2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[zaira]

4 minutes ago, glowingbrightly said:

y’all need to step it up to tarot ✨

Had my deck sitting next to me. Asked what it thought about Brown. Pulled a Judgment in reverse. Do with that what you will 

[glowingbrightly]

9 minutes ago, squid05 said:

I Ching is s tier divination tbh  

 

4 minutes ago, seah0rse said:

the magic 8 ball also told me months ago that I’d get into Brown but I’m afraid that a tarot reading might reveal too much about the MFA journey as a whole 😅

Thnx I will have to check out I Ching!!

 

😂😂 I like the motherpeace tarot deck which is all about feminine spirituality and sitting with contradiction and uncertainty—perfect for the MFA journey! 

[exvat]

Candles vs. tarot vs. I Ching vs. Magic 8 Ball

Pretty sure Murakami + magic flower + cat worked* for me 👇

On 2/17/2025 at 1:32 PM, exvat said:

Reading Murakami and vaping a bowl in hopes that my cat will look up at me and oracularly speak my application decisions ✨

*Lol

[zaira]

13 minutes ago, exvat said:

Candles vs. tarot vs. I Ching vs. Magic 8 Ball

Pretty sure Murakami + magic flower + cat worked* for me 👇

*Lol

Can you ask your cat about Brown? Or alternatively I'll take a sentence from a random page of Murakami and try to decipher its meaning. I think collectively we can get to the bottom of this 

[thelovelyunkown]

For me, one of the most frustrating aspects of this process is writing a piece that would've slayed the sample after already submitting. 

[exvat]

6 minutes ago, zaira said:

Can you ask your cat about Brown? Or alternatively I'll take a sentence from a random page of Murakami and try to decipher its meaning. I think collectively we can get to the bottom of this 

Yes, I bet we can. But I think the entrance stone has the be open or something. And the proper respects paid to the forest, but only in a dream.

[KennyK]

Has there been any posts on draft from San francisco state university?

Edited March 18 by KennyK
Edit

[glowingbrightly]

38 minutes ago, thelovelyunkown said:

For me, one of the most frustrating aspects of this process is writing a piece that would've slayed the sample after already submitting. 

yes! I’ve been rather prolific these last few agonizing weeks and generated a whole new chapbook after my last one took me like a year to develop

[Tuxedocat]

4 minutes ago, KennyK said:

Has there been any posts on draft from SFSU?

Still nothing on draft! A lot of programs are behind this year so they might also be delayed. 

[Eloise2897]

1 hour ago, glowingbrightly said:

y’all need to step it up to tarot ✨

i asked the tarot if i'll get accepted off the 'cuse waitlist and drew the tower...twice. not sure how to feel about that.

[rapunzel]

13 minutes ago, Eloise2897 said:

i asked the tarot if i'll get accepted off the 'cuse waitlist and drew the tower...twice. not sure how to feel about that.

well... i'd say that you'll soon have escaped the chaos and torment of the waitlist game ?

though i guess that could go either way

[saintjdog]

i got waitlisted at one of my top choices, and accepted to a program i feel fine about. i feel like i read somewhere that if you get an acceptance, you can tell the waitlist and somehow use it as...leverage?? maybe?? i truly don't remember, does anyone know what i'm talking about LOL

[Hjanep]

2 minutes ago, saintjdog said:

i got waitlisted at one of my top choices, and accepted to a program i feel fine about. i feel like i read somewhere that if you get an acceptance, you can tell the waitlist and somehow use it as...leverage?? maybe?? i truly don't remember, does anyone know what i'm talking about LOL

I think this is true. Someone on draft said they were in regular communication with HZWP over their acceptances elsewhere while reiterating that Zell was their top choice and they wanted off the waitlist. I think it’s totally fair to reach out and say you got offered a spot somewhere else but waitlist program is still your top choice / do they have any updates on their end / thanks in advance / etc

[zaira]

2 minutes ago, saintjdog said:

i got waitlisted at one of my top choices, and accepted to a program i feel fine about. i feel like i read somewhere that if you get an acceptance, you can tell the waitlist and somehow use it as...leverage?? maybe?? i truly don't remember, does anyone know what i'm talking about LOL

You can't really use an offer as "leverage" but you can absolutely let your waitlisted program know your situation. It's never a bad idea to tell them if they're your top choice (supposing that's true). And it's also fine to say you have an offer but you're waiting to commit. It could move you up the list, though it could equally do nothing. Either way, honesty and expressing interest in the program is always good! 

[Eloise2897]

5 minutes ago, saintjdog said:

i got waitlisted at one of my top choices, and accepted to a program i feel fine about. i feel like i read somewhere that if you get an acceptance, you can tell the waitlist and somehow use it as...leverage?? maybe?? i truly don't remember, does anyone know what i'm talking about LOL

Yeah, following up to reaffirm your interest has been recommended by some of the MFA vets over on draft. I am happy to have 2 acceptances but am waitlisted at 2 top choices right now; I sent an email to one yesterday where I said I had two other offers right now but wanted to reaffirm my interest in the program, assure them that if given an offer I would accept, and on that note, to check in and see if there were any updates on the waitlist.

[saintjdog]

6 minutes ago, zaira said:

You can't really use an offer as "leverage" but you can absolutely let your waitlisted program know your situation. It's never a bad idea to tell them if they're your top choice (supposing that's true). And it's also fine to say you have an offer but you're waiting to commit. It could move you up the list, though it could equally do nothing. Either way, honesty and expressing interest in the program is always good! 

thank you this is super helpful!! yeah upon reading again "leverage" was absolutely not the right word to use lol

[zaira]

1 minute ago, saintjdog said:

thank you this is super helpful!! yeah upon reading again "leverage" was absolutely not the right word to use lol

Personally I prefer the phrase "give them an offer they can't refuse" 😂

[glowingbrightly]

a poem:

 

I wait around

my shit is brown

[exvat]

9 minutes ago, glowingbrightly said:

a poem:

 

I wait around

my shit is brown

Back In My Day™, this would have been a pay-to-pub "Grand Prize" "winning" "poem"—delivered in a beautifully bound edition, straight to your doorstep.

[squid05]

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!

[Magnolia Electric Co]

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!

[Mystic_Sunshine]

15 minutes 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!

For me I just prioritized the following things: 

1. Location

2. Stipend

3. Reputation 

4. Opportunities (lit mags mostly)  

[KennyK]

Has UC Riverside posted any more acceptances on draft? I remember there being one a couple of weeks ago.

[NicoleNW]

Sorry I’ve already asked about this, but was curious if anyone else was still waiting on Iowa? (I applied nonfiction)

[Magnolia Electric Co]

1 minute ago, NicoleNW said:

Sorry I’ve already asked about this, but was curious if anyone else was still waiting on Iowa? (I applied nonfiction)

I applied for poetry and have not heard anything yet, even though rejection letters were supposedly postmarked 3/7.