2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[inkidacat]

8 minutes ago, rapunzel said:

don't come for me but i'm going to throw it out there that i tHinK they're done notifying the fiction folks even if they haven't all been input on draft yet

is this based on vibrations n energy from the cosmos or inside intel 

[rapunzel]

5 minutes ago, inkidacat said:

is this based on vibrations n energy from the cosmos or inside intel 

based on stalking and extensive (draft and reddit lmao) research lol

people who reported fiction acceptances last year later than the 20th reported that it was via zoom call, for which 1) one accepted person last year who reported on the 23rd said they received their initial voicemail on the 20th and 2) one of the people accepted today over the phone said they would be setting up a zoom in the coming days as well which all just makes me think zoom is like the extended acceptance conversation after you've already been accepted via phone/voicemail/email on the first day (today)

i feel like the red string meme but that's ~okay~

Edited February 22 by rapunzel
poetry i think will be separate though!

[Tinky C. Clown]

2 minutes ago, rapunzel said:

based on stalking and extensive (draft and reddit lmao) research lol

people who reported fiction acceptances last year later than the 20th reported that it was via zoom call, for which 1) one accepted person last year who reported on the 23rd said they received their initial voicemail on the 20th and 2) one of the people accepted today over the phone said they would be setting up a zoom in the coming days as well which all just makes me think zoom is like the extended acceptance conversation after you've already been accepted via phone/voicemail/email on the first day (today)

i feel like the red string meme but that's ~okay~

but how come only 2/25 reports?

[rapunzel]

5 minutes ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

but how come only 2/25 reports?

well last year only 5/25 acceptances were reported and 3 were over zoom (meaning they'd most likely received the initial voicemail/email to set it up on the 20th)

[Tinky C. Clown]

5 minutes ago, rapunzel said:

well last year only 5/25 acceptances were reported and 3 were over zoom (meaning they'd most likely received the initial voicemail/email to set it up on the 20th)

Edited February 22 by Tinky C. Clown
ughhhh well thanks for doing the logical thinking

[rapunzel]

3 minutes ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

 

sorry not to bring the vibe down 😕 but it looks like you already have some acceptances under your belt! congrats again on those!

[DJ Lambchop]

34 minutes ago, Tinky C. Clown said:

 

I’m still inclined to believe not everyone has been notified. Programs with far fewer spots have way more notifications currently. And no poetry notifications yet… idk I just think they’re making calls over several days. 

[rapunzel]

yeah i could totally be wrong! just speculatin' over here

[Catpaw]

3 hours ago, smallchange said:

Iowa's 80 page limit made me feel like I could actually get across the different genres I write in (psychological realism and surrealism/magical realism)

Whoa a kindred spirit! Haha. Are your different modes of writing always fairly separated for you, or do they mix sometimes in the same piece?

And yeah I do know what you mean about "pitching" and I don't think it's necessarily an incorrect instinct... For all that the programs do repeat just send us your strongest work, it's also true that definitions of 'strongest' get subjective past a certain point. "Strongest in what I felt I could pitch successfully to the adcoms" is a variety of strongest! It's impossible to say how adcoms will or won't perceive our applications, and what version of 'strong' will resonate with them—that aspect is always a black box, I guess.

[FFFRANK]

Which schools do you think we might hear from this weekend?

[FFFRANK]

I applied to 16 programs and have already been rejected or soft rejected by 8 or 9. I feel like my application season is over, and I can’t be optimistic anymore.

[isabella swan]

If two Iowa acceptances have been reported, that means many others were notified, too. And since international applicants are very few and are usually notified by email, then that would mean the emails, being few in number, must have gone out as well. So, I should be certain that Iowa is over for me? 

[FFFRANK]

A fiction waitlist for Miami has been reported—does that mean acceptances have already been sent out?

[isabella swan]

21 minutes ago, FFFRANK said:

A fiction waitlist for Miami has been reported—does that mean acceptances have already been sent out?

yeah, acceptances go out before waitlists

[hopefull2025]

On 2/11/2025 at 1:02 AM, AyvaM said:

YALL I JUST GOT A CALL FROM NATALIE FUCKING SHAPERO AT UC IRVINE I was such an idiot on the phone but she was soooo nice about it 😭😭😭😭😭 I'm just screaming over here. Baby's first acceptance 

hiiii ahh congrats!!! I also got in for poetry and would love to connect if you're down. I just sent you a DM!

[Lady Gladys]

9 hours ago, gordonandwafflesandmrblik said:

I can’t see the Facebook draft, can anybody please update how many Iowa acceptances have been reported 🙏

As of Saturday 8 am EST, 2 Fiction.

[DJ Lambchop]

Let’s take a breather about Iowa. They have to notify 50 people and only 2 are in the draft. They’re not done! Just give it til next week and I’m sure you will see more trickling into the draft. Also, one person on draft who got in seems to have been rejected from Michigan and Michener, so there’s hope. 

[isabella swan]

22 minutes ago, DJ Lambchop said:

Let’s take a breather about Iowa. They have to notify 50 people and only 2 are in the draft. They’re not done! Just give it til next week and I’m sure you will see more trickling into the draft. Also, one person on draft who got in seems to have been rejected from Michigan and Michener, so there’s hope. 

But if their decision has been made, don't you think they would have notified quite a few by now? Also, do you know if international applicants are notified after the domestic applicants? it's just an email, so quick and easy to send. I am only trying to keep my mind and heart from collapsing.

[DJ Lambchop]

6 minutes ago, isabella swan said:

But if their decision has been made, don't you think they would have notified quite a few by now? Also, do you know if international applicants are notified after the domestic applicants? it's just an email, so quick and easy to send. I am only trying to keep my mind and heart from collapsing.

I think Iowa tends to call the people they accept

[isabella swan]

1 minute ago, DJ Lambchop said:

I think Iowa tends to call the people they accept

They email international applicants and later have a zoom call.

[everything bagel lover]

What programs do y'all think we’ll hear from this coming week? I’ve got Wyoming and UNLV on my radar, and I know at this point it’s kind of all kind of starting to enter free game territory. 

[rafikiman]

Do we think Iowa will continue to call acceptances over the weekend if they didn't finish yesterday, or would they wait until Monday to resume?
 

Anyone have the link to last year's Draft spreadsheet? I'm wondering how long people tend to wait to report after getting the call.

[DJ Lambchop]

Just now, rafikiman said:

Do we think Iowa will continue to call acceptances over the weekend if they didn't finish yesterday, or would they wait until Monday to resume?
 

Anyone have the link to last year's Draft spreadsheet? I'm wondering how long people tend to wait to report after getting the call.

I, for one, think the weekend is a possibility. I’ve heard some grad schools will call after 5pm or on weekends because there’s a greater chance the person will pick up. They definitely want the chance to talk to you!

[exvat]

Not to possibly stoke more anxiety, but, my friend who was rejected for a humanities postdoc at Penn last week just sent me this article:

https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/02/penn-graduate-student-class-size-cut-trump-funding

“We go through hundreds of applications, we interviewed dozens of finalists, and basically all that work was just for naught,” the professor said. “We just wasted half of those people’s time because our list just got cut by more than half.”

The professor added that the University “pulled the rug out” from many faculty members, some of whom had already offered acceptances to students they had thought were admitted — only to now face the possibility of having to cut those students from the program. The professor said that their department — which submitted its choices for admits to its graduate program on Feb. 14 — will be forced to rescind the acceptances of 10 of the 17 students.

Folks, this is a brutal cycle. Go easy on yourselves. Be gentle and kind. Any acceptances this year are miraculous. If you got any, extra congrats, don't take it for granted, and I hope it sticks 🙏

[Nauna]

My heart did a little sad lurch when I saw NC State on the spreadsheet... replaced by relief when I saw that none of them were Poetry notifications. The waiting is so killer!