2026 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[OctopusCactus]

6 hours 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? 

 

First off, have you tried negotiating for more funding with Columbia?  

Can you say more about what kind of fiction you write?  SLC is known for being friendlier to speculative fiction than many other programs, like Columbia.

I picked my program in large part because of the faculty and that has worked out well for me.  Columbia's faculty roster is much starrier than SLC's but I wouldn't go by that alone.  Which faculty has more people you'd be really psyched to work with?  Whose faculty is doing work that feels in the vein of what you aspire to do yourself?  

Columbia is a pretty professionally oriented program.  There are classes on editing and publishing and classes taught by agents and editors.  It's a good networking school, so if you see yourself potentially wanting to pivot into being an agent or working in publishing those resources could be useful.  I haven't heard about similar resources at SLC but I don't know as many people who did their MFAs there.  

The other thing to understand is that in the Columbia MFA you'll take more classes each semester than at SLC.  This is either a plus or a minus, depending on how much bandwidth you have in your life for seminars and how much you want to do craft study in addition to having workshop.  

Edited March 27 by OctopusCactus
typo

[tonybump]

Just checking...still no news from UNLV, right?!

[LouPatt]

7 hours ago, OnTheWhaleRoad said:

Accepted, woot!

Yay congrats! I’m on the waitlist and really hoping one of the 8 accepted has received another incredible offer and decides not to attend BU, but who knows who they would pick from the waitlist.  🥹 

[adoubles_writing]

11 hours 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? 

 

this cycle I paid a Sarah Lawrence grad for editorial feedback on a fiction sample, and got back two rushed sentences and some mediocre in-line comments. Left a bad impression on me on the quality of the program - i didn't apply to them for that reason. 

Edited March 27 by adoubles_writing
spelling

[slothgirl]

11 hours ago, OctopusCactus said:

First off, have you tried negotiating for more funding with Columbia?  

Can you say more about what kind of fiction you write?  SLC is known for being friendlier to speculative fiction than many other programs, like Columbia.

I picked my program in large part because of the faculty and that has worked out well for me.  Columbia's faculty roster is much starrier than SLC's but I wouldn't go by that alone.  Which faculty has more people you'd be really psyched to work with?  Whose faculty is doing work that feels in the vein of what you aspire to do yourself?  

Columbia is a pretty professionally oriented program.  There are classes on editing and publishing and classes taught by agents and editors.  It's a good networking school, so if you see yourself potentially wanting to pivot into being an agent or working in publishing those resources could be useful.  I haven't heard about similar resources at SLC but I don't know as many people who did their MFAs there.  

The other thing to understand is that in the Columbia MFA you'll take more classes each semester than at SLC.  This is either a plus or a minus, depending on how much bandwidth you have in your life for seminars and how much you want to do craft study in addition to having workshop.  

So I think I biffed the negotiating thing. I asked if they could consider me for funding if anyone turns theirs down but now I'm thinking I should have been more blunt. 

 

I write a mix but I would say my fiction is mostly realist with hints of speculative. Some could call it contemporary weird. I honestly thing Sarah Lawrence would probably be more encouraging to my writing but the resources at Columbia are hard to ignore. Ugh thank you.

[molemola]

14 hours ago, hermione granger said:

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?

I'll PM you!

[OnTheWhaleRoad]

9 hours ago, LouPatt said:

Yay congrats! I’m on the waitlist and really hoping one of the 8 accepted has received another incredible offer and decides not to attend BU, but who knows who they would pick from the waitlist.  🥹 

Waitlist is an accomplishment! They had over 200 applicants. I do plan to take my spot, but I don't think everyone has accepted yet. 

[bucket]

20 hours 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 can’t speak to their MFA but i attended SLC as an undergrad and studied writing. i don’t know much about columbia, so i can only speak to SLC, but what i will say is that SLC has phenomenal writing faculty. many of the MFA professors also teach undergrad, so i got to know a number of them. i do not think you will find such supportive and enthusiastic professors at columbia. because SLC is small and intimate, you are able to get a lot of personal attention from faculty, which is wonderful with writing. columbia may have incredible faculty but my guess is they have slightly less time and opportunity to offer individualized support (i could very well be wrong about that). the MFA cohort always seemed quite lovely to me, though i’m sure some of them are not as outstanding. all in all, i think you’d get great support on your writing goals and find a welcoming community at SLC. and if it’s half the cost, well….

anyway, best of luck in your MFA and i hope that whichever school you choose serves your needs perfectly! 

[Allrich90]

hey,

just got this message from University Housing and Dining at UT Austin:

Congratulations on completing your application to become a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin. Our graduate housing locations are close to campus in communities where the residents and staff are Longhorns. Explore our graduate housing options and learn how to start the application process below.

Does that mean that I got accepted? I haven't heard back from them since I applied - kinda confusing. 

Best wishes and have a great weekend
(solved: doesn't mean that I got admitted) 

Edited March 27 by Allrich90

[OctopusCactus]

3 hours ago, slothgirl said:

So I think I biffed the negotiating thing. I asked if they could consider me for funding if anyone turns theirs down but now I'm thinking I should have been more blunt. 

 

I write a mix but I would say my fiction is mostly realist with hints of speculative. Some could call it contemporary weird. I honestly thing Sarah Lawrence would probably be more encouraging to my writing but the resources at Columbia are hard to ignore. Ugh thank you.

Yes, blunt and direct asks are more likely to yield something than a vague one but you still have time!  People are negotiating their funding packages now and have been for weeks though, so if you want to go back with a more specific ask don't wait.

I will add, because someone down-thread said they suspected that Columbia's big-name faculty would not be that available to students, that that's not what I've heard from people who went there.  

[arghgradapps]

im really not a fan of the "ongoing admission" process. i wish i just had formal confirmation from Notre Dame, JHU, and Hunter. I have other offers but it sure would be good to get a full sense of things before making commitments. Is JHU even an "ongoing admissions" thing? i don't think so. AH

[strawberrymatcha]

25 minutes ago, arghgradapps said:

im really not a fan of the "ongoing admission" process. i wish i just had formal confirmation from Notre Dame, JHU, and Hunter. I have other offers but it sure would be good to get a full sense of things before making commitments. Is JHU even an "ongoing admissions" thing? i don't think so. AH

I totally forgot I even applied to Notre Dame before reading this post lol, but fr it’s not fun waiting lol

[CapybaraLit]

Waitlisted for U Miami 😢

[bioluminescent sloth]

I've been officially rejected from Johns Hopkins (for poetry). Not too surprised or disappointed, though, because I heard people got accepted and waitlisted like a month and a half ago.

It's funny how top choices can shift so much! Previously Johns Hopkins was tied for my top choice, but gradually another school worked its way into that spot, and I ended up getting accepted to that program. Almost like it was meant to be  

Good luck to the rest of you! Sending good vibes your way 

[meanwhile]

just needing to vent momentarily. i am in the top spot of a waitlist for a program i am very excited about and have gotten (and will most likely receive) rejections from every other program i applied for. 
 

my nerves are through the roof. i was ready to write this cycle off as all rejects but this is a kind of painful glimmer of hope that is dragging on. i am SO grateful, but also exhausted. is anyone else in a similar boat? where it’s sooooooo close and literally within reasonable reach, but still possibly impossible?

[spg_]

10 minutes ago, meanwhile said:

just needing to vent momentarily. i am in the top spot of a waitlist for a program i am very excited about and have gotten (and will most likely receive) rejections from every other program i applied for. 
 

my nerves are through the roof. i was ready to write this cycle off as all rejects but this is a kind of painful glimmer of hope that is dragging on. i am SO grateful, but also exhausted. is anyone else in a similar boat? where it’s sooooooo close and literally within reasonable reach, but still possibly impossible?

I feel you so hard--I am "close to the top" of a small waitlist, and all else is rejections. But I'm not *at* the top, and I think there's only one more open spot, so it feels stupid to even hope; but I can't foreclose hope, either. SO painful lol.

[potentialyeti]

UNLV fiction acceptances have finally started to hit! Holding my breath, losing mind, etc. 

[labmate]

5 hours ago, meanwhile said:

just needing to vent momentarily. i am in the top spot of a waitlist for a program i am very excited about and have gotten (and will most likely receive) rejections from every other program i applied for. 
 

my nerves are through the roof. i was ready to write this cycle off as all rejects but this is a kind of painful glimmer of hope that is dragging on. i am SO grateful, but also exhausted. is anyone else in a similar boat? where it’s sooooooo close and literally within reasonable reach, but still possibly impossible?

I feel you. Eight rejections, one pending, and one waitlist. Just putting my positivity out there that waitlists come through for those of us who are still in limbo.

[bookish_cowgirl]

Hi y'all! 

I'm Loulou.

This is my second year applying and I was accepted to the Texas State fiction MFA program! I was happy with the funding I was offered and will be attending in the fall. Just wanted to share in case anyone is staring down the barrel of having to apply again. Sometimes it works out!

I write mostly sort of horse girl Western literary fiction. I have one publication in a lit mag, a 3.7 GPA from undergrad in the social sciences, and I volunteer as a reader for a lit mag. I also worked in community mental health for four years, which really informs my work. I also applied to Michener, NWP, and the MFA at the University of Utah. I wasn't offered admission to any of those, which is sort of sad because I thought I was a really good fit for UofU's American West concentration. I asked about it (which I would not advise doing) and someone from the program let me know that they were only able to take 2% of applicants this year, which is exceptionally competitive even for them. 

Anyway, congrats to everyone who applied, regardless of the result! You did the hard thing!

 

 

[lizard in a blizzard]

Got off the waitlist at Michener!

[hermione granger]

34 minutes ago, lizard in a blizzard said:

Got off the waitlist at Michener!

congratsssss saw u on the spreadsheet and internally clapped for u!!

[womanonline]

On 3/27/2026 at 3:20 PM, potentialyeti said:

UNLV fiction acceptances have finally started to hit! Holding my breath, losing mind, etc. 

FINALLLYYYYYY. I hope CNF hits soon. UArizona and UNLV are the only two I haven't heard from, and it feels unbelievably late to not have heard anything. I think I'm going to email UArizona tomorrow and finally check in because I swear I've seen them send out acceptances and waitlists on the spreadsheet awhile back, so I don't understand why they won't put me out of my misery. 

[hermione granger]

is jhu holding off on fiction rejections because they might not reject some people or just because they’re evil

[thechain]

2 minutes ago, hermione granger said:

is jhu holding off on fiction rejections because they might not reject some people or just because they’re evil

https://www.reddit.com/r/MFAInCreativeWriting/comments/1s5lhkc/mfa_responses/ i think they're evil

[molemola]

tbh I think JHU makes their dept admin hit send on every rejection single-handed or something, they always take so long to send Rs