2026 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

[SocialKonstruct]

On 3/14/2026 at 2:32 PM, impatientjoy said:

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

CSU Long Beach?

[rumi77]

just got rejected from Brown fiction 

[womanonline]

I honestly thought I would've heard from all schools by now.. Still waiting for UNLV, UArizona, NYU, and Colorado State -- many, if not all, of which have already sent out acceptances and waitlists. Put me out of my misery!!!!!!

[ojo534]

8 minutes ago, womanonline said:

I honestly thought I would've heard from all schools by now.. Still waiting for UNLV, UArizona, NYU, and Colorado State -- many, if not all, of which have already sent out acceptances and waitlists. Put me out of my misery!!!!!!

I feel the same way about arizona and NYU rn... it is driving me crazy. like if it's just a rejection why not say so

[goodoldneon]

12 minutes ago, ojo534 said:

I feel the same way about arizona and NYU rn... it is driving me crazy. like if it's just a rejection why not say so

fyi, I met with a professor in Arizona's program last week, arizona's results haven't came out yet (at least fiction haven't came out), and I believe they still need some time. 

[violette_us]

3 minutes ago, JUSTVERDE said:

Any news?

I got an email from Dorothea Lasky on Saturday morning with an acceptance and information about scholarship (still haven't figured out how to view the FAFSA info yet tho lmao)  

[westwide2]

Update on Brown's Website as of 3/16/26. 

"In poetry and fiction, offers of admission have been made to nine candidates (five in poetry, four in fiction); sixteen others have been notified that they have been placed on a waitlist (10 in poetry, six in fiction). All others who applied to poetry only or to fiction only, have been notified of the university's regrets; those who have applied in two or three tracks will receive word only once admission decisions have been made in all three tracks. In digital/cross-disciplinary, the admission review process is still in progress. Once admission recommendations have been made by the department and reviewed by the Graduate School, Brown will notify applicants."

[womanonline]

42 minutes ago, JUSTVERDE said:

How much money from Columbia? Genre?

Hi, I think you're being very rude, intrusive, and obsessive in asking how much money we got from programs (and implying that Jess didn't get much money from Columbia as some sort of own? I'm pretty sure they went to Columbia, but whether they did or didn't, this would still be a weird comment. They're trying to protect people from going into debt over an MFA that you can get elsewhere fully funded). If we wanted to share that information, we would. Columbia, this year, has given scholarships that seem to range from $20-50k based on the Draft Spreadsheet, since you seem so interested. I don't see what each individual's scholarship package has anything to do with you to this degree of seeming interrogation, and I haven't appreciate the multiple quotes and personal messages. Please take a moment to consider why you're asking this and how you're coming across. 

[ilovelampoon]

12 minutes ago, JUSTVERDE said:

Dude, get over yourself.  I am trying to help my mentee who is a first-generation BIPOC college student.  You all are insecure and entitled.  Lame.

Why hello there, sir. Perhaps you feel attacked. Well, that makes perfect sense. You stick out in this crowd for being rude while everyone else is informative and supportive. Also because you're wearing that penis costume? It fits perfectly, I admit.

Maybe you just want to let off some steam, or are not having a good run with ... things. It doesn't matter. If you want to help anyone, including your "mentee," try being less aggressive here. I wish you, and especially them, much luck.

In any case, let's swiftly return to this being a rare decent place on the internet.

[gupppy]

1 hour ago, goodoldneon said:

fyi, I met with a professor in Arizona's program last week, arizona's results haven't came out yet (at least fiction haven't came out), and I believe they still need some time. 

I thought I saw some fiction acceptances & waitlists on the spreadsheet, does this mean not all of them have come out yet? It seems strange that they’d stagger some acceptances by several weeks 

Edited March 16 by gupppy

[ojo534]

2 minutes ago, JUSTVERDE said:

Thanks for dehumanizing my mentee by putting them in quotation marks, you are the true face of Dark Woke

Brooooo just shut up 😭😭😭😭leave the rest of us alone and keep your weirdo negativity away…. At your grown age acting like this. Embarrassing. 

[gupppy]

15 minutes ago, JUSTVERDE said:

Thanks for dehumanizing my mentee by putting them in quotation marks, you are the true face of Dark Woke

Bro you are embarrassing yourself so bad rn 

[goodoldneon]

17 minutes ago, gupppy said:

I thought I saw some fiction acceptances & waitlists on the spreadsheet, does this mean not all of them have come out yet? It seems strange that they’d stagger some acceptances by several weeks 

I honestly don't know, they only told me that there are no exact date while they receive many applications. I think it won't hurt to have some hopes. You are not rejected until you are rejected. 

[bucket]

18 hours ago, SocialKonstruct said:

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.

may i ask how you know this? just curious since you seem to have such definitive information

[goodoldneon]

1 hour ago, JUSTVERDE said:

So much hostility for nothing.  Insecure?

A highly precise self-introduction. If it seems to you that everyone else is going the wrong way, perhaps you ought to pause and examine yourself.

[asm0deus]

anyone on Mississippi waitlist, keep ur ringer on 😛

[matchasimsbury]

I JUDT GOT INTO COLUMBIA WTF

[hermione granger]

1 hour ago, JUSTVERDE said:

Thanks for dehumanizing my mentee by putting them in quotation marks, you are the true face of Dark Woke

LADIES ladies relax… don’t turn against each other now… this is what Big MFA wants… 

[arghgradapps]

59 minutes ago, goodoldneon said:

I honestly don't know, they only told me that there are no exact date while they receive many applications. I think it won't hurt to have some hopes. You are not rejected until you are rejected. 

hi goodoldneon! i'm a lurker sometimes but i was thinking about your wonderful recent acceptances! just curious as i've been waitlisted at a few of the schools you've been accepted to if you've made a formal decision yet (I really am just curious and very impressed with you. congratulations and i wish you all the very best next year :). hope you've had a good week!!!

[Solin]

5 hours ago, ojo534 said:

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

Yes, definitely agree on the not going into debt part! Thank you Ojo534

[Solin]

Are there any Indigenous/Native writers in the chat? Sometimes it feels like we're a fraction of a fraction in these spaces and it's nice to feel community–– even if only digitally. Sending love to y'all ❤️   

[rumi77]

Hey guys. I have no one to talk to about this. I got rejected from Brown fiction. I'm 23 and this was my first time applying. I only applied to Brown and decided to apply very close to the deadline. I know this was a mistake but again it was very last minute. I am currently living in Lebanon and under active warfare, and wrote my sample about the war, drawing on my experience. I am absolutely crushed. I know Brown was a longshot and I should have prepared more, but I genuinely think the writing was good. Of course, it could have been better. But I am feeling absolutely destroyed and have so much going on already that I didn't notice how much hope I was holding on to for this acceptance. I would really appreciate any advice at all, I have no one to talk to about this. I'm scared I've lost the confidence to write. I'm scared I was never good at all. 

[waitinglikeits99]

37 minutes ago, rumi77 said:

Hey guys. I have no one to talk to about this. I got rejected from Brown fiction. I'm 23 and this was my first time applying. I only applied to Brown and decided to apply very close to the deadline. I know this was a mistake but again it was very last minute. I am currently living in Lebanon and under active warfare, and wrote my sample about the war, drawing on my experience. I am absolutely crushed. I know Brown was a longshot and I should have prepared more, but I genuinely think the writing was good. Of course, it could have been better. But I am feeling absolutely destroyed and have so much going on already that I didn't notice how much hope I was holding on to for this acceptance. I would really appreciate any advice at all, I have no one to talk to about this. I'm scared I've lost the confidence to write. I'm scared I was never good at all. 

 

Hello! I am sincerely sorry you are enduring this situation (hugs <3). I will message you links, but for others in similar scenarios who might be reading this forum: there are artist/writing collectives & mutual aid groups who have been working tirelessly to help place folks from conflict zones into safer environs so that they may find space and safety to create. Do not lose hope or confidence in your craft!

Edited March 16 by waitinglikeits99

[Jitterbug98]

37 minutes ago, rumi77 said:

Hey guys. I have no one to talk to about this. I got rejected from Brown fiction. I'm 23 and this was my first time applying. I only applied to Brown and decided to apply very close to the deadline. I know this was a mistake but again it was very last minute. I am currently living in Lebanon and under active warfare, and wrote my sample about the war, drawing on my experience. I am absolutely crushed. I know Brown was a longshot and I should have prepared more, but I genuinely think the writing was good. Of course, it could have been better. But I am feeling absolutely destroyed and have so much going on already that I didn't notice how much hope I was holding on to for this acceptance. I would really appreciate any advice at all, I have no one to talk to about this. I'm scared I've lost the confidence to write. I'm scared I was never good at all. 

I'm sorry that you're feeling down, and about your difficult living situation. Unfortunately, Brown is such a wild card for admissions and almost everyone gets rejected. I'm not sure if you're in the facebook group, but if you are you'll see that many people who got into schools like Iowa Writer's Workshop, Johns Hopkins, Michigan etc got rejected from Brown! It means literally nothing about the quality of your sample-- it just means that they got like 1000 applications, and were only able to accept 4 fiction writers. Your sample sounds like important, moving, and meaningful work, and though I obviously haven't read it personally, I bet it was well done. You should try again next year and apply to more schools if you can (a decent number of schools can provide fee waivers if that is a barrier to applying to more places, and I think some schools would give you a fee waiver if you reach out personally even if they don't advertise fee waivers as an option on their website).

[goodoldneon]

1 hour ago, arghgradapps said:

hi goodoldneon! i'm a lurker sometimes but i was thinking about your wonderful recent acceptances! just curious as i've been waitlisted at a few of the schools you've been accepted to if you've made a formal decision yet (I really am just curious and very impressed with you. congratulations and i wish you all the very best next year :). hope you've had a good week!!!

Hi! Thank you so much! It's so nice of you to say that. I will made my decision on Wednesday. I'll dm you the program name that you can expect a movement by that time. Thank you again and congrats to you too! I hope you have a wonderful week.