2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[DJ Lambchop]

17 minutes ago, exvat said:

Wishing everyone an acceptional Wednesday ✨

Love this!

[nauseated]

7 minutes ago, MegHe said:

Ok minor (unrelated) writing success today! I've submitted stories to the New Yorker before, and never heard back on any of them. (From their website: We regret that, owing to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to call or e-mail unless a story is accepted for publication.) In January, I submitted one of the pieces I used for my grad application and THEY REPLIED! They still said it wasn't a fit for their magazine, but they said THERE WAS MUCH TO ADMIRE ABOUT IT! This may be the most excited I've ever been about a rejection 😆 

I feel like being a writer is so much about finding ways forward through rejection. Especially waiting on grad school admissions, it's nice to get something that encourages me to keep writing, and to try again. 

HELLL YEAAAA that sounds so cool!!! what was the story about, if you don't mind me asking?

[tomat0tomat0]

nyu fiction acceptance on draft spreadsheet! by phone call apparently which is dif from last year

[everything bagel lover]

21 minutes ago, MegHe said:

Ok minor (unrelated) writing success today! I've submitted stories to the New Yorker before, and never heard back on any of them. (From their website: We regret that, owing to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to call or e-mail unless a story is accepted for publication.) In January, I submitted one of the pieces I used for my grad application and THEY REPLIED! They still said it wasn't a fit for their magazine, but they said THERE WAS MUCH TO ADMIRE ABOUT IT! This may be the most excited I've ever been about a rejection 😆 

I feel like being a writer is so much about finding ways forward through rejection. Especially waiting on grad school admissions, it's nice to get something that encourages me to keep writing, and to try again. 

Holy shit that's actually amazing!! Congrats on your super cool rejection! ❤️ 

[vilum]

3 minutes ago, tomat0tomat0 said:

nyu fiction acceptance on draft spreadsheet! by phone call apparently which is dif from last year

brb crying... nyu has always been my dream school

[Mystic_Sunshine]

It feels like I've been going for a long time with no news. 

 

[Chex]

11 minutes ago, tomat0tomat0 said:

nyu fiction acceptance on draft spreadsheet! by phone call apparently which is dif from last year

Not different. They call all those accepted with full funding (tuition remission + stipends). Some time later, emails are sent to those accepted with the standard package (50% tuition waiver). 

[FFFRANK]

How many people receive full funding from NYU?

[Hjanep]

I’m pretty sure NYU called a few people with funding packages last year and then sent a mass email to everyone else admitted

[crossingmyfingers1212]

any ideas when we might hear from New Writers Project, VT, or knoxville?? I know Brown and UVA usually aren't until early-mid march

[womanonline]

1 minute ago, crossingmyfingers1212 said:

any ideas when we might hear from New Writers Project, VT, or knoxville?? I know Brown and UVA usually aren't until early-mid march

been waiting on knoxville forever it feels like. last year it looks like acceptances went out on the 21st so they’re behind it seems like

[Mystic_Sunshine]

2 minutes ago, womanonline said:

been waiting on knoxville forever it feels like. last year it looks like acceptances went out on the 21st so they’re behind it seems like

idk if this is just me but a lot of places feel behind this year. 

 

[exvat]

Well, at 10:20 on this February 26, I felt my heart throw in the towel for this application cycle. The hope is gone. Not replaced by despair or negativity, cuz I'll be a-okay without grad school; but I can't attend without full funding, and my last two schools appear to be done with handing out big money, making possible acceptance moot.

It's a liberating feeling, actually. My mind feels free to move about the cabin, so to speak, to get excited about other possibilities for the year/s. If my calendar isn't bound by starting school in Aug/Sep, then I can fill it how I like. Backpacking Europe? Spending time at a monastery? Helping my brother renovate his new house? I can do all of it and more—and still keep writing and publishing, as I have for the last 15 years. AKA keep being a writer.

Edited February 26 by exvat

[Chex]

16 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

It feels like I've been going for a long time with no news. 

 

Saaame! Many programs have been slower this year. 

3 minutes ago, FFFRANK said:

How many people receive full funding from NYU?

Can't say exactly, but they have at least 10 fully-funded fellowships, so I imagine they give out about 5 or 6  per genre, maybe fewer for CNF. 

1 minute ago, Hjanep said:

I’m pretty sure NYU called a few people with funding packages last year and then sent a mass email to everyone else admitted

Yep

1 minute ago, crossingmyfingers1212 said:

any ideas when we might hear from New Writers Project, VT, or knoxville?? I know Brown and UVA usually aren't until early-mid march

NWP could happen by Friday or early next week. Someone on Draft contacted VT and reports that they'll notify after March 1 (so maybe next week, as well). Dunno about Knoxville, but probably within the next 2 weeks. 

[Chex]

13 minutes ago, exvat said:

Well, at 10:20 on this February 26, I felt my heart throw in the towel for this application cycle. The hope is gone. Not replaced by despair or negativity, cuz I'll be a-okay without grad school; but I can't attend without full funding, and my last two schools appear to be done with handing out big money, making possible acceptance moot.

It's a liberating feeling, actually. My mind feels free to move about the cabin, so to speak, to get excited about other possibilities for the year/s. If my calendar isn't bound by starting school in Aug/Sep, then I can fill it how I like. Backpacking Europe? Spending time at a monastery? Helping my brother renovate his new house? I can do all of it and more—and still keep writing and publishing, as I have for the last 15 years. AKA keep being a writer.

You have some pretty interesting alternative options there, can't imagine you'll go wrong with any of them. And yeah, this is a good attitude to have. I hope it'll be a rewarding year for you, whichever path you take. 

But also, the window may not be completely closed yet, bleak as it seems now. I don't think NYU called everyone on the same day last year; but even if they're done calling, there's still a chance you get in with the regular package. And if you happen to be high enough on their list, that offer may get bumped up later in the season when those with multiple fully-funded offers reject NYU's full funding. I can see on the Draft spreadsheet that the one person who's reported a poetry acceptance from NYU today was also accepted by Michigan and UW-Madison. Three fully-funded offers and they can only take one. So at least two lucky people will benefit from that. 

[Ekpe]

1 hour ago, MegHe said:

Ok minor (unrelated) writing success today! I've submitted stories to the New Yorker before, and never heard back on any of them. (From their website: We regret that, owing to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to call or e-mail unless a story is accepted for publication.) In January, I submitted one of the pieces I used for my grad application and THEY REPLIED! They still said it wasn't a fit for their magazine, but they said THERE WAS MUCH TO ADMIRE ABOUT IT! This may be the most excited I've ever been about a rejection 😆 

I feel like being a writer is so much about finding ways forward through rejection. Especially waiting on grad school admissions, it's nice to get something that encourages me to keep writing, and to try again. 

Congrats! A NYer rejection is actually VERY big!

[Mr Good Man]

Has anyone here received a POETRY acceptance from Uni of South Carolina? 

All I could find in the spreadsheet were poetry waitlists. I guess they are yet to send out poetry acceptances. 

[programedlove333]

3 hours ago, kpoetrottenapplecore said:

anyone heard from UNCG for poetry? 

this may not be helpful, but I just got off interview (really more of an informal chat) with the director and he said that they were running behind this year which may be why they haven't sent anything about poetry.. I am a fiction applicant btw

[MegHe]

1 hour ago, nauseated said:

HELLL YEAAAA that sounds so cool!!! what was the story about, if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you! It's about a woman who gets lost on a mountain when she's a kid in New Zealand, and how that event kind of follows her for the rest of her life.

[Cosmicinkwell]

1 hour ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

idk if this is just me but a lot of places feel behind this year. 

 

*Cough* WashU

[MegHe]

2 hours ago, tomat0tomat0 said:

nyu fiction acceptance on draft spreadsheet! by phone call apparently which is dif from last year

*Spends the rest of my day staring at my phone* 

[bartlebysghost]

Hi! Relatively new to this forum, been lurking this past week and furiously refreshing in anticipation. I got email rejected by Hopkins a couple of days ago and haven't heard from NYU or Hunter College yet.

But I just got an email that I'm a finalist for Brooklyn College's fiction program! Wishing all of you the best. 

If anyone knows why MFA programs don't make this process more structured/less stressful on applicants (like, "You will hear by [these days]") let me know! 🥲

Edited February 26 by bartlebysghost

[ksiezniczka.monisia]

A while ago I started an application for the UT for screenwriting - no idea why, never intended to study that, and never finished the app. Just started it, and that's it. But I couldn't delete it. So, as of today, I have been rejected from the program, but they thanked me for the effort I committed to applying 😆

So, to make long story short: Austin made sure to reject me from the program I didn't even apply for. In case you were wondering how badly I'm doing 😂

[Jane Wyman]

Can we manifest "everybody gets good news this week"?

[ksiezniczka.monisia]

12 minutes ago, Jane Wyman said:

Can we manifest "everybody gets good news this week"?

My new golf club had been dispatched, even though it wasn't supposed happen for another week or so, so I might be out of good news for this time. But good luck to y'all 💙

Edited February 26 by ksiezniczka.monisia
missing word