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MFA Poetry applicants


pdh12

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Good tidings!

 

As a newly bludgeoned-by-rejection applicant, I wondered if there were others out there on the battlefield.  I'm dying to hear news from Indiana, Oxford, and Columbia, and have seen a few 'results' come up with acceptances/rejections. Am I the only one with an empty Inbox? 

 

I've been accepted to a couple Creative Writing Master's programs in the UK, so far, and am seriously considering the University of Kent...it seems pretty good from where I'm standing. 

 

Where does everyone else stand?

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Hey pdh, meant to respond to you yesterday on this very topic.

 

I'm rapt with eager anticipation, listening to a deafening chorus of crickets... but boy is it exciting, erm, anxiety-inducing, erm, agonizing, erm, excruciating.

 

Three rejections so far, from WUStL, UT Austin Michener Center, and Cornell -- very prompt. Still awaiting word from Indiana, Brown, Michigan, Oregon, Alabama, Vanderbilt, UC Davis, and UMass, but not feeling so hot about any of them.

 

I'm interested in the programs in the UK. Are there very many funding opportunities? I was strongly advised to not go further into debt for an MFA and I'm not awash in cash. I dreamed of going to Edinburgh, having gone there for a study abroad trip. Inquired at Oxford and it didn't feel quite like the full graduate experience I was looking for. Perhaps I'm wrong. There certainly is a lot to learn about and even though I went mad researching and prepping, there's still so much I don't know.

 

I do know a couple kids who attended Kent for undergrad.

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A cricket chorus?!  And here on my tundra I have only sinister snow buntings.

 

This has been my first attempt at applying to grad school (still an undergrad senior), and I certainly took the manic, press-whatever-apply-button-comes-on-the-screen approach.  Definitely have gained a few morsels of insight in this last month or so.

 

I looked at Edinburgh, too!   Seriously, I think their deadline is in March. But I'm trying to learn a lesson about throwing my application materials at anything that moves. hehe...Emerson (in Boston) gave me a free application, but it's so hard to tell if a program's good or bad just from their website.

 

The real question is funding. I definitely agree that debt is the enemy. The UK seems kind of tight-arsed about that kind of thing..I don't know. Maybe all programs (excepting the very best) are like that.

 

If you haven't heard from UMass yet, I might take that as good news! I was rejected from the at 12:47 am three days ago. 

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Imagine if we BOTH got into Indiana?!   That definitely seems like an ideal school right now. I've been accepted to a few Comp Lit programs, and it made me realize how much more I want to do Poetry.

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That would be pretty fabulous if we both got into Indiana. 

 

I say go with your gut on which discipline to pursue. What is your ultimate goal?

 

I've taken the circuitous route in my education. I began in physics in 2002; sojourned into philosophy; took time off; detoured back to what-I-would-have-done-originally-if-I'd-had-my-head-on-straight: music composition; found my like-minded folk, my people in English lit; moved to NJ with my ex; and finally returned (triumphantly) in 2009, discovering that poetry was my calling. Graduated 2012, been working on several big projects while earning my keep and now here I am, at the mercy of anonymous judges. (Please accept me! please accept me)

 

My father is a professor and, against my great desire as a child not to be his clone, I was destined to teach. My ultimate goal is to teach creative writing, preferably at the college level. Writing will be done by me regardless. I'd love to have the opportunity to meet new minds in mentors and cohort and have a dedicated period of studying the finer points and working concertedly while getting teaching experience. Hopefully it will transpire.

 

That's my story.

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It sounds like you have the life-history for future success, success being fulfillment. Coming to what you love the long way around has bares own refined fruit. Becoming a C.W. prof while continuously working on one's own work seems IDEAL. Certainly a goal we share. Brown's program is amazing, too. I especially appreciate the freedom they seem to offer. I foolishly missed the deadline. Bureaucracy has never been my friend. 

 

Should we try to insight communication from IU's admissions contact? It would be nice to know if we had another solid month or so to wait...

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Thanks for the vote of confidence :-) ! There were definitely a couple I did not apply to due to some oversight I'd made and no time to correct it prior to the deadline. Certainly, the process of applying has been a great learning experience for me. I'm really thrilled by all of the great writers I've become exposed to as a result.

 

I like your idea of contacting IU, because I can't be biting my nails much shorter. On the other hand I'm sure they've got their hands full and I like to suspiciously think my chances are better if I don't prod my judges... (I'm not actually superstitious) or perhaps I like to keep the dream alive... or I'm masochistic. If you feel inclined to inquire though, I would love to hear what you're told.

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I just dared to send that very question to Monica at IU! God, I hope she doesn't scratch my name off the list for shear impropriety! 

 

Do you actively read poetry? There are those whom I've encountered that actually avoid reading in general..but not me! 

 

Me, I can't resist a good ee cummings or WCW. Some might say they're over-read...

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You cheeky applicant you! 

 

I hope they aren't aspiring writers who avoid reading!

 

I do actively read. In fact, I think reading is the heart of it. Fancy that :-/

 

I do love ee cummings and WCW both. A few of my personal favorites that I like to promote are Lisel Mueller, Li-Young Lee, Cyrus Console, Anne Carson, Dean Young, and Lee Ann Roripaugh. There are so many amazing poets, it's hard to keep track of them all. I made a list of professors' work that I read in the process. Some of them blew me away: Joshua Clover, Mary Jo Bang, Alice Fulton, and Linda Gregerson. 

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I love hearing about who other people are reading-- so much new stuff to look into!  Anne Carson's "Nox" blew me away. Translation (Comp Lit) is my other fancy, and that piece is a translatory orgasm.

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'Nox' is outstanding and such a beautiful objet d'art. I actually had the pleasure of seeing a little Anne Carson event this last week in honor of Stanley Lombardo's retirement from KU. She was snowed in and unable to attend in person but she was skyped in and larger than life. She, along with a host of professors, performed a reading of her 'Antigonick' which was wonderful and funny. Lombardo played the part of the mute character Nick who is always on stage measuring things. I love classics and Antigone in particular so I really enjoyed it. There was a profound line that stuck with me and made me reflect on her loss and my own brother (not yet lost): "A husband or child can be replaced, but who can grow me a brother?" Obviously the loss of a child or loved one is incomparably terrible, but a sibling is a one of a kind person with an understanding of you that can't be replicated. My own brother is one of the few people I feel truly gets me.

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Yes, it will be a relieving break from the email refresh button.

 

I love that description of siblings, it's beautiful. As the oldest of eight half-siblings (plus a couple that died a few hours after birth)  I definitely feel the resonance of that sentiment. Yet though I share an indefatigable love with them, they're definitely not on the same plane as me. It'd be nice to have a sibling that could fully relate. 

 

Does Carson sell fertilizer for that or something?

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Are you much older than them? That's a quite a posse :-) It was just my brother and I growing up and he's 3 1/2 years younger than me, so we had enough space but also enough proximity and I'm a nice older sibling. I've definitely had many a stress dream about protecting him from harm, even to this day.

 

Now that we've turned this into a personal conversation maybe I should say something related to the topic and forum...

 

Poetry, Grad School, ACCEPT US!!!!! Sooner than later!

 

I would personally love to go to the UK for grad school.

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It may be a waste of time to dwell on it now, but is anyone willing to share a poem from their manuscript? Here's one that I included:

Spring

Mounds of moss' mouths

are right now opening at once

mosses of mound's mouths

are chewing the petals

doing the work of the mortar and pestle

filling with powders of petals.

Mouths expanding to mountain size

the skies are shaped by the fragments of pollen

escaping from the corners of sly smiles expanding

like mountains. The children tilt their faces

toward the lilac saturation

stretch their tongues wide

catch the incantations.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If anyone app'd to Columbia: does your status just say "submitted"?? Mine does! Shouldn't it say 'in progress' or something imbues with more potential??

 

That is all mine says too. Different program but I am still only at "submitted" and I have an interview for my program at the beginning of last month. 

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Supposedly THE big date to hear from most schools is March 10th (some may be a little sooner). Portland State University should notify this week. 

 

 

 

Applied: GMU, U of Cin (BA-PhD), U of Utah (BA-PhD), Portland State University, Old Dominion University, EWU, U of Montana

Rejected: Syracuse
 

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Supposedly THE big date to hear from most schools is March 10th (some may be a little sooner). Portland State University should notify this week. 

 

 

 

OH em gee. Commence nail-biting.

 

Good luck to us all!

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I hear ya! I literally want to just curl up in a ball and sleep until I know something one way or another. Schools should have disclaimers about the mental turmoil that the waiting game causes. 

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Not to spam up this thread, but this is how I feel: http://media.thedailytouch.com/2013/10/waiting-for-the-phone-to-ring.jpg

Edited by mmt34c25
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