2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[_redrabbit7]

1 hour ago, squid05 said:

I keep saying one MFA director's name in my head (hoping for a response to an email) in the same way Kendrick Lamar says MUSTAAARRRRRDDDDDDD!

SHENODAAAAAAAA!

CHANNNERRRRRRRR!

CAYLEEEYYYYYYYY!

🥱

[_redrabbit7]

20 hours ago, thelovelyunkown said:

May tomorrow be the day Brown puts us out of our misery. 

🕯️

I’ve begun to pick Scam Likely calls. You never know. 🙂

[Magnolia Electric Co]

Wow - thank you to everyone for those incredibly thoughtful and helpful responses (too many to tag)!! That's a great point that funding can both lead to prestige, and be a proxy for prestige, since great funding can draw great applicant pools. I have definitely noticed a correlation between having a prestigious reputation and a large stipend + light teaching load (though I don't know which came first, the reputation or the benefits!).

And of course, I don't want to pretend that reputation/prestige is irrelevant - just like for undergrad, I'm sure there are a lot of inherent benefits to going to a prestigious MFA, whether it's faculty or agent connections or something more nebulous. I think I am just trying to wrap my head around what I should be prioritizing in a school. Especially because, when people refer to rankings, as far as I know the most recent ranking was in 2012! So I imagine a lot of programs have changed since that ranking was published.

This cycle, I did not think I would have a shot anywhere, but I have been shocked to find myself accepted or shortlisted at several schools in locations I would live in, with a livable stipend, a manageable teaching load, and faculty who seem great. From what I can tell, they are not top ten schools, but are considered fairly "reputable" by the mysterious MFA lore. So I am both thrilled and trying to understand if I should be jumping at these opportunities, or hoping to reapply and get into an even more prestigious program. It seems like the former - I just wondered if there was something important I was missing!

Edited March 18 by Magnolia Electric Co

[poet-hopeful]

On 3/17/2025 at 2:16 PM, backtooskewl said:

I was just looking at Bluestoop the other day after thinking about workshops. Are they good?

I've actually already applied to one creative residency for this summer, so it's possible I'll have a good recc letter or two lined up. I had the hardest time figuring out whether to work on a grad school relevant material or not when submitting the app tomorrow, but I decided I might be sick of my grad sample by the summer, and treating it as a creative vacation to work on something new.

I haven't worked with Bluestoop before, but imo whether a workshop is good or not really depends on your preferences and each individual instructor! Other great venues that offer online classes include Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Sackett Street, Hugo House, and Grub Street. Brooklyn Poets and The Poetry Project are great poetry-specific spaces. Fingers crossed for you re: the residency!

[Dingdong99]

There hasn't been any Brown acceptances has there?

[rapunzel]

4 minutes ago, Dingdong99 said:

There hasn't been any Brown acceptances has there?

it's weird -- someone on here said they got the call, but a day or two later someone else got insider info saying no acceptances had gone out yet, so i have no idea lol

[Dingdong99]

1 minute ago, rapunzel said:

it's weird -- someone on here said they got the call, but a day or two later someone else got insider info saying no acceptances had gone out yet, so i have no idea lol

wtf hahahaha. I'm literally waiting on them before accepting an offer from asu.

[penitentwanderer]

On 3/7/2025 at 5:54 PM, lizziebennett said:

I just got the call from Brown- for fiction! 

can you confirm if you got the call (sorry to put you on the spot)? we've been hearing lots of contradictory things! 

[decayingballads21]

perhaps a silly question but, alas…

for waitlisted folks, will we be notified when current offers are accepted? is it safe to assume if we haven’t heard anything yet, that spots are still pending?

[penitentwanderer]

3 hours ago, Magnolia Electric Co said:

This might be an odd time to ask this question, but maybe it will serve as a distraction from Brown (where I live, by the way, so maybe I can exercise some cosmic power over results). But I've been wondering: how did people choose which schools to apply to? From what I can tell, it seems like many people apply to the same 10 or so schools (Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Brown, Michener, Vanderbilt, Hopkins, Cornell, UVA, Syracuse), and potentially others as well. What makes these schools so universally appealing? What factors do folks consider when deciding?

I'm curious because I came into this not knowing much about reputation, so I mainly looked at funding/teaching package and faculty (which do often align with reputation). But I was surprised to find such a consensus about where to apply, especially when it doesn't align with funding - for example, I would have thought Illinois would be even more popular given its funding and faculty, and until recently Syracuse's funding/teaching package was not very good. So I'm wondering what compels people to make their school lists, in case I end up doing this again next year. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing all this unspoken MFA knowledge!

Reputation is a component, but it's one of those components that starts to break down (a little) once you speak to accepted students/get insider intel. There are things we can't know/that have a high amount of flux--for example faculty/mentor availability, program culture, etc-that are only apparent later on. For example, I got to speak with alums from 2 "Top 10" programs. One said, there was absolutely no mentorship available. At another, one alum said there was a generous amount of faculty involvement, but a slightly more recent grad said that was the disappointing factor. Some alums revealed they had no access to agents. Others said the atmosphere within the program was toxic. These are things that can't be known until you get accepted and speak to current students.

So prestige is easy to identify, but perhaps not something to rely on. Location, teaching duties, and stipend were most important to me. But mostly it matters what's important to you!

[glowingbrightly]

23 minutes ago, penitentwanderer said:

can you confirm if you got the call (sorry to put you on the spot)? we've been hearing lots of contradictory things! 

one of the draft fb admins said they thought fiction may have gone out around the 10th but I doubt that and at min, it seems extremely unlikely poetry has gone out given that multiple acceptances were recorded on last year’s draft spreadsheet

I know we are all grasping for straws but let’s remember the simplest explanation is usually the right one

 

 

[analog_e]

all anyone on Draft is going off is that post here, and given the record of Brown clustering everything together it seems pr damn unlikely that one random person got an acceptance over a week ago and it's been silence since

[strawberrymatcha]

true ^ although maybe they pulled an OSU and just notified a couple of people early for additional funding? I wouldn’t be surprised if they were struggling to figure that out right now.

[rapunzel]

5 minutes ago, strawberrymatcha said:

true ^ although maybe they pulled an OSU and just notified a couple of people early for additional funding? I wouldn’t be surprised if they were struggling to figure that out right now.

except, everyone at brown is fully funded + stipend :/// it's not like nyu or something

[analog_e]

Yeah, Brown funds all their candidates equally

[everything bagel lover]

6 hours ago, Magnolia Electric Co said:

This might be an odd time to ask this question, but maybe it will serve as a distraction from Brown (where I live, by the way, so maybe I can exercise some cosmic power over results). But I've been wondering: how did people choose which schools to apply to? From what I can tell, it seems like many people apply to the same 10 or so schools (Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Brown, Michener, Vanderbilt, Hopkins, Cornell, UVA, Syracuse), and potentially others as well. What makes these schools so universally appealing? What factors do folks consider when deciding?

I'm curious because I came into this not knowing much about reputation, so I mainly looked at funding/teaching package and faculty (which do often align with reputation). But I was surprised to find such a consensus about where to apply, especially when it doesn't align with funding - for example, I would have thought Illinois would be even more popular given its funding and faculty, and until recently Syracuse's funding/teaching package was not very good. So I'm wondering what compels people to make their school lists, in case I end up doing this again next year. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing all this unspoken MFA knowledge!

I’m maybe a little late on this but as someone who applied to Top 10 programs my first round and none this time, I wanted to weigh in! It’s also been really insightful reading other peoples responses ❤️

My first cycle I applied to top 10 type programs + Hollins (my only waitlist)

This time, my partner wanted to live in a specific part of the country and them wanting to move is actually what spurred me to apply again. I did a mix of just Googling “MFA Colorado” and then reading work from faculty. I read one novel from each school’s fiction department. This was when I was applying only in Colorado and I only threw on the other ones last minute (thank god I did!)

I found NAU, Wyoming, and UNLV through Jess’s list in the draft and I’m ngl I did apply to non fully funded ones because I knew they’d be less competitive than somewhere like Michener. I’m so grateful for my acceptances and I think they’re genuinely great programs, I just don’t think my writing is competitive enough to make it through a sea of hundreds of super strong apps. I focused first on program vibes based on handbooks and faculty writing and balanced that with where I could see myself having a chance, whether it’s because they have a larger cohort, aren’t as talked about in online spaces like the draft, and only fund some of the cohort. 
 

To future applicants reading this: this isn’t to say you shouldn’t shoot for the stars! But also there are a lot of great programs with less prestige that I feel give you better odds of finding somewhere your work will fit well  I submitted one of my weird newer stories to NAU and they really liked it which makes me feels super good about the prospect of going there! 
 

edit to clarify: all programs with funded positions are prestigious to a degree and especially ones that do fund ALL accepted people (Wyoming and UNLV) are still mad competitive, as are all funded positions in any MFA program. I just meant that they’re not receiving the amount of apps that Michener or Iowa do. 

Edited March 19 by everything bagel lover
Clarify

[gradschoolpspspsps]

I actually don't want Brown to come out tomorrow because I'm chaperoning a field trip with 30 high school kids all day, so good news guys, it'll probably happen tomorrow. 

[Runningforcats]

I don’t care what anybody says Im holding out for brown!!!!!!! 
 

IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER

[exvat]

7 minutes ago, Runningforcats said:

I don’t care what anybody says Im holding out for brown!!!!!!! 
 

IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER

Yes!! Screamingsportsbaby.gif, baby!!!

[RabbitRunner]

1 hour ago, everything bagel lover said:

I’m maybe a little late on this but as someone who applied to Top 10 programs my first round and none this time, I wanted to weigh in! It’s also been really insightful reading other peoples responses ❤️

My first cycle I applied to top 10 type programs + Hollins (my only waitlist)

This time, my partner wanted to live in a specific part of the country and them wanting to move is actually what spurred me to apply again. I did a mix of just Googling “MFA Colorado” and then reading work from faculty. I read one novel from each school’s fiction department. This was when I was applying only in Colorado and I only threw on the other ones last minute (thank god I did!)

I found NAU, Wyoming, and UNLV through Jess’s list in the draft and I’m ngl I did apply to non fully funded ones because I knew they’d be less competitive than somewhere like Michener. I’m so grateful for my acceptances and I think they’re genuinely great programs, I just don’t think my writing is competitive enough to make it through a sea of hundreds of super strong apps. I focused first on program vibes based on handbooks and faculty writing and balanced that with where I could see myself having a chance, whether it’s because they have a larger cohort, aren’t as talked about in online spaces like the draft, and only fund some of the cohort. 
 

To future applicants reading this: this isn’t to say you shouldn’t shoot for the stars! But also there are a lot of great programs with less prestige that I feel give you better odds of finding somewhere your work will fit well  I submitted one of my weird newer stories to NAU and they really liked it which makes me feels super good about the prospect of going there! 
 

edit to clarify: all programs with funded positions are prestigious to a degree and especially ones that do fund ALL accepted people (Wyoming and UNLV) are still mad competitive, as are all funded positions in any MFA program. I just meant that they’re not receiving the amount of apps that Michener or Iowa do. 

I know this is just a little detail in your post but I wanted to ask about Hollins if you don't mind. I got accepted there and am really excited about it! I'm trying to make a decision about where to accept and I'm leaning a lot towards Hollins but I'm a bit nervous about how small the school is. If you don't mind talking about it, I was curious about what drew you to apply there, I haven't really seen anyone else talk about them before!

[everything bagel lover]

5 minutes ago, RabbitRunner said:

I know this is just a little detail in your post but I wanted to ask about Hollins if you don't mind. I got accepted there and am really excited about it! I'm trying to make a decision about where to accept and I'm leaning a lot towards Hollins but I'm a bit nervous about how small the school is. If you don't mind talking about it, I was curious about what drew you to apply there, I haven't really seen anyone else talk about them before!

Congratulations!!!! Tbh I really liked the vibe they put forth on the website, I love the look of Roanoke and I have a lot of family in the south so I was drawn towards it. My professor who urged me to try applying for an MFA went there before going to the Iowa writers workshop (idk how he got two mfa’s or if he transferred or what) but I also was more interested in southern gothic literature and so Hollins seemed like a great place for that!
It is a small school but I think that can be to a benefit! At this point, it’s been years since I applied so I don’t remember much outside of liking their vibe. I will say, looking back, idk if I could have made the stipend work on my own without some external help, which I didn’t have at the time. I’d highly urge you talk to current students if you haven’t already and some advice my mom gave me: there’s no alternate paths. Where you’re meant to be is where you’ll be and you don’t have to worry about what ifs because they didn’t happen for a reason. It’s always helped me when I spiral down what if paths. 
what other programs are you currently considering alongside Hollins? 

[next_semester]

Have an interview coming up for a program I'm super interested in, but I just read in their MFA guidebook that grad students should devote themselves full time to their assistantship duties and not take on outside employment on a regular basis throughout the academic year as that will be a violation of the terms of the assistantship. I always planned on working as a server or something throughout grad school and am irritated as to why this has to be a rule for some programs, especially because a serving job can just be like 3 days a week for easy money. And the program is in an expensive city.

Does anyone have insight / experience regarding this rule for certain programs? Like is this something that could be negotiated within the department if a student really needs to make extra money?

[rapunzel]

15 minutes ago, next_semester said:

Have an interview coming up for a program I'm super interested in, but I just read in their MFA guidebook that grad students should devote themselves full time to their assistantship duties and not take on outside employment on a regular basis throughout the academic year as that will be a violation of the terms of the assistantship. I always planned on working as a server or something throughout grad school and am irritated as to why this has to be a rule for some programs, especially because a serving job can just be like 3 days a week for easy money. And the program is in an expensive city.

Does anyone have insight / experience regarding this rule for certain programs? Like is this something that could be negotiated within the department if a student really needs to make extra money?

is it a fully funded program? (i.e. full tuition coverage + living stipend)? if so, it might be harder to make a case; even if the stipend isn't great compared to the city you're in, they believe it's enough to just get by on

if it's not, you might be able to bring up the situation with the director of the program? but i'm not sure

i've heard people say that it's not really something that's strictly upheld except in certain situations, but i also don't know if it's worth the risk, though i don't have experience obviously

[twelveyearoldrat]

hey folks, i've been stalking this forum/resisting stalking this forum for about 3 years now (this is my third app cycle, but first in fiction) and i've been accepted to sarah lawrence (can't afford it even w/ max stipend) and eastern washington (no info on funding yet) and am also waiting on brown and notre dame. so far i've got 11 R's (from the top 10 or whatev) but it's definitely been cool to see everyone else celebrate/commiserate. prob will take the eastern offer and never do this ever again (because fuck, three is enough) but figured id say hey first 🙂 thanks for sharing all your experience and good luck gamers.  

[misssalem]

4 hours ago, Runningforcats said:

I don’t care what anybody says Im holding out for brown!!!!!!! 
 

IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER

PERIOD!!!!!! WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER!!!!