Fall 2017 MFA

[pdh12]

@Hortense , from what I've heard/gleaned, U. Florida and UC Irvine are big on "experimental" 

[manandcamel]

16 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

But I never had the guts to ask how....Catholic...the place was.

 

IMO the place embodied Catholicism. South Bend felt very town and gown. The architecture, the paintings inside the buildings, the plaques... at that conference, there was a presentation of a study done by a group of girls from ND's sister school (I think St. Mary of the Woods?) that discussed how St. Mary and ND perceived pre-marital sex. A percentage of people called kissing "hooking up" and believed that was wrong, premarital sex. Idk I just remember a lot of backwards, insular thinking. 

[Sleam]

Anyone know about the program in Corvallis? I'm waiting to hear...

[Sleam]

On 1/31/2017 at 3:19 PM, badeyebrows said:

Good luck to you too! Maybe there's hope yet. Nonfiction over here.

Yep me too. I'm not sure if anyone has heard from nonfiction apps yet. Good luck for all of us going that route. I only applied to three, money and recommendations limited me. Have you any idea when we might hear? I'm thinking the end of the month. 

[slouching]

1 hour ago, pdh12 said:

@manandcamel Ahh, actually you bring up my biggest question about ND---I was accepted to the MFA program a couple years ago and was thrilled---the director and professors in the program are very open, very amenable to experimentation, and very kind. But I never had the guts to ask how....Catholic...the place was. Seriously, no offense meant to any religious folk here, but I was curious how certain tendencies toward narrow-mindedness imbibed by certain religious institutions permeated South Bend on a grander scale...

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Hortense said:

Yeah, I did not apply because I had concerns about the university, not the writing program itself. The program is definitely one of the more innovative/ avant-garde. It'd put it in same category as Brown, Wash U, Arizona, Alabama. But the university as a whole? Not progressive and not for me.

Yep, same concerns over here. I did end up applying, because the MFA program seems great, but I still have some concerns about the extent to which my experience there (should I be fortunate enough to get in) would be impacted by ND's embrace of Catholicism. @manandcamel, thanks for the insight.

[BananaPancakes]

UofArizona has one fiction acceptance posted in Draft.

Let me know if these cross-posts aren't helpful / are too stressful / unnecessary, and I'll stop. I just figure a lot of people on here have mentioned they're not part of Draft yet, and some of the acceptances don't seem to be going up on the main GC list. 

[slouching]

@BananaPancakes, the cross-posts are appreciated! I'm not on Draft, but it's been great to get the occasional update on what's happening over there.

Seems like Arizona's poetry notifications should be coming soon...getting super nervous. 

[BLeonard]

I'm more nervous about this whole thing than I thought I would be...I keep checking my status to see if there are any updates. How is everyone else doing?

[Hortense]

33 minutes ago, BLeonard said:

I'm more nervous about this whole thing than I thought I would be...I keep checking my status to see if there are any updates. How is everyone else doing?

Nervous wreck. Applying my feelings to a new story, so that helps a bit. Basically assuming I didn't get accepted to anyplace I applied in December (b/c my apps weren't as polished as I would have liked). Oddly, this thought helps a bit, too, though it's going to sting when the actual rejections pour in. Hopeful about my January apps.

[manandcamel]

1 hour ago, BLeonard said:

How is everyone else doing?

POORLY. I work a desk job. Constantly refreshing. 

[pdh12]

take some time to go outside, y'all! It will do you a world of good, even if for just a few minutes.

also, those syracuse rumors from last week were legit--poets notified. 

....is it possible to get rejected from 20 programs? o.o

[BLeonard]

2 hours ago, manandcamel said:

POORLY. I work a desk job. Constantly refreshing. 

SAME. Desk jobs - I love mine, but it leads to constant refreshing.

[schlockandawe]

5 hours ago, Hortense said:

Applying my feelings to a new story, so that helps a bit. .

Def a good idea to focus on new work. I started a writing group with some friends as well, just to remind myself that I am capable of writing with/without institutional support. *gulp*

[cccmmm]

3 hours ago, pdh12 said:

 

also, those syracuse rumors from last week were legit--poets notified. 

 

Yeah I definitely think poetry notifications have gone out, which is disheartening considering I applied for poetry... but we haven't seen any waitlists notified, right? That could be a good sign? I'd be so down to at least be waitlisted. 

[badeyebrows]

On 2/4/2017 at 8:46 PM, Sleam said:

Yep me too. I'm not sure if anyone has heard from nonfiction apps yet. Good luck for all of us going that route. I only applied to three, money and recommendations limited me. Have you any idea when we might hear? I'm thinking the end of the month. 

I did see someone on the Draft was waitlisted at Minnesota for nonfiction. The ApplyYourself portal still tells me AWAITING PROGRAM DECISION but waitlist notifications went out last Friday, so safe to assume my program decision has been decided (in the negative) for a little while.

Sounds like we're in a similar boat. I only applied to two programs--limited by the smaller # of fully-funded nonfiction programs and also by my current life situation and inability (or unwillingness) to make a big cross-country move. 

[slouching]

On 2/6/2017 at 8:46 AM, BLeonard said:

I'm more nervous about this whole thing than I thought I would be...I keep checking my status to see if there are any updates. How is everyone else doing?

Checking admissions portals, my email, etc. makes me miserable, but it's really difficult for me to stop doing it. Have been attempting to distract myself with anything that requires me to step away from my computer and phone, whether it's preparing food, going for walks, or doing little chores around the house. Been watching a lot of movies, too, and trying to work on some new writing projects. 

On 2/6/2017 at 3:35 PM, cccmmm said:

Yeah I definitely think poetry notifications have gone out, which is disheartening considering I applied for poetry... but we haven't seen any waitlists notified, right? That could be a good sign? I'd be so down to at least be waitlisted. 

This is what I'm telling myself. At this point, would be thrilled to receive even a waitlist notification from any of the places I applied to.

[Hortense]

Some WUSTL fiction waitlists are showing up in GradCafe results. Anyone heard anything? I'm wondering if this means that acceptances went out yesterday (b/c in years past waitlist and rejection notifications have gone out the day after acceptances). 

Update: Poetry acceptance today reported on Draft. And a fiction acceptance on GradCafe.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Hortense

[pdh12]

D=

[Hortense]

2 minutes ago, pdh12 said:

D=

Indeed.

[cccmmm]

WUSTL definitely notified poetry today, both waitlists and acceptances. Nothing in my inbox so I guess I'm toast. Feeling really bad about it, it was my top choice. Misery loves company? 

 

[Hortense]

4 minutes ago, cccmmm said:

WUSTL definitely notified poetry today, both waitlists and acceptances. Nothing in my inbox so I guess I'm toast. Feeling really bad about it, it was my top choice. Misery loves company? 

 

Mine, too (for fiction). I'm drinking tonight and trying to reprioritize--don't want to think about stupid MFA stuff so much.

[Scheherazade]

Another fiction applicant here. I applied to eleven programs, all of which have Lilliputian acceptance rates (even the less established programs). When I submitted my applications, I was proud of my sample, statement of purpose, performance on the GRE, et cetera. As I've been waiting in limbo, however, I've come to accept the all-too-real possibility of universal rejection. And it looks like I'll be getting my first rejection tomorrow, also from Washington University in St. Louis.

Although I knew WashU was the longest of long shots, I'm still disheartened by my (presumed) rejection. My twin sister/best friend, who has lived with me my whole life until she left the East Coast to work at the Washington University Medical School, was delighted at the possibility of a Midwestern reunion. I told her not to get her hopes up, but after reading my application, she was convinced I would get in. I think she may be more upset than I am. My sisters and father both got into top STEM PhD programs without exerting much effort, so they assume I'll have similar prospects. It's hard to explain to them that MFA admissions are a different beast.

In any case, the anxiety induced by the MFA season, the political climate, and a stressful period at work has started to wear on me. I left Draft and deactivated my Facebook account, which were only exacerbating the problem. I'm hoping to sublimate my nervous impulses into more productive activities. So far, getting involved with political activism, exercising daily, and cooking has done me a lot of good. And I plan to actually start writing again -- the great irony of the MFA application season was that I hardly wrote anything besides SOPs.

[Scheherazade]

Well, I did indeed get my first rejection ... but from the University of Arizona. Ouch. And it looks like the University of Maryland, to which I also applied, has started notifying. This is going to be a long week.

[ficpic89]

Still eagerly awaiting my WUSTL rejection! How hard would it be, really, to make all decisions (after acceptances/waitlists are announced) available on the portal instead of making me refresh my email for days? 

[slouching]

Just received a rejection from Arizona via email. Really felt like it was a good fit. Ugh. It's still early, but feeling like this application season isn't going to end well for me...