2026 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[bones.bell]

One of the universities I applied to asked me to interview in December! I was really surprised because it's way too early, right? Maybe they aren't getting many applicants this year, I'm not sure. I'm excited but also a bit suspicious lol. What do you guys think? (I don't wanna say which school before the interview cause I'm worried about them checking this stuff)

[snow_owl]

@sweet.potatoThat's interesting. Is it a school with rolling admissions?

[prufrock_]

On 9/11/2025 at 7:33 PM, labmate said:

Welcome back! Any advice you have from your experience applying in the past?

I'll try not to sound like a cynic... but I believe anyone applying to mfa programs should realize it's basically like buying a lottery ticket, and the prize is debt. So if you're aware of these two things, then: enjoy the process! Take it easy! The idea that you'll end up where you belong is true; this implies that you should submit work you want to write, not what you think they want you to write. Don't fret over SOPs, but also don't give them a reason to toss your packet -- so, strictly follow to their rules. Have fun. Be cool. Post neurotically in February and march here, as our collective conscious goes insane. If you get in somewhere, don't do anything drastic until contracts are signed. write thank you letters to nice people!

[bones.bell]

1 hour ago, snow_owl said:

@sweet.potatoThat's interesting. Is it a school with rolling admissions?

Yes! I didn't notice before because they have a deadline in January like most schools. That explains why they already reviewed my application! Ty!

[redgum]

On 11/4/2025 at 2:05 PM, redgum said:

First year applying for fiction. 5 programs (Iowa, UT, JHU, UM and NYU), but mentor is encouraging me to try maybe 6-7. The only other one I'm interested in is Columbia (mostly location and relative proximity to publishing network like NYU, except maybe a bit more prestigious) but I don't know if it's too late to ask recommenders to add another program..

Anyway finished UT and JHU apps, just have to submit! Met with my professor to look over my portfolio and they said there was no need to consider any more revisions so I'm so relieved (I spent a month revising...). Although I'm a little concerned at the brevity of the portfolio, it barely makes 30 pages for Iowa, but I feel like the other pieces I have are not as strong or just completely different thematically and formally.

Next three weeks I'll finish the rest and try to submit everything before December 1st. That way I can worry about other things... 

 

Came to update - all my applications have been submitted!!! So happy I could get this done before the holidays. I'm eternally grateful to my last recommender who took time out of their Thanksgiving break to submit their letters as well. I'll be mailing out thank you notes on Monday haha

Wishing everyone the best of luck guys! 

[labmate]

11 hours ago, prufrock_ said:

I'll try not to sound like a cynic... but I believe anyone applying to mfa programs should realize it's basically like buying a lottery ticket, and the prize is debt. So if you're aware of these two things, then: enjoy the process! Take it easy! The idea that you'll end up where you belong is true; this implies that you should submit work you want to write, not what you think they want you to write. Don't fret over SOPs, but also don't give them a reason to toss your packet -- so, strictly follow to their rules. Have fun. Be cool. Post neurotically in February and march here, as our collective conscious goes insane. If you get in somewhere, don't do anything drastic until contracts are signed. write thank you letters to nice people!

Thank you for your response. I see you have a shorthand list beneath your messages of your previous years applying, and if I'm reading them correctly, it looks like you got accepted to programs both previous times. May I ask why you aren't attending and are still applying now?

[prufrock_]

5 hours ago, labmate said:

Thank you for your response. I see you have a shorthand list beneath your messages of your previous years applying, and if I'm reading them correctly, it looks like you got accepted to programs both previous times. May I ask why you aren't attending and are still applying now?

basically money reasons. i'm not willing to go into debt for the mfa, but i did math wrong re: cost of living for a few programs my first time, so even though i got into a fully funded program (Arkansas), i decided to try again rather than do side gigs the entire time or use loans for rent.

 

last year I got into rutgers-camden, which pays 40k a year (very good! livable in philly!), but their cohort was canceled. i also got into a few other programs that i thought were fully funded but turned out not to be (cu boulder, wku). So here i am! 

 

[labmate]

1 hour ago, prufrock_ said:

basically money reasons. i'm not willing to go into debt for the mfa, but i did math wrong re: cost of living for a few programs my first time, so even though i got into a fully funded program (Arkansas), i decided to try again rather than do side gigs the entire time or use loans for rent.

 

last year I got into rutgers-camden, which pays 40k a year (very good! livable in philly!), but their cohort was canceled. i also got into a few other programs that i thought were fully funded but turned out not to be (cu boulder, wku). So here i am! 

 

Thanks for replying. Such a bummer the Rutgers cohort was cancelled. Best of luck in your applications this year. Third time's a charm. :^)

[Prosaic Ioniser]

On 11/21/2025 at 11:11 AM, lisichka said:

Hello fellow creatives! I just discovered this forum after submitting most of my applications, which I'm nervous about as a first-time MFA (poetry) applicant. I have a BA in Film and Media Studies with a minor in English as well as an MA in Publishing. I finished my MA in September of last year, entered a horrible job market, and realized I want to stay in academia as I am most dedicated to poetry and pedagogy.

Very much feel you on the terrible job market... 

[bones.bell]

There's an application spreadsheet on reddit to help everyone keep track of when interviews, rejections, and acceptances are going out!

If you're interested

[Mystic_Sunshine]

On 9/11/2025 at 6:53 PM, prufrock_ said:

YEAR THREE AND I'M BACK.

(apparently my favorite hobby is applying to mfa programs.)

anywho this place wont become a party for a few months yet, but i just want to say an early: good luck! don't SWEAT. have fun!

alright now back to work.

Welcome back  

[redgum]

Does anyone know of any Discord servers for MFA writing applicants? 

[Mystic_Sunshine]

On 9/27/2025 at 10:28 AM, jinny-r said:

to US-based applicants, may i know how the state is in the US right now? one of my recommenders, although willing to give her letter, is advising me not to proceed because of the political situation. i am a southeast asian bisexual woman and i tackle US imperialism and colonialism explicitly in my writing. 

thank you!

Welcome back  

I know you asked this a while ago but I want to answer as someone who currently works in higher ed - People are still the same and region matters a lot in the United States for political climate. In traditionally blue states, people are going to be more liberal and accepting and in red states you may encounter some not so nice folks (though I think the south gets a bad rep but there are some amazing and wonderful people and its never all bad) I think finding your community is what matters most.

That being also being said, I think what matters more is immigration policy. I don't want to be cynical or scare anyone but the current administration is actively trying to make it harder for international students. Things change monthly but they've only gotten worse. Usually, the university isn't to blame, but is heavily impacted by politics. I would not be surprised if many students were not able to get visas for Fall 2026. Be prepared for social media screenings and things like that. Also, if you are accepted expect to work with your schools international student support office. They have people specifically trained in immigration whereas an English department will not.

Your work is important!

[lisichka]

On 11/25/2025 at 9:41 AM, SocialKonstruct said:

Actually I haven't developed any literary community out here in LA at all and writing is probably the loneliest job I have atm while working a day job and waiting for getting back to school. My literary connections are in the Bay area, NYC where I am an editor-in-chief for a new literary/arts magazine that is dropping issue 1 next month, and being a prose reader for a lit magazine back in Utah. I suspect that as an experimental writer I probably will be alone during my Ph.D. or MFA backup track for a few years considering that I am pretty political and philosophical with a lot of dense approaches.

My visual art experience was a good learning experience but I really have only one friend left from the 2 years I attended. A lot of my MFA years was filled with drama, competition, and backbiting. I am not optimistic about the writing community being much better and unsure whether making friends or colleague will be easy for my path especially because I am a pretty obesessed critical theory nerd.

On the other hand, I just completed a novel and a full translation of James Joyce's Ulysses recently. So nowadays working on a poetry book and just entered a photography competition. I think that it's going to be crazy if I get into a creative writing Ph.D. while not having a MFA in that field.

I have also found that being a writer in LA is lonely. I hope you find the connections and community you desire! The writing communities I've been in have definitely had their mix of support and drama (they're always a bit incestuous), but I honestly live for them and try to have the mindset of "it is what I make it"—if it isn't what I want it to be, I'll do my part to make it better. What's great is that you seem to have copious creative interests and can make a variety of creative connections.

Did you happen to apply to the MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics at Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics? It seems like it would be up your alley!

[snow_owl]

Has MFA Draft '26 on Facebook let any of you in recently? I have requested to join a few times, to no avail.

[lisichka]

On 12/2/2025 at 1:57 AM, sweet.potato said:

There's an application spreadsheet on reddit to help everyone keep track of when interviews, rejections, and acceptances are going out!

If you're interested

Just a heads up that this spreadsheet isn't very user friendly, per se—I added a bunch of schools and their programs and concentrations just for another user to purposefully restore a previous copy in order to delete all my work, and I can't even restore my additions. 🙃 My bad for thinking it was for everyone, I guess.

[bones.bell]

12 hours ago, lisichka said:

Just a heads up that this spreadsheet isn't very user friendly, per se—I added a bunch of schools and their programs and concentrations just for another user to purposefully restore a previous copy in order to delete all my work, and I can't even restore my additions. 🙃 My bad for thinking it was for everyone, I guess.

I noticed that! I saw that someone else had added stuff then it got changed? I went back in the version history and put the deleted stuff back. I thought maybe it was a mistake by the person who created the overall document?

[SocialKonstruct]

On 12/2/2025 at 10:26 PM, lisichka said:

I have also found that being a writer in LA is lonely. I hope you find the connections and community you desire! The writing communities I've been in have definitely had their mix of support and drama (they're always a bit incestuous), but I honestly live for them and try to have the mindset of "it is what I make it"—if it isn't what I want it to be, I'll do my part to make it better. What's great is that you seem to have copious creative interests and can make a variety of creative connections.

Did you happen to apply to the MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics at Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics? It seems like it would be up your alley!

I did not apply to Naropa University. Since I am a pretty research-heavy type of poet/CNF/fiction writer, I felt that I needed to stay in the LA area where I can access the libraries at USC and UCLA in order to do more examinations into Bronze Age and ancient Greek/Roman primary sources which is hard to do in a lot of other universities.

I am just chilling now and working on a pretty long book of poems based on ancient forms. And the waiting game atm

[lisichka]

On 12/4/2025 at 6:23 AM, sweet.potato said:

I noticed that! I saw that someone else had added stuff then it got changed? I went back in the version history and put the deleted stuff back. I thought maybe it was a mistake by the person who created the overall document?

Thank you so much for restoring the deleted info!!! It's odd that I wasn't able to restore it myself.

[lisichka]

On 12/6/2025 at 8:53 PM, SocialKonstruct said:

I did not apply to Naropa University. Since I am a pretty research-heavy type of poet/CNF/fiction writer, I felt that I needed to stay in the LA area where I can access the libraries at USC and UCLA in order to do more examinations into Bronze Age and ancient Greek/Roman primary sources which is hard to do in a lot of other universities.

I am just chilling now and working on a pretty long book of poems based on ancient forms. And the waiting game atm

That makes sense; a book of poems based on ancient forms sounds super interesting, best of luck with that!

[molemola]

Ok, against my better judgment, I've made an account and decided to join. Mostly because I think if I have a place to put my nervous energy, I won't be so annoying at home.

This is my first year applying, and I've finished all my applications. My list is:

UIUC, George Mason, Cornell, Michigan, Hopkins, VCU, Virginia Tech, UMass Amherst, NC State, Iowa, Colorado Boulder, and UMD. I may also apply to some low res programs depending on how the season goes, because I don't think I'll apply again after this year.

[itsgivingliterary]

hey everyone! im hopping on for my second cycle applying. I got waitlisted by my top choice last year so i'm hoping to turn that waitlist into an acceptance! And if not...we stay silly. I turned in what will probably be my last application today, so I'm trying to celebrate that before I get consumed with anxiety waiting lol

Also: any spec fic writers in the thread applying to Clarion? I just filled out my app, so now I'm waiting on that too. 

[Spicy Potato]

I'm back (new account because last year's account is MIA) & applying to 15 Poetry programs this time. I learned so much from the last cycle, and have made significant changes to the list of schools that I'm applying to. I've definitely shifted my focus to smaller programs with more 1:1 time with profs. 

I hope you're all surviving those Dec 15th deadlines! I'm manifesting a great season for us all!

[molemola]

On 12/12/2025 at 10:22 PM, itsgivingliterary said:

hey everyone! im hopping on for my second cycle applying. I got waitlisted by my top choice last year so i'm hoping to turn that waitlist into an acceptance! And if not...we stay silly. I turned in what will probably be my last application today, so I'm trying to celebrate that before I get consumed with anxiety waiting lol

Also: any spec fic writers in the thread applying to Clarion? I just filled out my app, so now I'm waiting on that too. 

I am! I'm trying to use the application energy to apply to a bunch of other things. And also it's a good distraction from waiting.

[commandercowboy]

On 12/2/2025 at 2:49 PM, redgum said:

Does anyone know of any Discord servers for MFA writing applicants? 

I would love to pin down a Discord server too!