Fall 2015 MFA

[soundoutside]

Had to hop on board to share this massive bummer:

 

Received a letter from Fort Collins notifying my admission into the program. Celebrated for a few days before I reread the letter. The acceptance letter opened on a name that definitely wasn't mine. Called 'em up, and they had apparently send my rejection to someone in Reno. Welp.

Edited March 30, 2015 by soundoutside

[witezslav]

Since I saw someone post an acceptance on Boise's page, I frantically emailed graduate admissions. According to them, they'll receive results from the department on the first. I...I don't know if I can seriously take decisions made on April Fool's Day....

[sandy bubbles]

Almost there! Only fifteen-ish days of waiting left! Can't believe how long this process has dragged on....can't believe how difficult it has been to do anything productive in the meantime. I'll be so glad when April 15 hits, for closure's sake.

 

Sorry to those who got bad news. Those are pretty huge mistakes for schools like Montana to be making. I'd be angry! You guys seem to be handling it with class.

 

Oh, and congrats on U of I, lagoon91!!

[lagoon91]

Almost there! Only fifteen-ish days of waiting left! Can't believe how long this process has dragged on....can't believe how difficult it has been to do anything productive in the meantime. I'll be so glad when April 15 hits, for closure's sake.

 

Sorry to those who got bad news. Those are pretty huge mistakes for schools like Montana to be making. I'd be angry! You guys seem to be handling it with class.

 

Oh, and congrats on U of I, lagoon91!!

 

Thank you so much sandy bubbles! as this thread starts to quiet down, i wanna say, what a journey that has been for us all, truly! to those who didn't get in anywhere, i think the best advice ive heard through this whole process is that being rejected is no statement about the quality of your work, and certainly not an indicator that you should stop writing.  i feel like i only got into grad school this year out of a small percentage of talent and a huuuuge percentage of luck; i would venture that this is true for most folks. to those of use that did get in, congrats on all of your efforts! we made it this far, finally!

 

good luck everyone, this year and beyond! to those of us still waiting, maybe the next 16 days be swift!

[emburst]

Well said, lagoon91. Congratulations to all, and good luck to those waiting or deciding what to do next.

 

As for me, I have sealed the deal on one of my offers. Officially heading to the craziness that is grad school! It has been a trying few months to say the least, and I'm glad to be moving on to the next phase. Take care, everyone.

[bobkat]

the mcneese wait list seems suspiciously huge 

[A.J. Odasso]

Has anyone else gotten into Boston University for Poetry?  I received a call with the informal offer on March 17th, and I got my official offer letter today.  I didn't apply to any other programs (long story short: I live in Boston and really can't afford to look outside my own backyard at the moment for various family and financial reasons, so it was BU or bust).  I'm seeking those of you who'll be in my cohort and looking forward to meeting you!

[Nibs]

DId you hear from NCSU in fiction or poetry? 

 

Fiction. Apparently they have six slots and have picked eight candidates, leading me to assume two people (one of which is me) are on the waitlist.

[lagoon91]

I made it onto the waitlist for NCSU, thus proving that miracles do happen. So I'm going to hold off on accepting SIUC in hopes of hearing back from them. We're in the same boat, lagoon91 -- I do feel awfully guilty about making SIUC wait, especially if I end up turning it down at the eleventh hour. In all honesty, both programs are probably neck and neck in my estimate. But given the choice between Raleigh and Carbondale, let's just say I know where I'd rather live!

 

I don't think I'd have the courage to push it all the way to the deadline, though... if the 10th of April or thereabouts rolls around and I still haven't heard from NCSU, I may surrender to my nerves and accept SIUC.

 

What about you guys? Are you holding out until/close to the deadline, or will you make a decision earlier than that?

 

Nibs, I've also set the 10th as my personal deadline. i really dont wanna be that person who holds out until the 15th, that so stressful for the program and everyone else involved. if i don't hear yes or no from Indiana by then, i plan to accept Illinois' offer. 

 

Also is anyone else waiting on news from Virginia Tech? they've been so mum this whole time...

[everran]

Also is anyone else waiting on news from Virginia Tech? they've been so mum this whole time...

 

Yes, I've yet to hear from Virginia Tech. When I emailed they told me I should hear by the middle of next week (which was yesterday).

[sandy bubbles]

I just wanted to stop by and say thank you to everyone on the boards!! I had no idea how taxing this process would be, and being able to talk with so many others going through the same thing has been a gift. Even with the commiseration, I've already driven the non-writers in my life crazy :-). 

 

As for my update, I got an offer off a wait list, and I'm very excited about it. I know how easily I could've been rejected everywhere; it's such a crapshoot.

 

Anyway, good luck to those waiting, and happy prepping to those heading somewhere in the fall! 

 

P.S. If you haven't already tried, I would email the program director rather than admin for news. At this point, it seems fair to expect a decision.

[TonyB]

 

Irvine is clearly the rising star and they offer an incredibly generous fellowship.

 

Really? Last I heard it was only $17k, which doesn't exactly strike me as being terribly livable in Southern California.

[HeyIowa]

I'm from irvine, and there are alot of single family homes around UCI that rent out rooms to students for 250-400 dollars a month. Many students live in the apartments around campus which (a couple years ago when I last checked) was around 1000/month for a decent 2 bedroom.

Also, 17,635 is pretty generous compared to the other programs out there -Irvine is expensive, but around UCI, it's also an accommodating college town with affordable stores / restaurants catering to students.

[TonyB]

Good to know! I may have to put them back on my short list.

 

$17k would be good for a Midwestern school, etc. I was just concerned about the generally high cost of living in Cali.

[Fruitsnacks]

I'll also second that 17k is a doable sum for living in Irvine. And really, even though it's in California, it's still one of the higher creative writing MFA stipends. I think only Michigan, WUSTL, Cornell and Austin are higher? Many/most TA positions pay around 9-13k per academic year, a least based on the programs that I contacted (which is more than I would care to admit, haha). But do others know of programs that pay better than that? 

 

Good luck to those still waiting! I've got two offers and a wait list and the waiting is almost over, thankfully. 

[lagoon91]

for the record, UIUC (even though you only get ~$13,000 the first year) gives students a TAship worth ~$21,000 for the second and third years, which is pretty great for central Illinois, and much more than most other MFA programs

[TonyB]

These are the totals I've heard:

 

Johns Hopkins $29k.

Cornell & Michener 27.

Rutgers (Camden & Newark) 26.

Vanderbilt 24.

Brown 23 (second year).

Michigan 22.

Washington University (WUSTL) 22.

UNM Albuquerque 20.

UW: Madison 19.

University of Oregon 18.
University of Alabama: 13.5

[ovalwriter]

Hello all,

For those who are in the FB group, have you read any posts from

an Iowa acceptee who doesn't plan to attend? I scanned through posts

here and didn't see any. Probably a long shot, but I figured I'd ask.

Best of luck to everyone!

[eagm]

I originally put something up about BU on the results page, since lots of people are asking about notifications from them, but noticed that my post was removed, so I'll put it here instead as a PSA. 

 

Based on fb Draft group posts/my own intel, I can tell you with 100% certainty that they made their initial fiction offers during the last week of March, and a top 30 was also selected at that point. I haven't heard about anyone being waitlisted, so it's possible that only candidates 1-10 were contacted, while 11-30 are still in the dark about where they stand but it's also quite possible, especially this late in the game, that they've notified everyone in the top 30. I was told that they had over 500 applicants total this year, and around 350 for fiction. Applications went way up this year, presumably because it's the first year they're offering full funding. 

 

Oh! Edited to add that I haven't seen anything in the fb group about anyone turning down Iowa. 

Edited April 10, 2015 by eagm

[ovalwriter]

Thanks, Eagm.

[lagoon91]

well friends, this where the admissions journey ends for me. i just received confirmation that all spots have been filled at Indiana's fiction program, and that I will not be offered a spot this year. that said, i will officially accept UIUC's offer. im sad about Indiana, but so so excited about Illinois! to all other Illinois acceptees lurking, see you all in august! to Indiana acceptees, congrats on a job well done! to everyone who didn't receive an offer this year, keep on writing and doing the very best you can! you are all hardworking folks and it will pay off. 

 

this has been such a journey for me, and countless others. i hope you all come out relatively unscathed and with the spirit of writing still inspiring you! sorry for being so cheesy... i just appreciate everyones willingness to be vulnerable with each other during this process. cheers all!

Edited April 13, 2015 by lagoon91

[TonyB]

I checked out Urbana-Champaign and they seem like a cool program. Congrats!

[bobkat]

mine is also at an end. i got into WVU off the wait list (in creative nonfiction). I'm pretty happy about it because it's a good program that has turned out pretty successful writers. Also heard good things about Morgantown. Lots of teaching, but a very good stipend. Also, I would get to teach workshops in my third year!

 

I had also been wait listed at Oregon State, and I emailed Elena about when we'd know if we'd receive offers or not. She said one of the people they made an offer to STILL has not even responded, so they're in a weird situation because they can't rescind their offer. Any way, I really appreciated her honesty, and she encouraged me to take the solid offer I have, rather than to wait around. It's shitty when people don't respect the April 15 deadline because I do think that in this case my choices were limited as a result.  

 

PS-- fuck North Carolina State for not notifying til April 17. I had written them off anyway, but when you're charging 70 bucks per application maybe you could be timely in revealing your decision?? And no, I wasn't on a wait list. At least not an official one.

 

I'm just glad this whole 6 month mess is over, that I finally know what I'm doing in the fall, and that the program is pretty much all I could have hoped for.  Congratulations to everyone who received offers this season. Still wishing all of you in wait list limbo the best and hoping an offer comes through. 

[shriiram]

First of all, congratulations —that's a big accomplishment! 

Things you should know: The New School is expensive. Prohibitively so. A 25% funding offer will still put you 40k+ / year in loans. So is any MFA worth 80-100k? New York is also insanely expensive. I'm finishing my undergrad in Manhattan and I spend around 3k a month in expenses (including rent, food, entertainment, etc) and I feel like I'm living rather frugally. Luckily, I got a full scholarship and didn't have to pay for tuition on top of that. So you need to budget another 36k / year (give or take) just to do anything in NYC. 

Trust me, you don't want to cheap out and commute from the outer boroughs in Queens or Brooklyn —most of the New School buildings are concentrated around Union Square and Greenwich Village, and a 1+ hour commute will really take time away (from your writing, job, personal interests, etc.). You can split a large (for NY standards —9x12') room for about ~$1000 / month in the East Village —I'd much rather have a roommate and live in Manhattan than live by myself in Jackson Heights or even Williamsburg. 

If you're independently wealthy, I'd say go for it. If you're not, and have to take out loans, I would strongly discourage you from going to The New School. 

Great things about the school:

Your New School ID will give you access to NYU buildings such as Bobst Library (one of the biggest libraries in New York), dining halls, and more. The New School justifies its sticker price with an advantageous location (perfect if you're going to work / do an internship), top notch facilities (seriously, I've NEVER seen better facilities in any school. The newer buildings are simply incredible. It feels like you're taking classes in a clandestine psy-ops / artistic military facility. Seriously cool), great student body (full of artists and creatives). 

I'm friends with several undergrads at the New School and could ask them for more information if you have any specific questions about the school. I don't know much about the MFA program there but I know it's selective and prestigious. Also consider applying to scholarships if paying for school is going to be a burden. (And seriously. Don't. Take. 80k+ plus. In loans. You will be paying that off until the day you die). 

 

Hello,

 

I am from India & I got admitted to New School, Poetry + 25% funding. While the finances is one part, can you shed some light on the quality of faculty and other things there? Do you know of anyone who can help me?

[TonyB]

 

She said one of the people they made an offer to STILL has not even responded, so they're in a weird situation because they can't rescind their offer.

 

Boo. There should be some kind of a reasonable cut-off if someone just doesn't respond.