2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Hjanep]

46 minutes ago, Nauna said:

Just hoping for hugs here... I usually feel great and upbeat but as responses are coming through on the spreadsheet from my top-wanted programs, I'm starting to feel a little bummed out. 

Solidarity

[DJ Lambchop]

50 minutes ago, Nauna said:

Just hoping for hugs here... I usually feel great and upbeat but as responses are coming through on the spreadsheet from my top-wanted programs, I'm starting to feel a little bummed out. 

Sending a virtual hug. I have a really fortunate life right now but getting a sweep of rejections has made me feel like I’m stuck in a cage, watching my life go past from behind bars. 

[beefy5layerburrito]

27 minutes ago, KennyK said:

Has anything from Riverside been posted on draft today? If anyone is able to check please 🥺 I don’t have fb

nope, no reports from Riverside at all on draft. hope you hear from them soon!

[pearadox]

Finally got an account, though I've been reading this forum like a madman.

On one hand, I should feel happy that I've been accepted to Columbia with much enthusiasm. On the other hand, it's financially impossible for me to attend. Of course the one non funded program I apply to is the one that is interested in me lol.

I have a friend in research grant dispersal at one of these big state universities. Federal funding is apparently getting cut down to like 15% or something crazy, and everything is totally insane (like "oh we'll have to cut our Cancer Research Division of the school" type conversations. I can't help but wonder where poetry funding is on the chopping block lol) . While that school is not one that I'm applying to this cycle, I can't help but wonder how many of these programs are getting screwed by factors completely out of my and their control.

Has Iowa started calling people about poetry yet? Still waiting on UVA, Rutgers Camden, Houston, Iowa, NYU. This entire week has been Super Dead for me. It's maddening; I feel like I am in a hydraulic press.

1a/1w/3r/5p

[exvat]

6 hours ago, zaira said:

I knew I was gonna run out of reacts before something like this happened and here we are. CONGRATS VIA ACTUAL WORDS AND NOT AN EMOJI HEART!!! I bet this feels amazing! 

Ahhh thank you!! Been rooting for you too, and hoping to celebrate for you! This feels like waking miraculously healthy after a long illness.

[Tinky C. Clown]

45 minutes ago, ssuunn said:

Just wanted to give you all a heads up... University of Oregon poetry decisions are still being worked on! Wasn't told when they'd be done, but it was "getting there". Stick in there, y'all!

omg finally some u of o info. assuming it’s the same deal for fiction. thank you so much 

[goodluckbabe]

are all the nyu acceptances done then according to draft?  i assume so given there's no reason to stagger acceptance emails...

[sgrad]

got into chapman! but no word on funding. is there any word on draft if people received fellowship offers with admission?

[Jitterbug98]

Does anyone have recs for comforting books, tv shows, movies, video games? My mental health is not great right now (I’m sure plenty can relate)— MFA apps are a factor but it’s also just life in general. I’m hanging in there but feel like I could really use something comforting to get lost in and forget about things for a bit 

[exvat]

11 hours ago, Jane Wyman said:

Hell yeah!

Thank you, and best of luck with Iowa! 🙏🤞

[widfara]

8 hours ago, snottlebie said:

Don’t have any insider knowledge but judging from the Draft spreadsheet and posts here I’d guesstimate 15-20 if not more. It’s ‘short’ maybe in comparison to the cohort size, but still sizable, unfortunately. (Ex. Virginia Tech admits 4/genre but the fiction waitlist is 22 people. Syracuse admits 6/genre but waitlists 14. So a 25 person cohort probably waitlists at least 25, but it depends on their retention rate. More selective schools most likely have smaller waitlists.)

Thanks! That's pretty much what I was thinking, too. Well I guess I'll just be here, hoping/praying/dreaming that good news comes...

[exvat]

13 hours ago, Tuxedocat said:

Congrats!!!!!!! I just ran out of reactions for today but this is so exciting!

Thank you!! And WOW congrats to you on your own NYU offer!! 🎉🎉🎉 That's so exciting! Perhaps we'll end up in a cohort together...

Fingers crossed for my own funding update 🤞🙏

[exvat]

4 hours ago, goodluckbabe said:

are all the nyu acceptances done then according to draft?  i assume so given there's no reason to stagger acceptance emails...

NYU began sending acceptances Monday and continued all week. Someone here got accepted Wednesday. Two folks (me included) got in today. Not sure if they're done or heading to waitlist or what. I wouldn't lose hope though!

Edited March 1 by exvat
For reference, my hope officially died on Thursday at 10:20am, and yet...

[nauseated]

once again here to say I'm absolutely beaming for everyone getting good news and sending the most smothering hug possible to those who are in the dark or in the light of clarity they would much rather not have. 

that being said, I'm going to start telling people that JHU was so stunned by my work they couldn't say anything back to me for all of eternity, for as long as writers and MFAs and the idea of correspondence will survive and be alive

[tomat0tomat0]

53 minutes ago, nauseated said:

once again here to say I'm absolutely beaming for everyone getting good news and sending the most smothering hug possible to those who are in the dark or in the light of clarity they would much rather not have. 

that being said, I'm going to start telling people that JHU was so stunned by my work they couldn't say anything back to me for all of eternity, for as long as writers and MFAs and the idea of correspondence will survive and be alive

if any person in my real life had left me on read for as long as jhu has i would quite literally never talk to them again 

[quadcrossedfingers]

12 hours ago, Nauna said:

Just hoping for hugs here... I usually feel great and upbeat but as responses are coming through on the spreadsheet from my top-wanted programs, I'm starting to feel a little bummed out. 

Big ole i-feel-ya hug, friend. The anxiety is almost unbearable, and time is stupid and made up, but the phrase that has helped me along is you only need one. But waiting for it....ugh. I also missed all my top programs. But if it wasn't the right fit, it just wasn't. My mentor had really good advice when they were like you *know* you work has so much merit, that's not the factor, people at these programs want to take in folks they know they are well-suited to guide. The right one will see you. ❤️

[Jane Wyman]

7 hours ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Does anyone have recs for comforting books, tv shows, movies, video games? My mental health is not great right now (I’m sure plenty can relate)— MFA apps are a factor but it’s also just life in general. I’m hanging in there but feel like I could really use something comforting to get lost in and forget about things for a bit 

The 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series? Righteous Gemstones?

[Nauna]

1 hour ago, quadcrossedfingers said:

Big ole i-feel-ya hug, friend. The anxiety is almost unbearable, and time is stupid and made up, but the phrase that has helped me along is you only need one. But waiting for it....ugh. I also missed all my top programs. But if it wasn't the right fit, it just wasn't. My mentor had really good advice when they were like you *know* you work has so much merit, that's not the factor, people at these programs want to take in folks they know they are well-suited to guide. The right one will see you. ❤️

Thank you and everyone... so much! I just love that we are all in this together; it makes the endurance much more bearable. xo 

[exvat]

27 minutes ago, Nauna said:

Thank you and everyone... so much! I just love that we are all in this together; it makes the endurance much more bearable. xo 

Echoing this, and adding that yesterday, while driving around my Bible Belt town, I passed a church whose marquee read:

 

What if we joined our sorrows, I'm saying.

        I'm saying: "What if that is joy?"

                — Ross Gay, The Book of Delights

 

In the wise words of Greg from Over the Garden Wall: ain't that just the way?

[goodluckbabe]

8 hours ago, exvat said:

NYU began sending acceptances Monday and continued all week. Someone here got accepted Wednesday. Two folks (me included) got in today. Not sure if they're done or heading to waitlist or what. I wouldn't lose hope though!

gotcha, thank you! i hope they're not done haha, though i've started to lose hope... 

congrats on the admission!! from what i've seen lurking here it's beyond deserved + thank you for all the advice you gave!

[pananoprodigy]

10 hours ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Does anyone have recs for comforting books, tv shows, movies, video games? My mental health is not great right now (I’m sure plenty can relate)— MFA apps are a factor but it’s also just life in general. I’m hanging in there but feel like I could really use something comforting to get lost in and forget about things for a bit 

Sorry you're having a tough time 😕 it's rough out here for sure. I've been on a classic Parks & Rec binge, and I've also been shamelessly consuming fanfic. Those are sort of my go-tos. Oh, and and I also started watching youtube walking tours of random cities I've never been to while I walk on the treadmill (i.e. fantasizing about moving to a remote Swedish village if the whole MFA thing doesn't work out)

[MegHe]

10 hours ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Does anyone have recs for comforting books, tv shows, movies, video games? My mental health is not great right now (I’m sure plenty can relate)— MFA apps are a factor but it’s also just life in general. I’m hanging in there but feel like I could really use something comforting to get lost in and forget about things for a bit 

Video game wise: a weird one I absolutely loved recently was My Life as a Teenage Exocolonist. It's a growing up/dating sim in space, with monsters and mysteries and it gets pretty meta at one point (you're supposed to play it more than once, kind of Kate Atkinson Life After Life-y). 

[exvat]

42 minutes ago, goodluckbabe said:

gotcha, thank you! i hope they're not done haha, though i've started to lose hope... 

congrats on the admission!! from what i've seen lurking here it's beyond deserved + thank you for all the advice you gave!

Thank you!! And fingers crossed for you 🤞🤞🙏

[DJ Lambchop]

11 hours ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Does anyone have recs for comforting books, tv shows, movies, video games? My mental health is not great right now (I’m sure plenty can relate)— MFA apps are a factor but it’s also just life in general. I’m hanging in there but feel like I could really use something comforting to get lost in and forget about things for a bit 

I've been rewatching Gilmore Girls lately. It's comfy but also well-written lol

[exvat]

11 hours ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Does anyone have recs for comforting books, tv shows, movies, video games? My mental health is not great right now (I’m sure plenty can relate)— MFA apps are a factor but it’s also just life in general. I’m hanging in there but feel like I could really use something comforting to get lost in and forget about things for a bit 

I've been escaping into Murakami novels the last several weeks (sometimes on a good sativa). Both Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore have been great emotional breaks from All This. I was reading Rachel Cusk books before that, and while they're AMAZING, they're super stressful 😬