Because of the high volume, I'm going to endeavor to update the mailbag after 200 comments -- only one page of scrolling. Feel free to email me if I miss that comment point.
@ Charles -- Some programs expect emails, some discourage them. It usually says so on the website, esp. if there's an FAQ. Whatever you do, don't email UVA. :).
I just sent off my last two applications and am starting to get my self-addressed postcards back from Universties. Bama, Houston, and Iowa have been keeping up with submissions, at least.
I got a half-tuition scholarship two summers ago to the NYS Summer Writers Institute and then couldn't come up with the second half and had to pass. Aargh! I cried.
Aw, that sucks. When I went to Juniper, I pretty much used my whole savings because I'd never really been anywhere before. In that way it was a really worthwhile experience.
am i wrong in assuming that for the vast majority of programs (except for maybe indiana), missing / late supplemental materials almost never keep anyone out? like, i totally forgot to send syracuse my transcripts. i'm going down to fedex right now to overnight them, and i'm not really worried. should i be?
Yeah, these 2 months are going to seem awfully long.
I'm liable to swerve massively off-topic if i keep posting on this blog, so i'll probably head on over to Ashley's to while away the terror/excitement of The Limbo somewhere my mild obsessiveness will be understood. My people here are supportive n'all but can barely remember what MFA stands for, bless 'em, and the 'master of fuck all' joke is all played out.
@amy and 4maiV - i haven't read the alchemist, but love the sentiment about the universe bending for you in its own time, not yours. True.
@universalchamp, i dunno if i can rise to a mixtape! We have this beautiful thing called Spotify here (which i believe you can't access in the US) where you get an endless supply of instant, perma-free music, so i'm spoilt. But i could certainly do with some suggestions. I am listening to too much animal collective and apples in stereo at the moment. Sickeningly perky. But i don't want to derail the FOCUS, the damned FOCUS, of these here mailbags, so i'll go chat music on ashley's blog when i'm at work and unravelling, soon...
@gentleviewer - your school sounds like a hothouse! yikes! um...i went to a similarly crazy hothouse for undergrad (though not in creative writing. i would have flunked). My fave professor gave me fine advice in my final year - do NOT watch what everyone else is doing. Play your own game. Ie. don't be intimidated - do your thing. Yeah, I know it's just common sense, and hard to put into practice, but worth it. The standard of the competition isn't going to make or break your work; there's more than enough room for you all to thrive creatively. good luck!
ps. so who is the poetic yet methodical soul to whom Seth has passed the baton??
I'm in the same boat, because of a transcript gaffe... I priority mailed them myself, yesterday. For some schools, especially the ones who have them going to the grad school and way seperate operations in the department, I'm assuming it won't matter. If the transcripts go to the department... I'm just banking on what I've heard around the boards... if they've got your writing sample and SoP, they'll let the rest trickle in.
Yeah, I'd expect most programs to be very cooperative, at least based on my experience.
Congrats to everyone that has finished their applications! While you can't control whether you get in or not, you have done everything in your power (and it's a lot of work) so that's something to be proud of.
I have to admit that I'm a touch jealous. While I'm excited that I got six applications into the mail today, I am really not excited about writing the four-page critical essay for Columbia tomorrow or trying to dig up an academic paper for one of my other applications. I really have no idea where one would be, so maybe I'll just drop that application....
@ gentleviewer, Thanks for that info, I'll look into the financial aid! @ MommyJ, Oh no, that must have been terrible. I wish all of these things were more affordable.
frankish- i too am in the process of attempting to tie up my last few applications (some teetering dangerously close to their deadlines) and, although i applaud everyone who is so much more on top of it than myself, i am not stoked to be still wading in this application hell.
my fingers are crossed that everything will be buttoned up and beautiful, en route, by the middle of next week.
Hey MFAGuy, Would you be willing to share a bit about your experience at NMU? I've been going back and forth about applying there, but I feel like I don't know much about the program. Thanks!
Also, can I just rant for a second about how I got a small envelope from Western Michigan in the mail today, and I was like, a rejection this early? Heart pounding, I opened it to discover a request for missing transcripts. I feel like I just don't want to deal with spending more money on sending transcripts for one class taken over the summer and transcripts from classes taken at the community college while in high school. I work at a coffee shop! I can't afford this anymore! Just what do they need with two copies of transcripts from classes I took in high school over ten years ago? I can't take this anymore. Rant over. Thanks for listening.
Hey guys I love this blog - I live half way across the globe in India and I've applied to Iowa,UC Irvine and Antioch for a low res...I don't have a writing background but did a year of writing courses at Harvard extension...and loved it. My proffs (including an Iowa Alumni) encouraged me to apply....I have heard this year most of the apps have doubled as everyone I guess wants to go back to school...and that piece of info was a bit unnerving. I dunno what to make of it when my rejection letters come through - would that mean my work is not good enough? And if it is so then I am not so sure I want to write full time. I if I'm getting the point across but I wonder how the admissions officee can do justice to 1600 applications ??? I mean it must be so tough for them...Is anyone else there also wondering about how to proceed after the rejections...assuming there will be many...
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In a Traditional MFA program, you would spend two or three years at a college or university, taking creative writing courses that culminate in a thesis. phlebotomy training CO
218 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 218 of 218@ Charles -- Some programs expect emails, some discourage them. It usually says so on the website, esp. if there's an FAQ. Whatever you do, don't email UVA. :).
I just sent off my last two applications and am starting to get my self-addressed postcards back from Universties. Bama, Houston, and Iowa have been keeping up with submissions, at least.
-Gena
d'oh... universities. MY manuscript wasn't this typo-demon ridden, I promise.
@gentle & laura,
I got a half-tuition scholarship two summers ago to the NYS Summer Writers Institute and then couldn't come up with the second half and had to pass. Aargh! I cried.
Aw, that sucks. When I went to Juniper, I pretty much used my whole savings because I'd never really been anywhere before. In that way it was a really worthwhile experience.
am i wrong in assuming that for the vast majority of programs (except for maybe indiana), missing / late supplemental materials almost never keep anyone out? like, i totally forgot to send syracuse my transcripts. i'm going down to fedex right now to overnight them, and i'm not really worried. should i be?
Yeah, these 2 months are going to seem awfully long.
I'm liable to swerve massively off-topic if i keep posting on this blog, so i'll probably head on over to Ashley's to while away the terror/excitement of The Limbo somewhere my mild obsessiveness will be understood. My people here are supportive n'all but can barely remember what MFA stands for, bless 'em, and the 'master of fuck all' joke is all played out.
@amy and 4maiV - i haven't read the alchemist, but love the sentiment about the universe bending for you in its own time, not yours. True.
@universalchamp, i dunno if i can rise to a mixtape! We have this beautiful thing called Spotify here (which i believe you can't access in the US) where you get an endless supply of instant, perma-free music, so i'm spoilt. But i could certainly do with some suggestions. I am listening to too much animal collective and apples in stereo at the moment. Sickeningly perky. But i don't want to derail the FOCUS, the damned FOCUS, of these here mailbags, so i'll go chat music on ashley's blog when i'm at work and unravelling, soon...
@gentleviewer - your school sounds like a hothouse! yikes! um...i went to a similarly crazy hothouse for undergrad (though not in creative writing. i would have flunked). My fave professor gave me fine advice in my final year - do NOT watch what everyone else is doing. Play your own game. Ie. don't be intimidated - do your thing. Yeah, I know it's just common sense, and hard to put into practice, but worth it. The standard of the competition isn't going to make or break your work; there's more than enough room for you all to thrive creatively. good luck!
ps. so who is the poetic yet methodical soul to whom Seth has passed the baton??
@ Mike
I'm in the same boat, because of a transcript gaffe... I priority mailed them myself, yesterday. For some schools, especially the ones who have them going to the grad school and way seperate operations in the department, I'm assuming it won't matter. If the transcripts go to the department... I'm just banking on what I've heard around the boards... if they've got your writing sample and SoP, they'll let the rest trickle in.
-G
Yeah, I'd expect most programs to be very cooperative, at least based on my experience.
Congrats to everyone that has finished their applications! While you can't control whether you get in or not, you have done everything in your power (and it's a lot of work) so that's something to be proud of.
I have to admit that I'm a touch jealous. While I'm excited that I got six applications into the mail today, I am really not excited about writing the four-page critical essay for Columbia tomorrow or trying to dig up an academic paper for one of my other applications. I really have no idea where one would be, so maybe I'll just drop that application....
Cheers!
@ gentleviewer, Thanks for that info, I'll look into the financial aid!
@ MommyJ, Oh no, that must have been terrible. I wish all of these things were more affordable.
frankish- i too am in the process of attempting to tie up my last few applications (some teetering dangerously close to their deadlines) and, although i applaud everyone who is so much more on top of it than myself, i am not stoked to be still wading in this application hell.
my fingers are crossed that everything will be buttoned up and beautiful, en route, by the middle of next week.
Hey MFAGuy,
Would you be willing to share a bit about your experience at NMU? I've been going back and forth about applying there, but I feel like I don't know much about the program. Thanks!
Also, can I just rant for a second about how I got a small envelope from Western Michigan in the mail today, and I was like, a rejection this early? Heart pounding, I opened it to discover a request for missing transcripts. I feel like I just don't want to deal with spending more money on sending transcripts for one class taken over the summer and transcripts from classes taken at the community college while in high school. I work at a coffee shop! I can't afford this anymore! Just what do they need with two copies of transcripts from classes I took in high school over ten years ago? I can't take this anymore. Rant over. Thanks for listening.
Hey,
the NMU program is okay. I'm only in the second semester so I've only worked with one writer so far.
I'll try and lay it out this way:
Pros
Teach 2 classes per year for 9k + student fees + tuition + use free laptop lease.
Design the classes yourself and you can incorporate CW and lit.
Later on you get to teach a narrative and an intro CW class.
You take 2 classes per semester. The classes are reasonably easy, although the reading load is high.
They encourage dual genre.
The town and lake are cool.
Cons
The weather is bad. SNOW!
Some of the faculty have particular tastes and strange "teaching" styles.
Some days the college feels like a run-down community college.
You share classes with MA students, most of whom write terrible genre fiction.
Let me know if there's anything else.
Hey guys I love this blog - I live half way across the globe in India and I've applied to Iowa,UC Irvine and Antioch for a low res...I don't have a writing background but did a year of writing courses at Harvard extension...and loved it. My proffs (including an Iowa Alumni) encouraged me to apply....I have heard this year most of the apps have doubled as everyone I guess wants to go back to school...and that piece of info was a bit unnerving. I dunno what to make of it when my rejection letters come through - would that mean my work is not good enough? And if it is so then I am not so sure I want to write full time. I if I'm getting the point across but I wonder how the admissions officee can do justice to 1600 applications ??? I mean it must be so tough for them...Is anyone else there also wondering about how to proceed after the rejections...assuming there will be many...
After last post on marketing without search engines, I decided to follow up with a strategy you can use to get quality free traffic. One of the easiest ways to get visitors to your web site is to spend money. Nothing is more effortless then paying for traffic. But if you can’t afford it or don’t want to pay, there’s an equally simple but free way to get traffic: ad swaps.
www.onlineuniversalwork.com
In a Traditional MFA program, you would spend two or three years at a college or university, taking creative writing courses that culminate in a thesis.
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