stophittingurself Posted February 20 Posted February 20 (edited) Hi! Just discovered this community. I'm on my second round of apps after an agonizing "gap year" (as I tried to conceptualize it) after making a painful decision to reject two acceptances last year, one based on lack of funding and another in a location in which I ultimately felt unsafe. I was literally overwhelmed with joy when I got an acceptance to a dream school (i'm not sure how specific to be on this forum?). In the message, the director was very warm and mentioned a specific professor who would reach out to me, saying "My colleagues - one of whom I'm sure will also reach out soon - greatly enjoyed and admired your application and very much look forward to working with you" which made it seem to me like that professor may have been particularly interested my work. I imagined this may be the person who advocated for me during selection, possibly a future advisor. First off, the emails were weird. They barely said anything and then didn't answer me. So I did some poking around, and the professor in question could not be more diametrically opposed to myself. Plentiful comments on rate my professor paint the picture of exactly the worst nightmare of a genius insensitive intellectual who goes hard and doesn't accept accommodations, harsh penalties for absences etc. I know I'm being extra and trying to poke holes in this opportunity because it feels too good to be true, but idk, the vibes are off. I'm just curious how these things usually play out. How do people end up with their mentors in MFAs? This person is one of the core faculty; does this mean I will have to take a class with them? I'm really confused because much of my work is explicitly about neurodivergence and I wrote about disability justice in my statement. I'm just bummed that my excitement is being cut up a bit. Edited February 20 by stophittingurself context
SocialKonstruct Posted February 20 Posted February 20 4 minutes ago, stophittingurself said: Hi! Just discovered this community. I'm on my second round of apps after an agonizing "gap year" (as I tried to conceptualize it) after making a painful decision to reject two acceptances last year, one based on lack of funding and another in a location in which I ultimately felt unsafe. I was literally overwhelmed with joy when I got an acceptance to a dream school (i'm not sure how specific to be on this forum?). In the message, the director was very warm and mentioned a specific professor who would reach out to me, saying "My colleagues - one of whom I'm sure will also reach out soon - greatly enjoyed and admired your application and very much look forward to working with you" which made it seem to me like that professor may have been particularly interested my work. I imagined this may be the person who advocated for me during selection, possibly a future advisor. Well, I did some poking around, and the professor in question could not be more diametrically opposed to myself. Plentiful comments on rate my professor paint the picture of exactly the worst nightmare of a genius insensitive intellectual who goes hard and doesn't accept accommodations, harsh penalties for absences etc. I know I'm being extra and trying to poke holes in this opportunity because it feels too good to be true, but idk, the vibes are off. I'm just curious how these things usually play out. How do people end up with their mentors in MFAs? This person is one of the core faculty; does this mean I will have to take a class with them? I'm really confused because much of my work is explicitly about neurodivergence and I wrote about disability justice in my statement. I'm just bummed that my excitement is being cut up a bit. Ratemyprofessor is the worst resource ever to adjuciate what any professor would be like. Definitely a biased sample. Plus most of those listings are from undergraduates so they tend to mention little of the graduate level aspects. ktchronicpoetfordays 1
dyedviolet Posted February 20 Posted February 20 4 minutes ago, stophittingurself said: I'm just curious how these things usually play out.... The unrealistically optimistic route is to assume your writing just completely flipped this professor's views. Probably the best way to suss out the vibes is to email with them and ask some questions—hear it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. More than likely, you've got time before you need to commit, and a decision that'll affect the next 2+ years of your life shouldn't be made when you have big doubts like that. Hopefully someone else can follow up with the insider scoop on faculty relationships.
pengiunsfriend Posted February 20 Posted February 20 Is miffy on the spreadsheet being fr.. did they actually get into all these places?! greenleaf, womanonline and bucket 1 2
womanonline Posted February 20 Posted February 20 (edited) 1 hour ago, lemongirl01 said: Is miffy on the spreadsheet being fr.. did they actually get into all these places?! I'm so jealous with them being in CNF with 6 acceptances and 1 waitlist (and also had an interview logged as well) so far, whoever they are. I mean, congratulations and that's incredible, but I would be lying if I said I hadn't noticed and wasn't jealous too LOL. But also means they'll open a lot of waitlist spots for people, so at least there's that! Edited February 20 by womanonline wrong amount small-spiral-lines, kiki.xoxo and bucket 3
pengiunsfriend Posted February 20 Posted February 20 2 minutes ago, womanonline said: I'm so jealous with them being in CNF with 7 acceptances and 1 waitlist so far, whoever they are. I mean, congratulations and that's incredible, but I would be lying if I said I hadn't noticed and wasn't jealous too LOL. But also means they'll open a lot of waitlist spots for people, so at least there's that! All acceptances, no rejects, genre "other", places that nobody else has heard from?
womanonline Posted February 20 Posted February 20 4 minutes ago, lemongirl01 said: All acceptances, no rejects, genre "other", places that nobody else has heard from? It looks like people have heard from all of them (granted, maybe different genres or waitlists but still) besides the most recent one posted a few hours ago. They also consistently put Nonfiction as genre besides most recent one, which does seem odd because U of U does have a nonfiction track. I suppose the amount of acceptances could be a red flag with no rejects, but I guess it's possible. I just don't see what the point in lying about it would be if so? SocialKonstruct 1
hermione granger Posted February 20 Posted February 20 feeling a Syracuse fiction wave coming thru the spreadsheet tomorrow everyone gather around 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ snow_owl, ocurlyfries and XXY 1 2
Ogwick Posted February 20 Posted February 20 4 minutes ago, hermione granger said: feeling a Syracuse fiction wave coming thru the spreadsheet tomorrow everyone gather around 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ And more than one Iowa call
SocialKonstruct Posted February 20 Posted February 20 18 minutes ago, womanonline said: It looks like people have heard from all of them (granted, maybe different genres or waitlists but still) besides the most recent one posted a few hours ago. They also consistently put Nonfiction as genre besides most recent one, which does seem odd because U of U does have a nonfiction track. I suppose the amount of acceptances could be a red flag with no rejects, but I guess it's possible. I just don't see what the point in lying about it would be if so? University of Utah's tracks are only Prose or Poetry. I applied there for the PhD level and I would assume the MFA is the same. I don't think there is any Nonfiction track at the U of U.
cocoice98 Posted February 20 Posted February 20 @SocialKonstruct I would assume that “prose” can encompass nonfiction (Amherst is similar) and that people just choose to select the category most aligned with the work they submitted when filling out the draft form since there is no prose option. Didn’t apply, but per U of U website: ”The University of Utah Creative Writing Program offers a modular MFA program in poetry, fiction and nonfiction” lisichka and SocialKonstruct 2
kiki.xoxo Posted February 20 Posted February 20 (edited) Did anyone else apply to West Virginia University? Starting to get antsy waiting for their decisions to drop😖 (saw on Draft their first acceptance for nonfiction went out on Feb. 23 last year) Edited February 20 by Kenzie222 clarification snow_owl and ocurlyfries 2
Jitterbug98 Posted February 20 Posted February 20 3 hours ago, lemongirl01 said: All acceptances, no rejects, genre "other", places that nobody else has heard from? I don’t think they’re lying— as someone else said there would be no point on an anonymous forum except just to mess with people’s heads I guess. I think there are always going to be a handful of people who get several acceptances from top places, last year I remember there being some as well. My guess is its a combination of a lot of talent, work that’s either stylistically and thematically “trendy” or very unique, a good personal narrative/SOP and a little bit of luck. Not to discredit their accomplishment, but the application pool for nonfiction writers is also a lot smaller, which makes the odds of a very strong applicant standing out and getting many acceptances a bit higher probably. When I see a fiction applicant get accepted to 3+ places with a 1% acceptance rate I always think about how crazy it is that multiple schools looked at 100 applications and picked out the same one in 100 to accept. Anyway, Miffy if you’re out there you should feel good that your results are so impressive that people are doubting their validity! Jim VK, womanonline, SocialKonstruct and 1 other 4
XXY Posted February 20 Posted February 20 God, I hope Friday brings some news meanwhile, runlolarun, guntherpingu and 5 others 1 7
Walter Hartwell White Posted February 20 Posted February 20 5 hours ago, kiki.xoxo said: Did anyone else apply to West Virginia University? Starting to get antsy waiting for their decisions to drop😖 (saw on Draft their first acceptance for nonfiction went out on Feb. 23 last year) I did for poetry! It seemed like a good program with the stuff you can do alongside class.
Curbgirl68 Posted February 20 Posted February 20 I'm waiting to hear back from U Washington/Seattle for Poetry, U Montana for CNF and UNLV for Dramatic Writing (screen). Anyone hear back from these programs yet? Or know when we can expect to hear? Thank you! Best wishes to all.
asm0deus Posted February 20 Posted February 20 16 minutes ago, Curbgirl68 said: I'm waiting to hear back from U Washington/Seattle for Poetry, U Montana for CNF and UNLV for Dramatic Writing (screen). Anyone hear back from these programs yet? Or know when we can expect to hear? Thank you! Best wishes to all. Montana CNF came out early March last year, same for Seattle poetry. Couldn't find anything for UNLV screenwriting, but for other genres, it seems to be anywhere from end of Feb to mid-March! lisichka 1
Curbgirl68 Posted February 20 Posted February 20 Thank you!! Such agony!! LOL TBlack1697 and asm0deus 2
Curbgirl68 Posted February 20 Posted February 20 Grateful for this forum. I don't think the people/friends around me in my "off-internet" life understand the amount of anxiety we are all feeling while we wait for a decision to be made about our near futures. Thanks, all. xx asm0deus, XXY, guntherpingu and 8 others 11
ocurlyfries Posted February 20 Posted February 20 (edited) 9 hours ago, kiki.xoxo said: Did anyone else apply to West Virginia University? Starting to get antsy waiting for their decisions to drop😖 (saw on Draft their first acceptance for nonfiction went out on Feb. 23 last year) Yes, for fiction! Very very antsy as well! Best of luck to you :)) Edited February 20 by ocurlyfries //
gafoo Posted February 20 Posted February 20 2 hours ago, Curbgirl68 said: I'm waiting to hear back from U Washington/Seattle for Poetry, U Montana for CNF and UNLV for Dramatic Writing (screen). Anyone hear back from these programs yet? Or know when we can expect to hear? Thank you! Best wishes to all. Based on the draft sheet, it seems like U Montana might do a slow rollout of acceptances (ie, as committee all agrees on one candidate they'll send that decision out even as they deliberate others). They seem to rollout starting around now (mid-Feb) and into mid-March. So could be any day now, could be in a couple weeks! I'm waiting on U Montana CNF as well and am really hoping to hear soon!
womanonline Posted February 20 Posted February 20 Crossing my fingers that Oregon State CNF waitlists will be today. The fiction and nonfiction acceptances seem to be one day apart, so hoping that the waitlists will be too (fiction waitlists came out yesterday) bucket 1
Curbgirl68 Posted February 20 Posted February 20 @gafoo Thank you, and I wish you best! Perhaps we'll be in the same cohort at U Montana in Fall 2026! gafoo 1
commandercowboy Posted February 20 Posted February 20 9 hours ago, kiki.xoxo said: Did anyone else apply to West Virginia University? Starting to get antsy waiting for their decisions to drop😖 (saw on Draft their first acceptance for nonfiction went out on Feb. 23 last year) I applied for poetry! I really like WVU, i love the Appalachian mountains. I’ve been crossing all my fingers!!! Best of luck all. ❤️❤️ kiki.xoxo 1
songofsolomon Posted February 20 Posted February 20 Anyone apply to the Guelph MFA at Guelph-Humber in Toronto? When do their results typically come out?
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