i'm somewhat upset about michigan, but i mean, really, the (yield-exclusive) acceptance rate is 2%. that's only 1% higher than michener's. given that it's hard for me to get very worked up about it.
Amanda, I just called UC Boulder and got an answering machine! I cannot explain how nervous I feel calling a program even though I didn't apply there! It's stupid, but I need to get over it. My hearts is beating so fast! Why is this?
My despair just reached a new level when I realized that Michigan accepts 22 people, and since only a few have posted their acceptances here, that means there are a lot more people out there applying to MFA programs.
There are way too many of us. Some of us will not get in. Anywhere. OK, I'm really starting to lose it now.
oh btw congrats to everyone who did get in! i feel that my congratulations have been insufficient so i want to say that for those who are realizing their aspirations, yay!!
Mostly Swell! I'm sorry I couldn't respond earlier, I was at work and can't access the blog (it's blocked). I'm not even joking though, imagining hot, greasy cornmeal breaded okra made me salivate, no joke!
To whomever said that I had a good sense of humor, I will say that I am also terribly depressed by this whole thing. I'm not upset on a rational level, I realize it's not the worse thing in the world to get rejected outright, but I'm still emotional about it. I will also be emotional at the end of it all, especially since I'm now convinced I will get straight no's.
Here's my solution. Today, I'm doing a fake celebratory night out with my boyfriend. We're going to go get pizza and ice cream and walk around downtown Lakeland (woo hoo!!). I'm going to pretend, 'cause I'm creative, and that's what creative people do. :)))) look at my double chins! Ha!
Since I see some of the others have started posting, I can finally say I've been accepted to Iowa for Fiction : )
For everyone's information, I'm almost sure that all notifications are still going on and probably will be for some time as everything gets worked out, so I would really advise anyone who applied and hasn't heard definitely NOT to lose hope but also not to flood the office trying to get news.
Also, I'm more than happy to try and answer any questions people might have. I've always liked how people on this blog are happy for each other and willing to help out and I definitely will do my best to continue that on.
@Trilbe Congratulations on Michigan! That's really wonderful. Always feels good to see good things happen to good people.
@KP and everyone else who got word recently, congratulations
@RealTalk you should shoot me an email sometime; my address is abhemenway at gmail.com.
@all other Iowa acceptances; you guys should email me too! Also, I went to Iowa for my undergrad so I can answer questions about Iowa City and stuff if you have any.
I don't know if this helps anybody, as far as potential waitlists/news are concerned, but this is the full list of schools I applied to, with the information I've received so far:
Iowa: Accepted Cornell: Accepted Texas: Pending in committee Wisconsin: Pending
No word as of yet:
Florida Florida State Hunter Columbia Brooklyn Stegner Grants NYU Irvine Houston Boston Virginia
I guess the last thing I wanted to say was to tell you guys a quick story about application anxiety that I hope will make the wait easier:
12 hours before Cornell called me I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, knowing that Wisconsin and even Texas were probably notifying the next day. I had an anxiety attack, which for me feels like a heart attack. If it weren't for my fiancee waking up in the middle of the night, I don't know what would have happened to me. This after I'd had to start wearing a mouthguard at night because I was clenching my jaw during my sleep so badly I'd injured my jaw. I had only just begun to feel better the next day when Cornell called. By the time Iowa called, I had done a pretty good job in putting MFA stuff out of my mind (easier to do after you get accepted somewhere, I know). But my point is that of course you're going to worry, but just try to remember that everything can change really quickly and it's not worth worrying yourself sick over.
So thank you to @seth for all your help over my last years of planning and research and thank you to you guys on this blog for keeping things loose. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone else's news.
Dude, I just found an excellent comfort food. Any New Yorkers*, there's a restaurant in Times Square. It is called Dave's Famous BBQ. Order the ice cream sundae with pecan praline sauce.
*It's apparently a chain w/ nation-wide restaurants, but I'm in NYC
Amanda, It's completely irrational. They don't know me, it doesn't matter, and it's not even like they can put a red X on my application that doesn't exist. I need to work on it so I will try again later. I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets like this!
Arna Bontemps, thank you for sharing your news, and many many congratulations! You must be so thrilled. Did you receive a phone call today, and did the person you spoke with mention anything about where they are in the notification process?
I'm also still pending at Wisconsin. No news, but from that email it sounds like it'll be another week...
Arna, congrats! Have you determined your preference between Iowa and Cornell yet, and if so, are you going to turn one of them down sooner rather than later?
Not that I'm on any waitlists yet or anything. But here's hoping.
@ya i feel yo pain...i did have one question, didn't know if anyone else was wondering too (and this by no means is a shot at those getting in--congrats to all those!) for all the supposed differences in what certain schools are interested in, or even just the idea that different people like different types of writing...does it seem odd that, much of the time it seems, the same people are getting in to all the schools? just wondering...
dude i'm sorry to hear that, but hey you never know. i knew an AMAZING professor who was educated at Columbia and he's had an incredible and still growing career. so great choice there!
one question, how do you know cornell didn't accept you?
LAswede, This goes along with my theory that while "fit" means something, being good means more. And this isn't always subjective. There is a level of subjectivity, but I'd say that if asked to pick out the top 10% of applicants, that no matter who is selecting there is going to be a lot more overlap than 10%. I'm hereby suggesting 50% overlap. And BY THE WAY, I hate arbitrary percentages so please forgive my use of them.
I'm 0/3 with seven left. But those three were some of my top choices (including 1 and 3). It's still early for me, and I'm trying to not let it get me down. But Michigan was a low blow. I live in the area, and I wanted to stay here. My sister's here, and having a baby. I wanted to be close by. Booo.
1 official rejection, 2 implied and 2 to go (and not especially high hopes). i knew i was taking a chance only applying to five programs and that the whole application process was kind of rushed on my end, but this is still disheartening.
i'm wishing us all good luck in the next few weeks.
@AB i know what you mean, but i still believe that if you randomly asked people on this board who their favorite writers are, some are going to be listed that posters are going to say, "who? why? i hate that person's writing" if i think someone is good, i like them...if not, i don't...i can't think of a writer that i don't care for that i would say is good..."oh, that writer is awesome...but i can't stand him/her"...ya know?
Kate - I've been to Pittsburgh and quite liked it which led to that app. as well as my interest in Chatham's program. Everyone at the school is very very helpful and responsive. I haven't visited the campus yet but heard good things elsewhere too. And it's looking like I will be going there for that open house and interview most likely in mid-March, esp. since I didn't hear anything from Michigan today! Good luck all!
LAswede, This is true, but you're talking about established writers, who are probably part of that top 10% a lot of the time anyway. Blah. It's so subjective that even speculating about this seems pointless, so I guess that's all I've got.
does anyone else feel like throwing out the charlie sheen speech to his manager (from major league) when he thought he'd been cut from the team...if you don't know what i'm talking about, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NKXskaYCN0 and start it about the 4 minute mark!
and for what its worth, I feel the same about yours! I didn't tell you but after I read yours I instantly regretted sending you mine because I was like "OH SHIT THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN MINE"
I'm posting this as a testament to the potential wrongness of these comments. Just called Michigan, asked if they were done notifying for acceptances. The kind woman on the other end of the line said, "yes." "So if we didn't receive an email, that means we're rejected?" Her, sounding confused, "No." Me, really confused, "Oh!" Her, "We'll be finishing up sending them out on Monday." I'm guessing the first time she meant they were done notifying for today. Get some sleep this weekend, Party & bullshit.
Zinzi, That could also mean that she realized she was basically telling you over the phone that you were rejected, which might not be something she wanted to say. They might also have waitlists yet to offer, so not everybody who hasn't heard it outright rejected.
@Rosie--I applied to Port St for CNF, and as it seems they notify late, they may be one of my last gasps of air--errr, I mean chances. So any feedback you might have on the program or the area is appreciated.
All you UNCW CNF acceptances, congratulations (wait is there only one? Anyway...), but do feel free to pass on them so as to give me a chance for round 2 calls....haha. Looks like my alma mater may be rejecting me two years straight. Bastards. WO is me. Good luck all...back to distractions.
P.S. Anyone other CNF people sensing that the last burst of air from the Alabama balloon has escaped? Me thinks there will be a letter from them in the dreaded mailbox tomorrow or Monday...or never. I suppose being waitlisted might only prolong the agony. I'm rambling now....good weekend to y'all.
umass people: i know a lot of you called, what did you say? I'm kind of just assuming they've contacted everyone they want at this point...?
also, i have a flash of concern they don't have my transcript... what did it say on the transcript section of your spire account? I hadn't checked online stuff until today for them...
i just feel anxious about the CALLING at this point, not even the result. ha.
Long-time lurker, first time poster. First off, congrats to everyone who has gotten accepted. For the rest I just wanted to share a story with all of you who are finding out today that you may have not made it into your dream schools.
I went through the whole process last year and applied only to eight of the very top programs. Rejected everywhere. At the time I was feeling pretty sorry for myself but over the course of a week or two I molded my disappointment into conviction.
I had seriously questioned the efficacy of MFAs anyhow. All my favorite authors, even the contemporary ones, had not gone through MFA programs and frankly much of the writing that did come out of MFA programs did not appeal to me in the least (with a few notable exceptions).
So I buckled down, finished my novel, polished it till it gleamed like a jewel, and then sent it out to agents. Two month later I had a signed contract in hand.
There is no moral to this story. MFAs are absolutely valuable for some people; for others, much less so. Just remember that if you're goal is to be a working writer, then write. A fancy scrap of paper awarding you an MFA means next to nothing. It's the work that you produce and publish that holds real meaning. Just because MFA programs have deemed you lacking does not mean you're a failure. Use the rejections as motivation, not to persevere through another year of apps, but to get to work on what really matters.
I just called Michigan as well (again), and the woman seemed hesitant and very confusing. I asked if they were done emailing accepted applicants, and she said "Yes." And I asked, "So if I didn't get an email, I'm not accepted?" She paused and then said, "Well, no. You can't say that until we finish."
Confused, I asked, "So you're not done notifying people of acceptance?"
And she said, "No, we're finishing on Monday." She sighs. "We've just emailed out the offers."
And I said, "Okay....so what does that mean?"
"It means that just because you didn't get an email doesn't mean you don't get accepted."
It continued on like this, in this circular incomprehensible method until I decided I was too confused, and it sounded like they were done. But I guess we'll see on Monday? Weird. I wouldn't get your hopes up. Doesn't sound promising.
(Sorry, but I have a really crap computer and I can't seem to get back to the earlier comments to check)
But Seth and (I think) Woon were having a conversation about V Tech. I got an (unofficial, later followed by official) acceptance from them on Feb 5. They mention 160 apps for 8 slots, so Woon is right about those numbers.
Also - HUGE (for me) - I just got a fiction acceptance at Michigan. Yayyy!!!!!!!!!!!
I got a call from Richard Kenney at the U. Washington today! Very polite and kind conversation about the program. I'm too excited to think, but I wanted to share. good luck everyone!!
I've been lurking here instead of posting, mainly because these mailbox threads have a length that is, um, daunting. I have been posting at Driftless House and P&W Speakeasy.
My list for Creative Nonfiction: Alabama - accepted Eastern Washington - accepted Uni. of MO-Kansas City - accepted Minnesota - assumed rejection Ohio State - assumed rejection Iowa - rejected Kansas - rejected Arizona - Memphis -
Congrats to everyone on their successes and keep the faith/continue to bake.
All of these circular Michigan convos make it sound like they're sending out some wait list notifications on Monday, which is why "you can't say [you're not accepted] until we're finished."
And the wait list wouldn't be such a bad place to end up! I know a healthy crop of people who've turned down spots at Michigan and other top programs.
I just wanted to make it clear, since I might not have in my earlier post, that it is my understanding that Iowa is very early in their notification process and that information/notifications will be ongoing for some time. Right now I don't think there's any reason for anyone to assume anything, especially negative. I know for a fact how kind everyone who works in that office is (as well as how overworked they are), and I think especially at this point in the process there is nothing they can do for someone contacting them trying to get information, so I think the best thing for everyone to do is to not assume anything (especially not anything negative) and also to be patient, as it is a bit of a long process.
Another encouraging story: while Arna was recovering from that anxiety attack and posting about the Cornell acceptance on the blog, I was staring at my cell phone waiting for Cornell to call, then feeling sorry for myself over a bowl of chicken shawarma (stayed in on a Friday night to do this...and to think it was only just last Friday, too - already it feels like several hells ago). So what is there to say? This is a ridiculous process. To those still waiting, the only thing to say is that eventually the waiting ends, and with the waiting, the anxiety.
As for the ?s that have been directed to me: I don't know anything about an online Iowa status page; I was notified by telephone.
Not to be a little so-and-so, but I think that means I was right about the numbers. ;-p
Woon thought s/he heard that the 8/160 was just in fiction, but based on historical trends that appeared to me to be an impossibility (not just due to applicant pool size but also class size at VT). I speculated that what Woon had heard was actually the total number of admits and applicants (in both genres), and it looks like that's the case.
I mention this a) just to be a little b*tch about data, per usual, but also b) to emphasize that I wasn't doubting Woon's recitation of numbers (I know s/he was acting in 100% good faith) but rather what those numbers were thought/intended to represent.
Wowzers. Trilbe - I actually shouted at my housemate: 'the awesome girl from the blog has got into MICHIGAN!!!!' My housemate was like, 'wicked!' Ha ha. Woo hoo, man, you're tops!!!! Where ya gonna go??
On the lack of exclamation marks front, I just called Amherst too and got rejected - thanks Chrissy for the number! 450 fiction applicants, apparently. (Maybe someone can confirm? I was a bit shaken). It's beginning to sink in that maybe I'm not as good a writer as I thought I was. Much navelgazing to be done, but I'm not going to let it spiral pointlessly. Emppeng27 - that was an interesting post - thank you.
I doubt I'm in at Mich or Brown, so that's me done for the year; I'm aware I set myself up for a really hard task and feel alright about the way the chips have fallen. Next year I'll only apply to programs who can actually stomach bonkers speculative fiction (only about two programs that I know of) - I was beginning to wonder how well I'd fit into a program where I might have to limit where my real interests lie (ie. blatantly way over in GENRE). I do not wish to reignite the genre debate btw... I do not wish to have it implied that if I were a better speculative fiction writer I would have got into one of my top 10 programs. This may well be true...but so what :)
Just booked myself a month in gorgeous Berlin to write and chill out. Life is good.
Wandering Tree - I'm holding out hope for your final six. You'll come good.
Arna, nice one! You, presumably, rawk.
Oh, and Burlaper & Jamie - Jeff mofo'in Mangum had a show on at WFMU?!?! I only occasionally listen to Irene Trudel. I had no idea! I'll trawl through the archives (unless one of you has a link?!). On the Magnum tip, have you seen his wife Astra Taylor's documentary on Slavoj Zizek? It's great. I've been doing some Zizek research recently and rewatched the doc. It's on YouTube. Very, very good. Zizek is a sweaty man.
Yes, the American University FOE was cruel. For one excited minute I wondered if only admitted students were invited and then I noticed on their website that anyone can attend. Boo.
Well, if its any comfort to you American University applicants: I was rejected a couple weeks ago from there and I didn't get any invitation. (Bitches! Not going to invite you to my party EITHER!)
All bitterness aside, it COULD mean good news? or at least a possibility of good news?
@ Eli - I'm bummed for you. I'm bad at reassurance (really, I prefer doom and catastrophizing), but the sheer chaos of this moment and "it's not over til it's over" have to offer some reassurance. In addition to your Berlin, I'd suggest listening to Lou Reed's "Berlin" if you don't make it - there is no more depressing or louche album in existence.
Without getting into the genre thing (I'm not doing it, really!), I happen to be reading William Gibson's Pattern Recognition right now, and I found myself wondering how writers like him square with the MFA thing (whatever that is, if it even exists, or if I'm just paranoid/projecting). Ditto for Philip K. Dick.
PS this isn't a genre discussion because both writers cited are sui generis.
I never listened to Jeff Mangum's show, but I too am a fan of Zizek. He is very funny when he talks about how fascinated he is with "Kung Fu Panda."
I went down to the demonstration To get my fair share of abuse Singing "We're gonna vent our frustration If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
Sing it to me...
You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want But if you try sometimes well you just might find You get what you need
I'm taking leave from this blog for the indefinite future, but I trust that Jagger's lyrics will inspire you in the positive way that they have me on this otherwise grim notification Friday (I applied to Iowa, Michigan and U Washington).
Congrats to all who've heard good things, and everybody else stay up! It will work out for the best in the end.
someone said earlier that they weren't done with fiction deliberating, yet someone got accepted via phone call today? (DH response listings)
This just gets worse and worse. This looks like it's going to be the longest, most depressing weekend of my life. And I'll most likely be hungover until mid-next week. Right now = torture. Sheer torture.
I met Zizek at the Telluride Film Fest a few years ago. Dude's not only sweaty, but also clearly has ADHD... add his accent in there, and you have a very intelligent stooge set on fast-forward. I just sort of took a few steps back tried to translate what he was saying so that my non-genius mind could (sort of) understand.
Oh, and I'm fairly certain he's got Asperger Syndrome. But maybe that's already well known.
Jeremy, I can't find a phone number on American's website, and it's past 6 in this timezone so I can't imagine that there is anyone in the office... ? Find me a number and I'd be willing to try, though.
Hey, everyone. Between my job and my limited internet access etc., I can't even begin to keep up with you all! But I do try.
So, 1. CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who's been accepted! and 2. Everyone else -- I'm sorry for all the anxiety and upset. This really really is such a stressful time. I hope you all can take care of yourselves, try to relax, take a walk, etc. -- deep breaths. Whatever the outcome, we'll get through it.
Jeremy, The office closed at 5pm Eastern time. Sorry! I tried. Also, that was the graduate admissions for the entire college of Arts and Science. If there's a number specifically for the English or Creative Writing department, that might get better results. But who knows? I just got a girl on an answering machine.
Having received 2 formal rejections and news of 4 of my other schools already in the process of or done accepting, I've turned to reading the Paris Review interviews with writers to keep my spirits up. It's wonderful, at this early stage in my writing career (been out of undergrad 2 years--next year would be a perfect time to do the MFA but I'm still young), to remember that every writer has been in this position at one point. Like Salman Rushdie, who was trying to be an actor in the London theater scene while also trying to start his writing career and being generally miserable. And then not even liking the first novel he published.
The great thing, as we all know and have said again and again, is that we can always write. MFA acceptances and rejections have no bearing on the fact that we only need ideas and something to write them down on. We do not need research laboratories or specialized training to be what we already know we are. Here's a quote from Joyce Carol Oates that rings true for me right now:
"I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another 5 minutes...and somehow the activity of writing changes everything."
Just got a voicemail from Iowa... State! Other Iowa, I know. I'm in for CNF. I'd be curious to hear from anyone who knows much about the program — I applied because the focus on creative writing and the environment was a great match for the work I'm interested in doing. I also saw Benjamin Percy read at Bread Loaf a few years back and was blown away. I'd be curious to know if anyone else is familiar with the program, though.
@Jenna - Thank you for posting that Joyce Carol Oates quote! That really struck a chord of truth for me.
I had no idea this process could be so draining (I honestly thought stand-up comedy would be the most difficult thing I ever did) but with a little distance it isn't hard to see that all of this stress is illusory. I don't know about you guys but I haven't been writing lately and I think, more than waiting to hear back from programs, that has leading cause of my anxiety. I agree about the activity of writing changing everything.
@Jamie - bloody hell, I too am reading Pattern Recognition right now! Cayce has just left my 'hood (Camden area) and arrived in Tokyo. Am liking it a lot - it's right up my geeky street. Maybe I'm just in a cynical mood, but I imagine Gibbo and PKD would have little truck with MFA programs - they'd tell me to go straight to Clarion. Or perhaps to Orange County to neck lots of trippy substances.
Also, Lou Reed's 'Berlin'. Um, yeah, thanks for the recommendation! My personal Berlin choice is 'A New Career in A New Town' from Bowie's 'Low'. Holy shit, what a song. I'm fine, though, honestly. I feel strangely free and exhilarated.
@Meredith - not surprised about Zizek's ADHD. Not surprised about your WTF-provoked steps back either! I think I'd rather read one of his books and take him at my own speed than try to decipher him while he flicks sweat at me.
That, too, is all.
I'm in a very non-MFA mood already so will step away from the blog before i bang on about irrelevant shenanigans even more.
I called UMass. It is confirmed: I did not get in.
And there is NO waiting list. I wonder what happens if someone turns them down? Are they so arrogant to think that they are the first choice of all who applied.
The vindictive part of me hopes all who are accepted get in somewhere else as well and en mass turn down spots at Amherst. Ha! No one wants you either!
Like that would happen.
Oh well.
Good lick to all of you. Maybe I'll be back next year. Maybe I'll just find a PhD program somewhere.
@ MommyJ - I went to Montana for undergrad, and I think they have a similar no-waitlist system. (However, I could be wrong about this, so don't quote me.) From my understanding, they admit more people than they expect will attend; they estimate that a certain number of people will decline, and apparently that works for them. I don't know how this works with funding offers, but I know that some programs do this. I'm not sure why this is better than a waitlist, though.
MommyJ, I am so sorry to hear that. I was rooting for you. Weirdly (arrogantly, misguidedly, and w/o knowledge of your work), I had moments of thinking we'd both sail into Amherst. I feel for you, and hope you keep on writing up a storm whether or not you reapply!
MommyJ, I'm really sorry that you didn't get in this year. Don't take it to mean anything about your writing. Some of us will be back here with you next year if you decided to try again for 2011 or for some low res programs! Good luck with your writing.
CB, I called University of Washington. The woman on the phone could not have been nicer. Made me wish I'd applied to the program! She said that calls have not yet been made, but that poetry is ahead of fiction. She said calls for poets could go out next week and that for fiction they could go out in about a week and a half or maybe two.
Ryan, Still no answer at Colorado. Voice mail only. I worry that they will see me offering to do this and wonder why I can't call my own programs but I can call for others! Haha, who knows? Maybe they're think I'm being brazen and terrible and trash my manuscripts. :)
I honestly don't like the idea of bombarding programs with calls and e-mails and etc. when they're obviously very busy, so I kept my call as short as possible with Washington. There's also no need for anybody else to go calling the University of Washington now - let them work! :) Her answer was pretty thorough and seemed honest.
I'm so sorry on UMass. That sucks. With my 0-2 average and 7 to go, I think I'll be joining you soon.
Congrats to the Michigan and Iowa acceptees. That's awesome. I envy you. ENVY you.
@ Arna
Can I pretend to be you and take whichever spot you don't want?
Seriously, would you mind emailing me your sample? It's cool if you don't feel comfortable, but I would really like to know what a successful sample looks like. riahwicker [at] gmail [dot] com Many thanks if you can.
I'm going to get drunk on wine now and listen to the sound of my phone not ringing.
I just wanted to say that I appreciated hearing your story a lot. The truth is that the only thing helping me get through the current rejections (official, assumed, and impending) is the thought that I will either find a way to channel the rejection into my work or I will collapse into a vortex of frustration and disappointment and suddenly disappear like a television that's been unplugged.
It's just nice to remember, amidst the frenzy and dreaming and sadness and jealousy and anticipation, that MFAs help writers but they don't make writers. It's good to be reminded that even if I get seven rejection letters in the mail this afternoon and my hopes for next year are obliterated, I'll wake up tomorrow morning and I'll still be a writer, and I'll still owe my daily word count and I'll still go to sleep dreaming about all the novels I'll write before I die.
It takes a thick skin, and if I'm going to let something like this knock me off track then I guess it means I've never had the fortitude to make it all the way to begin with.
So it would be nice to be able to thank the good people at the Michener Center, or at Cornell, or at Michigan in my acknowledgments section...but once the dust settles, if no school will have me, then I'm planning on moving to New York and knuckling down on a novel, and while I'm there I'll find friends and writers and mentors, and they'll get to go in the back pages of the novel instead.
Anyway, best of luck to everyone, winners and rejects alike. I'm a total lurker here but I've found a lot of encouragement in your comments. I hope to get to know some of you down the line, in the real world, as my peers.
@dYlJ Me,too! In for McNeese poetry and couldn't be more excited (even if our lovely Amy did lie to me and say I was the first call. haha) Are you going to take it and run?
Congrats to all the Iowa, MI, etc. Still jealous but looking forward to the cohort crawdad-ing I was promised.
@ Seth (maybe) or anyone who knows, when Iowa (or MI or wherever) takes several days to notify their yeses, how and/or why is that? Are they still in committee and determining the final list? Does it just take time to make 25 (or 22 or however many) calls?
I don't recall this being addressed recently. Sorry if it's old business . . .
And congratulations to everyone enjoying the aforementioned yeses. I'm fans of several of the regular posters and am very happy for you!
I have to be quick - I'm on vacation and I'm traveling around Jamaica (for the first time in my life; I've never been outside of Kingston); I'm stealing Internet time and have few minutes: Tilbe : BOOYOW! I'm so happy for you, so extremely ecstatic. You deserve this. I'm on vacation becuz I lost my job :) After this, I'm using the time to make a quick trip to the States to check out where I may be for the next 3yrs. I only have time (and money) to visit one site, so I'm heading to Blacksburg because that's where my interests most lie (it didn't at first, but, man, I've been majorly won over by the faculty). *BTW, does anyone know anyone who could host me for one night in Blacksburg? I'm working on tres limited funds* Whenever I land in NY, dear Trilbe, I'll send you a howler, Harry Potter style. To all other acceptancees - the Michigans and Iowas and Wilmingtons - major congrats. I wish I had more time. They're some of you on here I'm really, earnestly rooting for. I'll work some positive voodoo to blow sum luck ur way (since I know the talent's already there). Till next I steal someone's connection, --Cratty
Thank you, thank you, Ashley! I'm so glad to hear that and really appreciative of the fact that you called. I guess I shouldn't have been so nervous about doing it myself! Proof that an early acceptance or two doesn't mean more aren't coming weeks later.
I don't know if anyone's gotten in touch with Colorado but I called yesterday and a very nice man told me that my application was currently "under review" and I would hear a response in about two weeks.
Also, I BLEED MAIZE AND BLUE. Crushed about Michigan. :(
congrats to any acceptances i've missed! you all should be very proud and celebrate accordingly.
also, just wanted to say i appreciate the words of encouragement. i'm now at the point where i wish i had never even told anyone i was applying, you know? because yes, they all told me i was "sure to get in" and now that offers are being extended and i tell them the insane number of applicants and acceptances for each program, they don't have much to say except sorry. so, it's been said before, but i'm glad to have this community that understands. it means a lot. and i am not a touchy-feely person.
and @mommyj: i just wanted to say how sorry i was to read about umass. :( but i do hope you don't see it as a reflection of your talent (i'm one to talk, as mopey as i've been today, right?).
anyhow. i'm off to watch loads of tv and rot my brain. and probably check back in here lots.
@Arna Bontemps, @RealTalk, @Trilbe, @Rose, @Jasmine, @K Peaquah, and anyone else I'm forgetting who got into one of those top fiction programs:
I was wondering if there was any way I could possibly read your sample. Obviously, please ignore this if it makes you uncomfortable in any way; I'm just trying to get a better sense of how awesome someone needs to be to get in to a top program (which, I understand, is always a matter of taste on the part of the readers, but I feel like there's still universally recognizable quality). I'd also be more than happy to trade samples, if anyone is looking to do that. I'm nattyish at gmail.
With respect to publication and careers in fiction-writing, I look at the entire MFA process this way: If Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan, Stephen King, Tobias Wolff, Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy, Stuart Dybeck, and Robert Olen Butler applied for 5 spots, who would you reject?
Yes, Amy Tan and Stephen King have to get the axe. Amy Tan for being lit lite and King for his obsession with a car named Christine. I mean, Stephen, get over it already!
The final axe would have to be...yes...Margaret Atwood. Sci Fi has no place in a prestigious MFA program. The Handmaid's Tale? The Blind Assassin? Shoo!
(But it was real close between Atwood and McCarthy. McCarthy's GRE was also not up to snuff, but heck, he gets a pass.)
It's my understanding that it's just a "survey" of people applying (most of whom will be rejected) who never actually attend the programs. To say the least, this is ridiculous and I, for one, would rather have faculty ranking the programs than people who have never set foot inside an MFA class.
Also, what's to stop people from having different usernames under different e-mail addresses?? People could use proxy servers. Is there a way to guard against this??
Columbia is now at #38? Really?? I doubt most of the schools ranked above Columbia offer the same quality of education.
I’d rather we just drop all this rankings silliness altogether and just list all the programs and information about how well they fund (if available), class size, faculty size, ect.
Prepare for a 5,000 word response from the person responsible for the rankings; you will be awed into silence by the ferocity of his tone and the weakness of his arguments.
@ phillywriter: I remember thinking the same thing about coma-fying myself in December until the end of February. It's amazing to be there now, thinking, geez that wasn't nearly enough time.
@ Jenna: Loved the Joyce Carol Oates quote. Thank you!
@ Ashley Brooke: You are so awesome for making these phone calls. U Wash was one of the other ones I was stressing about, so I very much appreciate you getting info for us.
@ K. Peaquah: (late response) I'm glad you enjoyed the Maggie Shipstead link!
@ Jamie: (late response) The Cowboy Tango story I didn't actually love as much as what I heard her read in person. The one she read was a chapter out of her soon-to-be-released book and it was spectacular with super-interesting characters, with a darker humor. Not quite as dark as AM Homes, but along the same lines. If I could have found that one online (I looked), I definitely would have shared it with you guys.
@ Katie Booms: congrats on McNeese!
@ Woon: Oooo I gotta disagree about Margaret Atwood. Oryx and Crake TOTALLY has a place in prestigious MFA programs.
Anyone interested in poetry at VCU: I talked to my friend who got her MFA there and she had lunch with one of the faculty today and he said that they've barely started looking at materials. I think the blizzard set them back a bit.
Everyone else: Who wants to exchange samples? I'd love to exchange poetry with the poets and read stories this weekend. Email me at mandasue at gmail dot com. And, anyone who still hasn't should email me to join us at ning!
Woon, ha ha :) If they all applied aged 28 or so, with the glimmers of their future careers beginning to show, odds are that may well have been the outcome. I've long been an Atwood loyalist, and Oryx and Crake is a stellar example of the kind of speculative pontificating I hope to do, so i guess me and my ilk have been officially shoon (past tense of shoo?) by Woon.
Shoon by Woon. Damn.
Also, I never got to make the pun about Wisconsin that applying was "Wiscy business".
Le Tigre, Feel free to make your own rankings. Seth's data isn't perfect, but he works very hard to come up with the information that he does.
MFC, The woman I talked to said they hadn't gone out yet, but she may not have known they started or may not have wanted to say anything because calls weren't finished yet. Either way: Congratsulations!
I like the rankings if for no other reason that it gives some good data. For example, funding and selectivity, especially when hard numbers are provided. But for something like the MFA where, upon graduation, it doesn't guarantee:
(1) a job; (2) a book contract; (3) agent representation; or (4) 2-for-1 coupon at Carl's Jr,
Atwood totally would have a place at a program. In case you haven't noticed, almost every top tier MFA program has graduated people that write "Genre" but the literary establishment side steps any malevolent prejudice by calling such work magical realism/ genre bending/ cross-genre or just plain literary.
MFC, congrats!! That is so exciting! It makes me truly happy when other people get good news, like this whole MFA dream is actually real (if only for a select few). And what a nice start to the weekend! Congratulations again!
I looked for, but couldn't find, MA (English Literature) rankings. Perhaps people don't care. Perhaps it's irrelevant because where you read Shakespeare and Donne and Milton and Faulkner doesn't seem to matter. I could be wrong. (I don't have an MA in English Lit, btw) However, there are Ph.D rankings in English Literature which may make sense because these people will probably get jobs as Associate Professors somewhere. In this respect, rankings matter because of job placement.
It all just comes down to the writer. Some won't publish after an MFA and some will. A few will hit it big while most will hit it mid-list or not at all. While PHDs will help make you more marketable for jobs, the academic job market is INCREDIBLY bleak esp. for the humanities. I had a professor (Iowa MFA/PHD plus American Studies MA) who resorted to having students sign a petition to convince the dept/administration to let him stay (and he was a popular prof!).
When I look for a new author to read, I don't immediately seek out the latest book by some Iowa MFA grad. Or Cornell, Texas, Michigan, or Virginia grad. It's more about book review columns and Best-Of lists.
I also read the Best American Short Stories collection. I like some of Melissa Hardy's stories and might pick up her novels (if she has one), but I can't tell you, off the top of my head, where she got her MFA or where she teaches. I guess as a reader, that's how little I regard the MFA. As a writer, it's a bit different.
Just wanted to pop in and say CONGRATS to everyone, sounds like things are going great! I've hit my busiest two weeks in teaching, so I've been MIA from my usual lurking, but I did pop on tonight to see what was going on...
Wow, I can't even attempt to keep up with all of the acceptances from today! Congratulations to those accepted at Iowa, Michigan, McNeese, Washington...I'm sure I'm missing a few. While I'm still holding out a ray of hope for Iowa and Michigan, and therefore extremely envious of those accepted, my congrats are still sincere- I hope you are all super giddily happy and have wonderful weekends!
Also, I forgot to share this a while back:
My boyfriend's father uses extremely creative combinations of profanity- it can be pretty wondrous. When I told him about my Wisconsin rejection, he responded with, "Do you want me to write them and let 'em know they're a bunch of shit-asses?"
I liked it. "Dear (program who rejected me)- my boyfriend's dad says you're a bunch of shit-asses." If you read this in a valley-girl tone of voice, it's entertaining. End ramble.
WanderingTree, I'm genuinely curious - can you name successful 'genre' grads from: Michener Iowa (Rachel Swirsky, perhaps?) Cornell (Junot Diaz does not apply since he's stated he spent 11 years trying to unlearn what he learnt at Cornell - and that certainly stands w/r/t his SF leanings, if the difference between Drown and ...Oscar Wao is anything to go by) Wisconsin NYU Columbia Oregon Washington Montana JHU Vandy Florida
I'll give you Amherst (Jedediah Berry), Syracuse, of course (Salvador Plascencia & the incredible M.T. Anderson), Brown, Irvine, 'Bama (Kate Bernheimer), UNCG (Kelly Link) and even Virginia (Alan DeNiro), but please fill in the gaps. I just don't know enough - I'm not being sarky - I'd love to know where else has supported writers who tend towards the speculative/sf end of magical realism - and I can be more precise about the specifics of this, but a) such a discussion has been had, way back, b) i'm absolutely knackered and should go to sleep and c) i suspect i'm a more hardcore SF girl than you are. And you're not even a girl. Ahem.
I'm not trying to explain away my failure this year by playing the genre card - i'd just like to know the evidence for saying: 'almost every top tier MFA program has graduated people that write "Genre"' - as i don't think it's true.
My father left me a congratulatory voicemail about my acceptance. And then he said, "Just remember, the most important thing to consider is whether or not they have a good football team."
On a technical note, dunking your head in a bucket of moonshine would hurt alot. I'm sure you've had it too, but it isn't hard to get round chere. A couple sips will get you straight up drunk. I think it would eat out your eyeballs, but I'm not sure (and I'm not willing to try it). Speaking of moonshine...the bars await. Good luck all, and have a happy weekend.
Oh, and it appears im 0/2 with eight to go. But lots of great schools are left on my list, so I'm not too freaked (yet). OK, sometimes I am.
Oh, and @Ashley
That is cool of you to call schools for people. I'd hit you up, I guess, but most of my schools won't notify for a while.
Here are my random thoughts on this. The MFA rankings are just a starting point for applicants. They're nice to look at. The important aspects of the rankings are funding and selectivity, imo. Those are two bits of information that would have been a pain in the ass for me to compile on my own.
So, let's say you're coming up with a ranking system. You make separate rankings for selectivity, funding, faculty, etc. Just for the sake of info, wouldn't you want to compile all those numbers into a single overall ranking? That overall ranking doesn't really mean much. It's just number crunching for "fun."
For instance, if Columbia offered full funding to its students, there would be no doubt in my mind that it would be a top five school. Since it doesn't offer full funding, there is no way a person like me could ever go there. Therefore, it drops way down on the list. If funding is not an issue for you, I think Columbia should be way up there on your list.
A list compiled by faculty would not be better than a list compiled by people who actually research schools. Faculty concentrate on writing and teaching. They do not concentrate on the reputation, funding, and selectivity of other schools. They have more important things to do.
So I'm about to submit my last-minute Plan B application to Teach for America. Not like I really expect to get accepted because it's a really difficult program to get into and I have absolutely no "leadership experience"... but why not?
And they do THE GREATEST THING. They have ONE DAY when they notify EVERYONE, acceptances and rejections, and all you have to do is go check your status online on that day, and it's guaranteed it will be there. Can MFA programs start doing this please???!
I assumed Brown was staying silent for a few more weeks, in line with previous years. If the controversial Speakeasy poster Bunnytutu is anything to go by, that would be the case. Mid-march, Tutu says - and although his/her other claims have been debated, I think this one sounds thoroughly realistic.
Though hey, who knows. Everything seems to be coming earlier this year.
Yeah, I guess we can't include Junot Diaz even though he does have a foot in the genre camp. Maybe I shouldn't have said almost every and should have said "many". Off the top of my head: Kevin Brockmeier and Pickeney Benedict (Iowa), Karen Russell (Columbia), Lauren Groff (Wisconsin), Leni Zumas maybe (Mass-Amherst). As far as faculty, WUSTL has Kellie Wells and Kathryn, NYU has Lethem.
WT, Ahhh that makes MUCH more sense. I thought RugbyToy was just being cruel, shouting out names so little applicants would ruffle up their feathers :p
*THAT* was intended as a response to a question asked earlier that I cannot find now. When "Brown!" posted, I saw that it didn't show up anywhere NEAR the post I was responding to. And so I erased it.
Wandering Tree, I am apparently (without having received actual rejections except one) 0-6 with 5 more to go. And I think it's bull-SCHNIZZLES that you have not been accepted anywhere.
2,428 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 2428 Newer› Newest»CORNELL! CORNELL!
i'm somewhat upset about michigan, but i mean, really, the (yield-exclusive) acceptance rate is 2%. that's only 1% higher than michener's. given that it's hard for me to get very worked up about it.
Amanda,
I just called UC Boulder and got an answering machine! I cannot explain how nervous I feel calling a program even though I didn't apply there! It's stupid, but I need to get over it. My hearts is beating so fast! Why is this?
My despair just reached a new level when I realized that Michigan accepts 22 people, and since only a few have posted their acceptances here, that means there are a lot more people out there applying to MFA programs.
There are way too many of us. Some of us will not get in. Anywhere. OK, I'm really starting to lose it now.
oh btw congrats to everyone who did get in! i feel that my congratulations have been insufficient so i want to say that for those who are realizing their aspirations, yay!!
I can't find a phone number for Cornell.
Phillywriter,
I feel you. =(
Mostly Swell! I'm sorry I couldn't respond earlier, I was at work and can't access the blog (it's blocked). I'm not even joking though, imagining hot, greasy cornmeal breaded okra made me salivate, no joke!
To whomever said that I had a good sense of humor, I will say that I am also terribly depressed by this whole thing. I'm not upset on a rational level, I realize it's not the worse thing in the world to get rejected outright, but I'm still emotional about it. I will also be emotional at the end of it all, especially since I'm now convinced I will get straight no's.
Here's my solution. Today, I'm doing a fake celebratory night out with my boyfriend. We're going to go get pizza and ice cream and walk around downtown Lakeland (woo hoo!!). I'm going to pretend, 'cause I'm creative, and that's what creative people do. :)))) look at my double chins! Ha!
Since I see some of the others have started posting, I can finally say I've been accepted to Iowa for Fiction : )
For everyone's information, I'm almost sure that all notifications are still going on and probably will be for some time as everything gets worked out, so I would really advise anyone who applied and hasn't heard definitely NOT to lose hope but also not to flood the office trying to get news.
Also, I'm more than happy to try and answer any questions people might have. I've always liked how people on this blog are happy for each other and willing to help out and I definitely will do my best to continue that on.
@Trilbe Congratulations on Michigan! That's really wonderful. Always feels good to see good things happen to good people.
@KP and everyone else who got word recently, congratulations
@RealTalk you should shoot me an email sometime; my address is abhemenway at gmail.com.
@all other Iowa acceptances; you guys should email me too! Also, I went to Iowa for my undergrad so I can answer questions about Iowa City and stuff if you have any.
I don't know if this helps anybody, as far as potential waitlists/news are concerned, but this is the full list of schools I applied to, with the information I've received so far:
Iowa: Accepted
Cornell: Accepted
Texas: Pending in committee
Wisconsin: Pending
No word as of yet:
Florida
Florida State
Hunter
Columbia
Brooklyn
Stegner Grants
NYU
Irvine
Houston
Boston
Virginia
I guess the last thing I wanted to say was to tell you guys a quick story about application anxiety that I hope will make the wait easier:
12 hours before Cornell called me I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, knowing that Wisconsin and even Texas were probably notifying the next day. I had an anxiety attack, which for me feels like a heart attack. If it weren't for my fiancee waking up in the middle of the night, I don't know what would have happened to me. This after I'd had to start wearing a mouthguard at night because I was clenching my jaw during my sleep so badly I'd injured my jaw. I had only just begun to feel better the next day when Cornell called. By the time Iowa called, I had done a pretty good job in putting MFA stuff out of my mind (easier to do after you get accepted somewhere, I know). But my point is that of course you're going to worry, but just try to remember that everything can change really quickly and it's not worth worrying yourself sick over.
So thank you to @seth for all your help over my last years of planning and research and thank you to you guys on this blog for keeping things loose. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone else's news.
Take care!
-Arna
@ Ashley, Thanks for trying! I haaaaaate talking to people on the phone I don't know. It terrifies me.
Dude, I just found an excellent comfort food. Any New Yorkers*, there's a restaurant in Times Square. It is called Dave's Famous BBQ. Order the ice cream sundae with pecan praline sauce.
*It's apparently a chain w/ nation-wide restaurants, but I'm in NYC
Oh my god my cares are melting away...
i'm 0 for 4 with 4 more to go...
0/7 with only 3 left to go :*(
Amanda,
It's completely irrational. They don't know me, it doesn't matter, and it's not even like they can put a red X on my application that doesn't exist. I need to work on it so I will try again later. I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets like this!
@Briana
Can't make it to NYC but I do think some serious sinful indulgence is in order today.
I'm talking chocolatepeanutbuttercookiedoughwhippedcreamtart kinda damage.
Is it 5 o'clock yet?
Arna Bontemps, thank you for sharing your news, and many many congratulations! You must be so thrilled. Did you receive a phone call today, and did the person you spoke with mention anything about where they are in the notification process?
I'm also still pending at Wisconsin. No news, but from that email it sounds like it'll be another week...
@YAR
dude 0/4
though probably 5 b/c of cornell
now we're down to nyu, iowa, and brown
oh dear god
Arna, congrats! Have you determined your preference between Iowa and Cornell yet, and if so, are you going to turn one of them down sooner rather than later?
Not that I'm on any waitlists yet or anything. But here's hoping.
@ya
i feel yo pain...i did have one question, didn't know if anyone else was wondering too (and this by no means is a shot at those getting in--congrats to all those!) for all the supposed differences in what certain schools are interested in, or even just the idea that different people like different types of writing...does it seem odd that, much of the time it seems, the same people are getting in to all the schools? just wondering...
Arna Bontemps,
Didn't you die in the 1970s?
Apparently not, so congrats on Iowa AND Cornell! What a choice!
@scomp I'm down to NYU, Columbia, and Brown.
Concrete rejections from WashU, and assumed from Vandy, Cornell, and now Michigan.
I want to cry.
Arna puts the Wisconsin-Madison (reported) shortlist at five on this blog. My guess is that the shortlist is sizable.
I don't have a Plan B yet. Going through this a third year isn't something I want to think about right now.
But congratulations to everyone on the good news!
dude i'm sorry to hear that, but hey you never know. i knew an AMAZING professor who was educated at Columbia and he's had an incredible and still growing career. so great choice there!
one question, how do you know cornell didn't accept you?
congratulations, arna. :)
wow arna!! congrats!
@scomp just assuming bc it's been so long since their early YES's, so I think it's pretty clear.
Yeah, I had this really foolish fatalistic move and didn't build any tiers into my application list. BAD CHOICE.
0/6 with 6 more left to go. Hoping I'll have better luck with the 2nd half of my apps.
LAswede,
This goes along with my theory that while "fit" means something, being good means more. And this isn't always subjective. There is a level of subjectivity, but I'd say that if asked to pick out the top 10% of applicants, that no matter who is selecting there is going to be a lot more overlap than 10%. I'm hereby suggesting 50% overlap. And BY THE WAY, I hate arbitrary percentages so please forgive my use of them.
I am 0 for 6 with 6 left to go! Twelve seems like such a small number now. Augh, I hate this!
I'm 0/3 with seven left. But those three were some of my top choices (including 1 and 3). It's still early for me, and I'm trying to not let it get me down. But Michigan was a low blow. I live in the area, and I wanted to stay here. My sister's here, and having a baby. I wanted to be close by. Booo.
I'm 0/1 with 9 left. I wasn't shooting for gold, though. I keep reading all these posts and thinking to myself "hmm, should've applied there...."
1 official rejection, 2 implied and 2 to go (and not especially high hopes). i knew i was taking a chance only applying to five programs and that the whole application process was kind of rushed on my end, but this is still disheartening.
i'm wishing us all good luck in the next few weeks.
@AB
i know what you mean, but i still believe that if you randomly asked people on this board who their favorite writers are, some are going to be listed that posters are going to say, "who? why? i hate that person's writing" if i think someone is good, i like them...if not, i don't...i can't think of a writer that i don't care for that i would say is good..."oh, that writer is awesome...but i can't stand him/her"...ya know?
@Ashley Brooke
I wish we could get some data on this. The subjectivity that goes into the MFA application process drives me insane.
If more schools shortlisted like Wisconsin-Madison, we'd have better data to look behind the Top 10% curtain.
Oops, I meant I only applied to seven TOTAL, so right now 0/4 with 3 to hear back on. Oh math.
One assumed rejection (from Michigan) and 6 to go. Are we assuming that Iowa is done too? Then that would be 2 rejections and 5 to go.
Florida
Oregon
Houston
Texas State
Boston U
Congrats Arna and all other Iowa acceptees! Big news!
Kate - I've been to Pittsburgh and quite liked it which led to that app. as well as my interest in Chatham's program. Everyone at the school is very very helpful and responsive. I haven't visited the campus yet but heard good things elsewhere too. And it's looking like I will be going there for that open house and interview most likely in mid-March, esp. since I didn't hear anything from Michigan today! Good luck all!
Coughdrop,
Fingers crossed! If you don't get in, I'll really be confused as yours was one of my favorites out of the 23 samples I read. Argh.
Oh and I guess it's probably pretty early, but anybody heard anything from University of Florida (gainesville)?
@Arna - Big congrats on the big "I"!
You're giving Nick McCrae a run for his impressive acceptance tally.
LAswede,
This is true, but you're talking about established writers, who are probably part of that top 10% a lot of the time anyway. Blah. It's so subjective that even speculating about this seems pointless, so I guess that's all I've got.
does anyone else feel like throwing out the charlie sheen speech to his manager (from major league) when he thought he'd been cut from the team...if you don't know what i'm talking about, check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NKXskaYCN0
and start it about the 4 minute mark!
Congrats to everyone accepted ... if I try to list everyone, I know I'll miss a few ... so congrats as a group!
Today brought not one but two FOE's from Naropa. Ugh!
aaaawww WT! Thank you! I needed that today!
and for what its worth, I feel the same about yours! I didn't tell you but after I read yours I instantly regretted sending you mine because I was like "OH SHIT THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN MINE"
I think we should BOTH get in!
Ryan,
I tried Colorado earlier at a different number and got voicemail. I tried the number you posted and alas, another voice mail! Sorry. I tried!
Panickers,
I'm posting this as a testament to the potential wrongness of these comments. Just called Michigan, asked if they were done notifying for acceptances. The kind woman on the other end of the line said, "yes."
"So if we didn't receive an email, that means we're rejected?"
Her, sounding confused, "No."
Me, really confused, "Oh!"
Her, "We'll be finishing up sending them out on Monday."
I'm guessing the first time she meant they were done notifying for today. Get some sleep this weekend, Party & bullshit.
Z
Zinzi,
That could also mean that she realized she was basically telling you over the phone that you were rejected, which might not be something she wanted to say. They might also have waitlists yet to offer, so not everybody who hasn't heard it outright rejected.
well played, zinzi!
Another UNCW fiction acceptance over at DH. Not mine, just sayin'...
Ashley,
Didn't seem like it. Why you gotta assume the worst?
oh ashley, you pessimist!!
oh well, unfortunately, i'm in the glass half empty crowd too!
I wish I could go into a perfectly timed coma from which I would wake up (with no health complications) on April 10.
Zinzi,
Sorry! I'm not, I'm just suggesting another possible explanation. Good luck!
@Rosie--I applied to Port St for CNF, and as it seems they notify late, they may be one of my last gasps of air--errr, I mean chances. So any feedback you might have on the program or the area is appreciated.
All you UNCW CNF acceptances, congratulations (wait is there only one? Anyway...), but do feel free to pass on them so as to give me a chance for round 2 calls....haha. Looks like my alma mater may be rejecting me two years straight. Bastards. WO is me. Good luck all...back to distractions.
P.S. Anyone other CNF people sensing that the last burst of air from the Alabama balloon has escaped? Me thinks there will be a letter from them in the dreaded mailbox tomorrow or Monday...or never. I suppose being waitlisted might only prolong the agony. I'm rambling now....good weekend to y'all.
congrats arna, trilbe, and real talk <3
Got my call! I just got accepted to VFA for my MFA in Fiction for Children and Young Adults! So exciting! :D
Anyone have any ideas on how to rustle up some money? Any good scholarships for writers out there?
Low-res is notorious for low-funding...and, though I did earn a merit scholarship, I could use all the help I can get...
umass people: i know a lot of you called, what did you say? I'm kind of just assuming they've contacted everyone they want at this point...?
also, i have a flash of concern they don't have my transcript... what did it say on the transcript section of your spire account? I hadn't checked online stuff until today for them...
i just feel anxious about the CALLING at this point, not even the result. ha.
Someboday call Iowa like Zini did. Seriously.
like Zini called MIchigan. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Jesus.
I've been watching the movie "Sylvia" in bed. Really bad choice.
Long-time lurker, first time poster. First off, congrats to everyone who has gotten accepted. For the rest I just wanted to share a story with all of you who are finding out today that you may have not made it into your dream schools.
I went through the whole process last year and applied only to eight of the very top programs. Rejected everywhere. At the time I was feeling pretty sorry for myself but over the course of a week or two I molded my disappointment into conviction.
I had seriously questioned the efficacy of MFAs anyhow. All my favorite authors, even the contemporary ones, had not gone through MFA programs and frankly much of the writing that did come out of MFA programs did not appeal to me in the least (with a few notable exceptions).
So I buckled down, finished my novel, polished it till it gleamed like a jewel, and then sent it out to agents. Two month later I had a signed contract in hand.
There is no moral to this story. MFAs are absolutely valuable for some people; for others, much less so. Just remember that if you're goal is to be a working writer, then write. A fancy scrap of paper awarding you an MFA means next to nothing. It's the work that you produce and publish that holds real meaning. Just because MFA programs have deemed you lacking does not mean you're a failure. Use the rejections as motivation, not to persevere through another year of apps, but to get to work on what really matters.
Maybe I just got lucky, but I doubt it.
Goodbye Michigan.
Iowa? Have they finished calling fiction acceptances? Should I wave goodbye to Iowa too?
oh seriously, Friday, seriously? Someone just said they got an acceptance from University of Washington.
I'm gunna pull a fake!realtalk and say I JUST CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS SHIT TODAY.
SERIOUSLY. I need a drink.
Since I see Seth is already tallying the 2011 lists, I thought I'd share mine. In fiction:
Memphis (accepted, previously reported in a fit of giddy delight)
Syracuse
McNeese
Houston
UVA
Arkansas
Columbia
UMass, Boston
Boston University
Low res:
Warren Wilson
Seattle Pacific
This blog has been a HUGE help and fantastic resource. Seth, your efforts are greatly appreciated. You rock.
Finally, congrats on all the recent acceptances & waitlists! Best to all!
@Z and everyone else downtrodden about Michigan
I just called Michigan as well (again), and the woman seemed hesitant and very confusing. I asked if they were done emailing accepted applicants, and she said "Yes." And I asked, "So if I didn't get an email, I'm not accepted?" She paused and then said, "Well, no. You can't say that until we finish."
Confused, I asked, "So you're not done notifying people of acceptance?"
And she said, "No, we're finishing on Monday." She sighs. "We've just emailed out the offers."
And I said, "Okay....so what does that mean?"
"It means that just because you didn't get an email doesn't mean you don't get accepted."
It continued on like this, in this circular incomprehensible method until I decided I was too confused, and it sounded like they were done. But I guess we'll see on Monday? Weird. I wouldn't get your hopes up. Doesn't sound promising.
Two things -
(Sorry, but I have a really crap computer and I can't seem to get back to the earlier comments to check)
But Seth and (I think) Woon were having a conversation about V Tech. I got an (unofficial, later followed by official) acceptance from them on Feb 5. They mention 160 apps for 8 slots, so Woon is right about those numbers.
Also - HUGE (for me) - I just got a fiction acceptance at Michigan. Yayyy!!!!!!!!!!!
Washington! That's so early!! Will someone call there re fiction?? : )
(Uff crap computer, hadn't meant to post yet)
Huge congrats to everyone with acceptances and waitlists.
:-)
I got a call from Richard Kenney at the U. Washington today! Very polite and kind conversation about the program. I'm too excited to think, but I wanted to share. good luck everyone!!
I've been lurking here instead of posting, mainly because these mailbox threads have a length that is, um, daunting. I have been posting at Driftless House and P&W Speakeasy.
My list for Creative Nonfiction:
Alabama - accepted
Eastern Washington - accepted
Uni. of MO-Kansas City - accepted
Minnesota - assumed rejection
Ohio State - assumed rejection
Iowa - rejected
Kansas - rejected
Arizona -
Memphis -
Congrats to everyone on their successes and keep the faith/continue to bake.
Congrats, Mickey!! Did they mention anything about when the fiction acceptances will go out (or if they have already)?
FOE from American University. About Graduate Studies Day.
COME ON. WHYYYYYY.
To be honest, I was so taken back I didn't ask too many questions. Sorry, I wish I had more news for everyone.
All of these circular Michigan convos make it sound like they're sending out some wait list notifications on Monday, which is why "you can't say [you're not accepted] until we're finished."
And the wait list wouldn't be such a bad place to end up! I know a healthy crop of people who've turned down spots at Michigan and other top programs.
I just wanted to make it clear, since I might not have in my earlier post, that it is my understanding that Iowa is very early in their notification process and that information/notifications will be ongoing for some time. Right now I don't think there's any reason for anyone to assume anything, especially negative. I know for a fact how kind everyone who works in that office is (as well as how overworked they are), and I think especially at this point in the process there is nothing they can do for someone contacting them trying to get information, so I think the best thing for everyone to do is to not assume anything (especially not anything negative) and also to be patient, as it is a bit of a long process.
Another encouraging story: while Arna was recovering from that anxiety attack and posting about the Cornell acceptance on the blog, I was staring at my cell phone waiting for Cornell to call, then feeling sorry for myself over a bowl of chicken shawarma (stayed in on a Friday night to do this...and to think it was only just last Friday, too - already it feels like several hells ago). So what is there to say? This is a ridiculous process. To those still waiting, the only thing to say is that eventually the waiting ends, and with the waiting, the anxiety.
As for the ?s that have been directed to me: I don't know anything about an online Iowa status page; I was notified by telephone.
@Realtalk
people are referring to the Iowa ISIS page and the status it gives on there.
Hi Nadiya,
Not to be a little so-and-so, but I think that means I was right about the numbers. ;-p
Woon thought s/he heard that the 8/160 was just in fiction, but based on historical trends that appeared to me to be an impossibility (not just due to applicant pool size but also class size at VT). I speculated that what Woon had heard was actually the total number of admits and applicants (in both genres), and it looks like that's the case.
I mention this a) just to be a little b*tch about data, per usual, but also b) to emphasize that I wasn't doubting Woon's recitation of numbers (I know s/he was acting in 100% good faith) but rather what those numbers were thought/intended to represent.
Be well (and congrats on VT and Michigan!),
S.
Wowzers. Trilbe - I actually shouted at my housemate: 'the awesome girl from the blog has got into MICHIGAN!!!!' My housemate was like, 'wicked!' Ha ha. Woo hoo, man, you're tops!!!! Where ya gonna go??
On the lack of exclamation marks front, I just called Amherst too and got rejected - thanks Chrissy for the number! 450 fiction applicants, apparently. (Maybe someone can confirm? I was a bit shaken). It's beginning to sink in that maybe I'm not as good a writer as I thought I was. Much navelgazing to be done, but I'm not going to let it spiral pointlessly. Emppeng27 - that was an interesting post - thank you.
I doubt I'm in at Mich or Brown, so that's me done for the year; I'm aware I set myself up for a really hard task and feel alright about the way the chips have fallen. Next year I'll only apply to programs who can actually stomach bonkers speculative fiction (only about two programs that I know of) - I was beginning to wonder how well I'd fit into a program where I might have to limit where my real interests lie (ie. blatantly way over in GENRE). I do not wish to reignite the genre debate btw... I do not wish to have it implied that if I were a better speculative fiction writer I would have got into one of my top 10 programs. This may well be true...but so what :)
Just booked myself a month in gorgeous Berlin to write and chill out. Life is good.
Wandering Tree - I'm holding out hope for your final six. You'll come good.
Arna, nice one! You, presumably, rawk.
Oh, and Burlaper & Jamie - Jeff mofo'in Mangum had a show on at WFMU?!?! I only occasionally listen to Irene Trudel. I had no idea! I'll trawl through the archives (unless one of you has a link?!). On the Magnum tip, have you seen his wife Astra Taylor's documentary on Slavoj Zizek? It's great. I've been doing some Zizek research recently and rewatched the doc. It's on YouTube. Very, very good. Zizek is a sweaty man.
Oh just read about the Iowa acceptances. Wow! Way to go, all of you who're in Iowa!
Sorry Seth :-)
That's why I mentioned crap-laptop, was fuzzy on the details because I couldn't go to the previous page and check.
Coreyann
Just got that email! Sadists.
subscribing
Anybody got a good pick-me-up for someone who's fallen into rejection depression?
Any more MFA programs whose application deadline has not passed?
Good Lord, congratulations to EVERYBODY!
Especially my girl Trilbe!
NM
Yes, the American University FOE was cruel. For one excited minute I wondered if only admitted students were invited and then I noticed on their website that anyone can attend. Boo.
Well, if its any comfort to you American University applicants: I was rejected a couple weeks ago from there and I didn't get any invitation. (Bitches! Not going to invite you to my party EITHER!)
All bitterness aside, it COULD mean good news? or at least a possibility of good news?
re-American email
I'm largely (read: entirely) a pessimistic person, so I had the opposite thought, "Hmm, its probably so you'll reapply next year"
At any rate, I'm sure they'll have great info there regarding their master's in Global International Poly-Galactic Policy Studies.
@ Eli - I'm bummed for you. I'm bad at reassurance (really, I prefer doom and catastrophizing), but the sheer chaos of this moment and "it's not over til it's over" have to offer some reassurance. In addition to your Berlin, I'd suggest listening to Lou Reed's "Berlin" if you don't make it - there is no more depressing or louche album in existence.
Without getting into the genre thing (I'm not doing it, really!), I happen to be reading William Gibson's Pattern Recognition right now, and I found myself wondering how writers like him square with the MFA thing (whatever that is, if it even exists, or if I'm just paranoid/projecting). Ditto for Philip K. Dick.
PS this isn't a genre discussion because both writers cited are sui generis.
I never listened to Jeff Mangum's show, but I too am a fan of Zizek. He is very funny when he talks about how fascinated he is with "Kung Fu Panda."
I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing "We're gonna vent
our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow
a 50-amp fuse"
Sing it to me...
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
well you just might find
You get what you need
I'm taking leave from this blog for the indefinite future, but I trust that Jagger's lyrics will inspire you in the positive way that they have me on this otherwise grim notification Friday (I applied to Iowa, Michigan and U Washington).
Congrats to all who've heard good things, and everybody else stay up! It will work out for the best in the end.
-K
@Ashley Brooke
Call American. Ask what's up there.
Kthxxx!
Now you give me a school to do.
Wait, UNCW people --
someone said earlier that they weren't done with fiction deliberating, yet someone got accepted via phone call today? (DH response listings)
This just gets worse and worse. This looks like it's going to be the longest, most depressing weekend of my life. And I'll most likely be hungover until mid-next week. Right now = torture. Sheer torture.
@Meredith,
I'm with you. I feel paralyzed. This is hell.
I HATE MY SCHEDULE.
I got home from work to see that people on here were calling Amherst and getting closure and they're already closed for the day!!!!
Oh well. another weekend where I can assume that one is a rejection!
Nadiya, huge congrats!
@ Eli and Jamie
I met Zizek at the Telluride Film Fest a few years ago. Dude's not only sweaty, but also clearly has ADHD... add his accent in there, and you have a very intelligent stooge set on fast-forward. I just sort of took a few steps back tried to translate what he was saying so that my non-genius mind could (sort of) understand.
Oh, and I'm fairly certain he's got Asperger Syndrome. But maybe that's already well known.
That's all.
Jeremy,
I can't find a phone number on American's website, and it's past 6 in this timezone so I can't imagine that there is anyone in the office... ? Find me a number and I'd be willing to try, though.
@ Matilda
I'm seriously considering picking up a Rx drug habit just so I can sleep through this weekend. Merrrrrhhh!!! :(
Retard'd question: Can someone stop, drop and define "FOE" for the community?
Kthnxx!
Hey, everyone. Between my job and my limited internet access etc., I can't even begin to keep up with you all! But I do try.
So, 1. CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who's been accepted! and 2. Everyone else -- I'm sorry for all the anxiety and upset. This really really is such a stressful time. I hope you all can take care of yourselves, try to relax, take a walk, etc. -- deep breaths. Whatever the outcome, we'll get through it.
Hang in there through the weekend, everyone!
@Ashley Brooke
You ROCK.
CAS Graduate Admissions
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016
Tel: 202-885-3620
FOE - fake-out email, no?
Jeremy,
The office closed at 5pm Eastern time. Sorry! I tried. Also, that was the graduate admissions for the entire college of Arts and Science. If there's a number specifically for the English or Creative Writing department, that might get better results. But who knows? I just got a girl on an answering machine.
Ashley, o brave one, would you be willing to call Washington to ask if they've started notifying for fiction? (206) 543-9865??
Congrats to RealTalk, Arna and Nadiya for their Iowa and Michigan acceptances. That's amazing, guys.
Having received 2 formal rejections and news of 4 of my other schools already in the process of or done accepting, I've turned to reading the Paris Review interviews with writers to keep my spirits up. It's wonderful, at this early stage in my writing career (been out of undergrad 2 years--next year would be a perfect time to do the MFA but I'm still young), to remember that every writer has been in this position at one point. Like Salman Rushdie, who was trying to be an actor in the London theater scene while also trying to start his writing career and being generally miserable. And then not even liking the first novel he published.
The great thing, as we all know and have said again and again, is that we can always write. MFA acceptances and rejections have no bearing on the fact that we only need ideas and something to write them down on. We do not need research laboratories or specialized training to be what we already know we are. Here's a quote from Joyce Carol Oates that rings true for me right now:
"I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another 5 minutes...and somehow the activity of writing changes everything."
That said (and quoted), I'm gonna go write.
Just got a voicemail from Iowa... State! Other Iowa, I know. I'm in for CNF. I'd be curious to hear from anyone who knows much about the program — I applied because the focus on creative writing and the environment was a great match for the work I'm interested in doing. I also saw Benjamin Percy read at Bread Loaf a few years back and was blown away. I'd be curious to know if anyone else is familiar with the program, though.
Congrats to everyone who got good news today!
@Jenna - Thank you for posting that Joyce Carol Oates quote! That really struck a chord of truth for me.
I had no idea this process could be so draining (I honestly thought stand-up comedy would be the most difficult thing I ever did) but with a little distance it isn't hard to see that all of this stress is illusory. I don't know about you guys but I haven't been writing lately and I think, more than waiting to hear back from programs, that has leading cause of my anxiety. I agree about the activity of writing changing everything.
@Jamie - bloody hell, I too am reading Pattern Recognition right now! Cayce has just left my 'hood (Camden area) and arrived in Tokyo. Am liking it a lot - it's right up my geeky street. Maybe I'm just in a cynical mood, but I imagine Gibbo and PKD would have little truck with MFA programs - they'd tell me to go straight to Clarion. Or perhaps to Orange County to neck lots of trippy substances.
Also, Lou Reed's 'Berlin'. Um, yeah, thanks for the recommendation! My personal Berlin choice is 'A New Career in A New Town' from Bowie's 'Low'. Holy shit, what a song. I'm fine, though, honestly. I feel strangely free and exhilarated.
@Meredith - not surprised about Zizek's ADHD. Not surprised about your WTF-provoked steps back either! I think I'd rather read one of his books and take him at my own speed than try to decipher him while he flicks sweat at me.
That, too, is all.
I'm in a very non-MFA mood already so will step away from the blog before i bang on about irrelevant shenanigans even more.
Good luck everyone; hang in there!
@Jenna - great quote.
Got a call a half hour ago from Amy Fleury from McNeese! In for poetry :)
I called UMass. It is confirmed: I did not get in.
And there is NO waiting list. I wonder what happens if someone turns them down? Are they so arrogant to think that they are the first choice of all who applied.
The vindictive part of me hopes all who are accepted get in somewhere else as well and en mass turn down spots at Amherst. Ha! No one wants you either!
Like that would happen.
Oh well.
Good lick to all of you. Maybe I'll be back next year. Maybe I'll just find a PhD program somewhere.
So is it too late for good things about Iowa for Poetry?
@ MommyJ - I went to Montana for undergrad, and I think they have a similar no-waitlist system. (However, I could be wrong about this, so don't quote me.) From my understanding, they admit more people than they expect will attend; they estimate that a certain number of people will decline, and apparently that works for them. I don't know how this works with funding offers, but I know that some programs do this. I'm not sure why this is better than a waitlist, though.
Subscribing
MommyJ, I am so sorry to hear that. I was rooting for you. Weirdly (arrogantly, misguidedly, and w/o knowledge of your work), I had moments of thinking we'd both sail into Amherst. I feel for you, and hope you keep on writing up a storm whether or not you reapply!
@MommyJ
Best wishes to you - I made the same painful call.
Keep writing!
I'm sorry MommyJ. I will save the chipper, well-meaning optimism because I'm sure you don't want to hear that right now. Just wanted to say sorry.
MommyJ,
I'm really sorry that you didn't get in this year. Don't take it to mean anything about your writing. Some of us will be back here with you next year if you decided to try again for 2011 or for some low res programs! Good luck with your writing.
CB,
I called University of Washington. The woman on the phone could not have been nicer. Made me wish I'd applied to the program! She said that calls have not yet been made, but that poetry is ahead of fiction. She said calls for poets could go out next week and that for fiction they could go out in about a week and a half or maybe two.
Ryan,
Still no answer at Colorado. Voice mail only.
I worry that they will see me offering to do this and wonder why I can't call my own programs but I can call for others! Haha, who knows? Maybe they're think I'm being brazen and terrible and trash my manuscripts. :)
I honestly don't like the idea of bombarding programs with calls and e-mails and etc. when they're obviously very busy, so I kept my call as short as possible with Washington. There's also no need for anybody else to go calling the University of Washington now - let them work! :) Her answer was pretty thorough and seemed honest.
@ MommyJ
I'm so sorry on UMass. That sucks. With my 0-2 average and 7 to go, I think I'll be joining you soon.
Congrats to the Michigan and Iowa acceptees. That's awesome. I envy you. ENVY you.
@ Arna
Can I pretend to be you and take whichever spot you don't want?
Seriously, would you mind emailing me your sample? It's cool if you don't feel comfortable, but I would really like to know what a successful sample looks like. riahwicker [at] gmail [dot] com Many thanks if you can.
I'm going to get drunk on wine now and listen to the sound of my phone not ringing.
@emppeng27, re: your post from a while ago
I just wanted to say that I appreciated hearing your story a lot. The truth is that the only thing helping me get through the current rejections (official, assumed, and impending) is the thought that I will either find a way to channel the rejection into my work or I will collapse into a vortex of frustration and disappointment and suddenly disappear like a television that's been unplugged.
It's just nice to remember, amidst the frenzy and dreaming and sadness and jealousy and anticipation, that MFAs help writers but they don't make writers. It's good to be reminded that even if I get seven rejection letters in the mail this afternoon and my hopes for next year are obliterated, I'll wake up tomorrow morning and I'll still be a writer, and I'll still owe my daily word count and I'll still go to sleep dreaming about all the novels I'll write before I die.
It takes a thick skin, and if I'm going to let something like this knock me off track then I guess it means I've never had the fortitude to make it all the way to begin with.
So it would be nice to be able to thank the good people at the Michener Center, or at Cornell, or at Michigan in my acknowledgments section...but once the dust settles, if no school will have me, then I'm planning on moving to New York and knuckling down on a novel, and while I'm there I'll find friends and writers and mentors, and they'll get to go in the back pages of the novel instead.
Anyway, best of luck to everyone, winners and rejects alike. I'm a total lurker here but I've found a lot of encouragement in your comments. I hope to get to know some of you down the line, in the real world, as my peers.
Sorry, guys. Flustered. Unforgivable typos.
@dYlJ Me,too! In for McNeese poetry and couldn't be more excited (even if our lovely Amy did lie to me and say I was the first call. haha) Are you going to take it and run?
Congrats to all the Iowa, MI, etc. Still jealous but looking forward to the cohort crawdad-ing I was promised.
@ Seth (maybe) or anyone who knows, when Iowa (or MI or wherever) takes several days to notify their yeses, how and/or why is that? Are they still in committee and determining the final list? Does it just take time to make 25 (or 22 or however many) calls?
I don't recall this being addressed recently. Sorry if it's old business . . .
And congratulations to everyone enjoying the aforementioned yeses. I'm fans of several of the regular posters and am very happy for you!
I have to be quick - I'm on vacation and I'm traveling around Jamaica (for the first time in my life; I've never been outside of Kingston); I'm stealing Internet time and have few minutes:
Tilbe : BOOYOW! I'm so happy for you, so extremely ecstatic. You deserve this.
I'm on vacation becuz I lost my job :) After this, I'm using the time to make a quick trip to the States to check out where I may be for the next 3yrs. I only have time (and money) to visit one site, so I'm heading to Blacksburg because that's where my interests most lie (it didn't at first, but, man, I've been majorly won over by the faculty). *BTW, does anyone know anyone who could host me for one night in Blacksburg? I'm working on tres limited funds*
Whenever I land in NY, dear Trilbe, I'll send you a howler, Harry Potter style.
To all other acceptancees - the Michigans and Iowas and Wilmingtons - major congrats.
I wish I had more time. They're some of you on here I'm really, earnestly rooting for. I'll work some positive voodoo to blow sum luck ur way (since I know the talent's already there).
Till next I steal someone's connection,
--Cratty
Hey guys - Has anyone kept a list of which programs have already notified? And in what? (poetry, fiction, etc...)
@cratty,
did you get accepted at VT?
@Spartacus
http://driftless-house.blogspot.com/2010/02/2010-cw-mamfaphd-application-responses.html
Cratty,
Have you tried couchsurfing.com? I did a quick search and there are over 100 willing hosts in Blacksburg.
Spartacus,
Here!
Y'all rock! Thanks!
Thank you, thank you, Ashley! I'm so glad to hear that and really appreciative of the fact that you called. I guess I shouldn't have been so nervous about doing it myself! Proof that an early acceptance or two doesn't mean more aren't coming weeks later.
I don't know if anyone's gotten in touch with Colorado but I called yesterday and a very nice man told me that my application was currently "under review" and I would hear a response in about two weeks.
Also, I BLEED MAIZE AND BLUE. Crushed about Michigan. :(
Congrats to all the Iowa and Michigan acceptees! Gosh! Take heavy winter jackets and longjohns.
congrats to any acceptances i've missed! you all should be very proud and celebrate accordingly.
also, just wanted to say i appreciate the words of encouragement. i'm now at the point where i wish i had never even told anyone i was applying, you know? because yes, they all told me i was "sure to get in" and now that offers are being extended and i tell them the insane number of applicants and acceptances for each program, they don't have much to say except sorry. so, it's been said before, but i'm glad to have this community that understands. it means a lot. and i am not a touchy-feely person.
and @mommyj: i just wanted to say how sorry i was to read about umass. :( but i do hope you don't see it as a reflection of your talent (i'm one to talk, as mopey as i've been today, right?).
anyhow. i'm off to watch loads of tv and rot my brain. and probably check back in here lots.
@Emily
Did you call U of Colorado or Colorado State?? And either way, thanks for the info!
@Arna Bontemps, @RealTalk, @Trilbe, @Rose, @Jasmine, @K Peaquah, and anyone else I'm forgetting who got into one of those top fiction programs:
I was wondering if there was any way I could possibly read your sample. Obviously, please ignore this if it makes you uncomfortable in any way; I'm just trying to get a better sense of how awesome someone needs to be to get in to a top program (which, I understand, is always a matter of taste on the part of the readers, but I feel like there's still universally recognizable quality).
I'd also be more than happy to trade samples, if anyone is looking to do that. I'm nattyish at gmail.
Thanks so much! Congrats to all the acceptees!
With respect to publication and careers in fiction-writing, I look at the entire MFA process this way: If Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan, Stephen King, Tobias Wolff, Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy, Stuart Dybeck, and Robert Olen Butler applied for 5 spots, who would you reject?
Yes, Amy Tan and Stephen King have to get the axe. Amy Tan for being lit lite and King for his obsession with a car named Christine. I mean, Stephen, get over it already!
The final axe would have to be...yes...Margaret Atwood. Sci Fi has no place in a prestigious MFA program. The Handmaid's Tale? The Blind Assassin? Shoo!
(But it was real close between Atwood and McCarthy. McCarthy's GRE was also not up to snuff, but heck, he gets a pass.)
I'm a little concerned about these MFA rankings.
It's my understanding that it's just a "survey" of people applying (most of whom will be rejected) who never actually attend the programs. To say the least, this is ridiculous and I, for one, would rather have faculty ranking the programs than people who have never set foot inside an MFA class.
Also, what's to stop people from having different usernames under different e-mail addresses?? People could use proxy servers. Is there a way to guard against this??
Columbia is now at #38? Really?? I doubt most of the schools ranked above Columbia offer the same quality of education.
I’d rather we just drop all this rankings silliness altogether and just list all the programs and information about how well they fund (if available), class size, faculty size, ect.
Anyone else want to just end these rankings?
(regarding phone call to Washington) Strange! University of Washington Seattle called me today around noon for placement in poetry.
@Le_Tigre
Prepare for a 5,000 word response from the person responsible for the rankings; you will be awed into silence by the ferocity of his tone and the weakness of his arguments.
@ phillywriter: I remember thinking the same thing about coma-fying myself in December until the end of February. It's amazing to be there now, thinking, geez that wasn't nearly enough time.
@ Jenna: Loved the Joyce Carol Oates quote. Thank you!
@ Ashley Brooke: You are so awesome for making these phone calls. U Wash was one of the other ones I was stressing about, so I very much appreciate you getting info for us.
@ K. Peaquah: (late response) I'm glad you enjoyed the Maggie Shipstead link!
@ Jamie: (late response) The Cowboy Tango story I didn't actually love as much as what I heard her read in person. The one she read was a chapter out of her soon-to-be-released book and it was spectacular with super-interesting characters, with a darker humor. Not quite as dark as AM Homes, but along the same lines. If I could have found that one online (I looked), I definitely would have shared it with you guys.
@ Katie Booms: congrats on McNeese!
@ Woon: Oooo I gotta disagree about Margaret Atwood. Oryx and Crake TOTALLY has a place in prestigious MFA programs.
Anyone interested in poetry at VCU: I talked to my friend who got her MFA there and she had lunch with one of the faculty today and he said that they've barely started looking at materials. I think the blizzard set them back a bit.
Everyone else: Who wants to exchange samples? I'd love to exchange poetry with the poets and read stories this weekend. Email me at mandasue at gmail dot com. And, anyone who still hasn't should email me to join us at ning!
Woon, ha ha :) If they all applied aged 28 or so, with the glimmers of their future careers beginning to show, odds are that may well have been the outcome. I've long been an Atwood loyalist, and Oryx and Crake is a stellar example of the kind of speculative pontificating I hope to do, so i guess me and my ilk have been officially shoon (past tense of shoo?) by Woon.
Shoon by Woon. Damn.
Also, I never got to make the pun about Wisconsin that applying was "Wiscy business".
Um, yeah.
Le Tigre,
Feel free to make your own rankings. Seth's data isn't perfect, but he works very hard to come up with the information that he does.
MFC,
The woman I talked to said they hadn't gone out yet, but she may not have known they started or may not have wanted to say anything because calls weren't finished yet. Either way: Congratsulations!
@ Le tigre
You wouldn't by any chance be another Columbia troll trying to start trouble? Your comment just seems a little defensive.
Or an AWP troll?
Thanks Ashley! Also congrats to everyone else who have heard good news!
I like the rankings if for no other reason that it gives some good data. For example, funding and selectivity, especially when hard numbers are provided. But for something like the MFA where, upon graduation, it doesn't guarantee:
(1) a job;
(2) a book contract;
(3) agent representation; or
(4) 2-for-1 coupon at Carl's Jr,
school rankings seem meaningless.
But lists like rankings are fun.
Woon,
Atwood totally would have a place at a program. In case you haven't noticed, almost every top tier MFA program has graduated people that write "Genre" but the literary establishment side steps any malevolent prejudice by calling such work magical realism/ genre bending/ cross-genre or just plain literary.
I'd probably reject Stephen King though.
Amanda,
You're welcome! It's really only one phone call so for since nobody else answered my calls. I'm glad to put a few folks at ease!
MFC, congrats!! That is so exciting! It makes me truly happy when other people get good news, like this whole MFA dream is actually real (if only for a select few). And what a nice start to the weekend! Congratulations again!
Heh, Woon, and likewise a book contract/editor/agent don't guarantee and MFA :p
And WT! I call it magical realism even outside the programs :p Clearly an indication of my want to be taken seriously *puffs cigar*
YARebels,
Respect. I write mostly in MR as well. *Dunks head in bucket of moonshine while listening to bluegrass*
I looked for, but couldn't find, MA (English Literature) rankings. Perhaps people don't care. Perhaps it's irrelevant because where you read Shakespeare and Donne and Milton and Faulkner doesn't seem to matter. I could be wrong. (I don't have an MA in English Lit, btw) However, there are Ph.D rankings in English Literature which may make sense because these people will probably get jobs as Associate Professors somewhere. In this respect, rankings matter because of job placement.
For MFAs, I don't know...
Woon,
It all just comes down to the writer. Some won't publish after an MFA and some will. A few will hit it big while most will hit it mid-list or not at all. While PHDs will help make you more marketable for jobs, the academic job market is INCREDIBLY bleak esp. for the humanities. I had a professor (Iowa MFA/PHD plus American Studies MA) who resorted to having students sign a petition to convince the dept/administration to let him stay (and he was a popular prof!).
When I look for a new author to read, I don't immediately seek out the latest book by some Iowa MFA grad. Or Cornell, Texas, Michigan, or Virginia grad. It's more about book review columns and Best-Of lists.
I also read the Best American Short Stories collection. I like some of Melissa Hardy's stories and might pick up her novels (if she has one), but I can't tell you, off the top of my head, where she got her MFA or where she teaches. I guess as a reader, that's how little I regard the MFA. As a writer, it's a bit different.
Just wanted to pop in and say CONGRATS to everyone, sounds like things are going great! I've hit my busiest two weeks in teaching, so I've been MIA from my usual lurking, but I did pop on tonight to see what was going on...
Best of luck, and enjoy your weekends!
Wow, I can't even attempt to keep up with all of the acceptances from today! Congratulations to those accepted at Iowa, Michigan, McNeese, Washington...I'm sure I'm missing a few. While I'm still holding out a ray of hope for Iowa and Michigan, and therefore extremely envious of those accepted, my congrats are still sincere- I hope you are all super giddily happy and have wonderful weekends!
Also, I forgot to share this a while back:
My boyfriend's father uses extremely creative combinations of profanity- it can be pretty wondrous. When I told him about my Wisconsin rejection, he responded with, "Do you want me to write them and let 'em know they're a bunch of shit-asses?"
I liked it. "Dear (program who rejected me)- my boyfriend's dad says you're a bunch of shit-asses." If you read this in a valley-girl tone of voice, it's entertaining. End ramble.
WanderingTree, I'm genuinely curious - can you name successful 'genre' grads from:
Michener
Iowa (Rachel Swirsky, perhaps?)
Cornell (Junot Diaz does not apply since he's stated he spent 11 years trying to unlearn what he learnt at Cornell - and that certainly stands w/r/t his SF leanings, if the difference between Drown and ...Oscar Wao is anything to go by)
Wisconsin
NYU
Columbia
Oregon
Washington
Montana
JHU
Vandy
Florida
I'll give you Amherst (Jedediah Berry), Syracuse, of course (Salvador Plascencia & the incredible M.T. Anderson), Brown, Irvine, 'Bama (Kate Bernheimer), UNCG (Kelly Link) and even Virginia (Alan DeNiro), but please fill in the gaps. I just don't know enough - I'm not being sarky - I'd love to know where else has supported writers who tend towards the speculative/sf end of magical realism - and I can be more precise about the specifics of this, but a) such a discussion has been had, way back, b) i'm absolutely knackered and should go to sleep and c) i suspect i'm a more hardcore SF girl than you are. And you're not even a girl. Ahem.
I'm not trying to explain away my failure this year by playing the genre card - i'd just like to know the evidence for saying: 'almost every top tier MFA program has graduated people that write "Genre"' - as i don't think it's true.
Oh, and there's Alex Shakar for Michener. 'The Savage Girl' is totally out there. Otherwise, please tell me who :) I'd love to know/read 'em.
My father left me a congratulatory voicemail about my acceptance. And then he said, "Just remember, the most important thing to consider is whether or not they have a good football team."
@ Wandering Tree
Thanks for the response earlier.
On a technical note, dunking your head in a bucket of moonshine would hurt alot. I'm sure you've had it too, but it isn't hard to get round chere. A couple sips will get you straight up drunk. I think it would eat out your eyeballs, but I'm not sure (and I'm not willing to try it). Speaking of moonshine...the bars await. Good luck all, and have a happy weekend.
Oh, and it appears im 0/2 with eight to go. But lots of great schools are left on my list, so I'm not too freaked (yet). OK, sometimes I am.
Oh, and @Ashley
That is cool of you to call schools for people. I'd hit you up, I guess, but most of my schools won't notify for a while.
@Le Tigre Re: MFA rankings
Here are my random thoughts on this. The MFA rankings are just a starting point for applicants. They're nice to look at. The important aspects of the rankings are funding and selectivity, imo. Those are two bits of information that would have been a pain in the ass for me to compile on my own.
So, let's say you're coming up with a ranking system. You make separate rankings for selectivity, funding, faculty, etc. Just for the sake of info, wouldn't you want to compile all those numbers into a single overall ranking? That overall ranking doesn't really mean much. It's just number crunching for "fun."
For instance, if Columbia offered full funding to its students, there would be no doubt in my mind that it would be a top five school. Since it doesn't offer full funding, there is no way a person like me could ever go there. Therefore, it drops way down on the list. If funding is not an issue for you, I think Columbia should be way up there on your list.
A list compiled by faculty would not be better than a list compiled by people who actually research schools. Faculty concentrate on writing and teaching. They do not concentrate on the reputation, funding, and selectivity of other schools. They have more important things to do.
So I'm about to submit my last-minute Plan B application to Teach for America. Not like I really expect to get accepted because it's a really difficult program to get into and I have absolutely no "leadership experience"... but why not?
And they do THE GREATEST THING. They have ONE DAY when they notify EVERYONE, acceptances and rejections, and all you have to do is go check your status online on that day, and it's guaranteed it will be there. Can MFA programs start doing this please???!
@Kerry Headley -- remind me, where were you accepted?
@Laura T -- I like the single clearinghouse idea. Alas, resistance from the "establishment." Oy vei...
Congrats to Mickey and MFC for University of Washington. And congrats to Katie on McNeese.
@Woon
So far I'm in at George Mason and waitlisted at Ohio State. (CNF)
Did anyone notice RugbyToy shout "Brown!"? RubbyTuy were you just TRYING to give innocent little applicants heart attacks??
Oh good, YAR you saw it too! I thought I was hallucinating!
Care to elaborate, Rugbytoy?
I assumed Brown was staying silent for a few more weeks, in line with previous years. If the controversial Speakeasy poster Bunnytutu is anything to go by, that would be the case. Mid-march, Tutu says - and although his/her other claims have been debated, I think this one sounds thoroughly realistic.
Though hey, who knows. Everything seems to be coming earlier this year.
Well I'll put it this way.
If Brown has already given out its YES's I will go cry myself to sleep with my flask and my cupcake tray.
Anyone think or know if Iowa will continue the contacting process over the w/end?
@ Eli
Yeah, I guess we can't include Junot Diaz even though he does have a foot in the genre camp. Maybe I shouldn't have said almost every and should have said "many". Off the top of my head: Kevin Brockmeier and Pickeney Benedict (Iowa), Karen Russell (Columbia), Lauren Groff (Wisconsin), Leni Zumas maybe (Mass-Amherst). As far as faculty, WUSTL has Kellie Wells and Kathryn, NYU has Lethem.
Has the world devolved into a pit of despair for anyone else out there? I'm so low right now.
YARebels,
I think Rugbytoy was replying to Ashley's offer to contact programs. He shouted Brown not long after Ashley offered.
@Chrissy
Yeah. I'm there.
@Chrissy and @YARebels
Me too.
WT, Ahhh that makes MUCH more sense. I thought RugbyToy was just being cruel, shouting out names so little applicants would ruffle up their feathers :p
*THAT* was intended as a response to a question asked earlier that I cannot find now. When "Brown!" posted, I saw that it didn't show up anywhere NEAR the post I was responding to. And so I erased it.
Sorry to be a gofish ;)
Angie: Get. Off. The. Blog.
Are you saying gofish was a troll?
haha.
Also in the pit of despair...
Oh man, Eli, you mentioned Swirsky from Iowa. Went to undergrad with her. Had no clue she ended up at Iowa. She was in some of my fiction classes.
This process has just gotten a lot stranger after learning this.
Wandering Tree, I am apparently (without having received actual rejections except one) 0-6 with 5 more to go. And I think it's bull-SCHNIZZLES that you have not been accepted anywhere.
I'll be in the pit if my safety schools crumble:
WVU, VCU, NC State
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