2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[elizabethjeanewrites]

On 4/4/2025 at 1:10 PM, essentialflowers said:

I’m waiting to hear back from my last hope. I’m waitlisted & the call I had with the director in February sounded very promising (“you are NOT someone we want to say no to”). But now I’m second-guessing, and I’m so sick I’m not able to eat. Is anyone in a similar boat? 

Yes! I have only one school as an option and I got waitlisted and have been in months of torturous silence. You are not alone. And I got an email with almost the exact same phrasing as "you are not someone we want to say no to"

[VOID DARLING]

just received a waitlist update email from michigan saying that they expect “that a limited number of spaces may become available on or before April 15th” and that they’d need a reply BY the 15th.

they also said that they’d be sending out final offer letters between now and the 15th and that they’d need our indication of interest to “help in the final selection process”.

anybody fellow michigan waitlistees here? (im poetry btw)

[Eloise2897]

2 hours ago, Eloise2897 said:

Does anyone have any new information on the Syracuse or Minnesota waitlists? I got an email from the program I was accepted into reminding me that the deadline is approaching and mentioning that they would appreciate knowing where I stand at the moment. I'm not totally sure what to say back other than that I've declined other offers but I am still waiting to hear back on 2 waitlists.

I'm wondering if I should email Syracuse and Minnesota again for an update, though I never heard anything back from Minnesota in the first place. Is 3 emails between being placed on the waitlist and deadline day excessive?

I asked this question on Draft and received a response I want to share here. An admitted UMN student commented that the program told her that, due to funding issues, UMN will not be dipping into their waitlist if their accepted students decline their offers. Take this with a huge grain of salt as it's only word-of-mouth from someone on Facebook (I'm personally not making any decisions based on any information that does not come directly from a school). But, it did seem worth sharing, especially for other waitlisters on here.

 

[Penguintariffs]

I am waitlisted at UNLV (the only school I applied to) and am wondering if anyone has heard any news? I’m not seeing a lot of updates. 

[girlwiththegreenribbon]

has anyone heard anything back from SIU (fiction)? i’ve wanted to email to ask for an update but i’m not sure if it’s okay. 

[DJ Lambchop]

Did anyone get an email from Syracuse about an update to their application today? This is a school I was rejected from and I checked the portal and didn’t see anything of note. 

[momeraths]

Just now, DJ Lambchop said:

Did anyone get an email from Syracuse about an update to their application today? This is a school I was rejected from and I checked the portal and didn’t see anything of note. 

Got the same thing, was also rejected. Expecting it to be an administrative error sort of thing.

[essentialflowers]

Bro the Syracuse thing disappointed me so bad— I just called admissions and she said it was an error. Very not nice of them and very unprofessional bahaha. Way to dig the knife in 😭😭😭

[squid05]

6 minutes ago, essentialflowers said:

Bro the Syracuse thing disappointed me so bad— I just called admissions and she said it was an error. Very not nice of them and very unprofessional bahaha. Way to dig the knife in 😭😭😭

What!! What was the error? 

[elizabethjeanewrites]

On 4/4/2025 at 3:58 PM, Magnolia Electric Co said:

Sometimes, schools send out acceptances and waitlists a long time before they send out rejections. I know Notre Dame has already sent out acceptances and waitlists, and looking at the spreadsheet in the Facebook group MFA Draft '25, it seems like Butler and Miami of Ohio have also sent out acceptances and waitlists. That doesn't always mean a rejection is certain - as people have pointed out, sometimes circumstances change later - but I do think it means rejection is most likely at this stage. Sometimes people use the term "soft rejection" to mean they haven't gotten an official rejection, but they know that acceptances and waitlists have already gone out. I hope that helps!

Thank you so much. That is so good to know and I'm so thankful for clarity. I wish I had found this forum 7 months ago  This is amazing. 

[Valle]

Hi everyone. Curious if anyone here is an international applying for or starting a low-res program. I got into one with a neat scholarship and am very excited to go. It's something I've been dreaming of for years and it's finally happening. That was before I had a look at the visa hassle. In short, international students on a low-res program have to get a visa for each and every single residency. It's not that I'm actually going to let this bureaucracy stop me, but I am wondering if it's a topic out there with the international applicants. 

[gradschoolpspspsps]

1 hour ago, girlwiththegreenribbon said:

has anyone heard anything back from SIU (fiction)? i’ve wanted to email to ask for an update but i’m not sure if it’s okay. 

Ooh if you do let me know what they say. I'm still waiting for them and Boise as my only ones marked not soft rejections at this point. 

[decayingballads21]

on this episode of me discovering new layers of pros and cons to my very similar offers rn:

googles “how strict is [name of state program is in] with cannabis” 

yall have I lost it

[Magnolia Electric Co]

15 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said:

on this episode of me discovering new layers of pros and cons to my very similar offers rn:

googles “how strict is [name of state program is in] with cannabis” 

yall have I lost it

Hahaha I feel this. It starts to feel so hypothetical that it feels like comparing two completely unknown futures. And it's easy to forget we might actually have to uproot our lives and move to one of these places, and that once we do, we can't go back and choose a different one (except for transferring)

[glowingbrightly]

2 hours ago, decayingballads21 said:

on this episode of me discovering new layers of pros and cons to my very similar offers rn:

googles “how strict is [name of state program is in] with cannabis” 

yall have I lost it

i also told myself this was dumb until i got into a program in california lol a good weed market is important tbh

Edited April 8 by glowingbrightly

[Nauna]

11 hours ago, Southron said:

Still waiting here. I emailed the professor I interviewed with towards the end of last week, but haven't heard anything. Part of me wonders if all acceptances went out last week, and only a couple of the people were on draft. I still have hope for fiction though.

I was wondering if with all the uncertainty that they're just taking things slowly, and possibly are going to have a smaller cohort than they anticipated so don't want to make too many offers at once. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[gradschoolpspspsps]

Every day I wake up at 6am ET to go work at a high school and immediately start my day of impatiently checking for updates far far before anyone else, especially in other time zones, is even awake to start making them. If I didn't work so early I would be impatient for so much less time. But every day my brain is like what if someone in Boise is starting their day at 4am. 

 

I have been refreshing for five hours and they probably just got to work. 

[elizabethjeanewrites]

Does anyone know the logic of a school who has a "priority" deadline and a last-call deadline? If I submitted two months after the first deadline, but one month before the last deadline, are my chances shot? I'm referring to Butler, but any info would be helpful on what the rolling admission process looks like.

Now that I've been rejected from so many places, I'm considering sending to schools with rolling admission, but if they all have already established cohorts, what is the point? Am I missing something?

[prufrock_]

16 minutes ago, elizabethjeanewrites said:

Does anyone know the logic of a school who has a "priority" deadline and a last-call deadline? If I submitted two months after the first deadline, but one month before the last deadline, are my chances shot? I'm referring to Butler, but any info would be helpful on what the rolling admission process looks like.

Now that I've been rejected from so many places, I'm considering sending to schools with rolling admission, but if they all have already established cohorts, what is the point? Am I missing something?

i believe it only has to do with scholarships and funding. Those who apply earlier get priority on scholarship offers, but not acceptance. So your chances of going aren't shot, but your chances of funding might be.

[Hcrews22]

in at Arkansas...fully funded....in shock. Anyone else in the ether going to Fayetteville? 

[squid05]

27 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

i believe it only has to do with scholarships and funding. Those who apply earlier get priority on scholarship offers, but not acceptance. So your chances of going aren't shot, but your chances of funding might be.

So if i applied priority to a fully funded program is there any benefit? 

[girlwiththegreenribbon]

i haven't heard back from SIU. should i just email them and ask for an update? i ask because i don't wanna seem impatient or anything.

[Magnolia Electric Co]

This might be an unanswerable question, but how do you know if a program is right for you? Do you take the chance if it seems like a good opportunity, or should there be some kind of sign or spark or connection? I'm afraid of missing out on a great opportunity, but I'm equally afraid of committing to a bad fit. Has anyone thought through this too?

[Eloise2897]

On 4/7/2025 at 1:24 PM, Eloise2897 said:

I asked this question on Draft and received a response I want to share here. An admitted UMN student commented that the program told her that, due to funding issues, UMN will not be dipping into their waitlist if their accepted students decline their offers. Take this with a huge grain of salt as it's only word-of-mouth from someone on Facebook (I'm personally not making any decisions based on any information that does not come directly from a school). But, it did seem worth sharing, especially for other waitlisters on here.

 

This turned out to be true, unfortunately. I got my official notification today that UMN has suspended their waitlists. 

[snottlebie]

21 minutes ago, Eloise2897 said:

This turned out to be true, unfortunately. I got my official notification today that UMN has suspended their waitlists. 

So sorry that this happened to you and the other waitlists at UMN.