2026 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Sumire11]

4 minutes ago, arghgradapps said:

i think the mods probably didn't want people disclosing their iowa acceptances so publicly on a thread like that and attracting lots of questions about decisions, apps, etc. but it did seem like a good handful were accepted so far, and that's only from draft data. but yes im definitely hoping for waitlist info soon! 

That could be it. Man I knew that the iowa week was gonna be tough but not this tough. Or maybe iowa itself is a carefully crafted psyop by some elite intelligence org created to turn us into formidable social media analysts.

[SocialKonstruct]

1 minute ago, Sumire11 said:

That could be it. Man I knew that the iowa week was gonna be tough but not this tough. Or maybe iowa itself is a carefully crafted psyop by some elite intelligence org created to turn us into formidable social media analysts.

Such is the case historically: https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/workshops-empire

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2022/04/how-creative-writing-programs-de-politicized-fiction

[writerinthedarkk]

11 minutes ago, Sumire11 said:

Yeah the comment thread has been closed there as well. I don't know what's going on, but I do hope there's more in the pipeline: they take 25 people after all. And then there's the waitlist which I haven't seen mentioned yet. 

Is is still just fiction that's gone out for Iowa? 

[Sumire11]

8 minutes ago, writerinthedarkk said:

Is is still just fiction that's gone out for Iowa? 

Just fiction. Poetry is some ways off no worries. I think it started towards the beginning of march/end of feb last year. 

 

8 minutes ago, SocialKonstruct said:

Such is the case historically: https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/workshops-empire

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2022/04/how-creative-writing-programs-de-politicized-fiction

I already came across similar links in January. Obviously, we're all still hot on it. 

Edited February 23 by Sumire11

[insearchoflostwine]

I find it so strange to keep seeing these articles about how Iowa rejects novels of ideas when Sam Chang wrote The Family Chao, which is inspired by one of the most famous idea novels of all time, The Brothers Karamazov. 

[Hmax]

30 minutes ago, impatientjoy said:

Who are folks expecting to hear from this week?? It was a quieter end of the week / weekend than I anticipated!

Really hoping for Syracuse and Irvine this week!

[SocialKonstruct]

11 minutes ago, insearchoflostwine said:

I find it so strange to keep seeing these articles about how Iowa rejects novels of ideas when Sam Chang wrote The Family Chao, which is inspired by one of the most famous idea novels of all time, The Brothers Karamazov. 

Inspired but that doesn’t make its successor a novel of ideas. We aren’t getting Middlemarch here.

[ocurlyfries]

Anybody know if fiction waitlists go out the same time poetry waitlists do for USF?

[gafoo]

Really surprised the UMN waitlist hasn't come out yet. Later than any cycle from the last 3 years! Now I'm starting to wonder whether they'll even publicize a waitlist, given the drama of last year and them having to "suspend" the WL due to budget concerns

[Sumire11]

2 minutes ago, gafoo said:

Really surprised the UMN waitlist hasn't come out yet. Later than any cycle from the last 3 years! Now I'm starting to wonder whether they'll even publicize a waitlist, given the drama of last year and them having to "suspend" the WL due to budget concerns

Wait, what happened last year?

[gafoo]

6 minutes ago, Sumire11 said:

Wait, what happened last year?

Everyone on the waitlist got this email in early April:

"On behalf of the University of Minnesota’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, we would like to extend our appreciation for your application. Unfortunately, UMN’s College of Liberal Arts has suspended the waitlists for all programs for this admission year. As a result, you will receive an official rejection letter from the university soon. This circumstance is beyond our control and is not a reflection of the quality of your application or materials. Even as the MFA Program receives hundreds of applications each year and we select very few for admission and waitlisting, being required to suspend our waitlist is atypical. We wish you the very best of luck in pursuit of graduate-level creative writing study."

[Sumire11]

1 minute ago, gafoo said:

Everyone on the waitlist got this email in early April:

"On behalf of the University of Minnesota’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, we would like to extend our appreciation for your application. Unfortunately, UMN’s College of Liberal Arts has suspended the waitlists for all programs for this admission year. As a result, you will receive an official rejection letter from the university soon. This circumstance is beyond our control and is not a reflection of the quality of your application or materials. Even as the MFA Program receives hundreds of applications each year and we select very few for admission and waitlisting, being required to suspend our waitlist is atypical. We wish you the very best of luck in pursuit of graduate-level creative writing study."

Damn, I knew nothing about this. 

[martysupreme]

2 hours ago, lizard in a blizzard said:

Massive congrats! So cool to see everyone’s success on this forum! Did you get any sense of how many calls have gone out so far?

no, i didn't get a sense of how many calls have gone out, but sam did ask if i felt like schools were moving slowly this year with notifications...i got the sense that maybe iowa adcom was feeling behind? that said, i have no idea, but suspect that there is more news to come since we haven't seen waitlists.

[dil e nadaan]

Does anyone know whether UMass usually sees movement on their waitlist? If yes, how many ppl do they accept from the waitlist each year? When do they extend offers of acceptance to those from the waitlist they wish to accept? And if they don't usually see movement on the waitlist, when do they send out rejection emails to the waitlisted folks? On 16 April?

I understand no one will prolly know for sure but please share any reliable piece of info that you may have in this regard! Thank you!!

[goodoldneon]

10 hours ago, whitneyyyy said:

 

 

 

Edited February 23 by goodoldneon

[Ogwick]

1 hour ago, Sumire11 said:

That could be it. Man I knew that the iowa week was gonna be tough but not this tough. Or maybe iowa itself is a carefully crafted psyop by some elite intelligence org created to turn us into formidable social media analysts.

Ha! Best comment I’ve read today.  Not that I believe it but the humor works on many different levels. 
 

I haven’t heard a peep from Iowa and yet (re: see my earlier posts about “Mårrs”) I did get a call this morning from the other Mars (as in Mars Inc).  There is a big natural CPG (consumer packaged goods) trade show in LA next week and we are meeting up for dinner blah blah  

I’ve been big corporate brand guy who was trying to escape this world into a much different one / the Iowa MFA world!

The fact that I DID get a call about Mårrs this morning - but spelled MARS INC - tells me God is having a good laugh in an Al Pacino voice right now:

 

”Every time you think you were out — I pull you back in!”

Edited February 23 by Ogwick

[goodoldneon]

10 hours ago, whitneyyyy said:

I am from China. In my country, we don’t have many Creative Writing programs compared to US. We do have programs in Chinese literature, but they focus more on reading and literary studies rather than creative writing. But still, many Chinese authors have produced extraordinary works, like Yu Hua and Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan, my two favorite authors. They didn’t even finish middle school. While I personally know two Chinese authors who graduated from Chinese literature programs, their books are not well known or widely read.

I am not sure about situation in US, but for books I read, most authors didn’t come from MFA programs. I also have a friend who self published her science fiction who majored in Art. So that is another path to publication.

Based only on my personal experience, I do think MFA programs can be very helpful, but are not necessary. The focused writing time, the literary environment, and the opportunity to receive funding are nice, but many of these can also be developed through reading craft books and having a consistent writing habit

 

I think this kind of comparison is unfair. When Mo Yan and Yu Hua were growing up, creative writing didn’t exist as an academic major at all, and higher education was far less widely available. Many writers of their generation never received a college education, but that was more like an exception produced by their time.
In today’s Chinese literary world, it is still very hard to get published without connections. And we can see how many bad writers, like Jiao Dian, manage to enter a strong creative writing program, become a famous master’s student, and then rise smoothly through publishing.
Twenty years ago, talented writers like Yan Ge could still make their way through writing contests. Today, that is almost impossible as well.

[Sumire11]

6 minutes ago, Ogwick said:

Ha! Best comment I’ve read today.  Not that I believe it but the humor works on many different levels. 
 

I haven’t heard a peep from Iowa and yet (re: see my earlier posts about “Mårrs”) I did get a call this morning from the other Mars (as in Mars Inc).  There is a big natural CPG (consumer packaged goods) trade show in LA next week and we are meeting up for dinner blah blah  

I’ve been big boy corporate brand guy who was trying to escape this world into a much different one / the Iowa MFA world!

The fact that I DID get a call about Mårrs this morning - but spelled MARS INC - tells me God is having a good laugh in an Al Pacino voice right now:

 

”Every time you think you were out — I pull you back in!”

Thanks a lot man. I was hoping to cheer up others (and myself) through that quip; glad it worked!

 

And I know what you mean. Everytime I feel like it's over, I get this subtle sense of hope a couple hours later. No wonder Michael had that heart attack.

[Ogwick]

6 minutes ago, Sumire11 said:

Thanks a lot man. I was hoping to cheer up others (and myself) through that quip; glad it worked!

 

And I know what you mean. Everytime I feel like it's over, I get this subtle sense of hope a couple hours later. No wonder Michael had that heart attack.

I will take my CPG unexpected biz deal phone call from a deity named in my Iowa thesis as the literary demigods saying “nice try corporate boy!”

what I find amazing is all the people on the thread lamenting the lack of money, or prestige, or recognition, etc. 
 

And yet I would trade the millions** off that Mars Inc phone call this morning to talk about books and ideas for two years at Iowa in a fucking nano second. 
 

What is purgatory to some, is ecstasy to others. 
 

**potential deal - I have to be honest with myself. If cash on the table, would I burn it?

Edited February 23 by Ogwick

[womanonline]

Today has been suspiciously quiet…

[Sumire11]

4 minutes ago, Ogwick said:

I will take my CPG unexpected biz deal phone call from a deity named in my Iowa thesis as the literary demigods saying “nice try corporate boy!”

what I find amazing is all the people on the thread lamenting the lack of money, or prestige, or recognition, etc. 
 

And yet I would trade the millions** off that Mars Inc phone call this morning to talk about books and ideas for two years at Iowa in a fucking nano second. 
 

What is purgatory to some, is ecstasy to others. 
 

**potential deal - I have to be honest with myself. If cash on the table, would I burn it?

4 minutes ago, Ogwick said:

 

Between a choice between getting my hair back or Iowa, sem

[Theodosia]

My god, how I wish I could email Sam Chang and just ask if I got in! 

I began working on the first draft of my writing sample for the next application cycle today, but even that isn't helping my desperation to know if I will be waitlisted or get a tier rejection. I've been fantasizing about a note at the bottom of my rejection, as rare as that is, and I will be truly devastated if after all this self-imposed mayhem, I receive the formiest of form rejections. 🤣

[goodoldneon]

1 minute ago, Theodosia said:

My god, how I wish I could email Sam Chang and just ask if I got in! 

I began working on the first draft of my writing sample for the next application cycle today, but even that isn't helping my desperation to know if I will be waitlisted or get a tier rejection. I've been fantasizing about a note at the bottom of my rejection, as rare as that is, and I will be truly devastated if after all this self-imposed mayhem, I receive the formiest of form rejections. 🤣

Iowa do send personal rejection based on my friend's experience. And be hopeful! You might be the next one who receive her call.

[Ogwick]

7 minutes ago, Sumire11 said:

Between a choice between getting my hair back or Iowa, sem

Portuguesa? Tudo Bem?

my product is from Brazil that we are launching - spent a lot of time down there!

if “Sem” was a spelling mistake - never mind!  Ha

Edited February 23 by Ogwick

[lisichka]

1 hour ago, impatientjoy said:

Who are folks expecting to hear from this week?? It was a quieter end of the week / weekend than I anticipated!

UMN (waitlist), NC State, and maybe UT Austin NWP (though that might come next week)! at least NC State acceptances never go into march so I can safely bet that there will be news this week