November Mailbag/Where Are You Applying?

Anything goes, below. If you do happen to share your application list, please remember to mention your genre, too. And most importantly: Keep your spirits up! This tends to be a tough time for applicants; know that you're not alone, that things aren't as bad as they seem, and that you have the full support and best wishes of all of us who've already gone through the process. However you might be feeling right now, the reality is that with courage and perseverance you will reach the finish-line! Trite, I know, but I can say from experience that it's true. So screw the haters, hoist the black flag, and (as H.L. Mencken said) start slittin' throats.

Reaction to the Poets & Writers MFA Rankings

Early reports suggest that by and large the rankings have been received extremely well, and seen for the probative starting-point they intend to be--however imperfect they are, and however much (particularly with the unscientific portion of the rankings comprised by the applicant poll) it will take years to continue refining the methodology for the project. As to that part of the rankings that constitute the first-ever hard-data funding ranking, selectivity ranking, and postgraduate ranking (and the handful of data-based assessments published also), there's been no criticism, and the consensus seems to be these will help applicants in the months and years ahead.

I want to thank all of you who've sent along words of support and encouragement to me in the past few days. As the P&W article says (several times), no ranking can or should claim to be a conclusive assessment of program quality, nor be a primary element in any applicant's matriculation determination--but I do hope these rankings can be one tool among many in a field where (for too long) critical admissions and funding information have been systematically withheld from the programs' most important and invested constituents: applicants.

[Poets & Writers rankings #1 to #52 can be found here, and #53 to #142 here; an excerpt from the methodology article is here].

Those interested in getting the programs' (much less circumspect than bloggers') reactions to the rankings can follow these links: Brooklyn College; George Mason University; Rutgers University at Newark; Southern Illinois University (2, 3); University of Wisconsin-Madison (2); University of Virginia (2, 3, 4, 5); University of Minnesota (scroll down); University of Oregon; University of North Carolina at Greensboro; University of North Carolina at Wilmington (2); Vanderbilt University; Indiana University; University of Iowa (2, 3, 4, 5, 6); University of Texas; University of Wyoming (scroll down); University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The rankings have also been covered by The New York Daily News & (among other online media) by Bookfox, The Rumpus (2), and Fiction Writers Review.

Best New American Voices 2010

The VQR blog has a review of the Best New American Voice 2010 anthology, which came out recently. Best New American Voices, for those that don't know it, features work submitted by MFA programs and writing conferences across the country. It's a good way to check out the quality of work being produced by MFA students from various programs (though it's by no means the only indicator, of course).

The VQR blog post also mentions the "rumored demise" of the yearly anthology -- anyone know more about this?

Southern Connecticut State University MFA

We're not sure when SCSU began offering the CW MFA. The first edition of TK's Handbook listed the M.A. and M.S. No MFA available back then. This particular institution now offers an MFA in poetry and fiction. This is good news for Connecticut applicants who don't want to move.