MFA Creative Writing Acceptance/Rejection Letters

[hyrule]

13 hours ago, rohrlikealion said:

I concur. I panic when I feel my phone vibrate, refresh my email, or check my mailbox. And I can't continue stress eating girl scout cookies. But, 'tis the season I suppose? 

Same.  I saw I had a missed call yesterday and the waves of nausea started, just for it to be a robo call. Oh man, girl scout cookies. I haven't bought a box, haven't seen anyone selling them! I've just been making a lotttt of boxed pudding. 

[LordQuas]

On 2/20/2018 at 5:37 PM, npc said:

Perhaps these schools should stop asking such obvious questions if they want to stop receiving obvious answers. Of course an applicant to a science program is fascinated by science. Of course an applicant to an MFA wants to become a better writer. 

Oh my god thank you, I'm always saying this. They ask these incredibly cliche questions, but expect a completely unique and non-cliche response, but you also have to thoroughly answer the question. How do they not see how hypocritical that is?

[GallifreyGirl]

2 hours ago, LordQuas said:

Oh my god thank you, I'm always saying this. They ask these incredibly cliche questions, but expect a completely unique and non-cliche response, but you also have to thoroughly answer the question. How do they not see how hypocritical that is?

And I think it's WAAAAY worse for us writers ... if a science applicant says something cliche, well, is that really going to affect their application? Probably not, their committees just want to know if they can string together words well enough to present a research paper. On the other hand, for writers, saying something in a unique and pretty way is literally what we're applying to study. And our programs are so competitive (I think the system broke me, as I now consider any program with better than 5% acceptance as not that selective I guess) that it feels like they're just looking for reasons to disqualify.

On the other other hand ... if I were reading like 300 personal statements and every single one used "hone my skills" I'd be tempted to flip a table too.

 

Also: bully for me, I did *not* use hone my skills. Or any variation thereof. Doesn't seem to have helped though. :/

[hyrule]

49 minutes ago, GallifreyGirl said:

Also: bully for me, I did *not* use hone my skills. Or any variation thereof. Doesn't seem to have helped though. :/

While I agree with literally everything you said, this stood out to me because I refuse to check my personal statements/SOI out of fear that I will find this phrase everywhere. 

[Someonehere]

Hi everyone

I’m just dropping in to say best of luck to all and thanks for your posts. Its nice to know that everyone feels pretty much the same way. Congrats to those who already have wait lists and acceptances  

 

 

[Navygrrl]

1 hour ago, GallifreyGirl said:

And our programs are so competitive (I think the system broke me, as I now consider any program with better than 5% acceptance as not that selective I guess) that it feels like they're just looking for reasons to disqualify.

I think I read somewhere that the MFA Creative Writing programs are the most selective and competitive of all the graduate degrees. I don't know how true that is, especially after perusing the results board and seeing so many rejections from all types of schools and programs, but from what I have personally researched from past years, the acceptance rates usually range from 0.5%-2% for the more highly sought after programs, although IWW seems to sit at 5%. I honestly had no idea how stressful this entire process is before I started my applications, and I fear that I would not have been brave/foolhardy enough to even try had I known. 

[PoetWitness]

23 hours ago, rohrlikealion said:

Congrats on being on the waitlist! I hope you get to go!! 

Also, I hope you're right about a lot happening in this time frame...I am not enjoying the wait though! 

I concur. I panic when I feel my phone vibrate, refresh my email, or check my mailbox. And I can't continue stress eating girl scout cookies. But, 'tis the season I suppose? 

Thanks! We'll see how everything shakes out. I guess I will be creating more spreadsheets in the not-too-distant future.

Meanwhile, I am totally stress-baking. Good for friends; not for my waistline?

Chocolate gets me every time. Especially Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies. If you ever bring those to a shindig, you will probably make 5 new friends and leave with a boo-thang. ?

 

[hyrule]

Is it just me, or do weekends feel really bizarre when you're waiting for notice on this kind of thing? I can never seem to fully relax, even though I know it's out of my hands now. 

[post_it_online_twice]

Hmm, has anyone heard from Brown? (Whether here, The Draft, the whisperings of the wind?) 

[rooguild]

51 minutes ago, post_it_online_twice said:

Hmm, has anyone heard from Brown? (Whether here, The Draft, the whisperings of the wind?) 

nothing yet!

[Circles&Circles]

Is anyone else in that awkward limbo where you've seen acceptances sent out on the results page, but you've yet to receive any rejections? 

[post_it_online_twice]

3 hours ago, rooguild said:

nothing yet!

Hm, out of curiosity, I wonder if Brown asks accepted students to not post online. I didn't see an acceptance listed for 2017, though I guess it's also likely that the few who were accepted aren't glued to GradCafe. 

Ah, either way, good luck!  Oh, and is anyone else waiting for word from NYU? 

Edited February 26, 2018 by post_it_online_twice

[hyrule]

1 hour ago, Jacqui said:

Is anyone else in that awkward limbo where you've seen acceptances sent out on the results page, but you've yet to receive any rejections? 

y e p 

I hate it. Best of luck to you!!

[Circles&Circles]

6 hours ago, hyrule said:

y e p 

I hate it. Best of luck to you!!

 Hopefully good news will come soon! (or at least any news at this point.) Best of luck to you as well!

[Someonehere]

6 hours ago, post_it_online_twice said:

Hm, out of curiosity, I wonder if Brown asks accepted students to not post online. I didn't see an acceptance listed for 2017, though I guess it's also likely that the few who were accepted aren't glued to GradCafe. 

Ah, either way, good luck!  Oh, and is anyone else waiting for word from NYU? 

I don’t know, but Brown takes 4-5 people in each of fiction and poetry, so they are less likely to show up than larger programs. JHU is a similar size and there aren’t too many of them listed either. 

[hyrule]

6 hours ago, Jacqui said:

 Hopefully good news will come soon! (or at least any news at this point.) Best of luck to you as well!

Honestly, at this point I just want to hear back one way or the other. I had no clue I would be so tense about this!

[archangel_]

Has there been anything from Arizona for fiction? Seems late this year. I'm not on the Draft because I have to preserve my shaky hold on sanity somehow, but I didn't know if anyone else had heard results yet.

[Vivalabetsy]

Question: What is The Draft?  I feel so out of the know.

I have two acceptances (University of Saskatchewan and Minnesota State, Mankato!), three rejections, and eight pending.  The acceptances have been a stress reliever, but I still jump every time I get an email.

FYI for those applying again next year, if you're feeling adventurous, Canadian schools seem to receive a lot fewer applications and most have really decent funding.  It's probably where I'll end up this fall.

[rooguild]

1 hour ago, Vivalabetsy said:

Question: What is The Draft?  I feel so out of the know.

MFA Draft is a Facebook group with over 1,000 members where people post about MFA notifications, and where lots of current MFA candidates give advice. If you search MFA Draft '18 you should be able to find it.

[milil]

On 2/20/2018 at 9:29 PM, npc said:

If it makes you feel any better, he said "otherwise great." If his annoyance at a perfectly acceptable, if slightly cliché, phrase keeps you out of Iowa... I don't even know what to say about that. I hope you will get good news soon @LazyEmergency . 

I really think it was just him venting. It's a petty thing he selected to pick on. If that is his main complaint, the applications must be looking pretty good this cycle, and that should be more worrisome. (Just kidding)

I think there's always the potential that our SOP could rub the adcom the wrong way and there's no way to know if they've just happened to read several that are quite similar to yours. 

I'm also overthinking and despairing with you. I found a typo in my writing sample I submitted to my dream program and I've been obsessing over that. Then I let it go, because I can't change it now and the sample's purpose is to show my potential. It's far more likely that my writing is not a fit for them, and that's why I don't get in -- not because of a mistyped word.

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by milil

[milil]

On 2/20/2018 at 4:54 PM, LazyEmergency said:

Wow, it seems pretty uncool for an admissions committee member to be criticizing applicants when the process is ongoing:
 

 

What admissions committee member said this? Can you link me to their tweet? 

[milil]

On 2/20/2018 at 5:04 PM, post_it_online_twice said:

Does anyone know how long Iowa’s notification window is for acceptances? I see two fiction ones have been listed.

any updates on this?

[milil]

On 2/20/2018 at 5:04 PM, post_it_online_twice said:

Does anyone know how long Iowa’s notification window is for acceptances? I see two fiction ones have been listed.

Still wondering. There's been a few more since last week. 

[milil]

Has anyone heard from Iowa Writer's Workshop yet? How do they send out rejections, by letter or email? I've seen quite a few acceptances in the results page last week but haven't heard if they're still giving acceptance notifications.

[Sallyj]

Iowa has said (according to Draft) that they'll be sending out all letters by mail. A few people have gotten phone calls, so it's unclear if those letters will include other acceptances or not. 

Hang in there! 
(PS this is for fiction...poetry applicants were all emailed. Haven't heard anything about non-fiction)