2026 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[Spicy Potato]

On 3/12/2026 at 1:07 PM, impatientjoy said:

NC state feels so confusing!! Part of me is starting to think they did already notify poetry acceptances / waitlists & just none of the people are on draft. The past data didn’t make it seem like they notified genres this far apart?? But I’m in the same boat wondering where they might be lol

I spoke with Diamond Forde at AWP (Meg Day was unable to attend, but both of them are so great!), who had said they wanted to make offers before their spring break, which would be today. Sure enough, I received an acceptance from them today via email! 

[bioluminescent sloth]

2 minutes ago, Spicy Potato said:

I spoke with Diamond Forde at AWP (Meg Day was unable to attend, but both of them are so great!), who had said they wanted to make offers before their spring break, which would be today. Sure enough, I received an acceptance from them today via email! 

Congratulations, @Spicy Potato!!! 

[Spicy Potato]

4 minutes ago, bioluminescent sloth said:

Congratulations, @Spicy Potato!!! 

Eeee thank you!! I was waitlisted there last year & didn't get the final rejection until just a few days before their semester started. I was later told that it was because they had been trying all year to get funding to give me an extra spot. So for those of you who stress about crickets, know that it is often a good sign that you haven't heard back—it may mean that they just don't want to close the door on making an offer to you.

I'm not 100% sure which offer I'll be accepting, but will let you all know for waitlist movement reasons! xo

[thrifty3]

can anyone weigh in on waitlists? i’m waitlisted at my top choice and accepted to my second choice. both are april 15 signees but i’m reading info on draft about final decisions coming after and even long after apr 15. what is best practice if you’re still waitlisted on apr 15? 

[pigorfrog]

On 3/12/2026 at 6:54 PM, barbou said:

Any low-res applicants here? For various reasons I can't relocate, and I have the $ for a low-res program and have decided it's worth it to me (sorry for the defensive preamble, but sometimes it seems like Qs about low-res programs get derailed by everyone wanting to tell you why they're cynical cash grabs and only an idiot would consider them, and I really don't need that...maybe that's just on reddit though, lol). 

I've got six acceptances so far (fiction), pared down to four that I'm interested in, and am struggling to weigh them objectively - VFCA, Antioch, Sewanee, Bennington. I'm also waiting on three more schools, including Warren Wilson. 

VCFA, Antioch and Bennington offered scholarship $ - not a ton, but nice (although Antioch in particular I wonder about, from the draft spreadsheet it seems like everyone gets about the same amount even though they called it "competitive?")

Sewanee offered me a named scholarship that goes to just one person in each genre, 30% off tuition. That's so exciting to me, for the $ itself but also for what it means, that they really appreciate and understand my work and I'd fit well with the program...but I somehow missed when I applied that their once a year residency is 6 weeks. It's June 7 - July 17, and at a glance I parsed that as June 7 - JUNE 17 i.e. 10 days. Boy did I feel dumb when I realized (and I confessed this misunderstanding to the program director and now I keep imagining him pulling the offer since I have outed myself as an unserious person who can't read). I have two kids and leaving them for six weeks, such a large portion of their vacation, isn't really doable. I hadn't planned any care for them at that time cause I'm a stay at home parent. So we're at least considering all going down there, and having the kids in day camps (at least the younger one, they're 8 and 12) while I'm in class and my husband works remotely. That's a big thing to try to do, though, and not sure if it's "worth" it...also it's 3 years instead of 2, which I really like, but that means this question of how to manage the summer is something we'd be dealing with for 3 years. If I didn't have kids I'd be very into the idea of six weeks of study! Immersion! More time to get to know classmates and faculty! But that's not even to say "without the difficulty making the 6 weeks work, they'd be my top choice" - I'm not sure!

Bennington offered me deferred admission, for January 2027 (I can also ask to be on their waitlist for summer, and if that doesn't work I still have my spot for winter guaranteed). This hurt my ego at first - why aren't I good enough to be accepted with the rest of the summer people! But now that I've calmed down I'm thinking - maybe it would actually be good to go somewhere where I'm one of the not-as-talented people, so my classmates can really inspire and push me to get better?? I prefer to start this summer, but starting in winter wouldn't be the end of the world. Also, Claire Vaye Watkins teaches there. 

I won't go into what appeals to me about Antioch and VCFA as this is already long, but they both also seem really solid and I'm sure I'd get a lot out of either, and they told me what they liked about my work specifically and why it would be a good fit. Oh and Antioch would let me dabble in screenwriting which I've always been curious about. 

...And then there's Warren Wilson - not sure how likely I am to actually get in there, but based on results thus far I'm guessing pretty likely? Before I started actually applying, I thought "if I get into Warren Wilson I'll just go there, cause they're 'the best' - easy peasy." But now I'm thinking that was not the best way to think about it and I want to be more methodical about the decision...but still not sure how to make a choice that is actually right and not based on my admittedly often emotional reasoning! 

I did try to make a pro-con list, and Warren Wilson won that, but in large part because I listed all faculty at each school I'd be excited to work with, and assigned a point for each one, and WW has SO many great writers on faculty...but there too I second guess myself, cause there wouldn't even be enough time to study with all the ones I listed, and I also have no idea if they teach as well as they write!

Sorry for the very long post, what I'm looking for is any general feedback on how to choose between these places , and especially anyone who has specific experience or information about any of them. Thanks, and best of luck to everyone!!

me! I applied to 4 low-res programs and am now only waiting on WW. Pacific, Bennington, Antioch are the other 3. I've tried to find as much info on these programs on the internet as possible but there's not a lot out there... I will almost definitely accept WW's offer if they can match the funding from the others. I really like WW's vibe -- rigorous but with humility. They also seem the most flexible in that you could even do one semester per year. Lowest tuition. They seem to be positioned well in the literary world. Hoping to hear a decision from them next week after staring at my phone all this week. 

[Jitterbug98]

On 3/12/2026 at 4:57 PM, arghgradapps said:

did any other Rutgers-Camden waitlisters get told they were in the "top section"? I want to be happy about this but I'm also thinking about the Temple waitlists on draft who all say they are high up lol. and I don't want to get my hopes up too much. 

Yeah my letter did say this as well, but I doubt they all did. What genre are you?

also does anyone know if not having heard from Bennington yet means rejection?

[pigorfrog]

10 hours ago, Jitterbug98 said:

Yeah my letter did say this as well, but I doubt they all did. What genre are you?

also does anyone know if not having heard from Bennington yet means rejection?

in my bennington letter they said they wanted to know our decision by march 25 no extensions, so maybe they have a list to notify after that date?

[Solin]

Hey y'all, did anyone else apply to Oxford's Mst in creative writing? I saw a waitlist in the draft but haven't seen any other updates. The person that reported the waitlist also got an interview like a week after the application deadline... and I hate to be that person but part of me is skeptical that it's a real waitlist ToT. Is there anyone else that's gotten news. It's one of the last programs I need to hear back from so I'm wondering if I should just consider it a rejection 

[impatientjoy]

Does anyone have any experience or know anything about the idaho waitlist??

[matchasimsbury]

if i haven’t heard back from columbia or bu for poetry should i assume it’s a rejection?

[ilovelampoon]

New kid speaking.

I'm just happy to be here.

Sending high quality ~vibes~.

[quetza1e5]

29 minutes ago, matchasimsbury said:

if i haven’t heard back from columbia or bu for poetry should i assume it’s a rejection?

Bu is on spring break until the 15th I believe and the weekend before was AWP so I think we may hear sometime soon. Maybe I’m coping idk 

[delraiser]

trying not to feel like a bumbling idiot for thinking i could get into a fully funded MFA my first round. anybody have any tips on dealing with the weird dissonance that is all of your professors having faith in you and being slammed with five rejections? i know i'm a very talented writer and entirely capable + these programs seek people who are older with more experience, so it's not personal, but it's just such an odd feeling, going from planning my future to starting at square one. 

[SleepingBadly]

7 minutes ago, delraiser said:

trying not to feel like a bumbling idiot for thinking i could get into a fully funded MFA my first round. anybody have any tips on dealing with the weird dissonance that is all of your professors having faith in you and being slammed with five rejections? i know i'm a very talented writer and entirely capable + these programs seek people who are older with more experience, so it's not personal, but it's just such an odd feeling, going from planning my future to starting at square one. 

I was in the same position last year but worse -- 12 apps, 10 rejections, 1 offer with 0 funding and 1 waitlist. Extremely discouraging and sent me into a mild depression. Felt like a huge loser. But it sent me back to the drawing board, I wrote a lot throughout the year, and thought about what specifically I wanted from a program (for me, cross genre study is very important) and applied to a more specific set of programs that felt like genuinely good fit, not just name recognition. Got accepted to one of my top schools. In the acceptance call they said they remembered my application from last year which I'm sure helped a bit.

Basically, it's all good. So many people are in your same boat. You're doing what you're supposed to be doing. Just don't quit! A year actually isn't that much time and it'll be October/November sooner than you think and you'll be right back in the process! Use this year to learn from so you can make your application even stronger next year

[barbou]

15 hours ago, pigorfrog said:

me! I applied to 4 low-res programs and am now only waiting on WW. Pacific, Bennington, Antioch are the other 3. I've tried to find as much info on these programs on the internet as possible but there's not a lot out there... I will almost definitely accept WW's offer if they can match the funding from the others. I really like WW's vibe -- rigorous but with humility. They also seem the most flexible in that you could even do one semester per year. Lowest tuition. They seem to be positioned well in the literary world. Hoping to hear a decision from them next week after staring at my phone all this week. 

Awesome, thanks for the info! I'm bummed to be going into another week waiting on WW...esp since Bennington has such a short timeline to respond.

[pigorfrog]

36 minutes ago, barbou said:

Awesome, thanks for the info! I'm bummed to be going into another week waiting on WW...esp since Bennington has such a short timeline to respond.

i know! though i'm sure they'll try to push for this next week

[lisichka]

now that I know that nc state hasn't released poetry waitlists yet, I guess I'm not out of the game!

[impatientjoy]

Has anyone else gotten weird vibes from CSU? It seems like they really do treat those w funding offers differently

[madsmadsmads]

Iowa…you want to release waitlists so bad….you want to do it right now. 

[hermione granger]

is ut austin nwp out of the question by now?

[Sowhatwhy]

I just found "Grad Cafe" and sorry to say, this FB Spreadsheet has WAY

Edited March 15 by Sowhatwhy
Was not supposed to send

[cheer bear]

18 minutes ago, Sowhatwhy said:

I just found "Grad Cafe" and sorry to say, this FB Spreadsheet has WAY more information. A lot of schools on Grad Cafe are not here. So, rather than make everyone wait longer than they need to - I hope this helps! 

bro take this down... jess has explicitly stated multiple times to not share this outside of draft. they even said so plainly on the spreadsheet itself. if people want to access this, they can join the facebook group.

[SocialKonstruct]

On 3/13/2026 at 3:14 PM, GreaterGood said:

I do not have facebook either.  Can someone please confirm that UC Irvine Fiction shows both acceptances and waitlists have been sent out on the draft? Thank you.  

 

Also can someone confirm that UW, Brown and U Miami Fiction has not been notified? Thx. 

UC Irvine is all completed as of two weeks ago. Formal rejections will come out soon but no phone call two weeks ago then no dice.

[Solin]

Has anyone hear of success stories in negotiating funding and how to go about it tactfully? I'm really struggling with whether or not I should negotiate my funding from Columbia and how much more *realistically* I should ask for. I've seen other people online claim that they've negotiated full tuition funding. On the other side of that coin, I've seen people talk about how Columbia offered them more to get them to sign on, only to not follow through. I haven't accepted the offer because of finances, but if there is something in my power that I can do rn to maybe get more funding, I'm willing to try just to say I really gave it my all.

My professor warned me about how expensive Columbia is and how one of their colleagues is still paying off debt. Unfortunately, I'm stubborn and lacking fully developed pre-frontal cortex. I did not make very smart decisions this cycle and kinda dug myself into my own hole. 

If anyone can share any beacons of hope, or a very blunt (but needed) reality check, I'd much appreciate it atm. 

❤️

[ojo534]

10 hours ago, Solin said:

Has anyone hear of success stories in negotiating funding and how to go about it tactfully? I'm really struggling with whether or not I should negotiate my funding from Columbia and how much more *realistically* I should ask for. I've seen other people online claim that they've negotiated full tuition funding. On the other side of that coin, I've seen people talk about how Columbia offered them more to get them to sign on, only to not follow through. I haven't accepted the offer because of finances, but if there is something in my power that I can do rn to maybe get more funding, I'm willing to try just to say I really gave it my all.

My professor warned me about how expensive Columbia is and how one of their colleagues is still paying off debt. Unfortunately, I'm stubborn and lacking fully developed pre-frontal cortex. I did not make very smart decisions this cycle and kinda dug myself into my own hole. 

If anyone can share any beacons of hope, or a very blunt (but needed) reality check, I'd much appreciate it atm. 

❤️

imo, you literally have nothing to lose if you try and negotiate your way to full funding. the worst thing they can say is no. especially where columbia is so expensive, it is in your best interest to try and negotiate for full funding. definitely bring up any other offers you have as leverage and emphasize your investment in becoming an mfa student. and if columbia isn't going to offer you more money, once again imo i would not accept the offer. i have also been told to never go into debt for an mfa and in this economy and in this world, i wouldn't advise anyone to go into serious ivy league debt for creative writing