2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[thelovelyunkown]

4 hours ago, pananoprodigy said:

The most consistent piece of advice I've gotten re: SOP is that it's not the place to get creative. Obviously that doesn't mean making it boring (it should still be super well written), but overall it should read much more academic than your writing sample, and should always hit a few of the same key points:

• your background & previous experience (both in writing and in life)
• your interests/focuses as a writer (maybe even what you're planning to work on during the MFA)
• your artistic influences (they want to know that you're actively reading and learning on your own)
• your readiness to contribute to an MFA program (examples of why you'd be good in a workshop setting, any prior teaching experience even if it's not writing related, etc.)
• why this program specifically interests you

I'm sure there are others that I'm missing, but these seem to be the ones I hear over and over again. Hopefully it won't matter tho and you'll get some good news from Brown!

Thank you this is so helpful! The workshop/teaching information in particular. 

[everything bagel lover]

UC Riverside fiction acceptance on draft

I believe it was @KennyK who was asking about them? I’m on mobile so it’s harder to check back and I’m sorry if it wasn’t you 

edit to add: notif via phone call today

Edited Sunday at 10:35 PM by everything bagel lover
More info

[KennyK]

13 minutes ago, everything bagel lover said:

UC Riverside fiction acceptance on draft

I believe it was @KennyK who was asking about them? I’m on mobile so it’s harder to check back and I’m sorry if it wasn’t you 

edit to add: notif via phone call today

Damn, should I count it as a soft rejection? Was the call from today? I’m assuming I guess that a rejection because I haven’t got a call? @everything bagel lover😭

Edited Sunday at 10:48 PM by KennyK
Wasnt done

[Tinky C. Clown]

14 minutes ago, KennyK said:

Damn, should I count it as a soft rejection? Was the call from today? I’m assuming I guess that a rejection because I haven’t got a call? @everything bagel lover😭

likely, yeah. 

[everything bagel lover]

39 minutes ago, KennyK said:

Damn, should I count it as a soft rejection? Was the call from today? I’m assuming I guess that a rejection because I haven’t got a call? @everything bagel lover😭

Well I wouldn’t be so sure to count yourself out! Calls might be happening over several days, and waitlists come later via email so you’re not out til you’re out! 

[KennyK]

3 minutes ago, everything bagel lover said:

Well I wouldn’t be so sure to count yourself out! Calls might be happening over several days, and waitlists come later via email so you’re not out til you’re out! 

Thank you for the info and reassurance!  I’ll keep telling myself that over the course of the coming week.

[pananoprodigy]

52 minutes ago, KennyK said:

Damn, should I count it as a soft rejection? Was the call from today? I’m assuming I guess that a rejection because I haven’t got a call? @everything bagel lover😭

With only one report I think it's way too soon to count it as a rejection. Don't lose hope!

[Mystic_Sunshine]

is this a loud or quiet week do we think?

It's looking like Mississippi might be only chance and waiting for them is torture at this point. 

[Tinky C. Clown]

43 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

is this a loud or quiet week do we think?

It's looking like Mississippi might be only chance and waiting for them is torture at this point. 

i’m hoping for mississippi, u of o, seattle, and boulder 

[Mystic_Sunshine]

1 hour ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

i’m hoping for mississippi, u of o, seattle, and boulder 

I also applied to boulder. 

I'm thinking Mississippi will probably take another week since March 1st was the deadline to submit the application. 

Edited yesterday at 02:20 AM by Mystic_Sunshine

[Tinky C. Clown]

4 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

I also applied to boulder. 

I'm thinking Mississippi will probably take another week since March 1st was the deadline to submit the application. 

my ole miss transcript says "not met" on my portal even though i sent my official transcript twice. does yours say the same? i emailed an unofficial backup just in case

[Mystic_Sunshine]

10 minutes ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

my ole miss transcript says "not met" on my portal even though i sent my official transcript twice. does yours say the same? i emailed an unofficial backup just in case

Mine does say met but I sent it directly via parchment. 

I'm sure your fine with the backup though!

[Nauna]

7 hours ago, Tuxedocat said:

I’m so sorry to say this but I think NC State has released all acceptances and waitlists 😭

Draft had 2 fiction acceptances on Feb 20 and 21. I got a poetry waitlist for NC State on Friday and it said among other things “the program you have applied to has reached capacity” but stated that I’m on the waitlist and should hear back about waitlist movement by May 1. So I think poets who were accepted just aren’t on grad cafe or draft or haven’t announced their results. Really wish I had better news for you and maybe I’m wrong. But the wording of the waitlist email makes me think all accepted people have been notified.

Maybe I'm just hypersensitive lately, but I felt like the waitlist email I received from NC State was a touch on the impersonal/cold side. 

[Tinky C. Clown]

22 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

Mine does say met but I sent it directly via parchment. 

I'm sure your fine with the backup though!

i sent directly through parchment too! and parchment did say it had been downloaded by the recipient but a couple days ago i realized i had a different email connected to my parchment so i made a new account w correct email and sent it again 

[Nauna]

44 minutes ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

my ole miss transcript says "not met" on my portal even though i sent my official transcript twice. does yours say the same? i emailed an unofficial backup just in case

Mine says that too, even though the service that I used to send it confirmed that my transcript was received and opened. Just to be on the safe side, I emailed my unofficial version directly to the MFA email address that they included in the Phase II notification email. 

[Tinky C. Clown]

3 minutes ago, Nauna said:

Mine says that too, even though the service that I used to send it confirmed that my transcript was received and opened. Just to be on the safe side, I emailed my unofficial version directly to the MFA email address that they included in the Phase II notification email. 

okay, cool. I'm glad that others had the same issue and did the same thing

[steins rose]

10 hours ago, sgrad said:

what do you think the chances are that a program sends out waitlist notifications before acceptances? 😅 I see the waitlist notifications for NC State have gone out on draft, but so far no poetry acceptances listed 

long time lurker (i think i posted here once this season haha) but i received my psu waitlist before acceptances went out! really depends on the school. wishing you sm luck hehe🫶🏻

[Tuxedocat]

20 minutes ago, Nauna said:

Maybe I'm just hypersensitive lately, but I felt like the waitlist email I received from NC State was a touch on the impersonal/cold side. 

It was so impersonal that I almost didn’t respond to it at first because I thought it was an automatic portal update instead of an email from a real person! It seems like it was a form response that was copy pasted for all grad programs at NC State. 

[tiramisu22]

Has anyone heard anything from University of Tennessee, Knoxville?

[DJ Lambchop]

Saw an article on the Facebook group about brown indefinitely pausing their mfa admissions. 

[Hank Moody]

 

25 minutes ago, DJ Lambchop said:

Saw an article on the Facebook group about brown indefinitely pausing their mfa admissions. 

Not the literary arts one. I read that article. It's about the theater MFA that run in collaboration with a theater company and they had temporarily paused it after Covid. They're just doubling down on that decision now. Likey doesn't have anything to do with the current administration and not relevant to the literary arts department.

[everything bagel lover]

Alrighty y'all, we're officially in free game territory I think! These next 2-3 weeks should be a landslide. I know I keep saying that every few weeks but it's gotta be true at some point lol

I'm a little confused on Boulder's funding deal, as I've read on the Draft that they are technically fully funded through a mishmash of grants, scholarships, fellowships, and GTA positions, but I'm unsure how this actually shakes out for the program. Those of y'all that are also applying to Boulder, what do you think/how are you feeling about that?

[Hjanep]

Here’s hoping for good news today 

[Jane Wyman]

17 minutes ago, everything bagel lover said:

Alrighty y'all, we're officially in free game territory I think! These next 2-3 weeks should be a landslide. I know I keep saying that every few weeks but it's gotta be true at some point lol

I'm a little confused on Boulder's funding deal, as I've read on the Draft that they are technically fully funded through a mishmash of grants, scholarships, fellowships, and GTA positions, but I'm unsure how this actually shakes out for the program. Those of y'all that are also applying to Boulder, what do you think/how are you feeling about that?

What's coming soon? Seems like WashU and Hunter are nigh, maybe NWP and U of O? 

Either way, manifesting GOOD NEWS FOR ALL.

[Hjanep]

I think UVA/UCI this week hopefully