2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[exvat]

5 minutes ago, friendned said:

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

Only speaking from personal experience as someone with Solid Pub Creds (pff), but I'd say "some". They can indicate persistence, dedication, "objective" evaluations of excellence, blah blah blah. But if you wanna get down to physics: in means that those people sent their work to editors and editors published it. That's all. You could be a new and young or old and experienced poet with bonkers work, and the first people who ever see that work are an admissions committee. Bam, zero pubs, genius is recognized. And if you get a handful of those (or similar) in a year, then all those pub creds suddenly don't stack up compared to unmined diamonds. Hope that helps 🙏

[friendned]

5 minutes ago, Catpaw said:

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.

Thanks for responding! Definitely helpful to hear that. I've only published flash fiction thus far, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a go in the short story space. 

[Mystic_Sunshine]

12 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said:

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?

This is just me but I'd likely leave it until a little later. Most people are still waiting for news and a lot of people don't confirm an acceptance until after most notifications are through unless it was their absolute #1 school. 

[DJ Lambchop]

The Syracuse rejection hurt. I grew up in a Tibetan Buddhist community and George Saunders is a rare combination of Tibetan Buddhist, stellar writer, and kind and sane human. He was my top faculty member I wanted to work under.  

[prufrock_]

3 minutes ago, DJ Lambchop said:

The Syracuse rejection hurt. I grew up in a Tibetan Buddhist community and George Saunders is a rare combination of Tibetan Buddhist, stellar writer, and kind and sane human. He was my top faculty member I wanted to work under.  

I'm with ya, he's one of my favorites. To make it sting less, I keep reminding myself he lives in CA and probably wouldn't teach anything at Syracuse if I did get in... (plus, with his story club presence online, i can learn from him anyway)

[friendned]

7 minutes ago, exvat said:

Only speaking from personal experience as someone with Solid Pub Creds (pff), but I'd say "some". They can indicate persistence, dedication, "objective" evaluations of excellence, blah blah blah. But if you wanna get down to physics: in means that those people sent their work to editors and editors published it. That's all. You could be a new and young or old and experienced poet with bonkers work, and the first people who ever see that work are an admissions committee. Bam, zero pubs, genius is recognized. And if you get a handful of those (or similar) in a year, then all those pub creds suddenly don't stack up compared to unmined diamonds. Hope that helps 🙏

Thanks for the response! Makes sense to me - guess I shouldn't worry too much about it. Just going to push on ahead and focus on writing short stories 😎

[inkidacat]

has anyone who applied to syracuse not received any email yet? T*T i'm assuming that they system is just going down the line, and it hasn't reached me yet.. 

[seezeegee]

First rejection letter from Syracuse! Feels kind of like shit but tomorrow's another day and I still have many to hear back from.

[Mystic_Sunshine]

I can't believe that half of my places have responded and half haven't. 

Torture continues. 

[PsychPoet]

50 minutes ago, seezeegee said:

First rejection letter from Syracuse! Feels kind of like shit but tomorrow's another day and I still have many to hear back from.

Agreed RE: feels like shit. It's funny, I knew how subjective anything with these odds are, and that they were only taking ~6 in fiction, but man did it land hard on me when I saw it in my inbox. 

This sounds weird saying out loud, but I kind of had a premonition (or some quasi-mystical experience) with this today. This, even though I'm not inclined to think in such ways. When I wake up the first thing I do is check my phone for emails or missed calls. Today, I sort of had a lucid dream that I woke, checked my email, and scrolling through "saw" an orange "S" from Syracuse in there, though upon actually waking up I could find no such thing. 

Later this afternoon, sitting down to read with a cup of coffee I suddenly had a strong urge from out of nowhere to check the Syracuse portal. (Only one I checked today). Nothing. 

I went straight from there to my email and there was my rejection, time-stamped exactly one minute prior. So odd. 

With an MA, a PhD, and an EdD I've been through this many times before. For PhD was rejected at some pretty underwhelming state schools, ultimately accepted into a top-tier elite where there were 850+ applications and I was one of two they took. But it's been a while and I was very curious how I'd respond to rejections. When I was MUCH younger, I took them pretty personally and always felt the need to wallow for a while. 

Happy to report that age is a great mediator of such things as after the initial sting, the self-soothing rationalizations, the absolute surety that this one rejection foretold across the board rejections, I feel totally fine now. But, maybe a little more than totally fine. 

I just feel this overwhelming desire/need to write, right now, and write hard. So, that's what I'm about to do. 

Also have a 7pm zoom with someone from one of my former workshop cohorts to discuss the writing we sent to each other this month. 

Life goes on. I'm 0a, 0w, 7p. If it's rejections across the board I'm applying to b/t 20-25 next year. 

Trust the path. We got this. 

 

Edited February 18 by PsychPoet
Updating to 0a, 1r, 0w, 7p (forgot the rejection. Absolutely Freudian.

[orb weaver]

1 hour ago, friendned said:

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

This is my first application cycle w/no prior publications and I'm waitlisted at Hopkins, for one data point!

[mr butt]

hello friends in my head ~ 

i've been a big lurker and very grateful for all of your posts and questions and am rooting for all of you, for real. 

i just came here to say that i applied to 2 places - johns hopkins and syracuse w syracuse as my top choice . i received a waitlist email from jhu that was incredibly kind, personal, and warm. and then today i received a rejection from syracuse that used my deadname in the form letter lol - i know it's not the administrative person's fault or anything but i am choosing to see this as a blessing in disguise. i think we can imagine fit writing independently, wherever we are, bc of our own senses of what might be best alignment with our own writing. but the capacity that a school has to actually hold you is dependent on so many things! anyway. just very turned off by seeing my fucking deadname in this letter on top of a rejection - like why would you even have a preferred name option lol

[snottlebie]

7 minutes ago, mr butt said:

hello friends in my head ~ 

i've been a big lurker and very grateful for all of your posts and questions and am rooting for all of you, for real. 

i just came here to say that i applied to 2 places - johns hopkins and syracuse w syracuse as my top choice . i received a waitlist email from jhu that was incredibly kind, personal, and warm. and then today i received a rejection from syracuse that used my deadname in the form letter lol - i know it's not the administrative person's fault or anything but i am choosing to see this as a blessing in disguise. i think we can imagine fit writing independently, wherever we are, bc of our own senses of what might be best alignment with our own writing. but the capacity that a school has to actually hold you is dependent on so many things! anyway. just very turned off by seeing my fucking deadname in this letter on top of a rejection - like why would you even have a preferred name option lol

Mr Butt we are rooting for you! Anyway, just came here to hop on and agree with you - so far I have 1 acceptance and 2 waitlists and several rejections and the overwhelming majority of responses have used the legal name despite asking for preferred name. I know it’s a system thing, but it seems easily fixable. Even my acceptance letter has the wrong name (though the emails/calls from faculty used the correct name). It seems so silly/deeply messed up to ask for preferred name and then refuse to integrate it into the actual system. 

[Chex]

27 minutes ago, mr butt said:

hello friends in my head ~ 

i've been a big lurker and very grateful for all of your posts and questions and am rooting for all of you, for real. 

i just came here to say that i applied to 2 places - johns hopkins and syracuse w syracuse as my top choice . i received a waitlist email from jhu that was incredibly kind, personal, and warm. and then today i received a rejection from syracuse that used my deadname in the form letter lol - i know it's not the administrative person's fault or anything but i am choosing to see this as a blessing in disguise. i think we can imagine fit writing independently, wherever we are, bc of our own senses of what might be best alignment with our own writing. but the capacity that a school has to actually hold you is dependent on so many things! anyway. just very turned off by seeing my fucking deadname in this letter on top of a rejection - like why would you even have a preferred name option lol

That's pretty rotten of them. And yeah, I've observed that many of these schools don't even use the preferred name they ask for. Their loss. As you said, the rejection is a blessing in disguise. 

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that I (and some others) love your username on the spreadsheet. Been rooting for "mr butt". 😃 Congratulations on JHU and wishing you the very best with it.

Edited February 18 by Chex

[PsychPoet]

27 minutes ago, mr butt said:

hello friends in my head ~ 

i've been a big lurker and very grateful for all of your posts and questions and am rooting for all of you, for real. 

i just came here to say that i applied to 2 places - johns hopkins and syracuse w syracuse as my top choice . i received a waitlist email from jhu that was incredibly kind, personal, and warm. and then today i received a rejection from syracuse that used my deadname in the form letter lol - i know it's not the administrative person's fault or anything but i am choosing to see this as a blessing in disguise. i think we can imagine fit writing independently, wherever we are, bc of our own senses of what might be best alignment with our own writing. but the capacity that a school has to actually hold you is dependent on so many things! anyway. just very turned off by seeing my fucking deadname in this letter on top of a rejection - like why would you even have a preferred name option lol

100% agreed. The use of my formal name instead of the preferred name they asked for annoyed me as well. 

[mr butt]

3 minutes ago, PsychPoet said:

100% agreed. The use of my formal name instead of the preferred name they asked for annoyed me as well. 

 

3 minutes ago, PsychPoet said:

100% agreed. The use of my formal name instead of the preferred name they asked for annoyed me as well. 

 

14 minutes ago, Chex said:

That's pretty rotten of them. And yeah, I've observed that many of these schools don't even use the preferred name they ask for. Their loss. As you said, the rejection is a blessing in disguise. 

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that I (and some others) love your username on the spreadsheet. Been rooting for "mr butt". 😃 Congratulations on JHU and wishing you the very best with it.

 

20 minutes ago, snottlebie said:

Mr Butt we are rooting for you! Anyway, just came here to hop on and agree with you - so far I have 1 acceptance and 2 waitlists and several rejections and the overwhelming majority of responses have used the legal name despite asking for preferred name. I know it’s a system thing, but it seems easily fixable. Even my acceptance letter has the wrong name (though the emails/calls from faculty used the correct name). It seems so silly/deeply messed up to ask for preferred name and then refuse to integrate it into the actual system. 

you are all so so so so incredibly sweet and i think its fucked up that we all have had the same annoying experience!

i want to add that i just got an email from danielle evans that all 4 admitted students in fiction have chosen to attend the program visit and she is naming that i won't hear abt the waitlist until mid-march. so touched abt the clarity. additionally, i don't capitalize my name and sent a message to stay on the waitlist w my signature as my uncapitalized name -- and danielle evans replied to me w this information without capitalizing my name. i do feel touched. it is important to be seen, even as we are all experiencing scarcity from these big institutions. 

[Chex]

Can't believe there's been nothing from WashU so far. They've never (per recent records) been this late with decisions. And to think that their deadline this time was a full 2 weeks earlier than usual. Wonder what's keeping them. 

But on the other hand, the week is long and much more WILL happen between now and Friday/the weekend. Buckle up, folks. Eyes on Michigan, Iowa, UNLV and more. 

[prufrock_]

 rat enthusiast from the draft sheet is like thanos with the full gauntlet. holy cow!

[Chex]

21 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

 rat enthusiast from the draft sheet is like thanos with the full gauntlet. holy cow!

I'm out of reactions, but yes! They're sweeping everything, love it for them! Great for those waitlisted at these programs; their chances are looking good. 

[exvat]

3 minutes ago, Chex said:

I'm out of reactions, but yes! They're sweeping everything, love it for them! Great for those waitlisted at these programs; their chances are looking good. 

Hadn't thought about that, but yeah, people sweeping with acceptances is awesome for waitlisted folks, huh? Fingers crossed for all 🤞

[rocinante78]

Syracuse is out for me too. Wow, I’m down to two. Iowa and UVA. Can time just stop now? I don’t know if I want to know anymore. I just want everything to be still.

[lurkingwriter3]

Hello,

I have a question regarding recommenders.

 

An application required 3, I submitted 4 because I was unsure if one would actually submit, but I knew it would be a phenomenal rec if they did. The 4th never submitted. I've seen them over this past month and they keep telling me they'll submit, but still haven't. I'm worried that this could be a pink flag, or worse, considered an incomplete app by the admissions committee.

 

Anyone with experience / advice?

[pananoprodigy]

7 minutes ago, lurkingwriter3 said:

Hello,

I have a question regarding recommenders.

 

An application required 3, I submitted 4 because I was unsure if one would actually submit, but I knew it would be a phenomenal rec if they did. The 4th never submitted. I've seen them over this past month and they keep telling me they'll submit, but still haven't. I'm worried that this could be a pink flag, or worse, considered an incomplete app by the admissions committee.

 

Anyone with experience / advice?

I think as long as you have the required 3 you're totally fine!

[PsychPoet]

12 minutes ago, Jane Wyman said:

Well, I'm at 4 hard r's, 1 soft r at least, 8 pending. Can't help but think that not waiving my right to see recommenders' letters on some apps made me an easy no. I'm also older, and a potential transfer, with an unprestigious undergrad career (but a 4.0 at my current school).

I can't help worrying that, no matter how good my sample and letters are, I'm not the kind of *person* they're looking for, at least not on paper, so I'm not going to get in next round regardless of how hard I work.

I've sat on PhD admission committees and I can tell you no one ever cared about that. I don't recall it even being in the applicant dossiers we received. 

The not waiving your right to see LoRs IMO is fully irrelevant to the committees. If it did matter, it would be a wild assumption in that you could have very well asked your recommenders for permission to view them and to not waive this right. 

Where it can impact you is with the letter writers themselves. It's considered rude to not waive unless you've asked them first. For all grad apps I always ask if my writers will send me a copy themselves, they've always agreed, and I have them all on file. 

As a recommender, I have occasionally run into requestors not waiving, and I don't really care, but in many instances would decline to write for them after this. That piece for me is really dependent on who they are. If I suspect they're the type that would come back to me saying my letter wasn't strong enough, I'd tend to decline to do a letter for them in subsequent years. 

I did have a colleague who a student threatened to litigate what she considered to be a malicious letter, though no one in our dept thought it was that. 

TL;DR - My opinion is that there is approx. a zero percent chance this would impact your application. 

[Mystic_Sunshine]

3 hours ago, Chex said:

Can't believe there's been nothing from WashU so far. They've never (per recent records) been this late with decisions. And to think that their deadline this time was a full 2 weeks earlier than usual. Wonder what's keeping them. 

But on the other hand, the week is long and much more WILL happen between now and Friday/the weekend. Buckle up, folks. Eyes on Michigan, Iowa, UNLV and more. 

We really think it will be that many this week?

Idk if I can take it.