2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[friendned]

3 minutes ago, crossingmyfingers1212 said:

I feel like I'm going crazy - 7 confirmed + soft rejections, 10 pending results. This is brutal

I feel you. I'm in the same boat. Praying for you ❤️

[tomat0tomat0]

syracuse fiction rejection (via email) on the spreadsheet 

[lizziebennett]

just got my syracuse rejection email (fiction) 

[pananoprodigy]

Dang, got my Syracuse rejection too that was one of my tops, I went to undergrad in western ny and was lowkey hoping to move back

[misssalem]

                       🕯
              🕯             🕯
        🕯                          🕯
 
    🕯        manifesting an

                  Acceptance     

      🕯             Email           🕯

         🕯                          🕯
              🕯             🕯
                       🕯

 

At this point I'll try anything 🤷‍♀️

[PsychPoet]

3 minutes ago, gwenny said:

just got my syracuse rejection email (fiction) 

Same, Syracuse email rejection in fiction. 

[essentialflowers]

No Syracuse, but we keep pushing!!! Proud of everyone who applied. We're in this together. 

[prufrock_]

We wanted a big week, and we got a big week!

 

(another rejection; good bye Syracuse Dreamin)

[inkidacat]

Did Syracuse already send out acceptances? I know that it's usually acceptances/waitlists before rejections...

 

[Mystic_Sunshine]

I can't even imagine how loud the cow is. 

[exvat]

3 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

I can't even imagine how loud the cow is. 

When Columbia and NYU drop, I'll probably hear that moo on the wind over my own notifications.

Edited February 18 by exvat
The answer my friend is mooin in the wind

[prufrock_]

5 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

I can't even imagine how loud the cow is. 

The cow was going crazy so I told the cow to only look at the sheet every 10 minutes now, and only moo once if it changed (it was anxiously mooing at every line!).

Maybe I can tell it to moo louder/quieter based on how many new lines appear in that 10 minute chunk. 

1 line only gets a tiny meow of a moo

20 new lines gets a MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[exvat]

11 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

The cow was going crazy so I told the cow to only look at the sheet every 10 minutes now, and only moo once if it changed (it was anxiously mooing at every line!).

Maybe I can tell it to moo louder/quieter based on how many new lines appear in that 10 minute chunk. 

1 line only gets a tiny meow of a moo

20 new lines gets a MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I dunno the origin of the cow, but every time, I think of the moo cow from the opening of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

[essentialflowers]

Just sent FSU a letter of continued interest— fingers crossed for some good news before April 15th. 

[snottlebie]

3 minutes ago, essentialflowers said:

Just sent FSU a letter of continued interest— fingers crossed for some good news before April 15th. 

Excuse my ignorance, what’s a letter of continued interest? Is that akin to replying to a waitlist email saying, I’m still interested?

[HalBear]

3 minutes ago, snottlebie said:

Excuse my ignorance, what’s a letter of continued interest? Is that akin to replying to a waitlist email saying, I’m still interested?

You are spot on @snottlebie! If you get waitlisted, it is a good idea to continue to email the program expressing your interest in the program.. It helps them assess who to accept if a spot opens up! 

[essentialflowers]

1 minute ago, snottlebie said:

Excuse my ignorance, what’s a letter of continued interest? Is that akin to replying to a waitlist email saying, I’m still interested?

Yes!!! When we zoomed he told me to let him know if I received any other offers or if I didn't want to go to the school anymore, so I wanted to let him know I am still DEFINITELY interested 

[Lady Gladys]

2 hours ago, eternalwhitenights said:

 as a full-time staff member to take up to 9 credit hours per year for free

Have you taken any of their undergraduate fiction writing classes? 

[decayingballads21]

2 minutes ago, essentialflowers said:

Yes!!! When we zoomed he told me to let him know if I received any other offers or if I didn't want to go to the school anymore, so I wanted to let him know I am still DEFINITELY interested 

If I responded to a waitlist email at the end of Jan expressing my interest should I send them a letter of continued interest again now? 
how many times have you communicated to this program your interest? Also is it a formal letter doc or just an email? 
sorry for so many questions 😭

[essentialflowers]

5 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said:

If I responded to a waitlist email at the end of Jan expressing my interest should I send them a letter of continued interest again now? 
how many times have you communicated to this program your interest? Also is it a formal letter doc or just an email? 
sorry for so many questions 😭

Don't apologize!! We called a few weeks ago and now that the bigger schools are releasing their decisions, I know some spots may open up since many (I'm assuming) of the accepted FSU students are now being accepted at other places, too. I'd let them know their program is still your top and that you would accept an offer if it was given, here's what I said: 

 

"

Hello! I hope all is well. I wanted to reach out and let you know that FSU is my top university, and if I were to be extended an offer for Fall 2025 off the waitlist, I would accept it wholeheartedly. After reading some of your student's work, I am extremely interested in participating in FSU's esteemed circle of talented writers— joining your cohort would be a dream! 

 

I hope admissions season is going well! Thank you, as always, for your consideration and communication thus far.

 

Sincerely,

 

Just an email, nothing too big or formal but cemented my interest.

[prufrock_]

28 minutes ago, exvat said:

I dunno the origin of the cow, but every time, I think of the moo cow from the opening of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

i wrote a python script that monitors the draft spreadsheet for me. It writes out each new row to a pretty ascii table; it also moos when it does this, so i know to look. it moos because a cow moo was the first mp3 i found. it also tells me the other schools the applicant has applied to. It color codes those results with green for admit, yellow for wait, red for rejection.

it's basically my emotional support cow.

Edited February 18 by prufrock_

[friendned]

Just wondering, how important do you all think it is to have publications prior to applying for MFA programs? 

[decayingballads21]

3 minutes ago, essentialflowers said:

Don't apologize!! We called a few weeks ago and now that the bigger schools are releasing their decisions, I know some spots may open up since many (I'm assuming) of the accepted FSU students are now being accepted at other places, too. I'd let them know their program is still your top and that you would accept an offer if it was given, here's what I said: 

 

"

Hello! I hope all is well. I wanted to reach out and let you know that FSU is my top university, and if I were to be extended an offer for Fall 2025 off the waitlist, I would accept it wholeheartedly. After reading some of your student's work, I am extremely interested in participating in FSU's esteemed circle of talented writers— joining your cohort would be a dream! 

 

I hope admissions season is going well! Thank you, as always, for your consideration and communication thus far.

 

Sincerely,

 

Just an email, nothing too big or formal but cemented my interest.

I’ve already expressed my interest and gratitude with an email to them in end of January, is it too soon to reach out again?

[Catpaw]

8 minutes ago, friendned said:

Just wondering, how important do you all think it is to have publications prior to applying for MFA programs? 

It's not inconsequential if you do have prestigious publication credits, but it's also not of high importance. Many people without any prior publications get accepted; a lot of people with prior publications (and often prestigious ones!) do not get admitted. It doesn't seem to play a strong factor in final decisions.

Edited February 18 by Catpaw
typo

[zaira]

2 hours ago, exvat said:

My work sample contains 3 poems that appeared in 3 different elite litmags, 1 in a v good one, and several new poems that are as good or better. I don't have any stats on this, but I have to imagine this is toward the "more published" end of the manuscript stacks. My CV as stuff like major workshops, conferences, etc.

I'm currently looking at 2 rejections (from small competitive programs; one school was my alma mater, tho v different department) and 2 pending. My recommenders think the world of me, and have recognizable/revered names.

Echoing this, I've come to realize something. Truthfully I think a lot of us fall under this category. I would bet of the 900-something applications some of these schools receive, at least 100 of them are "good enough," meaning the writing is at an MFA level, the applicant has great letters of rec from splashy writers/professors, and has at least one serious workshop/conference/publication.

I used to think this was pretty rare; it's not. Over the past few weeks I've met so, so many talented writers with these qualifications. I was confident going into this process, and now I realize I'm just one of many other people with similar merits. All of the things I thought would make my application stand out are actually pretty commonplace at this highly-competitive level. 

How do you move from (maybe) the top 100 to the top four? I certainly can't tell you. I'm four rejections deep with at least one more soft rejection heading for my inbox any day now. But I'm at peace. I'm in very good company. I can't feel depressed when I see the incredible work my peers are putting out there. They're all deserving!