2025 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Leeannitha]

9 hours ago, vilum said:

hi all! been lurking for quite some time and finally posting!

this is my first time applying to an mfa, and to a us university in general, as i am straight out of an economics degree at bocconi (milan, italy). i was wondering if anyone had any idea of my chances getting in, as an international student who's relatively young (22 y/o). i applied to NYU, brown, vanderbilt, michener and JHU. it's not a very big list, but the process was so overwhelming that i feel i couldn't have managed any more!

my pieces are emotionally tolling and my statements show drive and commitment, but at the same time I have no publications nor any experience whatsoever in the field, and my rec letters come from quite famous (albeit, italian) authors.  i don't know if there is any statistic regarding international applicants and if their backgrounds is a factor taken into consideration.

any help is appreciated, if anything to soothe my anxiety. good luck to all!

Good luck! Are you poetry or fiction or nonfiction? Applying to a lot of the same schools 

[Scribe]

On 12/6/2024 at 4:37 PM, programedlove333 said:

Lolll i totally get why you applied to 10 programs, and i honestly wouldve too if so many fully funded programs didnt require mfa students to teach freshman comp lol. Can i ask what schools you applied to?

It's too late for me and wouldn't have affected my decision, but I would have been very interested, and I'm sure others will be today, in which schools didn't require comp teaching. I would think that's areal short list. Not counting Michener (obviously) I only remember there being one or two that didn't require comp instruction. 
I would also recommend people consider applying anyway, depending on why they don't want to teach comp. I was terrified. Still terrified. Didn't know how to do it - still don't - and I fucking love it. (And I hate comp). 

7 hours ago, taliaj said:

Back on my nonsense of "I'm only applying to one school this year and am going to check the portal obsessively until April 15th." Though my sample this year is SO MUCH stronger than last year's, I hope they don't even remember me applying last year because I'm so insecure about what I submitted. I toss and turn at night worried that they'll think my new, better writing is just a fluke and not the result of a lot of hard work in the past year. Like, part of me thinks I should mention this in my personal statement (the working a lot harder this year to get better), but again, I don't want to bring up my last year's application. Anyways. Good luck all!

I was checking portals every day before the deadline closed. It was a Dicken's/Breakfast at Tiffany's thing. 
 

They will not remember. In fact, the possibility of remembering is stronger regarding the work than the name. And the possibility of remembering either the quality of the past work or any specific deficiency is just about zero. And the possibility of them thinking your improvement is a fluke is exactly equal to the possibility they are reading your work while suffering a TBI. 

Get some sleep.

[prufrock_]

I wanted to dunk on places like Iowa and Irvine for being so old school and requiring us to physically mail in our samples. LIke, get with the times! But you know what? There is something very satisfying about dropping 40 pages of prose into the mail.

[carrruly]

How long do you guys think the impact statement should be? Also, are you focusing more on your background and experiences or your goals with the program ?

Mine is about 1k words, ~700 on my background and how I came into writing, ~300 on my writing style and goals/fit for the program. I don't know anyone else applying for MFA and have just been using random blog posts on the app process for guidance  

[prufrock_]

1 hour ago, carrruly said:

How long do you guys think the impact statement should be? Also, are you focusing more on your background and experiences or your goals with the program ?

Mine is about 1k words, ~700 on my background and how I came into writing, ~300 on my writing style and goals/fit for the program. I don't know anyone else applying for MFA and have just been using random blog posts on the app process for guidance  

Not sure exactly what an impact statement is, but here's my general SOP thoughts (if they're the same thing) that i've also gained from reading a billion 'heres how to write sop' articles: aim for two pages, double spaced, tops. so about 500-600 words total. Less focused about how you came into writing and more about your current and future writing.

Autobiography is not your friend, but talking about fiction in an interesting way is -- then you can try to fit yourself into that conversation some way. You're trying to impress someone who is reading 300 sops, so lets be honest, they're gonna be skimming, especially if it's a variation of autobiography they've heard 300 times that month ("I've always loved writing since...").

keep it short, fast, and about what you're offering the program just as much as what you want to take from it.

[carrruly]

3 minutes ago, prufrock_ said:

Not sure exactly what an impact statement is, but here's my general SOP thoughts (if they're the same thing) that i've also gained from reading a billion 'heres how to write sop' articles: aim for two pages, double spaced, tops. so about 500-600 words total. Less focused about how you came into writing and more about your current and future writing.

Autobiography is not your friend, but talking about fiction in an interesting way is -- then you can try to fit yourself into that conversation some way. You're trying to impress someone who is reading 300 sops, so lets be honest, they're gonna be skimming, especially if it's a variation of autobiography they've heard 300 times that month ("I've always loved writing since...").

keep it short, fast, and about what you're offering the program just as much as what you want to take from it.

this is extremely helpful advice! and yes I meant SOP, idk why I said impact statement.

Thank you thank you thank you !

[Mystic_Sunshine]

16 hours ago, prufrock_ said:

I wanted to dunk on places like Iowa and Irvine for being so old school and requiring us to physically mail in our samples. LIke, get with the times! But you know what? There is something very satisfying about dropping 40 pages of prose into the mail.

I've still gotta mail mine  I didn't know Irvine required it too. I wanted to apply to that program, but sadly I can't do Cali living.

Edited 23 minutes ago by Mystic_Sunshine