2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[smallchange]

9 minutes ago, rapunzel said:

what is the "we didn't like you that much" letter?? did they say that?? 😭

No just the shorter letter that doesn’t say “please apply again” hahahaha

I’m just being salty …..

[szymborskasy]

brown and boston fiction are driving me crazy!! one accept each on draft so i am assuming soft reject...but i just wish they'd tell us...

[spewilicious]

11 minutes ago, Mia172 said:

 

A quick Google search tells me it simply means the department has made their decision, now forwarding it to the grad school committee so you are about to hear it soon... It's a neutral process, doesn't really mean anything good or bad. Can be anything.

boy they are just slow boiling me to death

That's pretty much what I thought, but I am (delusionaly?) hoping it means a good decision from the program, and that it's not something all applicants see whether they are accepted or rejected.

[epr]

14 minutes ago, spewilicious said:

That's pretty much what I thought, but I am (delusionaly?) hoping it means a good decision from the program, and that it's not something all applicants see whether they are accepted or rejected.

A search in draft says acceptances and waitlists have gone out, so I’m assuming its a form reject coming my way. 

[doubleve]

hope everyone's hanging in there<3 it's been a weird month...

i also wanted to ask, does anyone know if iowa send snail mail rejections to international applicants too?

[Chex]

4 minutes ago, doubleve said:

hope everyone's hanging in there<3 it's been a weird month...

i also wanted to ask, does anyone know if iowa send snail mail rejections to international applicants too?

Yep, they do, but depending on where in the world you are and how reliable the postal service is, you may or may not receive it. I did not receive mine last year, and had to email Deb West in May/June, who replied with a PDF version of the mailed letter. No idea why they couldn't just send that by email in the first place.

In any case, the portal should be updated later this month, and it'll simply read: DENIED, or some such.

[pananoprodigy]

6 minutes ago, Chex said:

Yep, they do, but depending on where in the world you are and how reliable the postal service is, you may or may not receive it. I did not receive mine last year, and had to email Deb West in May/June, who replied with a PDF version of the mailed letter. No idea why they couldn't just send that by email in the first place.

In any case, the portal should be updated later this month, and it'll simply read: DENIED, or some such.

Their insistence on snail mail in the year 2025 just comes off so pretentious and annoying to me idk

[bucket]

45 minutes ago, szymborskasy said:

brown and boston fiction are driving me crazy!! one accept each on draft so i am assuming soft reject...but i just wish they'd tell us...

there aren't any brown fiction results on draft yet (as far as i can see) which is definitely making it even more stressful lol

[Lady Gladys]

2 minutes ago, bucket said:

there aren't any brown fiction results on draft yet (as far as i can see) which is definitely making it even more stressful lol

There was one in this forum. Guessing they just didn't add it to the spreadsheet.

[Jitterbug98]

I got the form/non-tiered Iowa rejection too, feeling a bit bummed about it considering so many people got the tiered one. After so many rejections, I’m a bit worried that I’ve been fooling myself thinking I have any writing talent at all. But it’s my first round of applications, and looking back my SOPs were terrible, I should have read more professors’ work, and half of my writing sample was written when I was in college 6 years ago 😬

[bucket]

7 minutes ago, Lady Gladys said:

There was one in this forum. Guessing they just didn't add it to the spreadsheet.

yeah, i saw that one and figured the same! it just seems weird to me that no one else who is on draft/gradcafe has heard anything for fiction

[Mystic_Sunshine]

What are people still waiting on that isn't soft rejection?

I saw UNLV for poetry and non fiction but not fiction unless I'm missing it or no one reported. 

[everything bagel lover]

5 minutes ago, Mystic_Sunshine said:

What are people still waiting on that isn't soft rejection?

I saw UNLV for poetry and non fiction but not fiction unless I'm missing it or no one reported. 

No word on UNLV fiction and I’m still waiting on Wyoming too

edit to ask: what else are you waiting on?

Edited 8 hours ago by everything bagel lover

[pananoprodigy]

Just now, Mystic_Sunshine said:

What are people still waiting on that isn't soft rejection?

I saw UNLV for poetry and non fiction but not fiction unless I'm missing it or no one reported. 

Waiting on Wyoming: A Novel, as well as Rutgers-Camden, Boise State, and Northern Michigan (although I applied for that last one thinking it was fully funded for some reason, but apparently it's not which is a bummer)

Oh and Trinity College Dublin but I only applied there on the off chance I win the lottery and can afford a) tuition, b) the cost of relocating from California to Ireland 🤪

[thelovelyunkown]

Placing another candle for news from Brown.

🕯️

Not sure if I should consider it a soft rejection or not because it seems like nobody has heard anything for poetry yet. 

Wishing everyone luck!

[DJ Lambchop]

20 minutes ago, Jitterbug98 said:

I got the form/non-tiered Iowa rejection too, feeling a bit bummed about it considering so many people got the tiered one. After so many rejections, I’m a bit worried that I’ve been fooling myself thinking I have any writing talent at all. But it’s my first round of applications, and looking back my SOPs were terrible, I should have read more professors’ work, and half of my writing sample was written when I was in college 6 years ago 😬

Yeah I feel this… I’ve gotten all rejections this year and while I expected it, I hoped for a waitlist at the very least. And then when the rejections started pouring in, I hoped for a “please apply again” letter. Nothing of the sort this whole cycle. I’ve also been feeling like I’m just a way worse writer than I think I am. 

[Mystic_Sunshine]

13 minutes ago, everything bagel lover said:

No word on UNLV fiction and I’m still waiting on Wyoming too

edit to ask: what else are you waiting on?

For me, just UNLV and Ole Miss. 

 

[rapunzel]

14 minutes ago, DJ Lambchop said:

Yeah I feel this… I’ve gotten all rejections this year and while I expected it, I hoped for a waitlist at the very least. And then when the rejections started pouring in, I hoped for a “please apply again” letter. Nothing of the sort this whole cycle. I’ve also been feeling like I’m just a way worse writer than I think I am. 

i wouldn't take it too personally! especially for schools that don't have ranked rejections, the absence of a "please apply again" might just be due to our current administration and an ongoing concern about funding in the future

i mean, not that that's any better news, but

[smallchange]

51 minutes ago, DJ Lambchop said:

Yeah I feel this… I’ve gotten all rejections this year and while I expected it, I hoped for a waitlist at the very least. And then when the rejections started pouring in, I hoped for a “please apply again” letter. Nothing of the sort this whole cycle. I’ve also been feeling like I’m just a way worse writer than I think I am. 

Echoing the don’t take it personally sentiment! I feel like I preemptively went through the grieving process before hearing from everywhere, but my main takeaways since have been 1) I need to put my head down and write 2) it’s possible that the rejections were due to quality, but it’s also possible that they were due to a dozen other factors that were totally out of my control and 3) I should have definitely read more current faculties’ work. I don’t think most schools send out a personalized letter, and I would guess that Iowa sends them out to people that made it to a certain round in the decision process. It doesn’t necessarily mean that no one who read your sample thought you’d make a great candidate.
 

 

[prufrock_]

Got more info on cu boulder; it's a toss up on if i'll get funding (i'm not first on the funding waitlist). I'll wait it out, see what happens, and keep hoping for the Wyoming.

to anyone in the future looking here from google: everyone at cu boulder is very kind, but their website does not lie. they are not fully funded. That said, they do work with you the best they can! If i lived in CO, i'd probably risk trying to navigate what funding options they have, even if not offered the 3 year TA ship (which 6 students are offered!).

My theory/guess on why that person in draft said it is fully funded: everyone who gets the funded TA offer goes. those who do not, do not. so if you ask if every student there is funded, the answer is probably yes lol. cu boulders tuition is 75k total after 3 years if you have no funding, so i don't imagine many people take that offer of 'you can come here... if you pay us near six figures.'

Edited 6 hours ago by prufrock_
my math is wrong, it's only 75k if you're charged out of state tution all 3 years, which you wouldn't be. idk how much it would be really. 50kish?

[everything bagel lover]

1 minute ago, prufrock_ said:

Got more info on cu boulder; it's a toss up on if i'll get funding (i'm not first on the funding waitlist). I'll wait it out, see what happens, and keep hoping for the Wyoming.

to anyone in the future looking here from google: everyone at cu boulder is very kind, but their website does not lie. they are not fully funded. That said, they do work with you the best they can! If i lived in CO, i'd probably risk trying to navigate what funding options they have, even if not offered the 3 year TA ship (which 6 students are offered!).

My theory/guess on why that person in draft said it is fully funded: everyone who gets the funded TA offer goes. those who do not, do not. so if you ask if every student there is funded, the answer is probably yes lol. cu boulders tuition is 75k total after 3 years if you have no funding, so i don't imagine many people take that offer of 'you can come here... if you pay us near six figures.'

Bummer  I’m sorry, that’s hard to have it within grasp but not quite funded. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you both for full funding at Boulder and for Wyoming!! 🕯️ They should be this week 

[pananoprodigy]

17 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

Got more info on cu boulder; it's a toss up on if i'll get funding (i'm not first on the funding waitlist). I'll wait it out, see what happens, and keep hoping for the Wyoming.

to anyone in the future looking here from google: everyone at cu boulder is very kind, but their website does not lie. they are not fully funded. That said, they do work with you the best they can! If i lived in CO, i'd probably risk trying to navigate what funding options they have, even if not offered the 3 year TA ship (which 6 students are offered!).

My theory/guess on why that person in draft said it is fully funded: everyone who gets the funded TA offer goes. those who do not, do not. so if you ask if every student there is funded, the answer is probably yes lol. cu boulders tuition is 75k total after 3 years if you have no funding, so i don't imagine many people take that offer of 'you can come here... if you pay us near six figures.'

gahh this is so frustrating, I'm sorry. You never know, it could still come through! But dang what a bummer. I'm really on the fence about these programs that fund some but not all (i.e. the only kind of program I have an acceptance to). Like, I get it -- there's only so much money to be had -- but I can't help feeling like it's a weird dynamic to be in a workshop where some people are struggling to make rent and others are....admittedly still probably struggling to pay rent given these stipends, but like, maybe struggling a little less. I don't know, maybe I'm totally overthinking it and it's not an issue, but I can't help feeling like it's something that would come up in a social situation where you're in a cohort with only 3-5 other people.