2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Tinky C. Clown]

40 minutes ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Hmm good to know. I was accepted there around that time too but I haven't gotten an official scholarship offer. The director emailed me recently asking if I have any questions for her and reiterating how they'd love to have me join in the fall, so maybe that's her trying to suss out how likely I am to accept their offer if they give me a scholarship. Not really sure. 

yeah, she was kind of overly effusive and nice to me in a way that suggested some kind of desperation especially since she knew i had a fully funded offer. she said if they had the grad school send me an official offer they couldn’t give it to another student but when i called her out about this she kind of pretended like she never said that. stay away imo

[HalBear]

Y'all, I am crying in my cubicle at work.
WAITLISTED AT UTK.

 

[Lady Gladys]

8 minutes ago, HalBear said:

Y'all, I am crying in my cubicle at work.
WAITLISTED AT UTK.

 

I'm so happy for you!!

[inkidacat]

brown...pls...put us outta our misery...imma lose all my hair by the end of this app season

Edited March 13 by inkidacat

[Mystic_Sunshine]

30 minutes ago, inkidacat said:

brown...pls...put us outta our misery...imma lose all my hair by the end of this app season

This season has felt longgg. 

[Eloise2897]

Nothing from NMU yet. They weren't even my top school, it just feels so much worse when you live in the same town as the school for some reason 😭. 

[vagueblue]

3 hours ago, Hjanep said:

Delulu confessional time. Last year, I got my Iowa rejection before everyone. Or I was very much in the first wave despite my historically spotty NYC mail service. After I got my R (I’m pretty sure this was the order of operations), Iowa emailed what was effectively the waitlist (yes I know they already waitlisted people this year) and told people who hadn’t received the snail mail rejections that their applications were still under consideration. Just got my mail for the day. Still no rejection. Idk why I do this to myself but here I am with golden retriever level optimism. Thought I would share in case anyone else wanted a trip to crazy town. 

Joining the delulu train because I have heard nothing from Iowa. I have USPS Informed Delivery and am obsessively checking it every day. Stupidly convinced that no news is good news. Am also in NYC, fwiw. 

I had not learned of this forum until yesterday and am locked out of my FB (probably for the better), so I’m glad to be in anxious solidarity here with you all, esp my fellow Brown hopefuls!

Edited March 13 by vagueblue

[cosmo_vitelli_M1]

It sounds like Irvine may have already sent acceptances for fiction based on this MFA draft group comment from someone who emailed yesterday:

"Sure! They rejected me via email and stated they recently made offers and notified waitlist applicants. They then apologized and stated that the results will be posted to the portal this week."

 

[glowingbrightly]

hi all… long time lurker, first time commenter here! I couldn’t figure out how to reply until I made a new account today 😭

 

I was waitlisted at Irvine for poetry and got into Columbia so feeling great about my first app cycle but currently going nuts with everyone else waiting for Brown and praying that the Irvine waitlist moves no matter what happens after that 🤞

[cooliejulie86]

6 minutes ago, cosmo_vitelli_M1 said:

It sounds like Irvine may have already sent acceptances for fiction based on this MFA draft group comment from someone who emailed yesterday:

"Sure! They rejected me via email and stated they recently made offers and notified waitlist applicants. They then apologized and stated that the results will be posted to the portal this week."

 

@Scribe Sorry to bother you, but do you have any insight on this for those of us still huffing copium? 

[smallchange]

14 minutes ago, cosmo_vitelli_M1 said:

It sounds like Irvine may have already sent acceptances for fiction based on this MFA draft group comment from someone who emailed yesterday:

"Sure! They rejected me via email and stated they recently made offers and notified waitlist applicants. They then apologized and stated that the results will be posted to the portal this week."

 

Could you clarify this? I don’t see the comment. Someone emailed their admin and they said they sent out acceptances?

[Hjanep]

5 minutes ago, smallchange said:

Could you clarify this? I don’t see the comment. Someone emailed their admin and they said they sent out acceptances?

My understanding was acceptances went out but waitlists and rejections should be out by tomorrow for fiction 

Edited March 13 by Hjanep

[glowingbrightly]

5 minutes ago, smallchange said:

Could you clarify this? I don’t see the comment. Someone emailed their admin and they said they sent out acceptances?

it’s on a post from yesterday—found under UCI not Irvine. I know poetry calls went out in feb and still have yet to send rejections afaik

[Scribe]

29 minutes ago, cooliejulie86 said:

@Scribe Sorry to bother you, but do you have any insight on this for those of us still huffing copium? 

 

21 minutes ago, smallchange said:

Could you clarify this? I don’t see the comment. Someone emailed their admin and they said they sent out acceptances?

 

15 minutes ago, Hjanep said:

My understanding was acceptances went out but waitlists and rejections should be out by tomorrow for fiction 

 

14 minutes ago, glowingbrightly said:

it’s on a post from yesterday—found under UCI not Irvine. I know poetry calls went out in feb and still have yet to send rejections afaik

Here's the facts:
Irvine has offered five students a place at the table for fiction.
3 of those students have accepted the offers. 
Two are weighing the offer and the information they are using to decide includes the same information you kids are waiting for. 
Official rejections were scheduled to go out via email today and tomorrow and if what I'm reading here (I haven't looked at Draft today) is accurate, that has begun. 
A very few people will receive phone calls in the next two (maybe three?) days. This might have already happened. these are the waitlisters. Why so few? Historically people accept. They really are kind here and don't want to give too many people false hope. 

One other thing. If you do not receive an email or a phone call, you might be getting a snail mail rejection. My suspicion is that anyone who gets one of these would actually get the email too, but one can never tell how the bureaucracy operates.  

Keep the cafe posted on who gets what!

[Mystic_Sunshine]

23 hours ago, Magnolia Electric Co said:

Do people have strong feelings about 2-year vs. 3-year programs? I can see advantages to each: 2-year programs allow you to gain the degree more efficiently, but 3-year programs leave an extra year for things like thesis writing. Three years seems ideal from a writing standpoint, but so many amazing programs seem to only be two years. I feel like it sounds hard to relocate, then take courses, teach, and write a thesis all simultaneously in 2 years. Wondering if this is a major factor for anyone?

I know many people have answered this but I forgot. 

I just am finishing up a 2 year program masters program and while I (like many others) like the idea of a 3 year program I will say that two years feels like forever if you hate where you are living. 

I don't think I could fathom another year where I live currently. So, I'm thankful my degree is 2 years. 

So, ultimately I think location plays a huggee role. And I would have opted for a two year program over a three if I got into a more desirable location. 

Your program can feel like such a large part of your life. And it is. But it can be incredibly isolating when it is the center of your universe because you don't have other things around you to spend your time doing. I can elaborate but I think everyone gets the point. 

 

[honeytreasures]

6 hours ago, GingerBB said:

Hey guys, longtime lurker here and finally figured out how to make an account. First off, thanks to everyone who posted here — this forum has kept me going through a verrry stressful few weeks! And now, I have some info on Boston University — in case anyone’s interested!

So I got accepted on Saturday, for Fiction. Was absolutely thrilled to get the call, as this was my first time applying and I had all hard/soft rejects up until that point barring a waitlist at NYU (and no way was I going to get off it with full funding). I was also given one of the fellowships! Then, on Monday I was sent an email that had three others marked as recipients, informing us that we had all been given fellowships. I got my Graduate School official acceptance on Tuesday. 

My guess — they informed fellowship recipients first, and will share the rest next week, because I learned that BU is on spring break this weekend. So if you haven’t heard from them yet, hang in there!

And, major congrats to everyone who’s already been waitlisted/accepted!

Omg this is so nice to share! Big big big congrats so exciting!!

[glowingbrightly]

15 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

 

 

Here's the facts:
Irvine has offered five students a place at the table for fiction.
3 of those students have accepted the offers. 
Two are weighing the offer and the information they are using to decide includes the same information you kids are waiting for. 
Official rejections were scheduled to go out via email today and tomorrow and if what I'm reading here (I haven't looked at Draft today) is accurate, that has begun. 
A very few people will receive phone calls in the next two (maybe three?) days. This might have already happened. these are the waitlisters. Why so few? Historically people accept. They really are kind here and don't want to give too many people false hope. 

One other thing. If you do not receive an email or a phone call, you might be getting a snail mail rejection. My suspicion is that anyone who gets one of these would actually get the email too, but one can never tell how the bureaucracy operates.  

Keep the cafe posted on who gets what!

thanks for all this! any insight into how many poetry candidates have accepted thus far? 

[smallchange]

16 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

 

 

Here's the facts:
Irvine has offered five students a place at the table for fiction.
3 of those students have accepted the offers. 
Two are weighing the offer and the information they are using to decide includes the same information you kids are waiting for. 
Official rejections were scheduled to go out via email today and tomorrow and if what I'm reading here (I haven't looked at Draft today) is accurate, that has begun. 
A very few people will receive phone calls in the next two (maybe three?) days. This might have already happened. these are the waitlisters. Why so few? Historically people accept. They really are kind here and don't want to give too many people false hope. 

One other thing. If you do not receive an email or a phone call, you might be getting a snail mail rejection. My suspicion is that anyone who gets one of these would actually get the email too, but one can never tell how the bureaucracy operates.  

Keep the cafe posted on who gets what!

Ah okay I’m bummed but thanks for the info!

[Scribe]

Just now, glowingbrightly said:

thanks for all this! any insight into how many poetry candidates have accepted thus far? 

I honestly don't know and I'm a dope for not asking. I was hanging with the poets last night but was pretty into talking to the potential fiction recruits. 

[glowingbrightly]

6 minutes ago, Scribe said:

I honestly don't know and I'm a dope for not asking. I was hanging with the poets last night but was pretty into talking to the potential fiction recruits. 

you are clearly not a dope at all! I’m just dying to get off the waitlist after getting the call a month ago and would trade vital organs for any info at this point

[smallchange]

This seems unlikely but does anyone have any idea how large the Davis waitlist is? I was waitlisted for fiction.

[Hjanep]

7 minutes ago, smallchange said:

This seems unlikely but does anyone have any idea how large the Davis waitlist is? I was waitlisted for fiction.

I don’t know but the person I know who was admitted there was also admitted at 3 other programs so if we’re guessing what’s going to happen I would guess movement. They’re going to visit in a couple weeks so I imagine after that is when you would see final decisions 

[smallchange]

3 minutes ago, Hjanep said:

I don’t know but the person I know who was admitted there was also admitted at 3 other programs so if we’re guessing what’s going to happen I would guess movement. They’re going to visit in a couple weeks so I imagine after that is when you would see final decisions 

I saw that and it brought me some hope haha. Are you also waitlisted?

[Jane Wyman]

My turn for copium ... do we think that Hunter and WashU are utterly done waitlisting, accepting, etc?

[Hjanep]

6 minutes ago, smallchange said:

I saw that and it brought me some hope haha. Are you also waitlisted?

I’m not I actually went there for undergrad (and LOVED it) and decided not to apply because I want a completely new experience. But cannot say enough good things about Davis.