2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[szymborskasy]

18 minutes ago, suitcase 1234 said:

wait SOOO alarming thank you so much for sharing. you deserve way better!!! also I think I may be out of the loop, but what's the controversy w/ Alex dimitrov if you don't mind me asking?

not sure on the nyu front but i had a friend take a class with him when he was visiting our undergrad institution and apparently he's 'kind of insane' is what she said...i think he said like a lot of out of pocket stuff in class. dunno what he's done at nyu though

[Hjanep]

7 minutes ago, analog_e said:

UVA finished their MFA review last night according to my insider info, so expect it soon 

I missed a spam call today and almost had a heart attack. Zero chill over here. 

[exvat]

1 hour ago, fakepoet said:

Yeah, there's a handful of fully-funded/stipended fellowships that include free health insurance etc etc and everyone else gets the 50% off tuition/guaranteed teaching position package. It just felt unnecessary to me, especially given the size of the program. Probably ~15-20 people per genre-specific cohort each year? They definitely help you out more than, say, Columbia, but yes, it absolutely attracts a certain type of person. My friend who got into NYU with one of the fully funded packages this year was offered a $35k stipend. Love her to death and she deserves it but giving one person in your program $70k over two years and others nothing is just strange in my opinion. Creates an unnecessarily inequitable social environment. This is why I was leery of mixed-funding programs this time around.

Yeah, def attracts a certain type of person. All of this is obviously my opinion and said opinion is colored by the way my time in the program ended, but the NYU program is definitely not for everyone. If you want to be a literary hot girl in NYC, NYU is definitely the school for you, but I am not and will never be, lol. There are lots of people who are very good at what they do and others who are not. There are many talented people who decline NYU's offers because they can't afford the tuition, even with the 50% discount and teaching opportunities. So I think they do end up admitting some dodgy people who just pay their way. The Palestine thing was crazy because I got snitched on by another guy in my poetry cohort. He is apparently kind of a social pariah there now and nobody talks to him, but the fact remains that one of us is banned from the mf property and the other will graduate with an mf A. Lmao. Also his poetry is mid. I am kind of doxxing myself here but I honestly don't care because this is part of the downside of a big cohort and people should know this. You can't know everyone's true intentions and some people are fucking weirdos. He weaponized the political environment at NYU against me after sitting in workshop with me for a semester. Keep in mind that I am early/mid twenties, and he's in his thirties. The fact that he did that after learning very intimate details about my life in workshop kinda stunned me, and is a big part of why nobody talks to him now. I thought we were peers, he thought I was a crazy little girl he needed to tattle on. Thankfully, none of you will be at NYU with him, because he graduates this spring. His debut will sell ten copies and the only buyer will be his mother.

They also rehired Alex Dimitrov after a significant portion of the students in the program petitioned for him to be fired but that's none of my business xoxoxo

ETA: thank you for the congrats haha. Sorry forgot to say that cuz I got too busy going off on this tangent. I agree, it's a bummer what happened but ultimately I will find a better place

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, and I'm really glad you have the larger perspective you do. I commend your strength, resolve, and levity. And am SO happy that you have better options available to you!

NYU is my only realistic offer, and I will almost certainly accept. So any and all intel/hot goss is appreciated🙏

[everything bagel lover]

CU boulder fiction acceptance just dropped in draft

[MegHe]

18 minutes ago, analog_e said:

UVA finished their MFA review last night according to my insider info, so expect it soon 

My heart rate just spiked 

[prufrock_]

On 3/3/2025 at 10:42 AM, prufrock_ said:

Boulder is such a dream program for me (location and faculty), but i'm scared i'll get in and only be offered tiny funding

the funniest thing just happened.

[Mystic_Sunshine]

4 minutes ago, everything bagel lover said:

CU boulder fiction acceptance just dropped in draft

I can't handle this.

[neuroticcowboy]

31 minutes ago, szymborskasy said:

Lots of people have heard back with rejects from BU, but there's still a couple of us waiting

Ooh anyone heard back about acceptances/waitlists? For fiction

[everything bagel lover]

5 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

the funniest thing just happened.

You're in?? How's the funding looking? Congratulations!(?)

[_redrabbit7]

Hello, anyone heard from Brown yet?

[likes birds]

6 hours ago, fakepoet said:

Hey everyone! Been lurking for months now, told myself I wouldn't make an account, and finally caved today bcs I do have a question. I don't have Draft so I can't ask people there/my results aren't on the spreadsheet.

I received a fully funded offer from Hunter for poetry. They emailed me telling me I was shortlisted, interviewed me, then sent an official offer letter. Their program deadline to accept the offer is March 14th, at which point if I haven't accepted they will "reluctantly move on to the next candidate on their list." The cursory research I've done points to Hunter having signed the 4/15 resolution, but it's under the name CUNY Grad Center, so I'm not 100% sure if this program specifically is covered. I was surprised their unofficial deadline was so early—I understand doing it in rounds and wanting to finalize the cohort asap, but the admitted student visit is the night before their deadline, which feels silly. I was recently accepted to Brooklyn as well and am on the Michigan waitlist—obviously, I want to keep my options open re Michigan and stuff. And these schools might not even be done notifying by the 14th—I'm still waiting on half of my schools' results. Anyone have anymore knowledge on whether Hunter counts as having signed the 4/15 resolution thing? + how should I go about bringing this up with the program director in a classy way? They seem really lovely and I do think I'll probably end up there, but I want to keep my options open, especially considering that Michigan would offer more financial security. Brooklyn also doesn't expect an answer from me until 4/15, so the Hunter deadline being so early feels kinda random.

Happy to answer any questions about the interview or anything if anyone is curious or has one coming up. All hope is not lost if you haven't heard from Hunter—I feel like they probably send out acceptances in phases depending on who accepts their offers.

(PS re NYU—I was in their MFA program for a year and basically got soft expelled by the admin behind my program's back this summer for Palestine-related reasons. The money situation is strange because some people receive MUCH more financial support from the program than others. I personally didn't like the social dynamic the mixed funding setup created. Some people received thousands of dollars a month and had fellowship-provided jobs related to the program, some people got nothing. And of course only a certain type of person can afford to pay half tuition at NYU. If I were Deborah Landau I would cut the program in half and fully fund everybody. But I digress. If anyone has questions about the NYU program I'm happy to answer them to the best of my ability. Got my Ocean connect and dipped so I consider my time there a success lol)

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about your experience with NYU. That's absolutely indefensible. 

I was wondering how long after your interview with Hunter did you receive your acceptance letter? I just interviewed with them for fiction today, and figured it might be a while before I heard anything. Poetry and fiction could be on different timelines, so maybe not relevant, but I was curious. 

[seah0rse]

2 hours ago, thelovelyunkown said:

Thank you! Any recommendations for conferences/retreats? 

hi! I'm actually currently in undergrad (non-traditional student) & only one of my recommenders came from a prof. my other two were from writers I worked with more than once in workshop settings. I would prioritize workshops over retreats because the latter is more about generating work on your own than workshopping. & because they can be costly, I would look into week-long programs that you could reasonably travel to or apply for scholarships (if available). I attended the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at UMass Amherst because I live nearby & I didn't need to pay for lodging/plane tickets & there was a writer I really wanted to work with. Juniper is a week-long intensive & I made solid writing friends from my cohort & also scheduled a manuscript consultation before applying to MFAs. (others to consider are Iowa's Summer Program / Tin House / Breadloaf, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown but funding varies?) I did one program that was nearly a month in another country & while I made some solid friendships with fellow writers, I didn't super connect to my workshop leader. it doesn't always work out quite the way you want it to.

I've also attended a handful of online/virtual workshops - some that were just a single day & others that met once a week over a month or more. I wouldn't ask someone I only worked with for a day to write me a letter, but I formed relationships with writers who I'd worked with virtually over a longer period & felt that they got to know my writing well enough to speak to it in the LoR. often I looked up writers whose work I loved & found that they were teaching a class online (especially true during pandemic) or found where they had taught in the past & looked at that program's upcoming offerings.

other benefits - you befriend your fellow writers & find more resources by talking to them, which leads you to more programming / classes / opportunities. and of course you get to workshop your stories which eventually gives you a sense of what your strongest work is. I've been rejected by lit mags many many many many times but somehow my sample kept getting me into competitive workshops, which helped me stay afloat through rejections of all kinds.

[next_semester]

Anyone heard anything from University of Miami? My friend who applied to their PhD program for English a few years ago told me she had to follow up with them as the decision season neared to a close because she heard crickets and they emailed her back basically saying she was rejected so. . .don't like that very much. . .

Also, I'm accepting I haven't gotten into NWP and Notre Dame because I haven't heard anything and they seem to have notified other applicants, but has anyone also heard anything from Rutgers-New Brunswick?

[Scribe]

6 hours ago, fakepoet said:

Hey everyone! Been lurking for months now, told myself I wouldn't make an account, and finally caved today bcs I do have a question. I don't have Draft so I can't ask people there/my results aren't on the spreadsheet.

I received a fully funded offer from Hunter for poetry. They emailed me telling me I was shortlisted, interviewed me, then sent an official offer letter. Their program deadline to accept the offer is March 14th, at which point if I haven't accepted they will "reluctantly move on to the next candidate on their list." The cursory research I've done points to Hunter having signed the 4/15 resolution, but it's under the name CUNY Grad Center, so I'm not 100% sure if this program specifically is covered. I was surprised their unofficial deadline was so early—I understand doing it in rounds and wanting to finalize the cohort asap, but the admitted student visit is the night before their deadline, which feels silly. I was recently accepted to Brooklyn as well and am on the Michigan waitlist—obviously, I want to keep my options open re Michigan and stuff. And these schools might not even be done notifying by the 14th—I'm still waiting on half of my schools' results. Anyone have anymore knowledge on whether Hunter counts as having signed the 4/15 resolution thing? + how should I go about bringing this up with the program director in a classy way? They seem really lovely and I do think I'll probably end up there, but I want to keep my options open, especially considering that Michigan would offer more financial security. Brooklyn also doesn't expect an answer from me until 4/15, so the Hunter deadline being so early feels kinda random.

Happy to answer any questions about the interview or anything if anyone is curious or has one coming up. All hope is not lost if you haven't heard from Hunter—I feel like they probably send out acceptances in phases depending on who accepts their offers.

(PS re NYU—I was in their MFA program for a year and basically got soft expelled by the admin behind my program's back this summer for Palestine-related reasons. The money situation is strange because some people receive MUCH more financial support from the program than others. I personally didn't like the social dynamic the mixed funding setup created. Some people received thousands of dollars a month and had fellowship-provided jobs related to the program, some people got nothing. And of course only a certain type of person can afford to pay half tuition at NYU. If I were Deborah Landau I would cut the program in half and fully fund everybody. But I digress. If anyone has questions about the NYU program I'm happy to answer them to the best of my ability. Got my Ocean connect and dipped so I consider my time there a success lol)

A nice way to remind them about the resolution is to ask if this is possibly a typo. I do recall Hunter being criticized in the past for having an early deadline. They know damned well not all of the results are back. 
I also want to put out there that at 11 59 on the 13th you can accept and if you get into Michigan, cancel the acceptance.  They know what they've done. 

[next_semester]

On 2/27/2025 at 9:18 AM, Nauna said:

Yes! I was also notified that they received my transcript by the clearing house but my application status still has that anxiety-inducing red X. I emailed them and received a hazy reply: 

"Thank you for reaching out.  Once the transcripts are received, processed, and uploaded to your file it will reflect in your online portal.  You may reach out to our admission specialist at [email] for further assistance."

I've also been considering emailing my unofficial transcript if it isn't updated by 3/1. I was worried that they were holding my application because I haven't officially graduated yet... but hearing that you have the same experience makes me feel a bit better. 

I just figured out how to reply on here lol but I just ended up emailing my unofficial transcripts to the mfa department to be safe. I feel like a lot of ppl may have ended up doing that. I wish they were better about sending confirmation emails.

[zaira]

33 minutes ago, neuroticcowboy said:

Ooh anyone heard back about acceptances/waitlists? For fiction

Nothing yet. BU usually does a big initial rejection round then does waitlists/acceptances roughly two weeks later (along with some final rejections for folks who didn't quite make it onto the waitlist). I expect we'll see acceptances this week. 

[seah0rse]

15 hours ago, rapunzel said:

thank you for your lovely responses @Hjanep @zaira !! it's definitely a cliche to say i'm still in the process of "finding my voice" and often i'm too afraid to write about things that matter to me or that i'm passionate about personally just because i worry 1) that there's not much i have to say that people will be interested in and 2) that even if it is, i'm not at a place in my life or in my writing journey where i'll be able to do them justice. but i guess the point is to go for it anyway? we're all taking huge leaps of faith by even applying to mfas! 

just wanna say that I had similar doubts in the fall while preparing my manuscript & then I listened to the audiobook version of "body work" by melissa febos on my commute & literally started crying on the bus because it was like febos was giving me a personal pep talk against all of this nonsense about not having anything to say & the doubt didn't totally poof disappear ofc but i heartily recommend it to all writers

[rrrooossseee]

Iowa really taking their time with their poetry admissions....... 

[thelovelyunkown]

29 minutes ago, seah0rse said:

hi! I'm actually currently in undergrad (non-traditional student) & only one of my recommenders came from a prof. my other two were from writers I worked with more than once in workshop settings. I would prioritize workshops over retreats because the latter is more about generating work on your own than workshopping. & because they can be costly, I would look into week-long programs that you could reasonably travel to or apply for scholarships (if available). I attended the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at UMass Amherst because I live nearby & I didn't need to pay for lodging/plane tickets & there was a writer I really wanted to work with. Juniper is a week-long intensive & I made solid writing friends from my cohort & also scheduled a manuscript consultation before applying to MFAs. (others to consider are Iowa's Summer Program / Tin House / Breadloaf, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown but funding varies?) I did one program that was nearly a month in another country & while I made some solid friendships with fellow writers, I didn't super connect to my workshop leader. it doesn't always work out quite the way you want it to.

I've also attended a handful of online/virtual workshops - some that were just a single day & others that met once a week over a month or more. I wouldn't ask someone I only worked with for a day to write me a letter, but I formed relationships with writers who I'd worked with virtually over a longer period & felt that they got to know my writing well enough to speak to it in the LoR. often I looked up writers whose work I loved & found that they were teaching a class online (especially true during pandemic) or found where they had taught in the past & looked at that program's upcoming offerings.

other benefits - you befriend your fellow writers & find more resources by talking to them, which leads you to more programming / classes / opportunities. and of course you get to workshop your stories which eventually gives you a sense of what your strongest work is. I've been rejected by lit mags many many many many times but somehow my sample kept getting me into competitive workshops, which helped me stay afloat through rejections of all kinds.

This is literally so helpful thank you! Iʻll likely have to go the virtual workshop route because I donʻt live in the mainland U.S. so between travel, lodging, and the workshop cost I wouldn't be able to afford it without substantial funding. 

[Tinky C. Clown]

darm. university of oregon fiction acceptance on draft 

Edited Wednesday at 10:25 PM by Tinky C. Clown

[kulfikat]

5 hours ago, epr said:

I would assume its a rejection and they’re sending emails in batches. They’ve got 22 people waitlisted for 4 fiction spots, so unless there’s a huge amount of waitlist movement I doubt they’ll dip back into their applicant pool. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news 🥲

I finally got the rejection email. 

[FFFRANK]

15 minutes ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

darm. university of oregon fiction acceptance on draft 

Are all acceptances sent on the same day? I guess I can consider myself rejected.

[Tinky C. Clown]

1 minute ago, FFFRANK said:

Are all acceptances sent on the same day? I guess I can consider myself rejected.

dunno

[tomat0tomat0]

been really quiet for me for so long, havent heard anything official since michigan on the 21st feb ?!

[Tuxedocat]

17 hours ago, thelovelyunkown said:

Any advice on how to find/choose recommenders when you donʻt have a lot of options? None of my professors except for one can attest to my skills as a creative writer. Next round Iʻm a little concerned Iʻm going to have to ask them to write 5+ letters of recommendation. Iʻm not really sure what to do. 

Do you have English profs who can write you letters? I think most programs only ask that a few recommenders speak to your writing. One of my recommenders was very familiar with my poetry and could speak to my work. My other two recommenders this round were English literature profs. One is a poet who had read my poems and given feedback (had nothing to do with class). The other hadn’t read my poetry but I took two classes with him. I did really well in their classes and thought highly of my recommenders. Some programs ask that recommenders speak to your ability to teach and succeed in grad school, and I thought they could do that well. 

General consensus I have heard is that LORs are usually just vibe checks to make sure you are a decent person. You should definitely have at least 1 person who is familiar with your writing. I don’t think you need all 3 to be about your creative writing. However, please consult the website for programs where you might apply: they usually outline what they want to get from the LORs which can help guide who you choose as a recommender.