move away for grad school, and I've never done long distance before. I applied to some other funded programs (Cornell, Syracuse, Rutgers) that are more like a 5 hour drive from him rather than a plane ride, but even that distance would be challenging I'm sure. But if I do get into a funded program, it would be very difficult for me to justify turning it down so that I can live near him, and if I didn't go I would probably end up being resentful or wondering if I had made a big mistake. 

It's just a lot to think about and not knowing where I'll be living next year is making me really anxious. I spend a third of my time hoping I'll get into a top funded program, a third of it freaking out about what will happen to my relationship and my friendships if I do, and a third of it telling myself I'm silly for even thinking about it when I probably won't get in. 

YUP. My partner and I are both trans and feeling pretty limited in terms of where we'd feel safe moving (we're in NY right now). Iowa has been a dream forever but would be so hard to justify at this point that I'm starting to hope the choice is made for me.🫠 I applied to a couple Canadian programs (UBC and UVic) and am crossing my fingers hard for those, although neither is fully funded and I think they're kind of a long shot—UVic only accepts one student/genre/year and UBC's app required samples in two genres, so I had to half-ass some poetry in addition to my usual fiction, lol. Good luck to everyone—hope we all start getting some clarity (and hopefully good news) this week!

Side note, is the link to past years' admission results not working for anyone else? I keep getting an error message when trying to access it.

[Mr. Scribblo]

yup, the results page is not working

 

[nauseated]

46 minutes ago, vilum said:

Lol I wanted to apply to Cornell but they were so inflexible with my language situation that I just got frustrated and didn't go through with the application. I completed all my schooling at English-speaking institutions in Italy and didn't see the point in taking a 270 euro language test...

I feel you. I didn't apply to Cornell (and limited myself to only 3-4 apps) bec I'm based in South Asia and in the past year alone, I've taken the GRE (to apply for a fulbright scholarship), a Duolingo English Test, of all things (that they made us take once they released the fulbright interview shortlist) AND an IELTS exam (to apply everywhere else because everyone seemed to have their particular ways of being annoying about the language requirement). The whole app season drained the life AND money out of me and sometimes I sit here stewing in regret that I'm doing all this for highly competitive programs that almost guarantee rejection - I could have applied to some with higher acceptance rates but I wouldn't be able to fund them and I didn't want the heartbreak of saying no to any potential offers I got. Sorry for this sob story. All of this to say that the nitty gritties of applications (like proving you know a language you've been studying your whole life) are INSANELY annoying and it damages a lot of my faith!!!

[HalBear]

Hello all,

I received an email from Georiga College and State University about submitting the results of my back ground check.. If any of you did this, what background check did you submit? No other schools that I applied to required this and so I was surprised I needed one for this application.. Could anybody advise?

 

[Jitterbug98]

14 hours ago, Leeannitha said:

In almost the same exact position as someone in a relationship of almost 2 years. I reminded myself that I applied to these programs in the past before I even met him and that this is what’s best for me. I don’t want to feel stuck here and turn down a chance I would be extremely lucky to have. He is not able to move with me currently but might be able to move in a year or so. It’s the best option for me to choose myself and the dreams I had before I even met him and he understands that. It will be hard but regardless what happens we will both do our best to make it work for each other. 

Exactly, I have to do what's best for me ultimately or else I know I'd likely end up regretting it. Currently feeling like it's not a decision I'm even going to have to make after rejections from Cornell, Northwestern, and likely UMass Amherst! But who knows, I still have a bunch to hear back from