Leaves Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 I haven't gotten into any of them by the way... This is all hypothetical! Just wasn't sure if there was some kind of ranking of the programs, at least in how people view them. Crossing my fingers I get into Hunter.
sayantika Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 Another rejection. UTK this time. Dwindling hopes. I wonder why I ever applied. 1a/3r/0w
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 18 minutes ago, Leaves said: I haven't gotten into any of them by the way... This is all hypothetical! Just wasn't sure if there was some kind of ranking of the programs, at least in how people view them. Crossing my fingers I get into Hunter. None of them are ranked well given that they are poorly funded NYC programs. I think NYU is the highest in the actual rankings, although Columbia was rated #2 after Iowa for a long time prior to the current rankings. It's dropped dramatically in the rankings because of abysmal funding. That said, I don't think the rankings matter that much in this case--it comes down to people you want to work with. But also, like I said above, I'd personally base my decision almost exclusively on funding. Did you apply to Brooklyn College? If you're stuck with NYC, they are one of the most affordable programs (and they also have solid faculty). Anyway, best of luck! Fingers crossed for you! 18 minutes ago, sayantika said: Another rejection. UTK this time. Dwindling hopes. I wonder why I ever applied. 1a/3r/0w Sorry to hear you got another rejection. Don't let it get you too down!
DangerDetective Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 On the Iowa rejections: Do you think there is a reason why some rejection letters got nice, handwritten notes, while others got nothing? On a related note: Tell me I'm pretty. TELL ME I'M PRETTY.
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 My letter was blank. Some seem to be finalists according to people's posts (I'm going to assume most of those that got notes were finalists)--it's nice of them to offer some encouragement to people who almost made it.
gratzby Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 Alternatively, they know about the anxiety and they're taking a chance to mess with people
My Mlemtonia Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 On 3/4/2016 at 7:18 AM, FalloutCoversEverything said: Huge, huge congrats on the Michigan acceptance! It seems your thousand dollars of application fees paid off with one of the sweetest funding deals possible. Supposing one fulfills the requirements, it is functionally a three year program with an additional year to edit/revise your thesis (and submit it for publication), with one of the highest stipends possible for MFA applicants. Awesome! Again, huge congrats! Thank you! Huge congrats on your acceptance, too. Looking at your posts, you seem like an awesome person. 6 minutes ago, DangerDetective said: On the Iowa rejections: Do you think there is a reason why some rejection letters got nice, handwritten notes, while others got nothing? On a related note: Tell me I'm pretty. TELL ME I'M PRETTY. You are absolutely stunning; all living beings are bowing down in reverence. Btw, I was curious about that, too. Didn't apply to Iowa, but some people seem to get letters while I've only received emails so far. Got accepted into one more program today, full funding. 2a/2r/1w so far. Still five more to go. Hearing nothing but radio silence on their part though.
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 With Iowa you have to consider that former graduate students are reading most of the applications before they even get to faculty. Like, you might have gotten weeded out by someone who doesn't like a certain aesthetic or subject matter before your stories/poems even got close to faculty. You never know. 26 minutes ago, Blue1001 said: Thank you! Huge congrats on your acceptance, too. Looking at your posts, you seem like an awesome person. You are absolutely stunning; all living beings are bowing down in reverence. Btw, I was curious about that, too. Didn't apply to Iowa, but some people seem to get letters while I've only received emails so far. Got accepted into one more program today, full funding. 2a/2r/1w so far. Still five more to go. Hearing nothing but radio silence on their part though. Thanks! (Blushes) Congrats on the second acceptance! Your application packet is killing it! Is there anywhere you'd go besides Michigan at this point?
My Mlemtonia Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) 49 minutes ago, FalloutCoversEverything said: Thanks! (Blushes) Congrats on the second acceptance! Your application packet is killing it! Is there anywhere you'd go besides Michigan at this point? Thank you! I think I'm just waiting till the end, like many others in this thread. I know one school is doling out rejections right about now, but the rest have only reached out to poetry (according to The MFA Years). At this point, I'm only curious about one because it was the only program besides Michigan that my SO was excited about. Edited March 8, 2016 by Blue1001
DylanMorsion Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 Did anyone else get into Seattle today??? (University of Washington) I've been crossing my fingers all day that I would get an email and I haven't seen any other acceptances on the results page. For those who got in: when did you get your email? As in what time of day. It would be nice to concentrate my worry into like a three hour period every day instead of just distributing it equally. Any UW news on Draft? I was on there but I had to get off because I was getting too obsessy.
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 26 minutes ago, Blue1001 said: Thank you! I think I'm just waiting till the end, like many others in this thread. I know one school is doling out rejections right about now, but the rest have only reached out to poetry (according to The MFA Years). At this point, I'm only curious about one because it was the only program besides Michigan that my SO was excited about. Yeah, I'd just find it hard to go anywhere else if I got into Michigan because of the funding and free third year. But yeah, it is nice to have options and to see how you did at other places. Personally, I really want to hear back from Rutgers / Columbia -- if I got funding (meaning a stipend) at either I'd likely go because of the location (my partner is going to be in NYC next year). They also both have awesome super awesome faculty. Ah, the waiting.
gratzby Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 God, am I the only one suddenly getting second thoughts about being able to teach? I'm international, so I don't know what Freshman Comp is, but there's a fair few posts out there talking about how frustrating it is. Are undergrads difficult to control / manage in the US with those compulsory classes?
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) 18 minutes ago, gratzby said: God, am I the only one suddenly getting second thoughts about being able to teach? I'm international, so I don't know what Freshman Comp is, but there's a fair few posts out there talking about how frustrating it is. Are undergrads difficult to control / manage in the US with those compulsory classes? I have an MA in literature so I have some teaching experience prior to applying for my MFA. I enjoy teaching quite a lot."Freshman Comp" is just a class on writing academic essays--you teach research, essay structure and style, argumentation, etc. Basically, a book like "They Say, I Say" (or handouts on different aspects of writing) and a bunch of essays you love compose the syllabus. I even taught a graphic novel one semester in a comp class. If you're worried, get a copy of "They Say, I Say" and read it before the fall--it's a widely used composition text. I actually stopped using it after one semester (I just teach the students a modified version of it on my own), but I used it one semester and it went well. It's very practical / doable. I also think it is helpful to make "writing" (more widely) something more than just a mechanical thing oriented toward academic essays (you're a creative writer--use that to your advantage!), and I teach personal essays, short stories, and Op-Ed pieces. Like, I treat all of my students like people who will potentially want to write things for a public setting some day. I personally find it quite fun. The classes are compulsory, but if you (as a writer!) treat it as something widely useful and enjoyable the students will usually get on board. Composition isn't a class where you're expected to have a mastery of a body of literature (like someone teaching Modernism or Victorian Lit) you just have to teach the process of writing. Workshops, conferences, etc. are all part of that experience. It's usually a very praxis-oriented class. Edited March 8, 2016 by FalloutCoversEverything
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 5 minutes ago, lunardanse said: Has anyone gotten a decision from Alabama? It looks like there have a been a bunch of acceptances and rejections posted on the boards. Including a bunch of poetry rejections yesterday (you're a poetry applicant if I remember correctly, no?). There are no poetry acceptances posted and they come via phone call so they might be a bit delayed. The fiction rejections did come on two different days though--so the rejections might just be spread out a bit.
gaudysideoftown Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 Part of me wants to laugh at all of the people complaining that they didn't get a note on their Iowa rejection letters, and the other part wants to cry because I didn't get a note on mine.
gratzby Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 4 hours ago, FalloutCoversEverything said: I have an MA in literature so I have some teaching experience prior to applying for my MFA. I enjoy teaching quite a lot."Freshman Comp" is just a class on writing academic essays--you teach research, essay structure and style, argumentation, etc. Basically, a book like "They Say, I Say" (or handouts on different aspects of writing) and a bunch of essays you love compose the syllabus. I even taught a graphic novel one semester in a comp class. If you're worried, get a copy of "They Say, I Say" and read it before the fall--it's a widely used composition text. I actually stopped using it after one semester (I just teach the students a modified version of it on my own), but I used it one semester and it went well. It's very practical / doable. I also think it is helpful to make "writing" (more widely) something more than just a mechanical thing oriented toward academic essays (you're a creative writer--use that to your advantage!), and I teach personal essays, short stories, and Op-Ed pieces. Like, I treat all of my students like people who will potentially want to write things for a public setting some day. I personally find it quite fun. The classes are compulsory, but if you (as a writer!) treat it as something widely useful and enjoyable the students will usually get on board. Composition isn't a class where you're expected to have a mastery of a body of literature (like someone teaching Modernism or Victorian Lit) you just have to teach the process of writing. Workshops, conferences, etc. are all part of that experience. It's usually a very praxis-oriented class. Thanks for the perspective. Ordered 'They Say, I Say,' and I'm looking through the school's resources. It doesn't seem so bad. A friend's been telling me some horror stories of teaching high schoolers that might have given me negative expectations haha. I keep trying to find reasons this situation isn't as good as it seems. Next-level first-world problem.
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 43 minutes ago, gratzby said: Thanks for the perspective. Ordered 'They Say, I Say,' and I'm looking through the school's resources. It doesn't seem so bad. A friend's been telling me some horror stories of teaching high schoolers that might have given me negative expectations haha. I keep trying to find reasons this situation isn't as good as it seems. Next-level first-world problem. It will be great. Don't worry about it. Maybe read some essay collections to find things you want to teach (and think of it as pre-mfa prep generally). Such good times ahead!
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) I was just doing some browsing online and I found this: Beyond this information, many programs get 4+ fiction applicants for every 1 poetry applicant. This is maybe the hardest kind of graduate school to get into (Even the poetry positions (which are slightly easier to get, are harder to get into than top ranked PhD programs (5-10%), harder than Havard Law or Business school (7-10%), like insanely competitive)). This is helpful to keep in mind if you're feeling down about rejections for whatever reason. If you don't get in someplace this year, work on your stuff, and reapply next year to more places. If you're upset you didn't get into X school--it's subjective and they can only take a handful of students. It will work out (either this year or next), but it isn't easy. I mean, many of these programs have less than 1% (less than .5% in most cases) acceptance rate for fiction applications. And it's only slightly better for poetry applicants. Huge congrats to people who got in! Awesome! But also don't get too down if you didn't. Edited March 8, 2016 by FalloutCoversEverything
tommytimber Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 Brown is an amazing campus and Providence isn't too shabby either. But you'll need more than $12,000. University of Texas is insane at $27.5. Any word on University of Houston?
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 35 minutes ago, tommytimber said: Brown is an amazing campus and Providence isn't too shabby either. But you'll need more than $12,000. University of Texas is insane at $27.5. Any word on University of Houston? Students get paid substantially more during the second year at Brown. I also think there are some summer teaching opportunities between years. I don't know why they don't balance the stipends out more. Are you wondering about the funding at houston, or just news? It seems some acceptances went out at the end of Feb, but there's been nothing since
FalloutCoversEverything Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 29 minutes ago, cmack said: I just got my Brown rejection . . . woof Sorry to hear that. I does seem like you're in good company though--lots of Brown rejections seem to be popping up on the board. I see it says playwriting in your bio: did you apply to the playwriting/theater program too? I've heard really good things about it specifically.
tommytimber Posted March 8, 2016 Posted March 8, 2016 1 hour ago, FalloutCoversEverything said: Students get paid substantially more during the second year at Brown. I also think there are some summer teaching opportunities between years. I don't know why they don't balance the stipends out more. Are you wondering about the funding at houston, or just news? It seems some acceptances went out at the end of Feb, but there's been nothing since Where'd you see the acceptances that went out for U of H?
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