I'm a little behind, seeing as your post was MANY comments ago. But here is my list.
I applied in FICTION:
U of Oregon U of Florida U of Houston Notre Dame U of Alabama Virginia Tech Georgia College & State Georgia State Vanderbilt Purdue Arizona State UNC-Greensboro
No word from any program thus far. Assumed rejection from Alabama, Vanderbilt, and VTech.
@cb - So you're two-for-two now, correct? You only applied to Wyoming and Montana, right? And have already been accepted to Wyoming? You are such a f*cking badass!!! CONGRATS! Special congratulations on Montana -- I've heard they have a lot of Emmas there, so it sounds like the more party option of your two choices.
@Noono - I wanted to respond (super late) to your comment from yesterday morning, about your deluding yourself about your level of talent. I think it's a mistake to accept this process as a commentary on your level of talent. If you're like Arna and you get into (literally) every program to which you have applied, no matter how small their admission list or how high their selectivity, then that says talent, to me. But for the rest of us, I think talent is a smaller part of the equation than chance. Because there are so many equally talented writers who have spent equal amounts of time polishing their samples, admission is going to come down to chance factors, like: who reads you, on what day, what does the rest of the applicant pool look like, how does your work fit in with the program's previous selections. I may be wrong, but I don't even think the main acceptance criteria is how much promise is there in this work?, but more like how much could this program give to this writer's development?
If you get locked out this year, then that gives you the opportunity to do some good reading and writing, to then put together a sample that might connect with more readers -- so that you can come back strong next year like some of this year's Iowa acceptees, who were locked out last year.
However, getting locked out doesn't mean you aren't talented. It just means that your sample didn't land in front of the right readers at the right time. The same readers who denied you admission might have selected you, based on the same sample, if (for example) the character of the cohort they were selecting that year was just a wee bit different.
Also, maybe it isn't so much the quality of what you may have submitted this year but, rather, the character of it. While I was afraid that I might have to re-apply next year, my first thought was that next year, I'll send a more confident sample, with more experimental pieces. Maybe, when we apply for the first time, our instinct is to play it safe and send what we believe teachers want to read. So maybe we end up sending samples that, while good, aren't as interest provoking as they need to be. Maybe this is a mistake that second-time applicants have learned to avoid.
Obviously, this is all conjecture on my part! But this guess is based on having exhaustively read the major MFA fora for three years and on having read some insider pieces by MFA adcom readers. Still, I could be wrong. But I think you're being too hard on yourself -- and for totally the wrong reasons.
@Mila - That's how LSU does it. That lsu.edu email address is set to be forwarded to your actual email address. From their confirmation email:
E-mail addressed to your PAWS account (***@lsu.edu ) will be forwarded to ***@***.com.
LSU will maintain contact with you through e-mail so it is important that your registered e-mail address be in working order. If you have spam/junk mail filters set at ***@***.com, be sure to allow delivery of messages addressed to ***@lsu.edu.
You can set all mails to that assigned address to be forwarded to your normal email account. Log in. Click Personal Preferences on the left. Then click Directory Information. There you can set a forwarding emai.
I pretty much wish all the schools I know I haven't gotten into would respond already. It would be easier on us, I think, to get rejections soon after acceptances rather than weeks later.
My dad burst my GNE bubble by reminding me that in high school, my friend was given verbal confirmation of her acceptance at a fancy college for bass performance, but received a rejection letter in the mail some time later. He also thinks the schools are evaluating our responses to the GNEs to decide who to let in for realz. I'm not sure it's like that, but I am trying to cool myself down about the whole thing in light of the questions raised about the practice of sending out GNEs. I'm wondering if it's possible for those of us with GNEs to just regroup them with the schools which haven't yet notified instead of thinking we could hear from them with an acceptance at any moment. Treat it like any other potential acceptance/rejection. I'm going to try.
Long time lurker just wanting to pop up for a question and to congratulate all those with acceptances and even wait-lists! :)
To those of you officially accepted by Iowa, has your status on your Hawk ID (Admissions Profile) page changed to 'Accepted' yet? Just curious. Again, congrats to all.
@WreckingLight, thanks for your insights into Oxford. I don't know what happened to your comments, did you take them down? Anyway, it was all helpful. I did already apply and should know by the 12th of March, their second deadline. However, I just looked at the site again and noticed that they do typically do interviews and since I haven't yet been contacted that might not bode well for me. Kellogg College is the one they told me to choose. I think the course structure looks good, but I'm concerned that you weren't impressed with the students. Any other impressions you could share? Also, since you are obviously a Brit, and have been accepted at Iowa (fiction or poetry?), and by the way, congratulations, really, wonderful congratulations on that...how does an Mst compare to say an MA or MFA here? Thanks so much for your help.
Posted Feb 22 by RugbyToy: OK, so, Brown Update/Rumor Confirmation:
I did talk to the good people at the LitArts program and they did confirm they are "close" to making their decisions and that those decisions do have to be confirmed by the grad program, which might take another week. So, they're saying decisions should be out in two weeks or so. Notifications (possibly just the rejections) will be made by email--they'll send an online status check address, which will allow hopefuls to log in and see their statuses. Until then, Brown can give out NO INFO either way.
i wish i'd applied to ucsd; i would have if i'd known about it. they have rae armantrout and sunny, sunny weather. i'm in poetry though - i don't know anything about their fiction faculty.
I was rejected from UCSD and was also impressed by their poetry faculty.
By the way - I am a CA native and currently live in NYC.
However, there is a UC clause that if you graduated from a CA high school (and were enrolled at least 3 years), you are eligible for in-state tuition, even if you currently live out-of-state.
Oh UCSD! My one good CA option! I was looking forward to escaping snow and humidity.
I went to UCSD for undergraduate studies. Majoring in "Literature/Writing" (that's what the combined creative writing-literature studying major is called at UCSD) allowed me to study with most if not all of the professors that teach in the Masters program. The MFA at UCSD is crazzzy new. I graduated from UCSD in 2007 and, if I remember correctly, it was not until fall 2009 that they were to offer the MFA program.
UCSD has a wonderful faculty. Rae Armantrout (who I recently found out won a Guggenheim fellowship in 2008) is both a wonderful poet and a willing teacher. My focus has always been more on fiction and experimental writing so I can speak more to those faculty members actually.
Sarah Bynum, director of the program, is fabulous. Seriously fabulous. Everything about her makes me happy. Screw Sam Chang's bread; Bynum rocks. (Ok well Sam Chang's bread rocks too but whatevs) She is completely invested in the success of her students and she is kind but firm in her criticism. On top of it, she's a great writer to boot! (read: Madeleine is Sleeping)
On top of that, Anna Joy Springer has a captivating hold on both her use of words and her students. She, during my undergrad years, was known for having the most groupies in the Lit dept. It was hard to not love AJ because she made you work hard, didn't put up with shit, and did all of it while nurturing your talent and opening your eyes to some crazy new horizons.
During my tenure, Ali Liebegott, Chris Kraus, and Sawako Nakayasu were all multiple-quarter visiting professors (Ali wasn't visiting exactly but she no longer teaches full-time at UCSD and only acts as a visiting prof now). In fact, surprisingly, I worked most with these three. There are not enough positive things that can be said about them.
The faculty at UCSD really strives to make the writing process and the workshopping experience positive, productive, and useful.
I didn't end up applying to UCSD for two reasons. First I felt like it was time for a new experience. I love San Diego. My entire beginnings of adulthood and growing up were spent down there, learning, surfing and just plain figuring stuff out. I think in some ways though, going back would be like trying to relive something that should fondly stay in the past. The second, and more practical, reason is that all of my letters of recs for applying came from profs in that program. It seemed kind of awkward and random.
But whoever applied there and is waiting on a response, I have the best hopes and most sincere well wishes for you! I'm sure they're still ironing out some of the kinks but if there were any people to be with during kink-ironing sessions, I'd pick them.
got a GNE today. it was just really, really relieving that someone reached out to tell me they liked my sample, even if i'm not officially in. i have all of these images in my head of tweed-clad, spectacled persons guffawing over my writing sample.
@ the duchess: you're sure that UC in-state clause is still in effect? all i know is tuition is up and funding is down, as uc is super effing bankrupt. anyway, i hope it is, for your sake. dude. it's like 25 degrees here. why didn't i apply to san diego?
@ Trilbe - re: samples and such. I totally agree. A lot of these schools take such a small number of people that they probably spend quite a bit of time organizing the unquantifiable "fit." Absolutely no offense meant to Klairkwilty, but this is his second year applying to Iowa - I can't imagine that his sample last year was so awful that it didn't deserve consideration. Maybe it was on the cusp, maybe he made the wait list - I have no idea. I'm sure he changed things up this year, but I can't imagine he'd say that he totally re-vamped his style. Jump in here k if you disagree.
I think there's also a lot to be said for taking chances in applications. It's really scary, and it might not go over well - but I'm glad I sent my second, strange story to 6 of the 8 schools (Michigan being one). They're reading hundreds and hundreds of applications, and I think we all want to be the author of the story that they hold up and say, "well, this is different."
I like this discussion, and just wanted to chime in before the comments swept it away. All of this to say - this is not a reflection of anyone's talent. I think it indicates that the school thinks they can help us get better - not all schools can say that for every "good" applicant. I didn't apply to Brown because I don't think I'd be the best fit for super experimental pieces. Would one of you be an amazing fit? Absolutely!
undergrad fees skyrocketed recently, but grad fees have not been affected to the same degree I think.
however, I didn't get accepted, so it's all for naught. but maybe next year I will apply again, if I can muster the faith. great post, miss private eye!
Officially DENIED from Amherst today via the online status. This one hurts more than the Syracuse rejection because it was higher up on my list. :/
But! Going along with my attempt to find good things about rejections... One of my recommenders said he felt like Amherst was not as good a fit for me as some of the others programs I applied to. And... um... one time I went to a movie theatre in Amherst and the people who worked there seemed kind of rude.
And who really wants to live in Emily Dickinson's hometown, anyway? *cries*
I'm so late to the game with this blog, but am really glad I've found it! It's encouraging to know I'm not the only crazy person out there. I decided at the very end of last year to go for an MFA and applied/am applying to two low-res programs with spring deadlines (Fairleigh Dickinson and Wilkes University). My FDU application went out last week and after re-reading what I sent (we're all obsessive like that, right?) I saw glaringly obvious typos (one missing period, one missing verb, and many overused commas (a personal vice). Thought about withdrawing my application from consideration just for that. But as I'm only applying to two, I'm not getting my hopes up and will use the experience to work harder over the summer and fall and apply to more programs.
Congrats to everyone with good news! This is a great place and I'm anxiously waiting for responses for everyone else.
No offense taken. Actually, I agree with you. One year isn't very long for one to improve his or her writing. Although, I do have to say, the two stories I submitted last year cause me to shudder. I chose stories that I liked, not stories that showcased my best writing. That was one mistake. Last year's personal statement lacked spirit, which I think was another fault.
This year I also submitted two stories, two different stories, one old, one new. The old one got me in. I dug out one of the first short stories I'd ever written and completely revised it in one day. Rewrote the entire thing. I revised the story at Starbucks in about 3 hours and dropped it in the mail. This was on January 31st, if I remember correctly. Everything except my personal statement was so last minute.
Something I'd like to add... I don't know whether this means anything, but I when I wrote my personal statement, I wrote to Sam Chang. I think it helps when you have a particular person in mind. And I was just brutally honest and vulnerable. I think it's important to tell the truth when you write personal statements. They reflect who you are on a personal level, how you think, what you feel, your essence. I think directors appreciate that. It's important to gloss over your experience and qualifications and whatever, but I honestly don't think they care about any of that. They want to know who it is they're admitting to their program, and credentials are not who you are. They're merely proofs of your existence, like a driver's license or a worn shoe or a favorite mug. What directors are looking for, I think, is a fingerprint. And that's what the personal statement is.
But then again, I could be completely off, because I've now received three rejections (in addition to 7 I received last year). So what do I know?
I was in the same boat until a couple of days ago. I got the first rejection letter and while the waiting did suck, I wish that I could go back to where you are.
I'm at George Mason, and while I have no current info at all about where they are in the fiction admission process, I can tell you that last year I was accepted in a "second wave" that came after the initial acceptances posted on this board. Also I wasn't called like some of the first people to get in were--my acceptance came in the good old USPS mail. So hang in there and don't forget to check your mailbox.
@ klairkwilty - I really liked your thoughts on the SOP. In re-reading mine I wish it had been, well, more personal. In contrast, the additional "personal statement" I sent to Michigan and the "autobiographical statement" I sent to Irvine sound a lot more like me. They're honest, and more intense, and I wish I could go back and re-craft my SOP along those lines. I think your whole SOP post is full of advice that will help out future candidates.
A few weeks ago I was wondering if I would re-apply next year, and like you I wondered if a year would really make that much difference in my writing. In fact, I had already resolved to wait at least two years to re-apply. I mean, if the admissions committee didn't like my story about a buffalo herd disappearing, they're probably not going to like the one about a herd of horses disappearing, right? :-) (Kidding - only the buffalo one is real.)
Seriously, though, major congrats on Iowa. That is fantastic. I think it's really interesting to hear people's stories about how they got to where they are and thoughts in general on writing/acceptance/submissions. I hope you feel proud of your revision and accomplishment!
@ others - do you feel like a year would really make that much difference? (An honest question.)
i'm going to cast the movie version of the health care summit; here goes:
barack obama - zac efron (of course) kathleen sebelius - glenn close joe biden - john malkovich john boehner - greg kinnear (think about it) eric cantor - william finchtner john mccain - a cg humpty dumpty
Sorry to hear about your official rejection from UMass. I'm curious though about what your recommender may have said about the program not being such a great fit. Did he/she have a horror story, or something along those lines? Or was it simply a style-type thing?
i believe an additional year of writing makes a huuuge difference. many MFA students make it into schools after two or three attempts. finding good readers is key.
i hung out in iowa this past summer and met many current and former IWW students. one girl said she applied to iowa SEVEN times before being accepted. seven years of this nervous obsessive anxiety. and for some reason this year the number of applicants across the world has sprung through the roof. there's probably professional/established writers out there applying for MFAs in order to find a job teaching.
Blah, I'm feeling really down today. Probably because I was DENIED by Amherst. My main fear comes from just the fact that I need to get out of where I live, do something new and exciting. Being one of the younger applicants, people tell me it must be great to have my whole life ahead of me and everything open... what it is, is TERRIFYING.
I've lived in the same house for most of my life, the same (tiny, tiny) state for my whole life, have never moved away or done something unfamiliar and new, and I am dying to. Grad school is my "ticket out." School is what I throw my whole self into. Other than that, all I have is a crappy job a monkey could probably do, which I have wanted to quit for years. I'm graduating from college with a high GPA and honors and awards, but what does that matter with no real work experience if I have to find a job? And if I don't get accepted and can't find a job, what will I do? Just be stuck here? The thought of staying here for another year makes me feel like I can't breathe.
I've been devising as many backup plans as I can think of:
Plan A: MFA program Plan B: Teach for America Plan C: City Year / another Americorps program Plan D: Move somewhere new and find a job
And thinking, what if I get rejected from EVERYTHING? 12 schools and my Plan B and C and D? I can't even apply to Plan C and D once I know what's going on with the first couple of plans.
So, that's just the spiral my mind's been going down today. I'm sorry, I needed to put it out there somewhere.
Naropa full-res: accepted Michener: "denied" Vanderbilt: assumed rejection Alabama: assumed rejection? CSU (not sure about this one either) Montana (or this one yet) NYU Columbia Iowa (?) Penn State UVA Florida
Jesus, I applied to a lot of top-tier schools. Naropa's probably my top choice, as even if I got into school in NYC by some miracle I doubt there's any way I could afford it, Naropa itself will probably be a stretch...but hopefully I will get good aid as I have declared myself "independent" on the FAFSA. I know my parents are hoping for me to get into a fully-funded place, but honestly at this point, Naropa seems like the place for me.
Part of me still wants the rush of getting that special phone call again!! Once you get it the first time you just craaaaave it again. Aaahhh. Can't be greedy though. :P
I've been waiting here thinking any minute now I'm going to get a call from George Mason... Not the school, the person. Here's how I imagined the conversation going:
GM: Hey Eric, this is George Mason, one of the fathers of the Bill of Rights.
Me: Weird, but alright, I'll bite. What's good, homeboy?
GM: I just wanted to tell you I really loved your writing sample. It was thought provoking and morally complex without being overly didactic. And all while still managing to be thoroughly entertaining. Touche, my boy, touche.
Me: Thanks, a lot George. It's really great to finally hear that someone gets my eff...
No, he didn't have a horror story, don't worry! He's met some of the faculty members a few times (I forgot exactly who though, I'm sorry), and read their work, and didn't say anything bad about them specifically. More like, he just thought I had quite a different aesthetic from that of the faculty, and maybe it would work out fine, but maybe it would end up being frustrating.
But I applied anyway because my main consideration when applying was location -- wanting to stay in the northeast. And obviously UMass Amherst is one of the best MFA programs in the northeast. Maybe I really did get rejected because my work didn't "fit" with the program, though.
Arizona Brooklyn Brown Boston Hollins Hunter Johns Hopkins McNeese—Waitlist New School Sarah Lawrence Syracuse—Denied UGA Umass-Amherst—Denied UVA Washington-Seattle Vanderbilt
Congrats to all for making it through this far...it’s not even March yet!
On the subject of GNEs, I got rejected from a certain southern university in 2008, despite e-mails from them saying I was in the final stage, that there were three applicants left for two positions, etc. etc. A round of e-mails followed, and I was subsequently rejected. Major dick move.
So I just had a chat with the director of this MFA about my application status this year, and I've been rejected again, this time on the hinted basis that I was too strong / couldn't be taught anything. Well that's great, if it isn't puff-wording, but I get annoyed at this, as I did actually apply for a reason, and the idea that I can't be taught anything is ridiculous.
He asked me where I'd been accepted to already - I said, "Iowa". He went, "Oh, yes, we have a history of doing things like this".
From your post, it sounds like Plan D--moving somewhere new and getting a job--would be a pretty sweet Plan A. Chances are, if it happens, you'll look back and agree.
Don't feel down! I am going through a pretty similar thing. I went out of state for undergrad and moved out of state to work, but never far from the watchful eye of very involved family members. Just feeling sort of stuck at the moment and even though I'm currently only applying to low-res, feel like it will be *something* to push me in a new direction. I hope something works out for you!
@Laura Your plan D is actually my Plan B. If I don't get into MFA's, I think I want to move to Portland, get a job, write, and hopefully also work on getting my teaching credential. And you know what, I'm actually starting to feel excited about the idea...So here's to us/moving to a new place!
@ cecil peoples - I don't disagree that a year can make a big difference, I was just wondering (perhaps more abstractly) whether it would make *enough* of a difference. For the record I have no experience with this and no strong opinion one way or the other.
I know there are always stories of people getting in on the second (or seventh) year, which was why I brought up klairkwilty - I was curious what he thought of his own sample and chances and writing process. Personally, I felt that the process took so much out of me that I didn't know if I could get back into that "sweet spot" with my writing in enough time to produce something new - something that I also had enough time to revise. I worried that I'd focus more on gearing my writing toward something MFA-friendly (linear stories, snappy dialogue, vivid scenes) instead of letting it unfold a little more organically.
I was just re-reading Bender's "Willful Creatures" last night and wondering how her writing would have changed/evolved from year-to-year if she hadn't gotten into Irvine. Can she produce stories that would turn heads at other top schools? Absolutely. Is that her "sweet spot" - I don't know. Love her writing, though.
Thank you for the encouragement. I've just somehow managed to convince myself that no school, program, or employer will want me. Which is ridiculous when viewed logically, but this whole process really has a way of making you doubt your worth!
That and the fact that I've been looking for a new job for the past two years, with no luck, so I've also convinced myself that I may never be able to find a job... at least, not one remotely interesting. But as much as I try to talk myself out of being ridiculous, I just can't seem to shake this awful overwhelming fear of being rejected from everything I try to do.
I guess it's also that I'm used to academic success. For undergrad, I got four acceptances and one waitlist. Everything academic I've ever done, I've managed to succeed at: grades, contests, honors, etc. So I feel like school is my natural habitat and the one thing I'm really good at, and if I don't have that, what do I have?
All this after only getting two rejections and having ten schools left, most of which haven't even started notifying yet. *sigh*
I have to disagree (with your disagreement). The girl who applied seven times is one case, like my own, where I would say the story found the right set of eyes. I mean, seriously. What was the coffee like those first six years at Iowa? If it was bad, and she mentions good coffee in her story, REJECTION! No, but seriously this time. This whole process is a crap shoot. I have said it all along and, despite an acceptance at Iowa, I'll say it again--crap shoot. There are a lot of good writers in the world, many of them applying to MFA programs, and it's ridiculous to go into the process expecting anything, whether it be acceptance or rejection. You simply can't know where you stand. Write for a year. Write for five years. But it isn't going to make any difference because, I believe, these directors aren't looking for perfect stories, or an adherence to principles of craft, or what the hell ever else. They're looking for raw talent. And it's completely subjective, who has raw talent. Do you? Well, Professor Sharma might think so, but Professor Klimasewiski might not. Crap shoot. Submitting to MFA programs is like getting workshopped. You put ten (or however many) MFA directors around a table and pass each of them a copy of your story. Some will like it, some won't, and it has nothing to do with how long you spent working on it, or how experienced you are. It has to do with each director's personal taste, what they consider good writing (and they will differ on their definitions), and many other variables.
In short, I don't think getting into Iowa this year had anything to do with my having grown into a genius writer in one year. Though I worked my ass off all year, I don't attribute any of that work to my acceptance. Mostly, I'm just lucky.
GREAT advice on the SOP. You deserve to have your own chapter in the next MFA handbook. I'm going to follow your advice when I'm reapplying next year after the 13 other rejections come in this year.
Also I'm amazed at how you did your writing sample, going the last minute revision of an older story route. Would you be willing to share both drafts? It'd be great to see Iowa-level revision in action.
@cecil peoples
Yes, established authors are applying. I wonder what response they'll get from schools who look at their resumes and see the obvious - these applicants are far more successful than the people leading the workshops at these schools.
@young peoples
Don't just get "jobs" if you don't get in anywhere, unless the job is assistant editor at a literary magazine or something else like that. Do something that creates new memories that you'd want to talk about and write about.
Yikes. I hope that isn't the same school I've got my GNE from, because that guy sounds like a real charmer. Get your hopes up and then cut you down last time, then this time give you a fairly patronizing response in which he hints that he's somehow proud that his program routinely denies qualified applicants.
I have to second that. You may have to be willing to work for free. I have an amazing internship at a literary agency two days a week, and I work for an internet start-up (doing content management, writing publicity material, editing the newsletter) the other three days. I pay my bills, I love my internship, and if I don't get into school I'm going to find something fulltime that I love.
This buisness of GNEs has me mucho, mucho freaked out.
I received one earlier this week. Was on cloud nine until I started seeing people's bad experiences/let downs w/ GNEs in the past.
Can anyone speak to the general history of GNEs? Because now I'm quite worried I was stupid enough to get excited when this could all be well.. a tease :\
I agree with you that doing something that creates new memories and makes for great writing material would be the ideal plan B. But there's also the fact that I'll need to make money no matter what. Even if I get accepted this year, I'll still need to get a job and work while I'm in a program. I would love to get a job that actually makes me feel fulfilled instead of like I'm doing meaningless work, but I don't know if I'll be able to find one. If you have any suggestions for great memory-creating experiences that will also pay me, I would love to hear them. :)
@ Klairkwilty: Thanks for posting about your SOP process, it was really nice to read. Everytime I've had to write an SOP, I've ended up completely scrapping the first one that I've spent days/weeks/months writing and starting over fresh after the first one got too trite. This year, I ended up writing about a fatal car accident I'd just seen. It was one of those things where once I'd witnessed this guy dying and I went back and read over my statement, it seemed ridiculous. So I incorporated what I was experiencing and thinking into my statement and reflections on this act of witnessing as it related to my writing. It might sound a little strange, but I figured it was sufficiently different from anything else they'd be reading. And even though I don't have any of the *big* acceptances, I've been waitlisted at Syracuse and Vanderbilt, so I feel like my approach couldn't have been too far off the mark.
@ K. Peaquah: I think a year can make a HUGE difference. Especially with writing. When I started this whole process in August, I focused entirely on my writing. Not studying for the GRE, not even much on revising old work. I thought about the kind of work I wanted to be doing in an MFA program, and I began to create poems based on some concepts that had been marinating in my head for years, but which I had put off delving into. I ended up with two completely new pieces and one piece which emerged from an old poem which I scrapped and kept just a couple of bones from to make it something entirely new. And at the end of it, I think that the three months I spent just creating new work was the best thing I could have done to improve my chances. If the motivation is there, a year can make all the difference in the world. My best friend had the same experience too. She applied during the '05 cycle, didn't get accepted anywhere, then took the next year to work more and had her pick in '06. She ended up fully funded from a great MFA program and has won awards and been published in some great journals.
Sorry today's not going so well. We've all been there. I did TFA and would def. recommend it, especially if you're looking to move somewhere totally new and try a job that not only can a monkey not do but a human barely can. And you can write allll summer. Like everything else an insane amount of people are applying so please don't feel too down if you don't get it - your Plan D sounds just fine. But if you make it to the interview stage let me know and I'd be happy to throw some thoughts your way.
Glad everyone liked puppy posting from other nite. =) Have there been any official rejections out of Iowa yet?? Does anyone else keep feeling like "This Is the Week" only to have MORE SILENCE?? Is next week the big week??? the more time that passes the more worried i am about getting 10 rejections all on the same day. i don't think i can handle that.....
Did anyone else apply to Virginia or Houston? I'm waiting on them. I suggest one of you call both programs and tell them to hurry up. (Not me, you do it.) Just say, "Hi, I was just calling to tell you @$$holes to hurry the hell up already." Make sure to leave your name so they know it wasn't me.
Kaybay- Good God, "early March" is dawning upon us, isn't it? Half my schools have already notified applicants, yet I've only heard back officially from one.
Thanks so much. Getting a job a human can barely do would be a nice contrast to my current job, haha. I'll find out on March 2 if I made it to the interview stage. Since it's so competitive I'm not holding out that much hope, especially since I have no "leadership" experience... I'm hoping my meager teaching experience (tutoring) MIGHT get me an interview, at least.
@ klairkwilty and cecil - I find myself agreeing with klair - it is totally a crapshoot. I think programs are looking for that special something, whatever it is that makes them want to read more.
I'd also like to throw a potentially controversial thought into the mix. Maybe the person who applied to Iowa seven years in a row just wasn't meant to go to Iowa. Perhaps it would have been more helpful for him or her to attend a different program with professors who really got what they were trying to do. I personally don't think that working and working and working to get into a school that kind of begrudgingly admits you after years and years is going to be worth it in the long run. Wow, that sounds harsh, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say.
I don't think there is anything wrong with applying several years in a row, but I don't quite understand wanting to only go to *one* school. That school may *never* be the right fit. Do klairkwilty's rejections (sorry to dredge his up) mean that Vanderbilt and Montana think he's a terrible writer? No. But Iowa read his sample and thought, "we can teach this person something, and we *want* to work with him." He's going to get a lot more out of a program like that, I'm just saying.
Seriously, though, no offense meant at all. I really admire people who keep applying year after year - I don't know that I'd have the stomach for it. I'm not trying to attack anyone, I'm just musing. Respond, but please don't take it personally.
@Laura T -- Cheer up! I think a lot of people would love to have your GPA, awards, and honors. I think you're destined to enter some MFA program at some point in your life. It may not be this year or next, but some day. Sometimes, it takes some failure in real life to gain some wisdom. Lorrie Moore wrote something about this in "How to Become a Writer":
"First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. President of the World. Fail miserably. ... This is the required pain and suffering."
@ amanda - just read this. I don't disagree that a year can make a huge difference, I really don't. I know my own writing has changed a lot in the past year. I think (and I'm still formulating this in my head) that my point is more about aesthetics. We can't control what an admissions committee will or won't like, and maybe they just don't like magical realism - for instance. Well, if that's what I write, then they're probably never going to pick me for their team. And it won't matter if I've polished those samples or written lots of brilliant new ones.
Seriously good on you for knuckling down and being so dedicated. I think *that* is the most important lesson we can take away. Hard work.
P.S. I swear I'm not a snipe, and I don't mean to sound argumentative. I just don't agree with the thought that working really, really hard will get us all into Iowa, for example.
not to veer too far off-topic, but i--like laura t.--am thinking about teach for america as a back-up plan. my only reservation is that it seems like it would take up all my time and i'd never be able to write. did you feel like tfa was your whole life when you did it, or did you have time for other stuff? how much free time, aside from the summers, would you say that you had?
Well, my mechanic has AGAIN failed to call me with my car ready when he was supposed to, so I'm spending my day drafting a Better Business Bureau complaint, and a terrible review to post on Yahoo, Google, Yelp and anywhere else that comes up when I search "Adria Motors Reviews"
I do believe that there's a program out there for everyone, and that place isn't necessarily Iowa, or Amherst, or Michigan (I don't get the Michigan draw anyway), or wherever. Who knows. Maybe I won't feel at home at Iowa. I know a friend of mine in particular who writes magical realism type stories. There are programs where he thinks he'd benefit more than others, because some faculty members (Arizona State, for instance) want to work with those who write in the fabulist vein. Hardcore realist that I am, I can't imagine going to a program where the teachers are fabulists. I'd want to hang myself. "Maybe you should sprinkle in a wee pit of fairy dust!" they'd suggest. And I'd run away, shouting, "get away you wizards! Return from whence you came, demon!"
Or something like that. I admire fabulists, so don't all you fabulists go taking this personally. Not everyone can be a wizard.
My boat is very similar to yours. Lived in the same house all my life, am feeling suffocated, can't take it anymore, etc.. These past two years have been the worst of my little life. My mom died and my already dysfunctional family has imploded. Things are very, very bad, and I HAVE to get out of here.
I know it's stupid of me to put so much hope into this crazy crap shoot MFA process, but I can't help it. Before I started haunting this blog, I figured that all of my blindly supportive friends were right: I HAD to get in somewhere. Now, I'm feeling nothing but pessimistic. Two rejections, seven schools yet to notify, and so much competition, it scares the crap out of me. I should have done more research, I should have had more people read my sample, I should have tried harder to make everything perfect, I should have should have should have...and the hilarious thing is, I KNEW I'd wind up feeling like this. I avoided this blog throughout the actual application process, because I didn't want to read what other people were doing and feel inadequate and intimidated. Now I wish I had, because I would have done a hundred million things different. Oh well, can't go back in time, unfortunately!
Sorry for the rant. March is almost here and I'm experiencing anticipatory grief. My favorite!!!
@ klairkwilty - hahahaha. I swear, swear, swear that this isn't meant as an attack, but I often find myself bored by straight-up realism. I lean more toward the wizardish vein. :-) You hate the fairy dust, but I love disappearances and metamorphosis and very funky weather. And if I went to a program where they wanted to strip out all those things - well, I would hate it.
There you go, the difference between the Iowa and Michigan aesthetic right there. :-)
just an idea for many of you recent grads in the 21-25 age range: if this doesn't pan out, and you want to teach, go get your masters in english lit...you can get a tenure track position at a community college which i would have to imagine is a million times better than teaching high school or lower, simply for the time factor...i've taught now at one community college and two universities and the excess time i have to work is, i would have to believe as i haven't taught h.s., much greater than those that teach h.s. summers are the same i suppose, but especially when school is in...and it would give an extra couple of years to write...just a thought
@ K. Peaquah: no worries, I'm not offended at all. I guess I just don't think it's only one or the other. It's hard work and it's luck and it's aesthetics. There are certainly some schools that we will never be right for. And I totally agree with what you said about the person who applied to Iowa 7 years in a row. Enough is enough. But I think that a person can improve their own work in a way that might make their personal aesthetic more appealing.
I also think that people's tastes change. There are authors I tried to read when I was 16 (Faulkner), 20 (Brigit Pegeen Kelly), etc. that when I picked them up again years later, something just clicked and I had a different frame of reference for what they were saying and how they were saying it. I think it's completely possible for that to happen with adcoms. Maybe when they read our work in 2009, it didn't click. But that doesn't mean it can't in 2011.
I'm not in quite the 21-25 age range, but I'm interested in what you're talking about. I've been lucky enough to have a lot of jobs in the arts, but I would like to be teaching.... not high schoolers. Can you tell me a little about your experience? I always think professor-ing jobs are realllly hard to come by, did you not find that true with community college? or with a english rather than writing degree?
(if you want to follow up not on blog I'm coreyann at gmail dot com)
I'm not in quite the 21-25 age range, but I'm interested in what you're talking about. I've been lucky enough to have a lot of jobs in the arts, but I would like to be teaching.... not high schoolers. Can you tell me a little about your experience? I always think professor-ing jobs are realllly hard to come by, did you not find that true with community college? or with a english rather than writing degree?
(if you want to follow up not on blog I'm coreyann at gmail dot com)
Do English Lit MA programs with full funding exist? It seems like you can only get funding or teaching assistantships if you're pursuing a PhD, but I also just don't know too much about this stuff. I appreciate your help.
@inkli__11 on the MA funding level - it depends on the school but master's scholarships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships are fairly common. The department website should tell you what's available and how competitive the funding is.
Just checked my UT status, and it had finally changed to denied. In the same blue box that used to just say they had all my materials. Not that I really expected to get in there, but I shouldn't have checked that in a public place (library cafe). Not fun to be asked "how are you" by acquaintances when you're really not up to saying "good."
@The Hobo -- No, I haven't yet, come to think of it. I should have noted that it was probably implied, or not said anything, as I've yet to hear a word. Guess I've come to my own conclusions already--funny how the brain works.
@Rosie and others -- With all due respect, I don't think the MFA should be a destination to escape from your current (bad) situation. It should be a place that you enter at "just the right time" where you are ready to take your writing to the next level.
I also don't think it should be a place people go to because they have nothing better lined up or because they don't have a job anymore or anything like that. Furthermore, it shouldn't be a place for accomplished writers or those who want it simply because they want "Iowa" (or "Cornell" or "Michigan" or "Texas") on their resumes to further their career. Lastly, I roll my eyes when someone with an MFA from, say, Podalunk College, elects to get another MFA from, say, Iowa. It's whack, I tell you, whack!
I know the above opinion may be somewhat controversial, but that's how I feel. But I speak in generalities. I don't know your specific life situation and your development as a writer.
Follow this flowchart:
1. Write some short stories. 2. Ask yourself, do I really want to be a writer? 3. If your answer to question #2 above is "yes," then goto step #4. If "no," goto step #13. 4. Ask yourself, did I exhaust all of my current resources such that I now believe the MFA is the only alternative? 5. If your answer to question #4 above is "yes," goto step #8. If "no," goto step #6. 6. Take advantage of current resources. 7. Goto step #1. 8. Ask yourself, is my life a mess? 9. If your answer to question #8 is "yes," goto step #10. If "no," goto step #12. 10. Straighten out your life. 11. Goto step #1. 12. Apply to MFA programs. 13. End.
(I really should draw a detailed flow chart on this decision-making process.)
Again, as I said before, this is an abstract post. I don't know you or your actual real life situation. It may be that you do your best writing when you're miserable and your life is falling apart. (Hence, the stereotype of writers as drunks, wife beaters, and druggies) I don't know.
i didn't pay a dime for my masters and i worked in the writing lab for pay (not much, but it was pay!) my first 3 semesters and taught a developmental english my final semester...i did have an additional job waiting tables on some nights and weekends to help pay rent and stuff, but overall it was a great experience...i also took workshop classes...i actually took more classes than i needed, but that was actually in order to take the workshops... i'll be honest, i got supremely lucky with work...a couple of months after i graduated (if even that long), the director of my program called me with an opportunity to go teach fulltime at grambling state, which isn't very far from where i live, so it just fell into my lap...but, i will say community colleges all over the country are constantly looking, at the very least for adjunct instructors, which is a great way to ease in to the college environment...
Thank you so much... Reading your comment really did make me feel better. I read "How to Become a Writer" a while ago, and liked it, but thought, "I don't want to be an astronaut, or a missionary, or a kindergarten teacher, or a movie star! I just want to be a writer! Now? Please?" But thank you for saying you think I'll end up in an MFA program eventually. I'm just so impatient to start doing what I want as soon as possible!
@ Rosie,
I'm so sorry about your mom and your house being such an awful place to live right now. I really hope that you will be accepted this year.
I've been doing the same thing with the "should haves" -- should have applied to 20 schools, not just 12, should have done more research, should have changed the line breaks in that poem...
We just have to hold out hope for the rest of our schools, and remember that there are still a LOT of them.
@ LASwede,
A master's in English is probably my plan... E? haha. Either that or a master's in education and teach high school. I do really want to teach. Just not sure about the English MA, even though my undergrad degree is in English. Too mush theory/criticism inevitably makes me glaze over with boredom, and friends of mine in English MA/PhD programs say that's pretty much all it is. Maybe not the same everywhere, though.
I really appreciate your chart! I've actually been out of school for five years and have been struggling with the decision to apply. When I made the decision I wanted it to happen immediately. And I know that it's entirely possible to be published without the MFA and that having it does not guarantee success - commercial or otherwise. But at this point in my life it just feels like the right step.
Not that you were singling out any one of us. But your "test" is definitely a good indication of where you should go next. :)
@The Hobo -- Sorry, posted under the wrong account. I changed my name a while back to distance myself from some comments made by someone else.
No, I haven't heard from Michigan yet, come to think of it. I should have noted that the rejection was probably implied, or not said anything, as I've yet to hear a word. Guess I've come to my own conclusions already--funny how the brain works.
I can't speak for others but I myself can't function or think straight in an academic environment when I've got real life problems to deal with. And I personally would rather deal with it and resolve it before moving on to grad school.
yeah, you know, the theory/crit. part, eh...you just gotta take the good with the bad...i would have to believe most programs have a wide range of 'focus' areas so you wouldn't have to take too many of those, but i definitely feel you on those... if anything, taking that route exposed me to several writers i may have neglected otherwise...and i'm a big fucking nerd who likes school, so i dug it... one more thing...i was able to really key in to what i liked (modernist writers for me, esp. faulkner (i am from the south!) and joyce, but also c. mccarthy, a modernist at heart! for example...) and also what liked me, i.e. what my writing strengths are...so that really helped, though with 0 acceptances, maybe i'm blowing air up your skirts!!!
I find your flowchart a great way to be introspective.
However, I don't think you need to have your life straightened or figured out to be prepared to apply and hopefully attend a MFA program.
If anyone waited until their lives were straightened before going after their dreams, then there might be no dream-chasing in this world.
In fact, what great writers have straightened out lives?
@Rosie
I'm sorry life has been so hard the past couple years. :( I actually can share a lot of similar feelings regarding my past two years.
I would encourage you to definitely take a risk and make a change for yourself. I hope that the MFA is the right step for doing that for you. I would say though that from lots of peers, it is a grueling process. It may free you from your current hell but it will introduce you to a brand new hell if it isn't what you truly desire, specifically.
I don't at all question your motivations but I am instead hopeful for you and hope that all your efforts are fruitful and worthwhile to you as an individual in pursuing whatever you feel deep-down you are meant for.
I'm just the opposite -- academia is kind of like a refuge from any problems that come up. It's an environment that I love, that I love devoting myself to, and when I can put all of my energy into it, it's a great way to pull myself out of a problem.
I also liked your flowchart. I wouldn't say that my life is a mess right now and an MFA is my escape from the mess. Just that, being about to graduate from college, I need a next step, and the MFA is the step that I REALLY want to be next. Not because I have nothing better to do, but because I really want it. Having nothing else to do is the worry that I fall into when wondering if I'll be accepted anywhere.
I guess I am really just an obsessive planner. I need to know, "I'm doing this, then this, then this," or else my life will turn into one huge panic attack. Wait, my life already is one huge panic attack...
Aside from summers, TFA definitely take up all your time. Like, 80-100 hours a week, plus you're taking classes in the evening toward an M.A.T. (unless you already have a teaching certificate from undergrad.) Now, my time management wasn't the best, and I guess theoretically you can always find time - I could have cut out my six hours a week at the gym and written instead? - but it leaves you so mentally drained it would be difficult to write. You can read and write all summer though!
That was scrumtrulescent. (Old Inside the Actor's Studio on SNL? Anybody?)
@Laura T
Your circumstances are a mirror image of my own two years ago, minus the applying for MFAs. I was graduating and thought that I would have "nothing" if I wasn't doing well academically- that had always been my world. And, to be honest, it's been a rough two years. But, I think it's important to take time away from the world of academia, so if that happens to you this year, it will be scary, but okay. You will learn a lot. Also, because I've had time away from school, I am SO excited to get back into it! I have an unexpected new enthusiasm and excitement for grad school that I didn't have two years ago. You will be okay! Plus, it's still so early- you could still get accepted and all of this will become moot.
@ Courtney
I was waitlisted at Oregon State for fiction. The email said they had only six spots and had made all of those offers, but I don't know if they're finished notifying waitlisters. Good luck!
Re. Colorado State, I don't have the official word, but my guess (and it's just my guess) is that Acceptance letters may be out. But I don't really know beyond my own situation. I wish I could elaborate but I can't. The reason why I think they may stagger the Acceptance letters is that I believe some applicants are going through background checks for GTA positions. I was cleared of all wrong-doing last week. Again, this is just a guess.
re: academia as an escape. the economy sucks. this week, the weather also sucks (here, at least). some people have sucky lives.
there are worse escapes than spending a few years in your imagination writing with a bunch of poor grad students and swilling too much coffee at dingy cafes.
my plan B was heroin addiction. MFA still seems a better option, at least this week. :-/
Woon, how were you notified of your unofficial acceptance? You also had previously received a GNE from Colorado State, no? Were they notifying everyone for whom they were conducting background checks?
My gosh! Whoever has info on Fort Collins and CSU (I know there were quite a few of you), please identify yourselves. My plan is to bug you in the coming weeks.
@weightswithwords -- re. CSU. I sort of suspected I was admitted as early as 2/11/10. They sent me an email informing me that the English Dept sent my name as a GTA candidate to the school's Human Resources Dept for a background check. (This is the first year they instituted background checks.) I immediately thought, "if I'm a candidate for a GTA, then I must have been admitted into the MFA program." After all, why waste time/energy/money doing background checks on applicants who'll be rejected, right?
A subsequent email came a few days later and I filled out the form. Over a week passed. Nothing. So, I contacted the lady in Human Resources, who referred me to a faculty member in the English Dept. She confirmed both my clearance and my acceptance. The Acceptance letter will arrive in snail mail form sometime soon.
I am NOT suggesting that applicants who have not received background check emails will NOT be admitted. I believe they do background checks only for those who are under consideration for GTAs. Also, they may be staggering it, for whatever reason, but I don't know. Seriously, I don't know the whole background check process and how it's integrated into their MFA admissions procedure. I can take an intelligent guess, but that's all it'll be -- a guess.
Congrats again, Woon! I'm stoked for you. Was liking the idea of CSU, myself. Let me ask you, had you filled out the GTA application when you turned in your application for admission? What was the HR form of which you speak? Apologies for pestering. Rock on, dude..
Thanks... It really is scary, not knowing if I'll be able to continue along in academia this year like I've planned... I know that seeing the world outside of academia would be a valuable experience, but I'm thinking, "not yet, please? Can I experience the non-academic world, say, between the MFA and PhD, maybe?"
ditto on wanting mccann or englander to give me a ring. unlimited minutes guys! or how about unlimited texts!... would it kill you to at least leave me a facebook comment! sheesh.
... and in the divine cosmos going wonky today ... after 2 years of looking for a new job, with no luck, it seems i'm now shortlisted for a job in my dream city.
sigh. i am starting to resign myself to a rejection from them. the silence of this week is kind of killing me. (i say this now, but i am certain when the rejections start rolling in i will be grasping frantically for this week of calm)
in other news, i think you and i have a lot of similar programs we've applied to, yea?
@LAswede - Funny, I dated a girl in college (who was from LA) who flipped out at the word moist. Wonder if it's the same girl. Her best friend laughed every time she heard the word "wretch."
Y'all, help me out. I have basically figured out what a GNE is (and - if I'm right - have received one) but WHAT DOES IT STAND FOR? I feel so out of the loop.
Also, waiting to hear from Vanderbilt, UNCG and Oregon. Rejected from Madison. My nerves are shot.
to weigh in on the "moist" convo--I remember reading somewhere that many words with the "oi" sound gross people out more than others, i.e. "moist" and "ointment."
peeve words:
"disconcerning" (not disconcerting), disinterested (instead of uninterested, or vice versa), sexually active, denied, and rejected.
Oh! Another pet peeve. How people where I live tend to tag an "'s" on the end of all business names. I guess because so many businesses around here do end in "'s" (like privately owned stores named after their owners). But still. "Stop and Shop's." "Olive Garden's." "Best Buy's." No!
A. Astur A., "expresso" bothers me too. And your/you're, ugh.
My biggest pet peeve (aside from the term itself) is when people say things like "email seth or I," or worse, come to "lucy and I's party." it really really really kills me. these are educated people! with good jobs in communications and I hear this and see this all the time! argh!
@Chrissy -- GNE (Good News Email) is NOT a GNE if it contains an offer of acceptance. It can contain a lot of nice little things, but not an acceptance. That's crucial to a GNE.
@Woon I would imagine that "Accepted" is the point where you are given and offer, and "Admitted" would be the point where all the proper documents are signed and you are officially enrolled.
Along those lines, a girl who was a writer at the company I edited for (and was one of the holier-than-thou type lit people, very insistent that the ONLY writer in the world worth a damn is Nabokov) would always write "as appose to" in her courses. And every time, I would change it and put a little note in there about how it should be written "as opposed to," that "appose" was not actually the correct word here. To no avail of course.
The GNP/GNL (Good News Phonecall and Good News Letter) are mostly mythical, as phonecalls or snail mail letters are usually made to indicate acceptance, and an acceptance is something else entirely.
Even if one were to follow up a GNE with a phonecall, that still wouldn't be a GNP, because the good news (GN) would already have been disclosed via email.
Essentially GNE, as I think most of us intend to use it, refers to an email from a school you applied to that is encouraging, but is not an offer of admission.
Congrats Woon and Happy and all other acceptances/waitlists!
@Pencore - It does kind of feel like there are a lot of McNeese wait listers, especially since they all seem to be on this board?? Oh well, congrats to us all!
@everyone - this is kind of in response to the down and out feeling today. I'm actually kind of excited to apply again next year, if that's what happens. I will not be applying to Iowa or Cornell or Michener, I will have probably 10-15 schools like Ohio State and Florida. It's not just because the "chances" are better, it's because I wasted half of my list on schools that I have no chance of getting into and I don't want to do that again. I think a second go-around will be a much easier and smoother experience.
On a side note, I'm still totally freaked out about next week. I will probably be a combination of totally depressed, totally resigned, and maybe (hopefully!) elated. I will be crazy :*(
re: Life issues that we should address before entering MFA programs (because MFA programs aren't like magic and will fix everything).
I haven't been laid in two years (I'm a woman, btw). I lived in a Muslim country for 18 months of it, have been home in the states for 6 months (and refuse to just sack any random dude).
Maybe if I get laid, I can clear my Qi and unblock the pathway to my success.
Then Sam Chang can call me and we can talk about home-made challah.
You know what my pet peeve is as a teacher, when a student asks "what are we doing today?" I'm not even joking today I was asked that over 20 times. You know that little feeling you get when you just might lose your temper, that's what the 20th time I heard that did to me...
OMG yes! How could I forget! When I'm coaching cross country, my runners always ask, "what are we doing today?" I always answer, "Running". It gets under my skin particularly because I supply each of my runners with a monthly calendar of EXACTLY what we're doing. I mean all they have to do is look at the calendar.
And then in the classroom, even though there's an entire wall with the day's plans, they still ask the same question. What are we doing today!? What are we doing today? What are we doing today!?
Answering this question has led to the perfection of my Death Stare.
YES!! That's just it!! I put a freaking Word document on Edline at the beginning of the week detailing EXACTLY what we're doing each day and they still ask that question, even at the end of the day when they could've asked another person in their grade level!!! Also, my students have a test tomorrow that we have been reviewing for, for the last two days, and one of my students came up to me and seriously asked "wait, we have a test tomorrow?" Oh my God, so hard to keep my cool sometimes... lol
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Fair enough.
NM
@Seth
I'm a little behind, seeing as your post was MANY comments ago. But here is my list.
I applied in FICTION:
U of Oregon
U of Florida
U of Houston
Notre Dame
U of Alabama
Virginia Tech
Georgia College & State
Georgia State
Vanderbilt
Purdue
Arizona State
UNC-Greensboro
No word from any program thus far. Assumed rejection from Alabama, Vanderbilt, and VTech.
At long last, I have been denied from Amherst.
Bit of a relief actually; now I can cross it out and stop checking the damn status page.
@Jasmine I wish Iowa too sent out their denial letters or emails would help me get up and move on...
Aha! Amherst finally updated... with a denied for me. I am so glad I can cross that off my list.
@cb - So you're two-for-two now, correct? You only applied to Wyoming and Montana, right? And have already been accepted to Wyoming? You are such a f*cking badass!!! CONGRATS! Special congratulations on Montana -- I've heard they have a lot of Emmas there, so it sounds like the more party option of your two choices.
@Noono - I wanted to respond (super late) to your comment from yesterday morning, about your deluding yourself about your level of talent. I think it's a mistake to accept this process as a commentary on your level of talent. If you're like Arna and you get into (literally) every program to which you have applied, no matter how small their admission list or how high their selectivity, then that says talent, to me. But for the rest of us, I think talent is a smaller part of the equation than chance. Because there are so many equally talented writers who have spent equal amounts of time polishing their samples, admission is going to come down to chance factors, like: who reads you, on what day, what does the rest of the applicant pool look like, how does your work fit in with the program's previous selections. I may be wrong, but I don't even think the main acceptance criteria is how much promise is there in this work?, but more like how much could this program give to this writer's development?
If you get locked out this year, then that gives you the opportunity to do some good reading and writing, to then put together a sample that might connect with more readers -- so that you can come back strong next year like some of this year's Iowa acceptees, who were locked out last year.
However, getting locked out doesn't mean you aren't talented. It just means that your sample didn't land in front of the right readers at the right time. The same readers who denied you admission might have selected you, based on the same sample, if (for example) the character of the cohort they were selecting that year was just a wee bit different.
Also, maybe it isn't so much the quality of what you may have submitted this year but, rather, the character of it. While I was afraid that I might have to re-apply next year, my first thought was that next year, I'll send a more confident sample, with more experimental pieces. Maybe, when we apply for the first time, our instinct is to play it safe and send what we believe teachers want to read. So maybe we end up sending samples that, while good, aren't as interest provoking as they need to be. Maybe this is a mistake that second-time applicants have learned to avoid.
Obviously, this is all conjecture on my part! But this guess is based on having exhaustively read the major MFA fora for three years and on having read some insider pieces by MFA adcom readers. Still, I could be wrong. But I think you're being too hard on yourself -- and for totally the wrong reasons.
Uh... guys. I'm confused. So I checked my LSU app status and under email they gave me an LSU email... not my real email address.
Is this happening with other LSU applicants too? Should I give them a call to correct this?
@Mila - That's how LSU does it. That lsu.edu email address is set to be forwarded to your actual email address. From their confirmation email:
E-mail addressed to your PAWS account (***@lsu.edu ) will be
forwarded to ***@***.com.
LSU will maintain contact with you through e-mail so it is important that your registered e-mail address be in working order. If you have spam/junk mail filters set at ***@***.com, be sure to allow delivery of messages addressed to ***@lsu.edu.
@Wrecking Light
You can set all mails to that assigned address to be forwarded to your normal email account. Log in. Click Personal Preferences on the left. Then click Directory Information. There you can set a forwarding emai.
Oops, meant @Mila. Scrolled too fast.
Thanks Daniel & Trilbe! Sheesh.. I gave myself an unnecessary heart attack.
Anxiously waiting for Monday to come.
Nefrettiti
I pretty much wish all the schools I know I haven't gotten into would respond already. It would be easier on us, I think, to get rejections soon after acceptances rather than weeks later.
Fiction:
McNeese (waitlisted!)
NYU
Queens
SFSU
UCSD (nope)
UM St. Louis
Univ of SC
UVA
V Tech (assumed rejection)
Can we get a count of VTech acceptances/waitlists?
I had an interview with them a while ago, which they seemed to respond very positively to, and I haven't heard back since.
Really fighting the urge to clog their inbox with another frantic "WHATS UP GUYS AM I IN OR NOT?" which I'm sure there are plenty of already.
@Courtney
Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Oregon State's waitlist. Good luck!
@trilbe: have i mentioned that you are one of my absolute favorites? because you are, and your encouraging words really lift my mood.
Have we heard anything about the waiting list at McNeese for poetry?
Re: GNEs
My dad burst my GNE bubble by reminding me that in high school, my friend was given verbal confirmation of her acceptance at a fancy college for bass performance, but received a rejection letter in the mail some time later. He also thinks the schools are evaluating our responses to the GNEs to decide who to let in for realz. I'm not sure it's like that, but I am trying to cool myself down about the whole thing in light of the questions raised about the practice of sending out GNEs. I'm wondering if it's possible for those of us with GNEs to just regroup them with the schools which haven't yet notified instead of thinking we could hear from them with an acceptance at any moment. Treat it like any other potential acceptance/rejection. I'm going to try.
Long time lurker just wanting to pop up for a question and to congratulate all those with acceptances and even wait-lists! :)
To those of you officially accepted by Iowa, has your status on your Hawk ID (Admissions Profile) page changed to 'Accepted' yet? Just curious. Again, congrats to all.
New mailbag!
@pudgeybunny--
My Isis still says "In Progress" and I found out I was accepted Friday.
@ Danielle
Thanks. I kinda figured they weren't the type to let the cat out of the bag that way. lol
so...any brown or nyu news?
@scomp I don't think anyone can expect to hear from Brown (or Columbiaaaaaa) for another week, short of a stray GNE or GNP. Le sigh.
I just know I'm going to be waiting forever since I also applied to BU...
@hilary
oy. well, at least i have the health care summit. gobama.
@WreckingLight, thanks for your insights into Oxford. I don't know what happened to your comments, did you take them down? Anyway, it was all helpful. I did already apply and should know by the 12th of March, their second deadline. However, I just looked at the site again and noticed that they do typically do interviews and since I haven't yet been contacted that might not bode well for me.
Kellogg College is the one they told me to choose. I think the course structure looks good, but I'm concerned that you weren't impressed with the students. Any other impressions you could share?
Also, since you are obviously a Brit, and have been accepted at Iowa (fiction or poetry?), and by the way, congratulations, really, wonderful congratulations on that...how does an Mst compare to say an MA or MFA here? Thanks so much for your help.
@scomp, word.
Posted Feb 22 by RugbyToy:
OK, so, Brown Update/Rumor Confirmation:
I did talk to the good people at the LitArts program and they did confirm they are "close" to making their decisions and that those decisions do have to be confirmed by the grad program, which might take another week. So, they're saying decisions should be out in two weeks or so. Notifications (possibly just the rejections) will be made by email--they'll send an online status check address, which will allow hopefuls to log in and see their statuses. Until then, Brown can give out NO INFO either way.
@Lydia
i wish i'd applied to ucsd; i would have if i'd known about it. they have rae armantrout and sunny, sunny weather. i'm in poetry though - i don't know anything about their fiction faculty.
on UCSD and other UCs
I was rejected from UCSD and was also impressed by their poetry faculty.
By the way - I am a CA native and currently live in NYC.
However, there is a UC clause that if you graduated from a CA high school (and were enrolled at least 3 years), you are eligible for in-state tuition, even if you currently live out-of-state.
Oh UCSD! My one good CA option! I was looking forward to escaping snow and humidity.
I am also waiting on Brown and NYU. GO BROWN!!
duchess,
I'm also a CA native living in NYC. Rae Armantrout, why do you not love me enough to save me from the snow?
(Here's to NYU and Brown, for both of us, and newer, warmer puffy coats, for both of us)
Officially rejected from Syracuse via email...
@morgan
LOL - what's up with that Rae?
I continue to resist buying the puffy-sleeping-bag-as-a-coat, although they do look quite cozy.
Good luck to you as well!!
UCSD:
I went to UCSD for undergraduate studies. Majoring in "Literature/Writing" (that's what the combined creative writing-literature studying major is called at UCSD) allowed me to study with most if not all of the professors that teach in the Masters program. The MFA at UCSD is crazzzy new. I graduated from UCSD in 2007 and, if I remember correctly, it was not until fall 2009 that they were to offer the MFA program.
UCSD has a wonderful faculty. Rae Armantrout (who I recently found out won a Guggenheim fellowship in 2008) is both a wonderful poet and a willing teacher. My focus has always been more on fiction and experimental writing so I can speak more to those faculty members actually.
Sarah Bynum, director of the program, is fabulous. Seriously fabulous. Everything about her makes me happy. Screw Sam Chang's bread; Bynum rocks. (Ok well Sam Chang's bread rocks too but whatevs) She is completely invested in the success of her students and she is kind but firm in her criticism. On top of it, she's a great writer to boot! (read: Madeleine is Sleeping)
On top of that, Anna Joy Springer has a captivating hold on both her use of words and her students. She, during my undergrad years, was known for having the most groupies in the Lit dept. It was hard to not love AJ because she made you work hard, didn't put up with shit, and did all of it while nurturing your talent and opening your eyes to some crazy new horizons.
During my tenure, Ali Liebegott, Chris Kraus, and Sawako Nakayasu were all multiple-quarter visiting professors (Ali wasn't visiting exactly but she no longer teaches full-time at UCSD and only acts as a visiting prof now). In fact, surprisingly, I worked most with these three. There are not enough positive things that can be said about them.
The faculty at UCSD really strives to make the writing process and the workshopping experience positive, productive, and useful.
I didn't end up applying to UCSD for two reasons. First I felt like it was time for a new experience. I love San Diego. My entire beginnings of adulthood and growing up were spent down there, learning, surfing and just plain figuring stuff out. I think in some ways though, going back would be like trying to relive something that should fondly stay in the past. The second, and more practical, reason is that all of my letters of recs for applying came from profs in that program. It seemed kind of awkward and random.
But whoever applied there and is waiting on a response, I have the best hopes and most sincere well wishes for you! I'm sure they're still ironing out some of the kinks but if there were any people to be with during kink-ironing sessions, I'd pick them.
p.s. The sun and surf don't hurt. :)
got a GNE today. it was just really, really relieving that someone reached out to tell me they liked my sample, even if i'm not officially in. i have all of these images in my head of tweed-clad, spectacled persons guffawing over my writing sample.
@ the duchess: you're sure that UC in-state clause is still in effect? all i know is tuition is up and funding is down, as uc is super effing bankrupt. anyway, i hope it is, for your sake. dude. it's like 25 degrees here. why didn't i apply to san diego?
@ Trilbe - re: samples and such. I totally agree. A lot of these schools take such a small number of people that they probably spend quite a bit of time organizing the unquantifiable "fit." Absolutely no offense meant to Klairkwilty, but this is his second year applying to Iowa - I can't imagine that his sample last year was so awful that it didn't deserve consideration. Maybe it was on the cusp, maybe he made the wait list - I have no idea. I'm sure he changed things up this year, but I can't imagine he'd say that he totally re-vamped his style. Jump in here k if you disagree.
I think there's also a lot to be said for taking chances in applications. It's really scary, and it might not go over well - but I'm glad I sent my second, strange story to 6 of the 8 schools (Michigan being one). They're reading hundreds and hundreds of applications, and I think we all want to be the author of the story that they hold up and say, "well, this is different."
I like this discussion, and just wanted to chime in before the comments swept it away. All of this to say - this is not a reflection of anyone's talent. I think it indicates that the school thinks they can help us get better - not all schools can say that for every "good" applicant. I didn't apply to Brown because I don't think I'd be the best fit for super experimental pieces. Would one of you be an amazing fit? Absolutely!
Here's my list. Seth, you're the man. Props for all your efforts!
Fiction:
Wyoming - rejected
Syracuse - rejected
UMass Amherst - rejected
Wisconsin - rejected
Michigan - rejected
Hunter - starting to wonder
Iowa
Arizona State
Colorado State
Brooklyn
UC Irvine
Brown
Oregon
Portland State
Thankfully I'm in at the New School with a deferment from last year. Curious to see what falls into place otherwise this season.
@mj
yep - I wonder how long it will last.
scroll down to third to last bullet -
http://www.ucsd.edu/current-students/finances/fees/residence/exemptions.html
http://www.ucop.edu/news/archives/2002/ab540qa.htm
undergrad fees skyrocketed recently, but grad fees have not been affected to the same degree I think.
however, I didn't get accepted, so it's all for naught. but maybe next year I will apply again, if I can muster the faith. great post, miss private eye!
and congrats on your GNE mj.
Officially DENIED from Amherst today via the online status. This one hurts more than the Syracuse rejection because it was higher up on my list. :/
But! Going along with my attempt to find good things about rejections... One of my recommenders said he felt like Amherst was not as good a fit for me as some of the others programs I applied to. And... um... one time I went to a movie theatre in Amherst and the people who worked there seemed kind of rude.
And who really wants to live in Emily Dickinson's hometown, anyway? *cries*
I'm so late to the game with this blog, but am really glad I've found it! It's encouraging to know I'm not the only crazy person out there. I decided at the very end of last year to go for an MFA and applied/am applying to two low-res programs with spring deadlines (Fairleigh Dickinson and Wilkes University). My FDU application went out last week and after re-reading what I sent (we're all obsessive like that, right?) I saw glaringly obvious typos (one missing period, one missing verb, and many overused commas (a personal vice). Thought about withdrawing my application from consideration just for that. But as I'm only applying to two, I'm not getting my hopes up and will use the experience to work harder over the summer and fall and apply to more programs.
Congrats to everyone with good news! This is a great place and I'm anxiously waiting for responses for everyone else.
Curious: Is there anyone here who hasn't heard ANYTHING from ANYONE?
Applied to ten schools (some of you have heard back from them) and both my phone and in-box are silent. WTF?
@ Peaquah
No offense taken. Actually, I agree with you. One year isn't very long for one to improve his or her writing. Although, I do have to say, the two stories I submitted last year cause me to shudder. I chose stories that I liked, not stories that showcased my best writing. That was one mistake. Last year's personal statement lacked spirit, which I think was another fault.
This year I also submitted two stories, two different stories, one old, one new. The old one got me in. I dug out one of the first short stories I'd ever written and completely revised it in one day. Rewrote the entire thing. I revised the story at Starbucks in about 3 hours and dropped it in the mail. This was on January 31st, if I remember correctly. Everything except my personal statement was so last minute.
Something I'd like to add... I don't know whether this means anything, but I when I wrote my personal statement, I wrote to Sam Chang. I think it helps when you have a particular person in mind. And I was just brutally honest and vulnerable. I think it's important to tell the truth when you write personal statements. They reflect who you are on a personal level, how you think, what you feel, your essence. I think directors appreciate that. It's important to gloss over your experience and qualifications and whatever, but I honestly don't think they care about any of that. They want to know who it is they're admitting to their program, and credentials are not who you are. They're merely proofs of your existence, like a driver's license or a worn shoe or a favorite mug. What directors are looking for, I think, is a fingerprint. And that's what the personal statement is.
But then again, I could be completely off, because I've now received three rejections (in addition to 7 I received last year). So what do I know?
@V
I was in the same boat until a couple of days ago. I got the first rejection letter and while the waiting did suck, I wish that I could go back to where you are.
Also: Montana can suck it. They dissed me twice now. I hope they all get hiccups that never go away.
@v.
I too have heard nothing. 11 schools and nothing but crickets...but plenty of assumed rejections :)
@DFW1986
I'm at George Mason, and while I have no current info at all about where they are in the fiction admission process, I can tell you that last year I was accepted in a "second wave" that came after the initial acceptances posted on this board. Also I wasn't called like some of the first people to get in were--my acceptance came in the good old USPS mail. So hang in there and don't forget to check your mailbox.
Love the program, btw.
@ klairkwilty - I really liked your thoughts on the SOP. In re-reading mine I wish it had been, well, more personal. In contrast, the additional "personal statement" I sent to Michigan and the "autobiographical statement" I sent to Irvine sound a lot more like me. They're honest, and more intense, and I wish I could go back and re-craft my SOP along those lines. I think your whole SOP post is full of advice that will help out future candidates.
A few weeks ago I was wondering if I would re-apply next year, and like you I wondered if a year would really make that much difference in my writing. In fact, I had already resolved to wait at least two years to re-apply. I mean, if the admissions committee didn't like my story about a buffalo herd disappearing, they're probably not going to like the one about a herd of horses disappearing, right? :-) (Kidding - only the buffalo one is real.)
Seriously, though, major congrats on Iowa. That is fantastic. I think it's really interesting to hear people's stories about how they got to where they are and thoughts in general on writing/acceptance/submissions. I hope you feel proud of your revision and accomplishment!
@ others - do you feel like a year would really make that much difference? (An honest question.)
ok break for a second
i'm going to cast the movie version of the health care summit; here goes:
barack obama - zac efron (of course)
kathleen sebelius - glenn close
joe biden - john malkovich
john boehner - greg kinnear (think about it)
eric cantor - william finchtner
john mccain - a cg humpty dumpty
ok this was a failed experiment
I write poetry, but I loved this.
"Ten Rules for Writing Fiction" from various authors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one
@ Laura T
Sorry to hear about your official rejection from UMass. I'm curious though about what your recommender may have said about the program not being such a great fit. Did he/she have a horror story, or something along those lines? Or was it simply a style-type thing?
Thanks!
klaikwilty & peaquah,
i believe an additional year of writing makes a huuuge difference. many MFA students make it into schools after two or three attempts. finding good readers is key.
i hung out in iowa this past summer and met many current and former IWW students. one girl said she applied to iowa SEVEN times before being accepted. seven years of this nervous obsessive anxiety. and for some reason this year the number of applicants across the world has sprung through the roof. there's probably professional/established writers out there applying for MFAs in order to find a job teaching.
Blah, I'm feeling really down today. Probably because I was DENIED by Amherst. My main fear comes from just the fact that I need to get out of where I live, do something new and exciting. Being one of the younger applicants, people tell me it must be great to have my whole life ahead of me and everything open... what it is, is TERRIFYING.
I've lived in the same house for most of my life, the same (tiny, tiny) state for my whole life, have never moved away or done something unfamiliar and new, and I am dying to. Grad school is my "ticket out." School is what I throw my whole self into. Other than that, all I have is a crappy job a monkey could probably do, which I have wanted to quit for years. I'm graduating from college with a high GPA and honors and awards, but what does that matter with no real work experience if I have to find a job? And if I don't get accepted and can't find a job, what will I do? Just be stuck here? The thought of staying here for another year makes me feel like I can't breathe.
I've been devising as many backup plans as I can think of:
Plan A: MFA program
Plan B: Teach for America
Plan C: City Year / another Americorps program
Plan D: Move somewhere new and find a job
And thinking, what if I get rejected from EVERYTHING? 12 schools and my Plan B and C and D? I can't even apply to Plan C and D once I know what's going on with the first couple of plans.
So, that's just the spiral my mind's been going down today. I'm sorry, I needed to put it out there somewhere.
Here's my list - thanks for all your work, Seth!
For Fiction:
Naropa full-res: accepted
Michener: "denied"
Vanderbilt: assumed rejection
Alabama: assumed rejection?
CSU (not sure about this one either)
Montana (or this one yet)
NYU
Columbia
Iowa (?)
Penn State
UVA
Florida
Jesus, I applied to a lot of top-tier schools. Naropa's probably my top choice, as even if I got into school in NYC by some miracle I doubt there's any way I could afford it, Naropa itself will probably be a stretch...but hopefully I will get good aid as I have declared myself "independent" on the FAFSA. I know my parents are hoping for me to get into a fully-funded place, but honestly at this point, Naropa seems like the place for me.
Part of me still wants the rush of getting that special phone call again!! Once you get it the first time you just craaaaave it again. Aaahhh. Can't be greedy though. :P
Thanks Jennifer,
I've been waiting here thinking any minute now I'm going to get a call from George Mason... Not the school, the person. Here's how I imagined the conversation going:
GM: Hey Eric, this is George Mason, one of the fathers of the Bill of Rights.
Me: Weird, but alright, I'll bite. What's good, homeboy?
GM: I just wanted to tell you I really loved your writing sample. It was thought provoking and morally complex without being overly didactic. And all while still managing to be thoroughly entertaining. Touche, my boy, touche.
Me: Thanks, a lot George. It's really great to finally hear that someone gets my eff...
GM: Just kidding, tool (hangs up).
Me: Damn you George Masooooooon!
@ Brad Smith,
No, he didn't have a horror story, don't worry! He's met some of the faculty members a few times (I forgot exactly who though, I'm sorry), and read their work, and didn't say anything bad about them specifically. More like, he just thought I had quite a different aesthetic from that of the faculty, and maybe it would work out fine, but maybe it would end up being frustrating.
But I applied anyway because my main consideration when applying was location -- wanting to stay in the northeast. And obviously UMass Amherst is one of the best MFA programs in the northeast. Maybe I really did get rejected because my work didn't "fit" with the program, though.
Fiction list:
Arizona
Brooklyn
Brown
Boston
Hollins
Hunter
Johns Hopkins
McNeese—Waitlist
New School
Sarah Lawrence
Syracuse—Denied
UGA
Umass-Amherst—Denied
UVA
Washington-Seattle
Vanderbilt
Congrats to all for making it through this far...it’s not even March yet!
On the subject of GNEs, I got rejected from a certain southern university in 2008, despite e-mails from them saying I was in the final stage, that there were three applicants left for two positions, etc. etc. A round of e-mails followed, and I was subsequently rejected. Major dick move.
So I just had a chat with the director of this MFA about my application status this year, and I've been rejected again, this time on the hinted basis that I was too strong / couldn't be taught anything. Well that's great, if it isn't puff-wording, but I get annoyed at this, as I did actually apply for a reason, and the idea that I can't be taught anything is ridiculous.
He asked me where I'd been accepted to already - I said, "Iowa". He went, "Oh, yes, we have a history of doing things like this".
Great. Five stars.
@Laura
From your post, it sounds like Plan D--moving somewhere new and getting a job--would be a pretty sweet Plan A. Chances are, if it happens, you'll look back and agree.
@Laura
I'm in the same boat as you with backup plans, almost to the letter. Here's to us.
@Laura T
Don't feel down! I am going through a pretty similar thing. I went out of state for undergrad and moved out of state to work, but never far from the watchful eye of very involved family members. Just feeling sort of stuck at the moment and even though I'm currently only applying to low-res, feel like it will be *something* to push me in a new direction. I hope something works out for you!
@Laura
Your plan D is actually my Plan B. If I don't get into MFA's, I think I want to move to Portland, get a job, write, and hopefully also work on getting my teaching credential. And you know what, I'm actually starting to feel excited about the idea...So here's to us/moving to a new place!
@ cecil peoples - I don't disagree that a year can make a big difference, I was just wondering (perhaps more abstractly) whether it would make *enough* of a difference. For the record I have no experience with this and no strong opinion one way or the other.
I know there are always stories of people getting in on the second (or seventh) year, which was why I brought up klairkwilty - I was curious what he thought of his own sample and chances and writing process. Personally, I felt that the process took so much out of me that I didn't know if I could get back into that "sweet spot" with my writing in enough time to produce something new - something that I also had enough time to revise. I worried that I'd focus more on gearing my writing toward something MFA-friendly (linear stories, snappy dialogue, vivid scenes) instead of letting it unfold a little more organically.
I was just re-reading Bender's "Willful Creatures" last night and wondering how her writing would have changed/evolved from year-to-year if she hadn't gotten into Irvine. Can she produce stories that would turn heads at other top schools? Absolutely. Is that her "sweet spot" - I don't know. Love her writing, though.
@ k, sh, Megan, and Sarah,
Thank you for the encouragement. I've just somehow managed to convince myself that no school, program, or employer will want me. Which is ridiculous when viewed logically, but this whole process really has a way of making you doubt your worth!
That and the fact that I've been looking for a new job for the past two years, with no luck, so I've also convinced myself that I may never be able to find a job... at least, not one remotely interesting. But as much as I try to talk myself out of being ridiculous, I just can't seem to shake this awful overwhelming fear of being rejected from everything I try to do.
I guess it's also that I'm used to academic success. For undergrad, I got four acceptances and one waitlist. Everything academic I've ever done, I've managed to succeed at: grades, contests, honors, etc. So I feel like school is my natural habitat and the one thing I'm really good at, and if I don't have that, what do I have?
All this after only getting two rejections and having ten schools left, most of which haven't even started notifying yet. *sigh*
@ Peaquah
Thanks for the congrats.
@ Cecil
I have to disagree (with your disagreement). The girl who applied seven times is one case, like my own, where I would say the story found the right set of eyes. I mean, seriously. What was the coffee like those first six years at Iowa? If it was bad, and she mentions good coffee in her story, REJECTION! No, but seriously this time. This whole process is a crap shoot. I have said it all along and, despite an acceptance at Iowa, I'll say it again--crap shoot. There are a lot of good writers in the world, many of them applying to MFA programs, and it's ridiculous to go into the process expecting anything, whether it be acceptance or rejection. You simply can't know where you stand. Write for a year. Write for five years. But it isn't going to make any difference because, I believe, these directors aren't looking for perfect stories, or an adherence to principles of craft, or what the hell ever else. They're looking for raw talent. And it's completely subjective, who has raw talent. Do you? Well, Professor Sharma might think so, but Professor Klimasewiski might not. Crap shoot. Submitting to MFA programs is like getting workshopped. You put ten (or however many) MFA directors around a table and pass each of them a copy of your story. Some will like it, some won't, and it has nothing to do with how long you spent working on it, or how experienced you are. It has to do with each director's personal taste, what they consider good writing (and they will differ on their definitions), and many other variables.
In short, I don't think getting into Iowa this year had anything to do with my having grown into a genius writer in one year. Though I worked my ass off all year, I don't attribute any of that work to my acceptance. Mostly, I'm just lucky.
7 years???
Is anyone else MINDBLOWN JUST NOW
I'm going to go work on my poems immediately. Somehow that anecdote inspires the hell out of me. Have a good day, everyone!
@klairkwilty
GREAT advice on the SOP. You deserve to have your own chapter in the next MFA handbook. I'm going to follow your advice when I'm reapplying next year after the 13 other rejections come in this year.
Also I'm amazed at how you did your writing sample, going the last minute revision of an older story route. Would you be willing to share both drafts? It'd be great to see Iowa-level revision in action.
@cecil peoples
Yes, established authors are applying. I wonder what response they'll get from schools who look at their resumes and see the obvious - these applicants are far more successful than the people leading the workshops at these schools.
@young peoples
Don't just get "jobs" if you don't get in anywhere, unless the job is assistant editor at a literary magazine or something else like that. Do something that creates new memories that you'd want to talk about and write about.
@WreckingLight,
Yikes. I hope that isn't the same school I've got my GNE from, because that guy sounds like a real charmer. Get your hopes up and then cut you down last time, then this time give you a fairly patronizing response in which he hints that he's somehow proud that his program routinely denies qualified applicants.
p.s. @ DFW1986:
awesome. my response would be 'george mason fffuuuuuuuuu'
I have to second that. You may have to be willing to work for free. I have an amazing internship at a literary agency two days a week, and I work for an internet start-up (doing content management, writing publicity material, editing the newsletter) the other three days. I pay my bills, I love my internship, and if I don't get into school I'm going to find something fulltime that I love.
Ok, I resisted as long as I could. I'll bite.
This buisness of GNEs has me mucho, mucho freaked out.
I received one earlier this week. Was on cloud nine until I started seeing people's bad experiences/let downs w/ GNEs in the past.
Can anyone speak to the general history of GNEs? Because now I'm quite worried I was stupid enough to get excited when this could all be well.. a tease :\
@ Jeremy,
I agree with you that doing something that creates new memories and makes for great writing material would be the ideal plan B. But there's also the fact that I'll need to make money no matter what. Even if I get accepted this year, I'll still need to get a job and work while I'm in a program. I would love to get a job that actually makes me feel fulfilled instead of like I'm doing meaningless work, but I don't know if I'll be able to find one. If you have any suggestions for great memory-creating experiences that will also pay me, I would love to hear them. :)
@ Jeremy
Thanks for the swell comments. As far as sharing the writing sample goes, I appreciate your interest, but you know I'm never going to show my hand.
hi there - long time reader, first time poster. i just had to thank you @DFW1986 for making me laugh.
I went to Mason for undergrad and passing his damn statue every day felt exactly like that. Ah, the memories ...
:)
@ Klairkwilty: Thanks for posting about your SOP process, it was really nice to read. Everytime I've had to write an SOP, I've ended up completely scrapping the first one that I've spent days/weeks/months writing and starting over fresh after the first one got too trite. This year, I ended up writing about a fatal car accident I'd just seen. It was one of those things where once I'd witnessed this guy dying and I went back and read over my statement, it seemed ridiculous. So I incorporated what I was experiencing and thinking into my statement and reflections on this act of witnessing as it related to my writing. It might sound a little strange, but I figured it was sufficiently different from anything else they'd be reading. And even though I don't have any of the *big* acceptances, I've been waitlisted at Syracuse and Vanderbilt, so I feel like my approach couldn't have been too far off the mark.
@ K. Peaquah: I think a year can make a HUGE difference. Especially with writing. When I started this whole process in August, I focused entirely on my writing. Not studying for the GRE, not even much on revising old work. I thought about the kind of work I wanted to be doing in an MFA program, and I began to create poems based on some concepts that had been marinating in my head for years, but which I had put off delving into. I ended up with two completely new pieces and one piece which emerged from an old poem which I scrapped and kept just a couple of bones from to make it something entirely new. And at the end of it, I think that the three months I spent just creating new work was the best thing I could have done to improve my chances. If the motivation is there, a year can make all the difference in the world. My best friend had the same experience too. She applied during the '05 cycle, didn't get accepted anywhere, then took the next year to work more and had her pick in '06. She ended up fully funded from a great MFA program and has won awards and been published in some great journals.
@Laura T
Sorry today's not going so well. We've all been there. I did TFA and would def. recommend it, especially if you're looking to move somewhere totally new and try a job that not only can a monkey not do but a human barely can. And you can write allll summer. Like everything else an insane amount of people are applying so please don't feel too down if you don't get it - your Plan D sounds just fine. But if you make it to the interview stage let me know and I'd be happy to throw some thoughts your way.
Glad everyone liked puppy posting from other nite. =) Have there been any official rejections out of Iowa yet?? Does anyone else keep feeling like "This Is the Week" only to have MORE SILENCE?? Is next week the big week??? the more time that passes the more worried i am about getting 10 rejections all on the same day. i don't think i can handle that.....
sigh. the wet snow in nyc isn't helping either.
Did anyone else apply to Virginia or Houston? I'm waiting on them. I suggest one of you call both programs and tell them to hurry up. (Not me, you do it.) Just say, "Hi, I was just calling to tell you @$$holes to hurry the hell up already." Make sure to leave your name so they know it wasn't me.
Kaybay- Good God, "early March" is dawning upon us, isn't it? Half my schools have already notified applicants, yet I've only heard back officially from one.
@ threes,
Thanks so much. Getting a job a human can barely do would be a nice contrast to my current job, haha. I'll find out on March 2 if I made it to the interview stage. Since it's so competitive I'm not holding out that much hope, especially since I have no "leadership" experience... I'm hoping my meager teaching experience (tutoring) MIGHT get me an interview, at least.
@ klairkwilty and cecil - I find myself agreeing with klair - it is totally a crapshoot. I think programs are looking for that special something, whatever it is that makes them want to read more.
I'd also like to throw a potentially controversial thought into the mix. Maybe the person who applied to Iowa seven years in a row just wasn't meant to go to Iowa. Perhaps it would have been more helpful for him or her to attend a different program with professors who really got what they were trying to do. I personally don't think that working and working and working to get into a school that kind of begrudgingly admits you after years and years is going to be worth it in the long run. Wow, that sounds harsh, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say.
I don't think there is anything wrong with applying several years in a row, but I don't quite understand wanting to only go to *one* school. That school may *never* be the right fit. Do klairkwilty's rejections (sorry to dredge his up) mean that Vanderbilt and Montana think he's a terrible writer? No. But Iowa read his sample and thought, "we can teach this person something, and we *want* to work with him." He's going to get a lot more out of a program like that, I'm just saying.
Seriously, though, no offense meant at all. I really admire people who keep applying year after year - I don't know that I'd have the stomach for it. I'm not trying to attack anyone, I'm just musing. Respond, but please don't take it personally.
@Laura T -- Cheer up! I think a lot of people would love to have your GPA, awards, and honors. I think you're destined to enter some MFA program at some point in your life. It may not be this year or next, but some day. Sometimes, it takes some failure in real life to gain some wisdom. Lorrie Moore wrote something about this in "How to Become a Writer":
"First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. President of the World. Fail miserably. ... This is the required pain and suffering."
@ amanda - just read this. I don't disagree that a year can make a huge difference, I really don't. I know my own writing has changed a lot in the past year. I think (and I'm still formulating this in my head) that my point is more about aesthetics. We can't control what an admissions committee will or won't like, and maybe they just don't like magical realism - for instance. Well, if that's what I write, then they're probably never going to pick me for their team. And it won't matter if I've polished those samples or written lots of brilliant new ones.
Seriously good on you for knuckling down and being so dedicated. I think *that* is the most important lesson we can take away. Hard work.
P.S. I swear I'm not a snipe, and I don't mean to sound argumentative. I just don't agree with the thought that working really, really hard will get us all into Iowa, for example.
threes,
not to veer too far off-topic, but i--like laura t.--am thinking about teach for america as a back-up plan. my only reservation is that it seems like it would take up all my time and i'd never be able to write. did you feel like tfa was your whole life when you did it, or did you have time for other stuff? how much free time, aside from the summers, would you say that you had?
Well, my mechanic has AGAIN failed to call me with my car ready when he was supposed to, so I'm spending my day drafting a Better Business Bureau complaint, and a terrible review to post on Yahoo, Google, Yelp and anywhere else that comes up when I search "Adria Motors Reviews"
So pissed. So so pissed.
@ Peaquah
I do believe that there's a program out there for everyone, and that place isn't necessarily Iowa, or Amherst, or Michigan (I don't get the Michigan draw anyway), or wherever. Who knows. Maybe I won't feel at home at Iowa. I know a friend of mine in particular who writes magical realism type stories. There are programs where he thinks he'd benefit more than others, because some faculty members (Arizona State, for instance) want to work with those who write in the fabulist vein. Hardcore realist that I am, I can't imagine going to a program where the teachers are fabulists. I'd want to hang myself. "Maybe you should sprinkle in a wee pit of fairy dust!" they'd suggest. And I'd run away, shouting, "get away you wizards! Return from whence you came, demon!"
Or something like that. I admire fabulists, so don't all you fabulists go taking this personally. Not everyone can be a wizard.
@Laura,
My boat is very similar to yours. Lived in the same house all my life, am feeling suffocated, can't take it anymore, etc.. These past two years have been the worst of my little life. My mom died and my already dysfunctional family has imploded. Things are very, very bad, and I HAVE to get out of here.
I know it's stupid of me to put so much hope into this crazy crap shoot MFA process, but I can't help it. Before I started haunting this blog, I figured that all of my blindly supportive friends were right: I HAD to get in somewhere. Now, I'm feeling nothing but pessimistic. Two rejections, seven schools yet to notify, and so much competition, it scares the crap out of me. I should have done more research, I should have had more people read my sample, I should have tried harder to make everything perfect, I should have should have should have...and the hilarious thing is, I KNEW I'd wind up feeling like this. I avoided this blog throughout the actual application process, because I didn't want to read what other people were doing and feel inadequate and intimidated. Now I wish I had, because I would have done a hundred million things different. Oh well, can't go back in time, unfortunately!
Sorry for the rant. March is almost here and I'm experiencing anticipatory grief. My favorite!!!
@ klairkwilty - hahahaha. I swear, swear, swear that this isn't meant as an attack, but I often find myself bored by straight-up realism. I lean more toward the wizardish vein. :-) You hate the fairy dust, but I love disappearances and metamorphosis and very funky weather. And if I went to a program where they wanted to strip out all those things - well, I would hate it.
There you go, the difference between the Iowa and Michigan aesthetic right there. :-)
A question to pass the time, do any of you have a pet peeve word that just drives you crazy? For me it's "utilize."
just an idea for many of you recent grads in the 21-25 age range: if this doesn't pan out, and you want to teach, go get your masters in english lit...you can get a tenure track position at a community college which i would have to imagine is a million times better than teaching high school or lower, simply for the time factor...i've taught now at one community college and two universities and the excess time i have to work is, i would have to believe as i haven't taught h.s., much greater than those that teach h.s. summers are the same i suppose, but especially when school is in...and it would give an extra couple of years to write...just a thought
@ K. Peaquah: no worries, I'm not offended at all. I guess I just don't think it's only one or the other. It's hard work and it's luck and it's aesthetics. There are certainly some schools that we will never be right for. And I totally agree with what you said about the person who applied to Iowa 7 years in a row. Enough is enough. But I think that a person can improve their own work in a way that might make their personal aesthetic more appealing.
I also think that people's tastes change. There are authors I tried to read when I was 16 (Faulkner), 20 (Brigit Pegeen Kelly), etc. that when I picked them up again years later, something just clicked and I had a different frame of reference for what they were saying and how they were saying it. I think it's completely possible for that to happen with adcoms. Maybe when they read our work in 2009, it didn't click. But that doesn't mean it can't in 2011.
@LASwede
I'm not in quite the 21-25 age range, but I'm interested in what you're talking about. I've been lucky enough to have a lot of jobs in the arts, but I would like to be teaching.... not high schoolers. Can you tell me a little about your experience? I always think professor-ing jobs are realllly hard to come by, did you not find that true with community college? or with a english rather than writing degree?
(if you want to follow up not on blog I'm coreyann at gmail dot com)
@LASwede
I'm not in quite the 21-25 age range, but I'm interested in what you're talking about. I've been lucky enough to have a lot of jobs in the arts, but I would like to be teaching.... not high schoolers. Can you tell me a little about your experience? I always think professor-ing jobs are realllly hard to come by, did you not find that true with community college? or with a english rather than writing degree?
(if you want to follow up not on blog I'm coreyann at gmail dot com)
@ amanda - agreed.
LASwede,
Do English Lit MA programs with full funding exist? It seems like you can only get funding or teaching assistantships if you're pursuing a PhD, but I also just don't know too much about this stuff. I appreciate your help.
Thanks.
@inkli__11 on the MA funding level - it depends on the school but master's scholarships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships are fairly common. The department website should tell you what's available and how competitive the funding is.
@ Rosie
Keep your chin up! I'm sending good vibes your way...
PS: Sweet username!
weighswithwords, you got an official rejection from Michigan?
Just checked my UT status, and it had finally changed to denied. In the same blue box that used to just say they had all my materials. Not that I really expected to get in there, but I shouldn't have checked that in a public place (library cafe). Not fun to be asked "how are you" by acquaintances when you're really not up to saying "good."
@The Hobo -- No, I haven't yet, come to think of it. I should have noted that it was probably implied, or not said anything, as I've yet to hear a word. Guess I've come to my own conclusions already--funny how the brain works.
@Rosie and others -- With all due respect, I don't think the MFA should be a destination to escape from your current (bad) situation. It should be a place that you enter at "just the right time" where you are ready to take your writing to the next level.
I also don't think it should be a place people go to because they have nothing better lined up or because they don't have a job anymore or anything like that. Furthermore, it shouldn't be a place for accomplished writers or those who want it simply because they want "Iowa" (or "Cornell" or "Michigan" or "Texas") on their resumes to further their career. Lastly, I roll my eyes when someone with an MFA from, say, Podalunk College, elects to get another MFA from, say, Iowa. It's whack, I tell you, whack!
I know the above opinion may be somewhat controversial, but that's how I feel. But I speak in generalities. I don't know your specific life situation and your development as a writer.
Follow this flowchart:
1. Write some short stories.
2. Ask yourself, do I really want to be a writer?
3. If your answer to question #2 above is "yes," then goto step #4. If "no," goto step #13.
4. Ask yourself, did I exhaust all of my current resources such that I now believe the MFA is the only alternative?
5. If your answer to question #4 above is "yes," goto step #8. If "no," goto step #6.
6. Take advantage of current resources.
7. Goto step #1.
8. Ask yourself, is my life a mess?
9. If your answer to question #8 is "yes," goto step #10. If "no," goto step #12.
10. Straighten out your life.
11. Goto step #1.
12. Apply to MFA programs.
13. End.
(I really should draw a detailed flow chart on this decision-making process.)
Again, as I said before, this is an abstract post. I don't know you or your actual real life situation. It may be that you do your best writing when you're miserable and your life is falling apart. (Hence, the stereotype of writers as drunks, wife beaters, and druggies) I don't know.
Sorry for being long.
i didn't pay a dime for my masters and i worked in the writing lab for pay (not much, but it was pay!) my first 3 semesters and taught a developmental english my final semester...i did have an additional job waiting tables on some nights and weekends to help pay rent and stuff, but overall it was a great experience...i also took workshop classes...i actually took more classes than i needed, but that was actually in order to take the workshops...
i'll be honest, i got supremely lucky with work...a couple of months after i graduated (if even that long), the director of my program called me with an opportunity to go teach fulltime at grambling state, which isn't very far from where i live, so it just fell into my lap...but, i will say community colleges all over the country are constantly looking, at the very least for adjunct instructors, which is a great way to ease in to the college environment...
@ Woon
I would add "read Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet" to that list somewhere.
Probably multiple times really.
@ Woon,
Thank you so much... Reading your comment really did make me feel better. I read "How to Become a Writer" a while ago, and liked it, but thought, "I don't want to be an astronaut, or a missionary, or a kindergarten teacher, or a movie star! I just want to be a writer! Now? Please?" But thank you for saying you think I'll end up in an MFA program eventually. I'm just so impatient to start doing what I want as soon as possible!
@ Rosie,
I'm so sorry about your mom and your house being such an awful place to live right now. I really hope that you will be accepted this year.
I've been doing the same thing with the "should haves" -- should have applied to 20 schools, not just 12, should have done more research, should have changed the line breaks in that poem...
We just have to hold out hope for the rest of our schools, and remember that there are still a LOT of them.
@ LASwede,
A master's in English is probably my plan... E? haha. Either that or a master's in education and teach high school. I do really want to teach. Just not sure about the English MA, even though my undergrad degree is in English. Too mush theory/criticism inevitably makes me glaze over with boredom, and friends of mine in English MA/PhD programs say that's pretty much all it is. Maybe not the same everywhere, though.
@ Woon
I really appreciate your chart! I've actually been out of school for five years and have been struggling with the decision to apply. When I made the decision I wanted it to happen immediately. And I know that it's entirely possible to be published without the MFA and that having it does not guarantee success - commercial or otherwise. But at this point in my life it just feels like the right step.
Not that you were singling out any one of us. But your "test" is definitely a good indication of where you should go next. :)
@The Hobo -- Sorry, posted under the wrong account. I changed my name a while back to distance myself from some comments made by someone else.
No, I haven't heard from Michigan yet, come to think of it. I should have noted that the rejection was probably implied, or not said anything, as I've yet to hear a word. Guess I've come to my own conclusions already--funny how the brain works.
Addendum to my previous long post:
I can't speak for others but I myself can't function or think straight in an academic environment when I've got real life problems to deal with. And I personally would rather deal with it and resolve it before moving on to grad school.
yeah, you know, the theory/crit. part, eh...you just gotta take the good with the bad...i would have to believe most programs have a wide range of 'focus' areas so you wouldn't have to take too many of those, but i definitely feel you on those...
if anything, taking that route exposed me to several writers i may have neglected otherwise...and i'm a big fucking nerd who likes school, so i dug it...
one more thing...i was able to really key in to what i liked (modernist writers for me, esp. faulkner (i am from the south!) and joyce, but also c. mccarthy, a modernist at heart! for example...) and also what liked me, i.e. what my writing strengths are...so that really helped, though with 0 acceptances, maybe i'm blowing air up your skirts!!!
@Woon
I find your flowchart a great way to be introspective.
However, I don't think you need to have your life straightened or figured out to be prepared to apply and hopefully attend a MFA program.
If anyone waited until their lives were straightened before going after their dreams, then there might be no dream-chasing in this world.
In fact, what great writers have straightened out lives?
@Rosie
I'm sorry life has been so hard the past couple years. :( I actually can share a lot of similar feelings regarding my past two years.
I would encourage you to definitely take a risk and make a change for yourself. I hope that the MFA is the right step for doing that for you. I would say though that from lots of peers, it is a grueling process. It may free you from your current hell but it will introduce you to a brand new hell if it isn't what you truly desire, specifically.
I don't at all question your motivations but I am instead hopeful for you and hope that all your efforts are fruitful and worthwhile to you as an individual in pursuing whatever you feel deep-down you are meant for.
@ Woon,
I'm just the opposite -- academia is kind of like a refuge from any problems that come up. It's an environment that I love, that I love devoting myself to, and when I can put all of my energy into it, it's a great way to pull myself out of a problem.
I also liked your flowchart. I wouldn't say that my life is a mess right now and an MFA is my escape from the mess. Just that, being about to graduate from college, I need a next step, and the MFA is the step that I REALLY want to be next. Not because I have nothing better to do, but because I really want it. Having nothing else to do is the worry that I fall into when wondering if I'll be accepted anywhere.
I guess I am really just an obsessive planner. I need to know, "I'm doing this, then this, then this," or else my life will turn into one huge panic attack. Wait, my life already is one huge panic attack...
@ inkli 11
Aside from summers, TFA definitely take up all your time. Like, 80-100 hours a week, plus you're taking classes in the evening toward an M.A.T. (unless you already have a teaching certificate from undergrad.) Now, my time management wasn't the best, and I guess theoretically you can always find time - I could have cut out my six hours a week at the gym and written instead? - but it leaves you so mentally drained it would be difficult to write. You can read and write all summer though!
@DFW1986
That was scrumtrulescent. (Old Inside the Actor's Studio on SNL? Anybody?)
@Laura T
Your circumstances are a mirror image of my own two years ago, minus the applying for MFAs. I was graduating and thought that I would have "nothing" if I wasn't doing well academically- that had always been my world. And, to be honest, it's been a rough two years. But, I think it's important to take time away from the world of academia, so if that happens to you this year, it will be scary, but okay. You will learn a lot. Also, because I've had time away from school, I am SO excited to get back into it! I have an unexpected new enthusiasm and excitement for grad school that I didn't have two years ago. You will be okay! Plus, it's still so early- you could still get accepted and all of this will become moot.
@ Courtney
I was waitlisted at Oregon State for fiction. The email said they had only six spots and had made all of those offers, but I don't know if they're finished notifying waitlisters. Good luck!
News! I've been accepted by Colorado State in Fiction. It's unofficial. Acceptance letter will arrive in snail mail form.
Accepted into the MFA program at Alaska-Fairbanks, email, minutes ago.
On stupid conference call at work.
Shaking. Want to scream. Can't scream. Oh My GOD!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, DigAPony. That information is not scrumtrulscent for me. Oh well. Ba-da-bee-da-baaa-ba-da-doo, Goulet!
CONGRATS, woon and happygonowhere!
and i was literally just thinking that it was strange no one had heard good news today.
CONGRATS woon and happy!! that's great news
ohh!! congrats to Woon and HappyGoNowhere!
I too was thinking it was strange we hadn't really heard anything yet today.
Woo hoo!! Good news is always relieving to hear!
Congrats Woon and Happy - great news!
That's great! Just when everyone was feeling down, a little bit of hope! :)
Wonderful news Woon! Hurray! And congratulations Happy Go Nowhere!!
Congratulations Woon and Happy!
Thank you!
Re. Colorado State, I don't have the official word, but my guess (and it's just my guess) is that Acceptance letters may be out. But I don't really know beyond my own situation. I wish I could elaborate but I can't. The reason why I think they may stagger the Acceptance letters is that I believe some applicants are going through background checks for GTA positions. I was cleared of all wrong-doing last week. Again, this is just a guess.
Congrats Woon & Happy!
Oh Colorado State, why are you torturing me so.......
Congratulations Woon and Happy...happy for you both and everyone else who has/had good news!
congrats Woon & happy!
re: academia as an escape. the economy sucks. this week, the weather also sucks (here, at least). some people have sucky lives.
there are worse escapes than spending a few years in your imagination writing with a bunch of poor grad students and swilling too much coffee at dingy cafes.
my plan B was heroin addiction. MFA still seems a better option, at least this week. :-/
Yay Woon! And Happy!
Congratulations, guys :)
Congrats Woon and HappyGoNo!
Woon, how were you notified of your unofficial acceptance? You also had previously received a GNE from Colorado State, no? Were they notifying everyone for whom they were conducting background checks?
My gosh! Whoever has info on Fort Collins and CSU (I know there were quite a few of you), please identify yourselves. My plan is to bug you in the coming weeks.
@ koru: i don't know, dude. heroin addiction seems to be more cheerful and less costly than a creative writing degree.
KIDDINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. my 'tude needs an uplift. i'm talking to you, colorado state. i know you're calling people right now. now call ME.
PS: who can talk to me about unc-greensboro. i want to know!
@ Woon
Was that an email or a phone call?
oh colum mccann or nathan englander... call me. my phone works. it even has unlimited minutes. pretty please.
@weightswithwords -- re. CSU. I sort of suspected I was admitted as early as 2/11/10. They sent me an email informing me that the English Dept sent my name as a GTA candidate to the school's Human Resources Dept for a background check. (This is the first year they instituted background checks.) I immediately thought, "if I'm a candidate for a GTA, then I must have been admitted into the MFA program." After all, why waste time/energy/money doing background checks on applicants who'll be rejected, right?
A subsequent email came a few days later and I filled out the form. Over a week passed. Nothing. So, I contacted the lady in Human Resources, who referred me to a faculty member in the English Dept. She confirmed both my clearance and my acceptance. The Acceptance letter will arrive in snail mail form sometime soon.
That's the extent of my knowledge.
Thanks for the info Woon and congrats on both the acceptance and the TA spot.
Addendum to above post:
I am NOT suggesting that applicants who have not received background check emails will NOT be admitted. I believe they do background checks only for those who are under consideration for GTAs. Also, they may be staggering it, for whatever reason, but I don't know. Seriously, I don't know the whole background check process and how it's integrated into their MFA admissions procedure. I can take an intelligent guess, but that's all it'll be -- a guess.
Purdue, Purdue, where art thou?
Congrats again, Woon! I'm stoked for you. Was liking the idea of CSU, myself. Let me ask you, had you filled out the GTA application when you turned in your application for admission? What was the HR form of which you speak? Apologies for pestering. Rock on, dude..
Is it just me or are there like 63 waitlisters at McNeese?
Congratulations Woon and HappyGoNowhere!
Pencore,
Apparently there are a dozen.
@ DigAPony,
Thanks... It really is scary, not knowing if I'll be able to continue along in academia this year like I've planned... I know that seeing the world outside of academia would be a valuable experience, but I'm thinking, "not yet, please? Can I experience the non-academic world, say, between the MFA and PhD, maybe?"
@miss private eye
ditto on wanting mccann or englander to give me a ring. unlimited minutes guys! or how about unlimited texts!... would it kill you to at least leave me a facebook comment! sheesh.
@weightswithwords -- Yes, I turned in a GTA application with my MFA app.
@ Courtney
Yeah, Goulet! Coconut Banger's Ball...
@ Laura T
I totally feel you. Just know that no matter when your "break" is (if ever), you will be all right.
... and in the divine cosmos going wonky today ... after 2 years of looking for a new job, with no luck, it seems i'm now shortlisted for a job in my dream city.
@ JasonJ
right?!
sigh. i am starting to resign myself to a rejection from them. the silence of this week is kind of killing me. (i say this now, but i am certain when the rejections start rolling in i will be grasping frantically for this week of calm)
in other news, i think you and i have a lot of similar programs we've applied to, yea?
@ Woon, congratulations!
@ HappyGoNowhere, congratulations! Alaska is the program I most regret not applying to this year. If I'm back next year, they're on my list for sure.
Also, to answer a question someone asked: My petpeve words are "futhermore" and "moreover."
My #1 pet peeve word is "proactive." Cringe whenever I hear it.
i'll never forget a girl i went to high school with...at mention of the word moist, she would flip out...hilarious
Okay I just had to jump in on this one.
Huge Pet peeves:
1) Your/you're
2) People who say supposevly instead of supposedly
3) Goiters (not the word, the condition)
The biggest of all:
Expresso. Do not say expresso. There is no goddamn "x" in that word.
Whew! Thanks for that.
my biggest pet peeve: business jargon ...
since it's pretty much all ways to make language mask any real meaning.
http://www.theofficelife.com/business-jargon-dictionary-A.html
@LAswede - Funny, I dated a girl in college (who was from LA) who flipped out at the word moist. Wonder if it's the same girl. Her best friend laughed every time she heard the word "wretch."
I also LOATHE the word "moist." I'm cringing right now.
"Heavy petting" is one of the most uncomfortable phrases I can think of. Even typing it gives me the willies.
Y'all, help me out. I have basically figured out what a GNE is (and - if I'm right - have received one) but WHAT DOES IT STAND FOR? I feel so out of the loop.
Also, waiting to hear from Vanderbilt, UNCG and Oregon. Rejected from Madison. My nerves are shot.
to weigh in on the "moist" convo--I remember reading somewhere that many words with the "oi" sound gross people out more than others, i.e. "moist" and "ointment."
peeve words:
"disconcerning" (not disconcerting), disinterested (instead of uninterested, or vice versa), sexually active, denied, and rejected.
Oh! Another pet peeve. How people where I live tend to tag an "'s" on the end of all business names. I guess because so many businesses around here do end in "'s" (like privately owned stores named after their owners). But still. "Stop and Shop's." "Olive Garden's." "Best Buy's." No!
A. Astur A., "expresso" bothers me too. And your/you're, ugh.
My biggest pet peeve (aside from the term itself) is when people say things like "email seth or I," or worse, come to "lucy and I's party." it really really really kills me. these are educated people! with good jobs in communications and I hear this and see this all the time! argh!
really people, I's party??
And the phrase "irregardless of..." Arghh.
@ Melissa:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYH52hRbwJg
Not a pet peeve, but something my cousin told me he overheard someone say to someone else on the subway: "Don't make me your escape goat!"
Congrats to the newly accepted and waitlisted!
I'm keeping a low profile in an attempt to actually get some frickin' writing done.
Chrissy,
GNE = Good News Email. Also good news phone call or letter.
Yay if you got one!
My pet peeves:
your vs. you're vs. yore
their vs. there vs. they're
loose vs. lose
choose vs. chose
whose vs. who's
And my biggest pet peeve:
its vs. it's
@Miss Private Eye,
I think we do have a similar list. Mine is essentially split up between New York City and San Francisco (Syracuse and Oregon the exceptions).
@Kerry - Amen to that. I hate it when people make me their escape goat!
@Chrissy -- GNE (Good News Email) is NOT a GNE if it contains an offer of acceptance. It can contain a lot of nice little things, but not an acceptance. That's crucial to a GNE.
@ Melissa & others:
Probably should have provided some context. Awesome clip from one of my fave shows regarding the word "moist."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYH52hRbwJg
AND, when grocery stores put on their express line signs, "15 items or less," when it should be "15 items or fewer."
Ok, I'll stop now.
Are we talking only pet peeve words?
My biggest pet peeve is being pinched.
In the language arena, it is the overused phrase, "at the end of the day..."
At the end of the day, I still performed my best!!
Gag me. I hate pinching more though.
Acceptance vs. Admittance?
I've used both. I don't really know which is correct. Come on, you escape goats, help me out.
How about words or turns of phrase that make you smile every time you hear them?
Used to be some good ones in New Orleans when I lived there:
"going to make groceries..."
"How much this is?"
Another regional oddity I used to find annoying when I moved to New York, but since find endearing:
"standing on line..."
re: language peeves
This is from back in the 90's when the internet was still mysterious and older folks used to say, "Do you do e-mail?"
@weightwwithwords (aka www) -- the regional oddities are the funniest! LOL!
@Woon I would imagine that "Accepted" is the point where you are given and offer, and "Admitted" would be the point where all the proper documents are signed and you are officially enrolled.
@ Kerry:
That is awesome! Oh beloved escape goats.
Along those lines, a girl who was a writer at the company I edited for (and was one of the holier-than-thou type lit people, very insistent that the ONLY writer in the world worth a damn is Nabokov) would always write "as appose to" in her courses. And every time, I would change it and put a little note in there about how it should be written "as opposed to," that "appose" was not actually the correct word here. To no avail of course.
re: pet peeves
I cannot stand when people say "fustrating" instead of "frustrating"
When I hear it... I grit my teeth.
PS: Moist makes me uber uncomfortable. My bf once got me a box of Betty Crocker "Super Moist" cake mix as a prank. Ack!
dude, the worst:
"I seen"
Okay. Definitely just a GNE. Thanks for the help!
The GNP/GNL (Good News Phonecall and Good News Letter) are mostly mythical, as phonecalls or snail mail letters are usually made to indicate acceptance, and an acceptance is something else entirely.
Even if one were to follow up a GNE with a phonecall, that still wouldn't be a GNP, because the good news (GN) would already have been disclosed via email.
Essentially GNE, as I think most of us intend to use it, refers to an email from a school you applied to that is encouraging, but is not an offer of admission.
An oldie but a goodie:
People pronouncing "nuclear" as noo-kyu-lar.
Always bothered me. But I didn't want to be a jackass, so I let it slide.
Congrats Woon and Happy and all other acceptances/waitlists!
@Pencore - It does kind of feel like there are a lot of McNeese wait listers, especially since they all seem to be on this board?? Oh well, congrats to us all!
@everyone - this is kind of in response to the down and out feeling today. I'm actually kind of excited to apply again next year, if that's what happens. I will not be applying to Iowa or Cornell or Michener, I will have probably 10-15 schools like Ohio State and Florida. It's not just because the "chances" are better, it's because I wasted half of my list on schools that I have no chance of getting into and I don't want to do that again. I think a second go-around will be a much easier and smoother experience.
On a side note, I'm still totally freaked out about next week. I will probably be a combination of totally depressed, totally resigned, and maybe (hopefully!) elated. I will be crazy :*(
My dad's side of the family, for whatever reason, when they have a good thought like to say...
I have an ideal...
re: Life issues that we should address before entering MFA programs (because MFA programs aren't like magic and will fix everything).
I haven't been laid in two years (I'm a woman, btw). I lived in a Muslim country for 18 months of it, have been home in the states for 6 months (and refuse to just sack any random dude).
Maybe if I get laid, I can clear my Qi and unblock the pathway to my success.
Then Sam Chang can call me and we can talk about home-made challah.
You know what my pet peeve is as a teacher, when a student asks "what are we doing today?" I'm not even joking today I was asked that over 20 times. You know that little feeling you get when you just might lose your temper, that's what the 20th time I heard that did to me...
On a serious note, I actually used to have a pet escape goat. It used to peeve EVERYWHERE.
Eventually I ate it.
kaybay!!
OMG yes! How could I forget! When I'm coaching cross country, my runners always ask, "what are we doing today?" I always answer, "Running". It gets under my skin particularly because I supply each of my runners with a monthly calendar of EXACTLY what we're doing. I mean all they have to do is look at the calendar.
And then in the classroom, even though there's an entire wall with the day's plans, they still ask the same question. What are we doing today!? What are we doing today? What are we doing today!?
Answering this question has led to the perfection of my Death Stare.
@pencore
HAHAHAHA.
the day needed a laugh.
YES!! That's just it!! I put a freaking Word document on Edline at the beginning of the week detailing EXACTLY what we're doing each day and they still ask that question, even at the end of the day when they could've asked another person in their grade level!!! Also, my students have a test tomorrow that we have been reviewing for, for the last two days, and one of my students came up to me and seriously asked "wait, we have a test tomorrow?" Oh my God, so hard to keep my cool sometimes... lol
@pencore,
perhaps you should hold off on the getting laid plans?
you know, athletes don't get laid before 'the big game' so as to hone their energy into being lean, mean fighting machines ...
maybe not getting laid is a way of channeling all your energy into the MFA application process?
i mean, what if all that anxiety and energy and stuff just melts away once you get it on, and you're unable to ever write again ...
@pencore
Perhaps the most real talk comment since... well, reaaaaal talk.
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