2026 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[antennaclasses]

Hi all! I'm new here... I'm seeing that some people have gotten accepted or waitlisted from Johns Hopkins and University of Arizona already. As for me though it has been radio silence from them, no rejection emails nor updates on my portals. Does this mean anything? Do I even ask them? For reference, I applied to both schools for Poetry.

[spacerabbit]

1 hour ago, clutchingmypearls said:

Hi everyone! I am one of those quiet lurkers. I was wondering if anyone has gotten decisions for fiction from UNCG? Interviewed with them a bit ago, but haven’t gotten a verdict yet. Would really appreciate some insight. Thank you so much ❤️

Hey! I am also a quiet lurker and I am also waiting on a UNCG decision (poetry though) after receiving an interview.  I'm with you!

[gradschoolpspspsps]

On 3/23/2026 at 1:32 PM, gradschoolpspspsps said:

If anyone wants to talk about Ole Miss, waitlisted, accepted, whatever... I'm just very excited to know our new people already.

Just to follow up on this because a few people dmed me, Ole Miss is taking more students than usual this year. As far as I know we are taking 6 fiction and 5 poetry instead of the usual 4 each. 

[meanwhile]

.

Edited March 26 by meanwhile
have since learned i was not supposed to share that :-)

[gafoo]

Coming to terms with the fact that I'm on 4 waitlists and that even though it's very possible at least one of them converts there is still a real, non-negligible chance that none of them do! I have been building an identity around moving for a program this Fall and I feel like I need to catch myself and pause. Womp womp

Edited March 26 by gafoo

[ilovelampoon]

9 minutes ago, gafoo said:

Coming to terms with the fact that I'm on 4 waitlists and that even though it's really likely at least one of them converts ("#1" on two of them) there is still a real, non-negligible chance that none of them do! I have been building an identity around moving for a program this Fall and I feel like I need to catch myself and pause. Womp womp

Congratulations on your acceptances and waitlists! Take it a day at a time, and do what's best for you with the information and options you gather. But enjoy the ride. I'm sure everything will work out.

In a way I feel your pain. This was my first round, and I applied to 5 programs around the country, and allowed myself to dream of attending each, in part if not entirely because that belief was necessary for a decent application. I was only accepted to 1, which is just down the street, though it is looking like with insignificant funding. The other 4 are especially competitive with guaranteed funding+stipend. Barring some kind of money miracle, I will likely hold, squeeze some confidence juice out of the 1 acceptance, and try again, applying to just fully-funded programs.

Good luck. I hope you end up with a sweet deal at your top choice. 🙂

[bioluminescent sloth]

15 hours ago, spacerabbit said:

Hey! I am also a quiet lurker and I am also waiting on a UNCG decision (poetry though) after receiving an interview.  I'm with you!

I am also waiting on a UNCG decision for poetry, but I didn't get an interview. Does that mean it's probably going to be a rejection?

[precociousreader]

42 minutes ago, gafoo said:

Coming to terms with the fact that I'm on 4 waitlists and that even though it's very possible at least one of them converts there is still a real, non-negligible chance that none of them do! I have been building an identity around moving for a program this Fall and I feel like I need to catch myself and pause. Womp womp

sooo feel this. i'm probably going to reject the one acceptance i've gotten (there's a lot of reasons but mostly financial and i fear i'm fulfilling a diversity quota based on what a current student said), and i'm on two waitlists right now (#1 spot at one). trying to sit with the reality of deciding to not go this year/not getting off any waitlists. feels sort of embarrassing for me cause i went and told all my loved ones about the process...

[gafoo]

27 minutes ago, ilovelampoon said:

Congratulations on your acceptances and waitlists! Take it a day at a time, and do what's best for you with the information and options you gather. But enjoy the ride. I'm sure everything will work out.

In a way I feel your pain. This was my first round, and I applied to 5 programs around the country, and allowed myself to dream of attending each, in part if not entirely because that belief was necessary for a decent application. I was only accepted to 1, which is just down the street, though it is looking like with insignificant funding. The other 4 are especially competitive with guaranteed funding+stipend. Barring some kind of money miracle, I will likely hold, squeeze some confidence juice out of the 1 acceptance, and try again, applying to just fully-funded programs.

Good luck. I hope you end up with a sweet deal at your top choice. 🙂

Appreciate this. Sort of in a similar boat — two acceptances; one is an unfunded, well-regarded city college in NYC. Great program and totally affordable, but I'd need to keep my 9-5 to support myself through it because of the CoL. My other acceptance has me on the funding waitlist! 

Anyhow. Wishing you the best of luck in your decision as well. Thanks for the kind words

[ilovelampoon]

6 minutes ago, precociousreader said:

sooo feel this. i'm probably going to reject the one acceptance i've gotten (there's a lot of reasons but mostly financial and i fear i'm fulfilling a diversity quota based on what a current student said), and i'm on two waitlists right now (#1 spot at one). trying to sit with the reality of deciding to not go this year/not getting off any waitlists. feels sort of embarrassing for me cause i went and told all my loved ones about the process...

You know . . . last fall when I was gearing up to finally apply, I thought it'd be really cool to not tell anyone, and then when I got in somewhere sweet I could be all giddy and surprise loved ones. But, for me, it seemed I could not adequately imagine pursuing this without talking about it with some people I'm close to. So in a way I think it helped my applications, even if most were unsuccessful. The chances for top programs are low, for just about everyone, and there are so many factors you can't control for . . .

It takes courage to have a dream and pursue it, and I think it takes courage to talk about your dream while you're pursuing it. 

All that said, now that my dream has been talked about a little . . . if/when I try again, I may go silent hahaha.

[gafoo]

14 minutes ago, ilovelampoon said:

You know . . . last fall when I was gearing up to finally apply, I thought it'd be really cool to not tell anyone, and then when I got in somewhere sweet I could be all giddy and surprise loved ones. But, for me, it seemed I could not adequately imagine pursuing this without talking about it with some people I'm close to. So in a way I think it helped my applications, even if most were unsuccessful. The chances for top programs are low, for just about everyone, and there are so many factors you can't control for . . .

It takes courage to have a dream and pursue it, and I think it takes courage to talk about your dream while you're pursuing it. 

All that said, now that my dream has been talked about a little . . . if/when I try again, I may go silent hahaha.

I have never known how to make moves in silence. I have let everybody in my life know I'm applying and now I'm suffering the consequences (every time we go out they say "how are the mfa apps going?" and I let out a giant 10-second sigh)

[ilovelampoon]

6 minutes ago, gafoo said:

I have never known how to make moves in silence. I have let everybody in my life know I'm applying and now I'm suffering the consequences (every time we go out they say "how are the mfa apps going?" and I let out a giant 10-second sigh)

I find a strange comfort in the fact that, at least once, we have shared overlapping sighs. ❤️

[barbou]

19 hours ago, j1nju said:

Then again, I worked really hard on my applications so I worry about squandering this opportunity in case I want to try again later.

I can't speak to the whole fully funded program of it all, as I'm an older person with a life I can't uproot, who only applied to low-res programs, but I can speak for just...life in general, as someone who went to grad school the first time for a STEM field and now 15 years later, writing - life is long, and if you keep writing and improving, there will be other opportunities. No need to Sunk Cost Fallacy your way into a program that's giving you iffy vibes. 

[ojo534]

16 hours ago, antennaclasses said:

Hi all! I'm new here... I'm seeing that some people have gotten accepted or waitlisted from Johns Hopkins and University of Arizona already. As for me though it has been radio silence from them, no rejection emails nor updates on my portals. Does this mean anything? Do I even ask them? For reference, I applied to both schools for Poetry.

I'm feeling the same about Arizona rn (I applied for CNF), but at this point I just don't want to send an email inquiring about my application anymore b/c 1. it most likely won't be good news and 2. i want to just let all of this run its course

[impatientjoy]

I feel like some schools are really delayed in sending waitlists and rejections?? Wondering if that is having a domino effect on waitlists and that’s why we aren’t seeing as much movement around waitlists?

[slothgirl]

Hi Everyone! Sorry in advance for treating this forum like my personal pro/con list but if anyone can help me out I would LOVE advice. No one I know is in this field or anything like it so GradCafe is my source of truth sadly lmao. I'm deciding between Sarah Lawrence and Columbia. I didn't get into NYU, and I had to pick a New York school. Regardless I am very excited about both of these acceptances! (And yes I know, they aren't "top tier")

Neither will cause me to take out loans as I'm paying with my deceased parent's assets but Columbia is double the cost of Sarah Lawrence so I would have to pull from my savings as well if I picked Columbia. My goals for the MFA is to have two years to focus on my writing, work on becoming a novelist (isn't that everyone's dream lol), and possibly pivot into being a literary agent or go into publishing.

Does anyone have thoughts? I feel like I should pick Sarah Lawrence just based on cost but does that change knowing I won't actually be taking out loans? 

 

[goodoldneon]

27 minutes ago, slothgirl said:

Hi Everyone! Sorry in advance for treating this forum like my personal pro/con list but if anyone can help me out I would LOVE advice. No one I know is in this field or anything like it so GradCafe is my source of truth sadly lmao. I'm deciding between Sarah Lawrence and Columbia. I didn't get into NYU, and I had to pick a New York school. Regardless I am very excited about both of these acceptances! (And yes I know, they aren't "top tier")

Neither will cause me to take out loans as I'm paying with my deceased parent's assets but Columbia is double the cost of Sarah Lawrence so I would have to pull from my savings as well if I picked Columbia. My goals for the MFA is to have two years to focus on my writing, work on becoming a novelist (isn't that everyone's dream lol), and possibly pivot into being a literary agent or go into publishing.

Does anyone have thoughts? I feel like I should pick Sarah Lawrence just based on cost but does that change knowing I won't actually be taking out loans? 

 

I've heard excellent things of Sarah Lawrence's fiction faculty from my professors. I don't think Columbia's program is necessarily better than Sarah Lawrence's, at least not that better which worth a double cost. 

[slothgirl]

14 minutes ago, goodoldneon said:

I've heard excellent things of Sarah Lawrence's fiction faculty from my professors. I don't think Columbia's program is necessarily better than Sarah Lawrence's, at least not that better which worth a double cost. 

Thank you! This is helpful

[LouPatt]

Good News: I'm nominated for a poetry showcase and found out one of my poems will be published in an anthology!!! It honestly feels kind of surreal, especially as my undergrad is coming to an end—I just feel really lucky. I was also surprisingly able to share this update with a program I’m waitlisted at, so we’ll see!

[serenitynow805]

Hi All! Waitlist just came in from UCI last night. Just wanted to let everyone know in case some UCI Poetry people are still waiting.

Best of luck to everyone:)

[OnTheWhaleRoad]

Sympathize with me...a call from Karl Kirchway at BU just came through but I can't call back because I'm in a work meeting😅

[spacerabbit]

4 hours ago, bioluminescent sloth said:

I am also waiting on a UNCG decision for poetry, but I didn't get an interview. Does that mean it's probably going to be a rejection?

I don't think I'm equipped to say, so I'm honestly not for sure. I personally wouldn't give up hope. ❤️ I also probably was a little misleading with calling it an interview. It was more of a 1-1 chat about the program and me asking questions rather than someone asking me questions. I wish you the best of luck! 

[SocialKonstruct]

1 hour ago, serenitynow805 said:

Hi All! Waitlist just came in from UCI last night. Just wanted to let everyone know in case some UCI Poetry people are still waiting.

Best of luck to everyone:)

UCI fiction waitlist is definitely slower because they have more people to look through.

[OnTheWhaleRoad]

1 hour ago, OnTheWhaleRoad said:

Sympathize with me...a call from Karl Kirchway at BU just came through but I can't call back because I'm in a work meeting😅

Accepted, woot!

[hermione granger]

anyone have info/whispers on UMD’s program? i’m coming across mentions of AI a lot more than i expected on their page? are they deliberately into AI or something?