2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[prufrock_]

15 minutes ago, programedlove333 said:

this may be minor, but I just realized that Ole Miss asked for contact info on every page, but I only put my phone and email  on my cover page, and the rest just had my name. Hopefully it is fine but I am also just like oh my godddd

I'm sure you're fine!

 

(also this is why i'm refusing to double check any of my apps lol, i know i missed something or another)

[programedlove333]

1 minute ago, prufrock_ said:

I'm sure you're fine!

 

(also this is why i'm refusing to double check any of my apps lol, i know i missed something or another)

Lollll I get it -- there is no point in worrying about it, but I am like surely it isn't enough to have my work taken out of consideration? nevertheless, I worry

[nauseated]

1 hour ago, programedlove333 said:

Lollll I get it -- there is no point in worrying about it, but I am like surely it isn't enough to have my work taken out of consideration? nevertheless, I worry

One of my recommendations for an app (JHU) went in way after the deadline, and the website never specified if there was a grace period (e.g. Brown said they can be sent in by jan 15 for a Dec 15 deadline) and it has been driving me INSANEEEE! I think when I get my probable rejection I'd be inclined to blame it on the late letter lol 

[programedlove333]

3 minutes ago, nauseated said:

One of my recommendations for an app (JHU) went in way after the deadline, and the website never specified if there was a grace period (e.g. Brown said they can be sent in by jan 15 for a Dec 15 deadline) and it has been driving me INSANEEEE! I think when I get my probable rejection I'd be inclined to blame it on the late letter lol 

It will all be okay and they probably do have a grace period….i havent heard of many schools that dont. And yeah, Ole Miss is like on the bottom of my list of schools I applied and there was no app fee, so i am like its okay even if i did almost crash out

[everything bagel lover]

52 minutes ago, nauseated said:

One of my recommendations for an app (JHU) went in way after the deadline, and the website never specified if there was a grace period (e.g. Brown said they can be sent in by jan 15 for a Dec 15 deadline) and it has been driving me INSANEEEE! I think when I get my probable rejection I'd be inclined to blame it on the late letter lol 

In my experience, programs that don't have a grace period will usually notify you. A few programs I applied to said they wouldn't review applications until all materials were in and the deadline for recommenders was explicitly also the deadline for the application. They all notified me of this when my recommendations were missing but the deadline was approaching. All of that to say that I think it'll be fine!

Edited February 6 by everything bagel lover
typo lol

[nauseated]

7 minutes ago, everything bagel lover said:

In my experience, programs that don't have a grace period will usually notify you. A few programs I applied to said they wouldn't review applications until all materials were in and the deadline for recommenders was explicitly also the deadline for the application. They all notified me of this when my recommendations were missing but the deadline was approaching. All of that to say that I think it'll be fine!

That actually made me feel incredibly better, thank you!!! and good luck, hope you hear good news soon if you are waiting on it 

[smallchange]

I still worry that I fucked up by not sending in my transcripts from study abroad to my schools with earlier deadlines - some let me send them late, but somehow I didn't realize this was a requirement! I didn't even realize I got grades for the classes, honestly. Seems like a crazy reason to reject someone but I know it can happen....

[bibsy]

darn, just realized that someone posted a uc davis acceptance on the draft spreadsheet yesterday! i can't imagine they're spreading those out over multiple days lol, so time to cross my fingers for a waitlist. congrats to the person accepted if you're here!!

[Leeannitha]

2 hours ago, smallchange said:

I still worry that I fucked up by not sending in my transcripts from study abroad to my schools with earlier deadlines - some let me send them late, but somehow I didn't realize this was a requirement! I didn't even realize I got grades for the classes, honestly. Seems like a crazy reason to reject someone but I know it can happen....

I emailed a school about this and they said it wasn’t required even tho the website said it was. So maybe it is fine?

[smallchange]

26 minutes ago, bibsy said:

darn, just realized that someone posted a uc davis acceptance on the draft spreadsheet yesterday! i can't imagine they're spreading those out over multiple days lol, so time to cross my fingers for a waitlist. congrats to the person accepted if you're here!!

wow, that's a crazy turnaround considering the application deadline was a month ago. It's always possible they're spacing it out but yeah gonna brace myself for rejection too now

[pananoprodigy]

Feels quiet today...😵‍💫

[bibsy]

5 minutes ago, smallchange said:

wow, that's a crazy turnaround considering the application deadline was a month ago. It's always possible they're spacing it out but yeah gonna brace myself for rejection too now

looks like it's consistent with past years, from the little data we've got on them - there's an acceptance from 2024 for feb. 7, which was also a wednesday. seems like waitlist notifs come out a little later (exactly one week, in the last cycle). nervous because i felt like that was a program where i had one of my best shots for creative writing! i know i'm a stronger playwriting candidate, but i only applied to three playwriting programs at superrr competitive institutions, so trying to remain calm!

[programedlove333]

20 minutes ago, pananoprodigy said:

Feels quiet today...😵‍💫

im taking advantage of it as it seems that next two weeks will be crazy

[carrruly]

found a handful of typos/formatting errors in my portfolio - am I absolutely cooked?

for color, I'm not an english/CW undergrad major and am 3 years out of school and I didn't really have anyone to help review/spot typos womp womp womp

[pananoprodigy]

6 minutes ago, carrruly said:

found a handful of typos/formatting errors in my portfolio - am I absolutely cooked?

for color, I'm not an english/CW undergrad major and am 3 years out of school and I didn't really have anyone to help review/spot typos womp womp womp

If it's just a few basic typos I think you'll generally be fine. As long as the overall quality of the writing is what they're looking for it seems like most places will let minor mistakes like that slide. 

[Jane Wyman]

1 hour ago, bibsy said:

nervous because i felt like that was a program where i had one of my best shots for creative writing! i know i'm a stronger playwriting candidate, but i only applied to three playwriting programs at superrr competitive institutions, so trying to remain calm!

Feeling the same way. I'm a fiction transfer student, this was one of the less competitive programs I applied to, and I thought I was a great fit. Worried I'm cooked. Reality checks welcome.

 

[spewilicious]

Just received my Northwestern rejection email 🥹👍

 

Edit: It was for fiction

Edited February 6 by spewilicious

[Hjanep]

4 minutes ago, spewilicious said:

Just received my Northwestern rejection email 🥹👍

What genre?

[strawberrymatcha]

anyone else still waiting for a rejection email…?

[spewilicious]

4 minutes ago, Hjanep said:

What genre?

It was for fiction! Sorry for not saying in the post

[zaira]

29 minutes ago, Jane Wyman said:

Feeling the same way. I'm a fiction transfer student, this was one of the less competitive programs I applied to, and I thought I was a great fit. Worried I'm cooked. Reality checks welcome.

 

Not cooked, far from it! I'm not just being nice either. It's pure pragmatism. Competition and acceptance rates mean nothing when your work is being judged subjectively. People have been rejected from less competitive programs and accepted into far more competitive ones. Don't count yourself out so early in the season. 

[Hjanep]

2 minutes ago, strawberrymatcha said:

anyone else still waiting for a rejection email…?

Yeah I figure it’s just a matter of time. This happened last year with JHU it took FOREVER for their software to make its way through the list

[bibsy]

54 minutes ago, Jane Wyman said:

Feeling the same way. I'm a fiction transfer student, this was one of the less competitive programs I applied to, and I thought I was a great fit. Worried I'm cooked. Reality checks welcome.

 

i can provide perspective from my undergrad experience. 💜

i have a bfa in theatre (directing, specifically), and the audition/application process for bfa theatre students is a pretty decent mirror for the mfa creative writing process. in 2015, i think my final count was either 14 or 16 applications/auditions?? my results shook out to 1 acceptance, 2 waitlists, and the rest were a clean sweep of rejections. i was rejected from programs i was sure i'd be accepted to - but 1 of my waitlists was from the most prestigious school on my list (carnegie mellon). the next year, i applied to transfer only to cmu. i was waitlisted again - but this time, i came off the waitlist! and i adored my undergraduate program, unabashedly. i was a very successful student there and never felt like i was behind the rest of my cohort. one of my best friends had a similar experience: rejected absolutely everywhere but accepted at cmu. 

it's a different field and a different context, but the principle is similar. the process is so subjective, and trying to predict what schools will connect with your work is like shotty divination. 

[Jane Wyman]

Thank you for talking me down lol.

[pananoprodigy]

Surprised we haven't heard anything from U of Oregon yet; I had my money on calls going out early this week (although of course maybe they did and nobody reported it).