Two days back I received an e-mail from them saying they'd updated my online application status, so you might want to go to the status check page on the UM website...
AAAH I just got accepted to Texas State! So so so happy. Just when I had given up all hope. Also so happy that so many lovely people from this blog have been accepted there too :)
Congrats to everyone who heard good news this week, and I hope it just keeps coming throughout March Radness.
just got an email from montana, accepted unoficially (whatever that means) with no TA position unless one opens up which is "highly likely."
I'm not exactly sure what genre I'm in for because I sent both fiction and poetry samples and the email didn't say. weird. anyway I'm pretty happy, now I just need to decide
Subscribing. Anyone else wonder why Columbia University is tardy on sending out acceptance notifications? The last three years they've notified by the 5th. Maybe they also experienced the MFA Bump?
Every time I see your Blogger name, I read it as "klairwkitty" -- And I think, aww, "kitty" that is SO cute, he must be such a sensitive guy to put "kitty" in his nickname!
ahaha...I think I need to step away from the internets.
I thought for sure some of the 8 schools I'm waiting on would notify this week, but I guess not. Oh well, I'm starting to feel like another day with no word is a good thing. I have made it another day without being rejected anywhere. Wonderful!
@ Ashley Brooke and @sahaider, congrats to you too!! It would be lovely to be in workshops with you both. My genre is fiction as well.
My mom just visited San Marcos and brought back lots of literature on their writing center and the Southwestern Writers Collection (none of which I could look at before my acceptance, of course) and it just looks fabulous. As does the town of San Marcos.
Dolores, Yes! I'd love to chat. For a month now, I've been doing research and talking to many, many while trying to come to a decision: folks from this blog; students from the respective programmes; professors from the respective programmes; professors from other programmes, and my washing machine, Herb. Hit me up at my e-mail mangercratie(at)gmail(dot)com, and we'll go from there.
Thanks, DigAPony! It is so helpful to be able to talk to people who don't say things like, "Of course you'll get in!" Then, after this platitude, some will say, "You may not get into your first choice, but." Both responses make me batty.
Hi everyone! I was just thinking that, in my Florida application, I told them all about my humongous fear of alligators and the water traps in Florida golf courses. OMG. Ohhhh... I swear I am not normally that weird - what was I thinking??? I haven't heard anything, so I assume that's a rejection. LOL... anyone else having OMG momemts like this right about now?
Received my Michener rejection in the mail yesterday. I already knew I was rejected via the online status check, so why did that piece of paper make me so sad...?
I am wondering whether I went a little overboard when I said to U Florida, essentially, "You are my HOLY GRAIL."* I actually used the words "Holy Grail" -- God. What was I thinking? I wonder for how many minutes I made them laugh before they chucked my entire packet of stuff?
Here's an interesting tidbit of information. A program director I talked to jokingly mentioned how put off they are, sometimes, but people's email addresses. Like magicpenwizard@gmail.com or writingisorgazmik@school.edu. Never really thought about that, since my email is just my name. But something people might want to be aware of in the future.
Well, glad (I guess) to hear that I'm not alone! Although, really, I could definitely see yours working - gosh, it's so hard to know what to say sometimes! I'm sorry about Florida. I really, really wanted to go there too! I hope somewhere else nice works out too, for you and everybody else here - the wait is killer!
One thing about Florida: I've talked to some poetry people that were waitlisted and did not receive a GNP/GNE. I think only some people get 'em. I think Emma is just super special :D I'd kill for a waitlist at UF, so that's what I'm holding on to/hoping for...
Well, another week goes by with no news. I'm starting to think that this whole process is designed with the specific aim to turn ordinary people into obsessive lunatics.
So far, I've heard from: Alabama (rejection)*** Illinois (wait-list) Ohio State (wait-list) Wyoming (rejection)
***I haven't received the official letter from UA yet; however, I emailed Vernita James (their very friendly office administrator) and she told me that I'd been rejected, though they wouldn't be sending out rejection letters for another 2-3 weeks (which is sort of ridiculous).
I'm assuming rejections from another handful of schools (e.g. Michigan, Indiana, Virginia Tech, etc.).
Has anyone else thought about just emailing their remaining programs and inquiring about their status???
It seems that the worst that could happen is a) they don't respond to your email OR b) they tell you that you've been rejected. Either option seems better than an alternative of more weeks without knowing anything at all.
On my manuscript cover I wrote that I picked UFlorida because I loved the bird on the website homepage...
@ inkli___11
Are you sure you're logging into the right part of the application? You have to set up a new ID number or something....
When I was super paranoid in January, I called all 16 schools I applied to to ask if my file was complete - and Minnesota assured me that if I had something missing (a.k.a non-existent materials), they would call me.
I don't know if that helps, but hopefully it does!
Old Poet - I've emailed Alabama, UNCG (long time ago, about materials), UF (about materials), and FSU about status. So far, no problems. I'm sure it's irritating to them, but it's also irritating for us to have to wait what feels like forever, assuming rejection. I'd rather find out I was rejected than wait in limbo. I am pro-emailing :)
I don't think Emma's phone call is something to worry about! The fact that they said she's either accepted or high waitlisted leads me to believe that maybe they were calling her because they were trying to decide between her and someone else maybe? like both samples were great so they looked at each other and were like 'let's just call them'
I dunno
ALSO MONTANA tell me something ANYTHING PLEASE. "We let everyone know at once" MY ASS
Hey, kaybay (wow, wicked rhyme), what e-mail did you use to get a hold of UF. I used the e-mail on their website and the e-mail kept gettin' kicked back... thanks.
@Bradsmith, you made me laugh out loud! I'm sitting here in the car waiting for my very late teenager in front of her school cackling like an idiot.
Yup, that was me. Where are you going?
I am really hoping now that I get into the doctoral program at SUNY Albany for poetry. I jumped through my last hoop today with the GRE. Monday I deliver the rest of my transcripts then hold my breath.
@Seth (I know, love the rhyme! It's like that song "hey, bay-bay" that annoyed the crap out of me all summer :P ) the email I used was: cblount@ufl.edu
Dang, am I the only one who got a rejection letter from the IWW in fiction today? And on a non-sequitorial note, does anyone else immediately think of the Wobblies instead of the Iowa Writers Workshop wherever they see the acronym IWW?
Does anyone know of a blog/forum/website similar to this one for MA in literature applicants? My friend has applied to MA programs and has no idea when they'll begin notifying. We're hoping to go to the same school, so I'm quite anxious for news!
I live in Coralville, basically a suburb of the IC. The letter was dated with today's date...I guess I was priviledged by my proximity for my early dismissal...sorry if I sound bitter, Captain Morgan set sail shortly after the opening of the letter...I'm sure I'll have a much more positive attitude by dawn's sober light.
Your husband is officially awesome. I joined the Wobblies a few years ago... sadly, they're considerably less active in the beginning of this century then they were in the beginning of the last. Sad, isn't it, how the issues are still the same?
"A whole new way of earning your daily bread may be well within your reach now, so if someone comes along with a good offer, don't automatically turn it down. That goes double if the offer arrives after a certain person notices just how talented you are at something other than your actual vocation -- your hobby, for example. Wouldn't it be nice to do what you love for work? It's not out of the question, you know."
i know a guy in iowa who got an MFA in fiction and poetry. but he was a freak of nature. i'm pretty sure he was a machine. anyway, i don't think it's very common. i think most programs allow (even encourage) students to take classes in other genres.
So today I quit my very cushy job in online analytics, gave a leave date of 4/15, and am crossing my fingers I have a CNF program to enroll in come September. Everything has suddenly become very real.
Waistlisted - UNCW, George Mason Rejected - Wyoming, OSU, U Colorado Boulder, Hunter Pending - Vanderbilt, New School, UNH, LSU U Washington, U Montana, Columbia, American
Literally, as I was typing the above sentence, my boyfriend says "huhmph, I was accepted into Florida (UF)." He's so casual about it--engineers. If I am accepted into Florida (or anywhere) my reaction will most definitely not being with "humph" or be casual. There will be screaming.
Good luck to everyone. Hopefully March is nice to us.
Hey, Iowa Writer's Workshop, I thought we had something here. We had our summer flings, and I told all my friends how cool you were... But you decide to dump me with a five-line form letter where one whole line is devoted to the written-out number of how many other suitors you had? Did I mean nothing to you? I feel so cheap, but I'll still take you back next year if you'll have me. But just so you know, I've been stepping out with other programs, and will continue to until you make a commitment, and maybe by then, it'll be too late. Think about that, IWW. I won't wait for you forever...
Got rejected from Brown today, I went through this process last year (rejected two, accepted one). This year I applied to four (rejected two, still waiting to hear from two) and whether I was rejected or not wasn’t the end of the world or anything...
But today when I was rejected from Brown I cried so hard that almost got in a car accident because my eyes were so blurry and irritated. I checked the results online right before I went out to work. And I’ve been depressed about it aaaaaalll day. So weird, I didn’t even realize how bad I wanted to go there I guess. It almost just made me want to stop writing. How weird...
I totally just laughed at myself out loud. I'm thinking, Oh my god, they must be so impressed with a guy who's not only an engineer, but AN AMAZING WRITER as well!
Emma--I thought you were being deliberately ironic (picturing to myself what the engineering equivalents of fiction or poetry might be...like, Colum McCann's novel about constructing the tunnel under the East River could be fiction, maybe Hart Crane's Brooklyn Bridge for poetry.)
Hey, I feel the same way about the Iowa rejection... as is obvious from my prior posts this evening. It was probably a pipe-dream, but it was anice pipe-dream...Anyway, I'm hoping tomorrow will bring an attitude of F U Iowa! and a goal of writing something for next years's application season that will make them wish they accepted me this year. I'm totally about revenge through success... Don't give up, just show them the awesomeness they could've had...
I think I’m just frustrated. I work two jobs (80 hours + a week), and when I come home I MAKE myself read and write every night before I go to bed. And on top of that I’m a single mom. I’m drained; I need to go back to school so I can do what keeps me alive: WRITING. But why should I go into debt to do so...
I think what it really is, that my writing is so different, and I know Brown is known for the "experimental" thing. I didn’t want to conform and write the way people think I should write...I want to be free to do what I want. (I'm like the musician with a good ear, great skill, original style, can make the audience marrow jiggle and move like jello, yet I can’t read music. As soon as I look at one note, my whole song crumbles to pieces). I thought my poems could breathe in RI, any other school they would surely suffocate, uncomfortable and stuffed in straight line, squared stanzas…like a jack in the box :'(
I'm rambling…I’m tired too. Maybe I should just go to U of San Fran, go into debt, shake and rattle my poems like an earthquake.
*sigh* Don’t mine me; I’m don’t have all my marbles. (FYI, I had a feeling I wouldn’t get it. It was HOPE that fooled me. I’m sticking to reality from now on…)
@EricNus- Congratulations! I am so very excited for everyone who has been accepted today!
Also...everyone...keep the faith. I am serious. I have to tell you. I had given up on Texas State (though I never stopped loving them), didn't check my phone at ALL tonight (first time in several days I just let it lay in my purse unattended). The kids went to bed. I read all the bedtime stories, played a little rockband with my husband...then grabbed the phone, thought "oh, look..someone..oh my god...I am in." (commence celebration). Good things do happen. Be patient. <3 to you all.
Hey, all you UNCG hopefuls, we just went on spring break, so don't panic if you don't hear anything this week! I don't know how much work gets done over spring break, but I just wanted you all to know you're not being ignored!
Ur right. I cant give up writing. I just gotta keep truckin'. Thnx guys, hopefully tomorrow will be better. I ashamed that I even said that, but honestly I felt that way for the majority of the day.
I was fortunate enough to get another offer.. one that was too good to pass up. Honestly, I would have loved to go to UMass.
I really, really hope things work out for you with SUNY Albany. Are you aware that there's a section of the (I think) most recent edition of Tom Kealey's MFA Handbook in which a professor from SUNY Albany writes about the creative writing PhD, using their program as the example?
You're probably well aware.
And even if things don't shape up on that front right away: try not to get discouraged. Last year, I was in a situation eerily similar to yours. I didn't get in and was really disappointed. However, I took the year to really, really work on my poetry, which involved a lot of reading as well as writing.
Then I hired DH (then ALC) for a consultation, which was (no hyperbole whatsoever): the best 230-something dollars I've ever spent. And I have had more success with applications this year than I even thought possible.
Everyone's path is different. And your path inevitably will face great resistance. For some, that means going around and trying something else. But for others it simply means pushing through with all you have until something gives.
I'm, now, a year later, grateful for my disappointment last year. It really focused me. Then again, at the time, I was pretty devastated.
Just keep at it. Hopefully (however) things will work out with Albany, and you'll be giving similar advice to someone else next year.
Yeah, hey, congrats to everyone that heard positive news today! I've probably been kind of a shitty memeber of this community today, just coming on here and whining incessantly about my own bad news. You guys have seriously been a source of support for me, odd for a group of nom de plumed strangers, moreso even than close friends, who really have no idea about the process or what I'm going through. Just wanna say thanks, guys, and best of luck. May the coming days bring good news all around.
@klairkwilty (awesome name by the way...totally didn't get the reference until some else pointed it out)
The letter said "one thousand two hundred and eighty-three people applied" and took up one entire line of the five-line rejection. Kinda like they were just trying to fill space. But Sam Chang did sign it, or at least the loops above her typrwritten name would indicate she signed it.
Really, I'm gonna stop with the bitterness soon, I promise. :)
My poetry rejection stated that they had 426 applicants this year for 25 spots. So that 1,283 must be referring to fiction applicants only (as they received 1,710 total according to TSE).
WOW! That's a LOT of fiction applicants. I suppose there's a ghost applicant in there somewhere.. either that or they had a poet do the math.
I already wrote this on the last mailbag, but since there's a new one open now:
I was wondering, has anyone heard from UC Irvine, NYU or Columbia yet? After the Brown rejection today I'm getting kind of antsy and I feel almost like it would be a relief if I knew either way about the other ones, my stomach acid is eating me away. Thanks.
Coming out of the woodwork here. Any Maryland letter-receivers: what was the date on your letters?
My JHU rejection took 6 whole days to travel all of six miles (2/26-3/4). If I could extrapolate the rate to UMD's letter, I'd expect it about a month from whenever they sent letters... IWW's inevitable rejection would arrive sometime next year. In the meantime, the damn catalogs and credit card offers would bury me.
Dee -- always shake and rattle your poems like an earthquake, no matter what!
Brad Smith -- maybe one thousand two hundred and eighty-four didn't fill that one line up in quite the same way as one thousand two hundred and eighty-three?
I stuck a stamped postcard in my Irvine application to confirm that they'd gotten it, but I'm just realizing that I never got it back. I should probably have followed up on this sooner...whoops. Did everyone else get back their postcards? It could have just gotten lost in the English department, right?
No word from UCI, NYU or Columbia yet for me either.
@peaquah
I got my postcard back. UCI also has a way to login and see if you are missing anything. I got an email about it a while ago. They don't show your status, but they show if your application is complete or not.
Hey Abbie, Congratulations and welcome to Team Texas State! I think there's been about 3-4 acceptances per genre on the blog so far so we're kind of taking over.
Not a very active poster, but an active reader. After eight rejections last year and three so far this year, I was accepted today to Portland State for fiction writing!
So keep your chins up, everyone, it happens eventually.
Major congrats to all acceptances and sincere thanks to those who are keeping the morale up here. It's a hard time, but positivity is necessary. You guys are the virtual uppers of the blogosphere.
Did anyone get a rejection email from VCU today? I noticed a couple people were accepted/waitlisted. I heard nada. I realized I've never received any emails from VCU, though I know my app is in order through their online portal. ???
No word from Mankato, and they're on Spring Break starting Monday. How stressful! I want to think that because I have a TA interview I'm accepted into the program, or at least waitlisted!
Stony Brook Southampton got my last letter of recommendation, at least. I overnighted ($18!!) a transcript to ODU, which arrived according to the USPS but not OSU's online status check. I just have to assume they have it. Reminds me of back in January when SFSU tried to say they had not received something, and I emailed them the FedEx tracking number that proved it had been delivered and even signed for! And they're website quite sternly says DO NOT CONTACT US WE WILL CONTACT YOU! ....rawr!
Ok, forget it. Even though I don't have the gold seal of rejection from everywhere, I'm getting the hint. I will try again next year. There's no surer indication that you need to improve than having wasted $1500 you don't have on pipe dreams.
Brown kinda killed the radness momentum yesterday... But mad kudos to dearmemomagazine & BOBeefwich on making it onto that impossible Brown waitlist! And to all of the waitlisters -- we all know, from having been smacked by some painful rejections, that making onto a program's waitlist is a high distinction in this crowded field. Making it onto the waitlist means that the adcomm admires your work and would be happy to accept and teach you. Congratulations @Emma & amanda & Chrissy & themountainking & Joni for making it onto your waitlists! Good luck and godspeed to making it beyond that point.
Thank goodness Mankato & Texas State and Portland State came through with some happy news! Congrats to Mary & JRAndrews & DigAPony again! & Matthew & DoloresHumbert & L.Lewis & c.wink & Abbie & EricNus & Daniel for brightening a dark day with your acceptances!
Wow, I step away for a few days and BAM, acceptances EVERYWHERE! Congratulations to all!
I just wanted to let any interested parties know that I just declined the poetry spot at Northern Michigan's MFA program, so some lucky poet is going to be getting good news soon! I hope it's one of us!
I have also just removed my name from the Vanderbilt waitlist. I don't know if they will be adding anyone else to it, but if they do, then someone be on the lookout for that.
Yeah, my rejection from JHU was for poetry... And UMD just sent me my decision electronically, now, emailing to tell me to check the online supplemental form. That rejection shall come in the mail someday, too. Whee.
BTW Trilbe: Thanks for your comments on Alabama on the PW forum! Makes this whole waitlist thing easier to bear -- seriously! The program sounds awesome, and I'll be reapplying if none of those hipsters gives up a spot.
Re:Columbia's Timetable - I've spent all day every Tuesday (since January) in Columbia's undergraduate writing office so I've heard some of the MFA readers say that they're behind schedule this year. Nobody told me why and I don't want to be creepy or inappropriate enough to ask why. I'm kind of sorry to even post this because I know that this is not helpful insight -- it's just lame@ass hearsay, so please take this post with that huge caveat -- but since there was some discussion about it here, and since for a lot of people Columbia is their statistically most probable admit option, I just wanted to let you guys know that I have heard MFA readers talking about being behind this year.
Also, I know that people don't typically post the details of their funding offers -- I haven't talked about mine and I wouldn't feel comfortable doing so, even though I think my programs offer the same standard package to each student. However, I believe that as a community we (particularly future classes of applicants) could collectively benefit from knowing what types of packages the New York schools are offering.
These are some of the steepest admission fees in the country and most of the people who've paid those fees did so in the hope that they will be lucky enough to get some sort of *special* funding package that will enable them to attend. So, it seems to me, that some insight into potential funding opportunities at the NY schools would be immensely helpful. In this situation, I think that if you get some sort of spectacular deal, it wouldn't be bragging but rather a community service to share the details of that offer -- if that's something with which you would feel comfortable, of course. Even some sort of anonymous backchannel notice about it, through Seth or through Driftless House, could probably help a lot of people.
I've applied to NYU and Columbia. I'm pretty sure I've used up all of my positive acceptance karma this year -- but if I get into either program, I will report back to the applicant community on what package I am offered.
@golightly - No problem! The prospective students didn't actually seem too hipsterish... Certainly not as much as the current students! The prospectives were quite diverse, a bit shy, super smart, and everyone seemed to have a fascinating story -- from teaching science to Colombian kids at a Boston elementary school to a background in addiction recovery counseling. I'm not sure if Alabama turns its students into hipsters -- Joel and Peter are pretty f*cking hipsteronic -- or if they somehow chose a less Brooklyn group for the 2010 class.
That was a really nice comment - and encouraging - you posted for Mommy J. I liked the application process itself, it means there is a commitment on some level to seeing where our words can take us. I attended a few open houses and each program director said rejections should be perceived as "It's not you, it's us" and that's all you can do. The world is filled with "no," it's our job to create Yes out of thin air.
Buries deep within NYU's website is a breakdown of the funding package they give program students. It comes to about the price an in-state student would pay to attend Hunter the first year and they have a pretty nicely worded commitment to full funding the second year. I found it while doing-anything-but my applications. Columbia has myriad funding schemes and they took time to have the head of financial aid give a presentation at their Open House, but they made no bones about the $40,000 per year price tag. Each of the students who spoke at open house felt the quality of the program mitigated the expense, it was obvious though that they came from a pretty homogenous economic class. There were a couple of students who had rare teaching grants - and would be in the program 3 years - but two years without tuition responsibilities.
I've read a great deal about New York Schools funding and I view it the way I viewed living on my on in San Francisco - you can do it if you're creative and penny conscious. There is ALWAYS a deal out there, Mira's List, scholarship searches - there are scholarships where if you donate $1 they give you $500 - that almost never get taken advantage of. I fully intend to work no matter where I attend school because I don't want to slip into that alternate reality of academia, work definitely has its merits (plus my idle hands and mind are the devil's playground).
Just waiting to her from the University of Pittsburgh. Portland (fiction) and Pitt (nonfiction) were my top two programs, so if I get in at Pitt, I'll have some serious decision making to do.
I'm just hoping for a bit of a break on the financial end - I love the faculty an the design of the degree. Also, I went to undergrad in Missoula, MT and found excuses to go to Portland every couple of months. After my first visit, I was hooked.
Good luck with your other schools and maybe I'll see you in the fall.
@Adam: Yes, they told me the schools of everyone they made offers to (because I was interested... I won't post in on here, doesn't really matter as there are great writers all over, but I was just interested in the sort of faculty some of the students may have worked with before)
accepted to University of Alaska Fairbanks for poetry!! Congrats to everybody who received the good news yesterday, and to those still waiting, I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK! It's still very early in the process.
So, I see the word Montana written on various posts.... does this mean they've notified poets?
I got accepted to Pittsburgh in poetry on 3/2 by email, and I believe there was a nonfiction notification the same day, or the day before. The nonfiction acceptance got full funding, I think. (congrats again to whoever it was, I'm sorry I have forgotten the name!) I don't know if I was one of the earlier or later acceptances so I don't know if they have finished notifying or not -- you could always call them, like some of the brave people on the blog. :)
I didn't get any funding from Pitt, and I've gotten emails from both Troy Boone and Fiona Cheong saying that their funding situation is not very good. They accept seven in each genre and give TAships to two out of each seven. There are also occasionally research assistantships that open up. But it all sounded very uncertain. They do encourage students to look for outside funding -- I'm going to ask them more about that.
@ Meredith: Well, they are one of the best funded programs in the country. Great program, too... just not as established as some others. It seems like this may be changing though (look at Austin, etc).
I still haven't decided where I'm going, so, I may open a spot up. I'm going to visit Minnesota later this month before I make any decision.
Late on this, but I got accepted to Texas State in fiction last night. It went straight to vm and the call came in after 6pm eastern--well after I had given up home on TXST. Also, at the end of the message "Lydia" said that they were going on spring break next week and wouldn't be responding to emails or phone calls.
I went to UT austin undergrad and am from San Antonio so I know the region very well, and can answer questions or anything.
ahh, but the true ridiculousness, their are about ten programs with an acceptance rate lower then 1.63%. you'd think creative writers would have starting salaries of 100K+ considering the competition. but of course, we all know this isn't even close to being true.
It's kind of weird after being so immersed in MFA applications, the blog, and everything, knowing how competitive and crazy this all is -- then emerging into the "real world" where most people think a degree in creative writing is a waste of time.
Like, a conversation with an acquaintance:
Acquaintance: How are your grad school applications coming? Me: Great! I got in! Acquaintance: That's amazing! What are you going to study, again? Me: Creative writing. Acquaintance: ... Oh. And what are you going to do with that...?
@Eric - Congrats! JHU is one hell of a deal. I am going to go check for what is no doubt my rejection letter right now (at least they don't print stuff on the back so that's more space for poems).
@Daniel and EricNus: Congratulations on your Portland acceptances...I also applied there, in CNF, and was wondering--though I bet they probably didn't mention it to you--if you got a sense of how far along they are with notifications. Thanks for your time...and congratulations again!
Not-so-nice, not-so-lovely Alabama rejection waiting for me in the mail this morning (just when I was starting to wonder if I somehow had been waitlisted); it took them five or six long-ass sentences just to say "you've not been admitted to the creative writing program." Well, no kidding. Weak gear, Alalbama grad school.
Congratulations to all who reported good news today, yesterday, and this week for that matter. Here's to more good fortune for y 'all...
Stationary is decent. They don't list how many people applied (probably mercifully), however they do mention that this year's applicants "seem to us uncommonly good," which at least gives me encouragement that I am common and not terrible.
I think it's very small-minded when people question the 'usefulness' or 'practicality' of a degree, or equate any continuing education to a means of a better job offer. We're not deciding on vocational schools here.
I don't mind telling people it's a worthless degree. I find that it functions as a nice icebreaker. After they chuckle a bit, they come around and inquire further about it. I give them the usual dirt:
incredibly difficult admissions better your writing craft very very low chance of a job upon graduation
Then, they usually say, "So, it's like a Ph.D!"
We laugh. Good times.
(Of course, a Ph.D in, say, engineering may get you a high-paying job. But, a Ph.D in astrophysics usually has to settle for making sandwiches at Subway.)
@JimififeOH (I don't know if I spelled that right)
I got an Alabama rejection today too, and I thought the same thing. Just tell me if I'm accepted or rejected in the first sentence, don't bury it in the middle of the paragraph.
On the PSU note, they didn't mention anything as to where they're at in notification, but it doesn't seem like anyone in CNF has been accepted (not in this blog so far, anyway), so there could still be a shot. Also, they did say that they wanted us to accept or decline offers on the early side because there is a waitlist.
Good luck.
And more congratulations to everybody with good news.
So this was a while ago, but I have to say that your confusion about my BF and his Florida acceptance really made me giggle. And I needed to giggle. So thank you for that. And you can let your mind rest, he is far too left brained to pursue creative writing--definitely a mechanical engineer...not a word engineer. :)
Laura T: First off, congrats on your good news. Second, I've had that conversation countless times. There are many personality types that prioritize "the end" and totally ignore the process, as if everything we do is for some lucrative goal.
Your mom didn't make you take piano lessons thinking you'd fund her f-ing retirement as an infamous concert pianist.
Also, getting a job, in part, because of your MFA is not the most unimaginable possibility. I'm not saying I assume I'll be tenure track faculty at NYU abruptly after graduating, but I'm not going to assume the degree can't help me, either.
Applied to fiction programs at the following 5 schools: Florida Atlantic North Carolina State U of Memphis (accepted 2/19 F/e) Portland State Notre Dame
No word from Notre Dame or Portland State. Congrats to those that heard back from PDX! I'm still holding out hope.
I need to stop checking these comments, though. They're turning me into a Debbie Downer.
Are you one of the mysterious Minnesota acceptees? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!!
I'm guessing you're going up for the open house at the end of March? We must talk. Please e-mail me: hansenma at onid dot orst dot edu
Congrats! Where else have you been accepted? What's your genre?
@ Any Alaska Hopefuls
I turned down Alaska-Fairbank's fiction offer. I'm not sure if that opens up a spot for someone, but it definitely clears out some funding, so hopefully someone will benefit from that!
@ Rose: Yep! I'm in at LSU as well. & Wayne State and UW-Milwaukee (but I'm only considering LSU/UMN since the funding is questionable at the later programs and because I'd rather deal with an MFA degree right now). I'll definitely be at the meet up in march.
I'll e-mail you later since I'm about to rush out (or you can drop me an e-mail at aaronaapps [at] yahoo.com in the meantime).
According to gradcafe, the University of Denver has accepted a PhD in poetry. The other candidates will be notified within 48 hours. I don't know if this means other poetry candidates or if it includes fiction, too.
Crossing my fingers--this is my top choice! If I actually say that, do I jinx myself?
So, so happy to have one acceptance. I'm giving thanks that I applied to so many schools (though my bank account thinks differently). Still have 5 more to go (Iowa, Pittsburgh, Indiana, George Mason, Virginia).
Ha. When I told my doctor I was pursuing an MFA, she paused for a full five seconds and just STARED at me with this awful blank face. When she realized I wasn't joking, she said, "Oh...interesting." But most people are like my evil dental hygienist, who demanded, "Now what are you going to do with that? Teach?!"
But when I tell my family and friends, they're just like, "Well, duh." Not that all of them understands what an MFA means. My dad still regularly coos, "Oh, does Rosie want to be the next Baba Wawa? Heeheeheeee!"
Honestly, I think the people who get vicious about it are jealous. Not because of the degree itself, but because we have the balls to follow our dreams. And they don't.
Yes, I shall continue telling myself this when I'm living under a bridge, using my degree as a pillow.
@mickey - a huge congratulations! Do you think you're planning on accepting? I'm another person who got good news from Alaska (for fiction), so maybe we'll be seeing each other :) I am super psyched about getting in there and I think I'm pretty much definitely accepting that offer. I've spent the last four years in the California desert though... Haha, how about you, do you think you can take on the cold?
@Rose - oooh, you mentioned you turned down a fiction spot at Fairbanks, with funding... could you tell me when you let them know? If it was Friday afternoon, you've just made me incredibly happy. Also, I wanted to say congratulations! Have you decided for sure where you're going to be next year?
Yeah! It was Friday! I'm SO GLAD that gave you a positive nudge! What a wonderful world! Congrats!
I'm leaning very heavily towards Minnesota. The weather's almost as rotton as Fairbanks, but at least the houses have running water. And they have Charles Baxter, who is basically my idol.
Have you been to Alaska? I grew up in Southeast, which is sort of another world from central, but still - if you have questions about life up there, fire away!
I know you guys follow this all very closely, and my best friend has applied for MFA programs and I've been avoiding showing him the blog so he doesn't check it obsessively. Can anyone give me a heads up on whether the following schools have sent out acceptances in fiction or poetry?
Iowa (duh) Pitt Penn State Ohio State University of Florida
Thank you so much. He's been accepted to Chatham but they want to know by March 15th and it was kind of his fallback.
2,265 comments:
1 – 200 of 2265 Newer› Newest»Katie,
Thanks for the Texas info!
Meredith,
I'm sorry! Maybe you should e-mail the graduate school?
subscribing.. hopefully this mail bag will bring even more good news to everyone!!
For the people still in UMinnesota limbo:
Two days back I received an e-mail from them saying they'd updated my online application status, so you might want to go to the status check page on the UM website...
any word on NYU?!
AAAH I just got accepted to Texas State! So so so happy. Just when I had given up all hope. Also so happy that so many lovely people from this blog have been accepted there too :)
Congrats to everyone who heard good news this week, and I hope it just keeps coming throughout March Radness.
just got an email from montana, accepted unoficially (whatever that means) with no TA position unless one opens up which is "highly likely."
I'm not exactly sure what genre I'm in for because I sent both fiction and poetry samples and the email didn't say. weird.
anyway I'm pretty happy,
now I just need to decide
wyoming vs montana
great funding vs dream school. ahh!
@L. Lewis Congratulations! I'm also in at Texas State for fiction. What genre are you in? We are getting a nice little community here for TSU :)
WHAT a fake out letter from Brooklyn:
"Dear K,
I am pleased to inform you that your application to the 324 Fiction program has been..."
*Holds Breath, First Choice"
"FORWARDED TO THE DEPARTMENT YOU SELECTED FOR OFFICIAL REVIEW AND DECISION."
Heart attack for nothing, and when you're calling other folks about fiction. Shame on you! *sobs*
Congrats to L. Lewis, c.wink, and Higgins! Rad indeed.
Subscribing. Anyone else wonder why Columbia University is tardy on sending out acceptance notifications? The last three years they've notified by the 5th. Maybe they also experienced the MFA Bump?
hi rose,
how do i check my status? is it the applyyourself page?
Notre Dame is calling acceptances this weekend. This is what they told me today.
@ inkli11
http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/tracker/
I don't know what Dorothea saw in Casaubon. Why couldn't I have met more delusional women like her in college?
@klairkwilty,
Every time I see your Blogger name, I read it as "klairwkitty" -- And I think, aww, "kitty" that is SO cute, he must be such a sensitive guy to put "kitty" in his nickname!
ahaha...I think I need to step away from the internets.
I always read his name out loud to myself as klaire kwik-witty.
L. Lewis,
Congratulations! There seems to be quite of few us here accepted there. What is your genre?
strange.. that minnesota link says there is no information found about my application.. i guess i should call them monday.
I thought for sure some of the 8 schools I'm waiting on would notify this week, but I guess not. Oh well, I'm starting to feel like another day with no word is a good thing. I have made it another day without being rejected anywhere. Wonderful!
P.S. Congrats to everyone who's in!
@ Ashley Brooke and @sahaider, congrats to you too!! It would be lovely to be in workshops with you both. My genre is fiction as well.
My mom just visited San Marcos and brought back lots of literature on their writing center and the Southwestern Writers Collection (none of which I could look at before my acceptance, of course) and it just looks fabulous. As does the town of San Marcos.
Do any schools notify on weekends?
@ Jacqueline
Yes! I got a call from Idaho last Sunday. I know several others have gotten acceptances on weekends as well.
New mailbag!!
Dolores,
Yes! I'd love to chat. For a month now, I've been doing research and talking to many, many while trying to come to a decision: folks from this blog; students from the respective programmes; professors from the respective programmes; professors from other programmes, and my washing machine, Herb.
Hit me up at my e-mail mangercratie(at)gmail(dot)com, and we'll go from there.
Thanks, DigAPony! It is so helpful to be able to talk to people who don't say things like, "Of course you'll get in!" Then, after this platitude, some will say, "You may not get into your first choice, but." Both responses make me batty.
Hi everyone!
I was just thinking that, in my Florida application, I told them all about my humongous fear of alligators and the water traps in Florida golf courses. OMG. Ohhhh... I swear I am not normally that weird - what was I thinking??? I haven't heard anything, so I assume that's a rejection. LOL... anyone else having OMG momemts like this right about now?
Received my Michener rejection in the mail yesterday. I already knew I was rejected via the online status check, so why did that piece of paper make me so sad...?
Also, I'm really late here, but congrats to Ashley Brooke! So glad to see you got some much deserved good news!
@Zoulou,
I am wondering whether I went a little overboard when I said to U Florida, essentially, "You are my HOLY GRAIL."* I actually used the words "Holy Grail" -- God. What was I thinking? I wonder for how many minutes I made them laugh before they chucked my entire packet of stuff?
* But I totally totally meant it. Oh well.
subscribing! happy weekend all!
Notre Dame this weekend?! Time to light a candle!!
in my household, there are only two reasons why we light a candle. One is during a power outage and the other is for...um...some other kind of outage.
Here's an interesting tidbit of information. A program director I talked to jokingly mentioned how put off they are, sometimes, but people's email addresses. Like magicpenwizard@gmail.com or writingisorgazmik@school.edu. Never really thought about that, since my email is just my name. But something people might want to be aware of in the future.
@Lauren
Well, glad (I guess) to hear that I'm not alone! Although, really, I could definitely see yours working - gosh, it's so hard to know what to say sometimes! I'm sorry about Florida. I really, really wanted to go there too! I hope somewhere else nice works out too, for you and everybody else here - the wait is killer!
!!!!
Sorry, yall - exclamation point overload.
One thing about Florida: I've talked to some poetry people that were waitlisted and did not receive a GNP/GNE. I think only some people get 'em. I think Emma is just super special :D I'd kill for a waitlist at UF, so that's what I'm holding on to/hoping for...
@ Arna
I'd love to read your sample, too. What do I have to do to get a copy?
my email is:
smith.bradleyh@gmail.com
@ Mommy J
If I remember correctly, didn't you curse UMass for not having a wait-list by wishing that everyone who got accepted declined their offer?
Put me down as the first. Thanks for the mojo!
Well, another week goes by with no news. I'm starting to think that this whole process is designed with the specific aim to turn ordinary people into obsessive lunatics.
So far, I've heard from:
Alabama (rejection)***
Illinois (wait-list)
Ohio State (wait-list)
Wyoming (rejection)
***I haven't received the official letter from UA yet; however, I emailed Vernita James (their very friendly office administrator) and she told me that I'd been rejected, though they wouldn't be sending out rejection letters for another 2-3 weeks (which is sort of ridiculous).
I'm assuming rejections from another handful of schools (e.g. Michigan, Indiana, Virginia Tech, etc.).
Has anyone else thought about just emailing their remaining programs and inquiring about their status???
It seems that the worst that could happen is a) they don't respond to your email OR b) they tell you that you've been rejected. Either option seems better than an alternative of more weeks without knowing anything at all.
Subscribing, even though it will drive me absolutely insane. UNCG, where are you?!?!
I used the e-mail goninjagoninjago@blumpkin.tv on ALL of my applications... thank you very much.
Re: Silly Florida Blunders
On my manuscript cover I wrote that I picked UFlorida because I loved the bird on the website homepage...
@ inkli___11
Are you sure you're logging into the right part of the application? You have to set up a new ID number or something....
When I was super paranoid in January, I called all 16 schools I applied to to ask if my file was complete - and Minnesota assured me that if I had something missing (a.k.a non-existent materials), they would call me.
I don't know if that helps, but hopefully it does!
I hope the weekend brings good news for everyone!
Old Poet - I've emailed Alabama, UNCG (long time ago, about materials), UF (about materials), and FSU about status. So far, no problems. I'm sure it's irritating to them, but it's also irritating for us to have to wait what feels like forever, assuming rejection. I'd rather find out I was rejected than wait in limbo. I am pro-emailing :)
subscribing!
I don't think Emma's phone call is something to worry about! The fact that they said she's either accepted or high waitlisted leads me to believe that maybe they were calling her because they were trying to decide between her and someone else maybe? like both samples were great so they looked at each other and were like 'let's just call them'
I dunno
ALSO MONTANA tell me something ANYTHING PLEASE. "We let everyone know at once" MY ASS
Hey, kaybay (wow, wicked rhyme), what e-mail did you use to get a hold of UF. I used the e-mail on their website and the e-mail kept gettin' kicked back... thanks.
@Bradsmith, you made me laugh out loud! I'm sitting here in the car waiting for my very late teenager in front of her school cackling like an idiot.
Yup, that was me. Where are you going?
I am really hoping now that I get into the doctoral program at SUNY Albany for poetry. I jumped through my last hoop today with the GRE. Monday I deliver the rest of my transcripts then hold my breath.
@Seth (I know, love the rhyme! It's like that song "hey, bay-bay" that annoyed the crap out of me all summer :P ) the email I used was: cblount@ufl.edu
Dang, am I the only one who got a rejection letter from the IWW in fiction today? And on a non-sequitorial note, does anyone else immediately think of the Wobblies instead of the Iowa Writers Workshop wherever they see the acronym IWW?
@Seth: LSU got 250 apps, 60 in poetry. Also, I posted the new Minnesota funding info in the P&W PhD thread (odd place, I know).
Best,
Aaron
Subscribing . . . and sweating bullets.
Subscribing...and congrats to everyone who had good news this week!
Does anyone know of a blog/forum/website similar to this one for MA in literature applicants? My friend has applied to MA programs and has no idea when they'll begin notifying. We're hoping to go to the same school, so I'm quite anxious for news!
@Red Micky---I've been waiting for that Iowa letter too, and I live 60 miles away, but nothing came in the mail for me. Where do you live?
66 in poetry, rather.
@ Seth (again) & I believe (though I'm not 100% sure) the incoming class is 6 students.
@Red Micky, IWW--Wobblies, yes! But then, my husband wears a joe Hill T-shirt.
Is there anyone out there with a GNP/GNE that we have not heard from? From any school yet to notify? Just curious :)
I live in Coralville, basically a suburb of the IC. The letter was dated with today's date...I guess I was priviledged by my proximity for my early dismissal...sorry if I sound bitter, Captain Morgan set sail shortly after the opening of the letter...I'm sure I'll have a much more positive attitude by dawn's sober light.
@ Cratty,
I emailed you -- really want to know what the mysterious info about one of my programs is, and if it's panic time now...
Another question - how many of you who have been accepted to a program received a GNE/GNP? Anyone not receive one and still get accepted?
@Red Mickey---ah, I live in Fairfield, so I should get my letter tomorrow, then we can commiserate...
@ Leslie
Your husband is officially awesome. I joined the Wobblies a few years ago... sadly, they're considerably less active in the beginning of this century then they were in the beginning of the last. Sad, isn't it, how the issues are still the same?
Awesome horoscope for Sunday:
"A whole new way of earning your daily bread may be well within your reach now, so if someone comes along with a good offer, don't automatically turn it down. That goes double if the offer arrives after a certain person notices just how talented you are at something other than your actual vocation -- your hobby, for example. Wouldn't it be nice to do what you love for work? It's not out of the question, you know."
@kaybay
I was accepted at Montana about a week and a half ago(via email), and there was no GNE/GNP beforehand. I definitely don't think they all do that.
i wonder if anyone's gotten a GNP/E and then no offer. That would be HARSH.
katie booms,
i know a guy in iowa who got an MFA in fiction and poetry. but he was a freak of nature. i'm pretty sure he was a machine. anyway, i don't think it's very common. i think most programs allow (even encourage) students to take classes in other genres.
So today I quit my very cushy job in online analytics, gave a leave date of 4/15, and am crossing my fingers I have a CNF program to enroll in come September. Everything has suddenly become very real.
Waistlisted - UNCW, George Mason
Rejected - Wyoming, OSU, U Colorado Boulder, Hunter
Pending - Vanderbilt, New School, UNH, LSU U Washington, U Montana, Columbia, American
@katie booms:
If I recall correctly, UC Irvine's Michelle Latiolais has MFAs in both poetry and fiction.
thus far:
waitlist- syracuse, george mason
rejected- alabama, michener
nada- urbana, carbondale, indiana, emerson, v-tech
oof.
Subscribing.
Still NO news for me. :(
Literally, as I was typing the above sentence, my boyfriend says "huhmph, I was accepted into Florida (UF)." He's so casual about it--engineers. If I am accepted into Florida (or anywhere) my reaction will most definitely not being with "humph" or be casual. There will be screaming.
Good luck to everyone. Hopefully March is nice to us.
I must correct myself:
"will not **begin** with humph"
Got my Michigan rejection in the mail today. That makes two in one day!
@ Michelle-- is your boyfriend in Fiction or Poetry?
L. Lewis, Please share if there is anything good in those things your mom picked up! I'm curious for any information that anybody has got.
Hey, Iowa Writer's Workshop, I thought we had something here. We had our summer flings, and I told all my friends how cool you were... But you decide to dump me with a five-line form letter where one whole line is devoted to the written-out number of how many other suitors you had? Did I mean nothing to you? I feel so cheap, but I'll still take you back next year if you'll have me. But just so you know, I've been stepping out with other programs, and will continue to until you make a commitment, and maybe by then, it'll be too late. Think about that, IWW. I won't wait for you forever...
emma is a nervous wreck. michelle's bf is an engineer. says so in her post.
:)
Got rejected from Brown today, I went through this process last year (rejected two, accepted one). This year I applied to four (rejected two, still waiting to hear from two) and whether I was rejected or not wasn’t the end of the world or anything...
But today when I was rejected from Brown I cried so hard that almost got in a car accident because my eyes were so blurry and irritated. I checked the results online right before I went out to work. And I’ve been depressed about it aaaaaalll day. So weird, I didn’t even realize how bad I wanted to go there I guess. It almost just made me want to stop writing. How weird...
:( Dee don't stop writing. They're not worth the very thought.
@ cecil
I totally just laughed at myself out loud. I'm thinking, Oh my god, they must be so impressed with a guy who's not only an engineer, but AN AMAZING WRITER as well!
I'm in!!! Texas State (poetry)!!! SOOO freaking excited!
Congratulations Abbie!!
Emma--I thought you were being deliberately ironic (picturing to myself what the engineering equivalents of fiction or poetry might be...like, Colum McCann's novel about constructing the tunnel under the East River could be fiction, maybe Hart Crane's Brooklyn Bridge for poetry.)
Hey all, I got a call from Tom Bissell today at Portland State today. I've been accepted for fiction.
It looks like there is no funding, but nonetheless this is my first acceptance, so pretty exciting.
@ Dee
Hey, I feel the same way about the Iowa rejection... as is obvious from my prior posts this evening. It was probably a pipe-dream, but it was anice pipe-dream...Anyway, I'm hoping tomorrow will bring an attitude of F U Iowa! and a goal of writing something for next years's application season that will make them wish they accepted me this year. I'm totally about revenge through success... Don't give up, just show them the awesomeness they could've had...
@ Jasmine
I think I’m just frustrated. I work two jobs (80 hours + a week), and when I come home I MAKE myself read and write every night before I go to bed. And on top of that I’m a single mom. I’m drained; I need to go back to school so I can do what keeps me alive: WRITING. But why should I go into debt to do so...
I think what it really is, that my writing is so different, and I know Brown is known for the "experimental" thing. I didn’t want to conform and write the way people think I should write...I want to be free to do what I want. (I'm like the musician with a good ear, great skill, original style, can make the audience marrow jiggle and move like jello, yet I can’t read music. As soon as I look at one note, my whole song crumbles to pieces). I thought my poems could breathe in RI, any other school they would surely suffocate, uncomfortable and stuffed in straight line, squared stanzas…like a jack in the box :'(
I'm rambling…I’m tired too. Maybe I should just go to U of San Fran, go into debt, shake and rattle my poems like an earthquake.
*sigh*
Don’t mine me; I’m don’t have all my marbles. (FYI, I had a feeling I wouldn’t get it. It was HOPE that fooled me. I’m sticking to reality from now on…)
@EricNus-
Congratulations! I am so very excited for everyone who has been accepted today!
Also...everyone...keep the faith. I am serious. I have to tell you. I had given up on Texas State (though I never stopped loving them), didn't check my phone at ALL tonight (first time in several days I just let it lay in my purse unattended). The kids went to bed. I read all the bedtime stories, played a little rockband with my husband...then grabbed the phone, thought "oh, look..someone..oh my god...I am in." (commence celebration). Good things do happen. Be patient. <3 to you all.
Hey, all you UNCG hopefuls, we just went on spring break, so don't panic if you don't hear anything this week! I don't know how much work gets done over spring break, but I just wanted you all to know you're not being ignored!
@Red Micky
Ur right. I cant give up writing. I just gotta keep truckin'. Thnx guys, hopefully tomorrow will be better. I ashamed that I even said that, but honestly I felt that way for the majority of the day.
@ Mommy J
I was fortunate enough to get another offer.. one that was too good to pass up. Honestly, I would have loved to go to UMass.
I really, really hope things work out for you with SUNY Albany. Are you aware that there's a section of the (I think) most recent edition of Tom Kealey's MFA Handbook in which a professor from SUNY Albany writes about the creative writing PhD, using their program as the example?
You're probably well aware.
And even if things don't shape up on that front right away: try not to get discouraged. Last year, I was in a situation eerily similar to yours. I didn't get in and was really disappointed. However, I took the year to really, really work on my poetry, which involved a lot of reading as well as writing.
Then I hired DH (then ALC) for a consultation, which was (no hyperbole whatsoever): the best 230-something dollars I've ever spent. And I have had more success with applications this year than I even thought possible.
Everyone's path is different. And your path inevitably will face great resistance. For some, that means going around and trying something else. But for others it simply means pushing through with all you have until something gives.
I'm, now, a year later, grateful for my disappointment last year. It really focused me. Then again, at the time, I was pretty devastated.
Just keep at it. Hopefully (however) things will work out with Albany, and you'll be giving similar advice to someone else next year.
Oh, in my depression I forgot to say congrats to Ericnus and Abbie! Way to go guys!
Thanks Dee! :) It will prove to be a a happy weekend!
Thanks Abbie and Dee. And seriously, what Abbie said about keeping the faith is totally right on -- I had completely given up on getting in anywhere.
Has there been any update/idea on timing from Columbia?
How many applicants for fiction did the IWW rejection letter say there were?
@Sud - You're in Fairfield? That's my hometown!
Yeah, hey, congrats to everyone that heard positive news today! I've probably been kind of a shitty memeber of this community today, just coming on here and whining incessantly about my own bad news. You guys have seriously been a source of support for me, odd for a group of nom de plumed strangers, moreso even than close friends, who really have no idea about the process or what I'm going through. Just wanna say thanks, guys, and best of luck. May the coming days bring good news all around.
How many applicants for fiction did the IWW rejection letter say there were?
@klairkwilty (awesome name by the way...totally didn't get the reference until some else pointed it out)
The letter said "one thousand two hundred and eighty-three people applied" and took up one entire line of the five-line rejection. Kinda like they were just trying to fill space. But Sam Chang did sign it, or at least the loops above her typrwritten name would indicate she signed it.
Really, I'm gonna stop with the bitterness soon, I promise. :)
Subscribing.
Here's to hoping Irvine and Houston start calling poets soon!
Holy crap. That was in fiction alone? Or in fiction and poetry combined?
Rejected by snail mail today from U of Alabama. 4 rejections, 9 ?'s to go. Congrats to all the accepted this week.
And yeah, I'm horny for Nabokov and it shows.
regarding IWW application #s:
My poetry rejection stated that they had 426 applicants this year for 25 spots. So that 1,283 must be referring to fiction applicants only (as they received 1,710 total according to TSE).
WOW! That's a LOT of fiction applicants. I suppose there's a ghost applicant in there somewhere.. either that or they had a poet do the math.
I already wrote this on the last mailbag, but since there's a new one open now:
I was wondering, has anyone heard from UC Irvine, NYU or Columbia yet? After the Brown rejection today I'm getting kind of antsy and I feel almost like it would be a relief if I knew either way about the other ones, my stomach acid is eating me away. Thanks.
subscribing!
For those that received rejection letters from Iowa-- did your status change on the Isis website yet? Just wonderin'!
Coming out of the woodwork here. Any Maryland letter-receivers: what was the date on your letters?
My JHU rejection took 6 whole days to travel all of six miles (2/26-3/4). If I could extrapolate the rate to UMD's letter, I'd expect it about a month from whenever they sent letters... IWW's inevitable rejection would arrive sometime next year. In the meantime, the damn catalogs and credit card offers would bury me.
Dee -- always shake and rattle your poems like an earthquake, no matter what!
@Raine-cool, best little town in the midwest
Brad Smith -- maybe one thousand two hundred and eighty-four didn't fill that one line up in quite the same way as one thousand two hundred and eighty-three?
I stuck a stamped postcard in my Irvine application to confirm that they'd gotten it, but I'm just realizing that I never got it back. I should probably have followed up on this sooner...whoops. Did everyone else get back their postcards? It could have just gotten lost in the English department, right?
@Saint Jean
No word from UCI, NYU or Columbia yet for me either.
@peaquah
I got my postcard back. UCI also has a way to login and see if you are missing anything. I got an email about it a while ago. They don't show your status, but they show if your application is complete or not.
@peaquah
I didn't get my Irvine postcard back either. I was sort of sad because it was an awesome postcard and I love getting mail.
Hey Abbie,
Congratulations and welcome to Team Texas State! I think there's been about 3-4 acceptances per genre on the blog so far so we're kind of taking over.
Not a very active poster, but an active reader. After eight rejections last year and three so far this year, I was accepted today to Portland State for fiction writing!
So keep your chins up, everyone, it happens eventually.
New mailbag madness/radness!
Major congrats to all acceptances and sincere thanks to those who are keeping the morale up here. It's a hard time, but positivity is necessary. You guys are the virtual uppers of the blogosphere.
Did anyone get a rejection email from VCU today? I noticed a couple people were accepted/waitlisted. I heard nada. I realized I've never received any emails from VCU, though I know my app is in order through their online portal. ???
0-5 with 7 left to go.
@golightly,
I got my acceptance letter from Maryland (poetry) on Monday. I don't have it in hand, but I think it had been there since the previous Friday.
Still waiting on word from JHU - I wonder if their lovely rejection got lost in the mail.
@ charles - good to know I'm not the only one.
@ madeline - I'll see if I can't find the emails to check the portal.
Thanks guys!
Subscribing!
Just got home after a night out. Checked my Iowa Isis status. "In Progress," still.
Big ups to all the acceptances and waitlisters.
OI! Congrats to everybody with acceptances, yes. I guess Portland has slapped a big fat DENIED on my forehead. Haha!
Subscribing.. so far accepted to Montana! Hoping for more good news.
@ golightly
JHU has started notifying? poetry or fiction? I'm super antsy, so sorry if I'm jumping down your throat...
@ ballsy people who e-mailed departments. i'm inspired. what's the e-mail address at michigan?
@ texas state acceptees, congrats! my friend just got in, he used to live in the area, and loves it!
No word from Mankato, and they're on Spring Break starting Monday. How stressful! I want to think that because I have a TA interview I'm accepted into the program, or at least waitlisted!
Stony Brook Southampton got my last letter of recommendation, at least. I overnighted ($18!!) a transcript to ODU, which arrived according to the USPS but not OSU's online status check. I just have to assume they have it. Reminds me of back in January when SFSU tried to say they had not received something, and I emailed them the FedEx tracking number that proved it had been delivered and even signed for! And they're website quite sternly says DO NOT CONTACT US WE WILL CONTACT YOU! ....rawr!
And "their" website! Okay, that's it, the stress has gotten to me.
Time to go write lines.
Anybody else wonder if this blog receives more comments than any other blog on the web?
@ EricNus
looks like we're both accepted to the fiction program at PSU.
did bissel say whether they've made final decisions on funding?
craig lesley called me and he didn't have any official info on the money.
do you think you'll go to portland?
(added on to my first post)
and congratulations to everybody with good news!
Ok, forget it. Even though I don't have the gold seal of rejection from everywhere, I'm getting the hint. I will try again next year. There's no surer indication that you need to improve than having wasted $1500 you don't have on pipe dreams.
@ Georgie
JHU has at least started notifying poets; I got a call from Mary Jo Salter on March 1st.
Brown kinda killed the radness momentum yesterday... But mad kudos to dearmemomagazine & BOBeefwich on making it onto that impossible Brown waitlist! And to all of the waitlisters -- we all know, from having been smacked by some painful rejections, that making onto a program's waitlist is a high distinction in this crowded field. Making it onto the waitlist means that the adcomm admires your work and would be happy to accept and teach you. Congratulations @Emma & amanda & Chrissy & themountainking & Joni for making it onto your waitlists! Good luck and godspeed to making it beyond that point.
Thank goodness Mankato & Texas State and Portland State came through with some happy news! Congrats to Mary & JRAndrews & DigAPony again! & Matthew & DoloresHumbert & L.Lewis & c.wink & Abbie & EricNus & Daniel for brightening a dark day with your acceptances!
Hey everybody!
Wow, I step away for a few days and BAM, acceptances EVERYWHERE! Congratulations to all!
I just wanted to let any interested parties know that I just declined the poetry spot at Northern Michigan's MFA program, so some lucky poet is going to be getting good news soon! I hope it's one of us!
Be well, all!
NM
I have also just removed my name from the Vanderbilt waitlist. I don't know if they will be adding anyone else to it, but if they do, then someone be on the lookout for that.
All best,
NM
Yeah, my rejection from JHU was for poetry... And UMD just sent me my decision electronically, now, emailing to tell me to check the online supplemental form. That rejection shall come in the mail someday, too. Whee.
BTW Trilbe: Thanks for your comments on Alabama on the PW forum! Makes this whole waitlist thing easier to bear -- seriously! The program sounds awesome, and I'll be reapplying if none of those hipsters gives up a spot.
Re:Columbia's Timetable - I've spent all day every Tuesday (since January) in Columbia's undergraduate writing office so I've heard some of the MFA readers say that they're behind schedule this year. Nobody told me why and I don't want to be creepy or inappropriate enough to ask why. I'm kind of sorry to even post this because I know that this is not helpful insight -- it's just lame@ass hearsay, so please take this post with that huge caveat -- but since there was some discussion about it here, and since for a lot of people Columbia is their statistically most probable admit option, I just wanted to let you guys know that I have heard MFA readers talking about being behind this year.
Also, I know that people don't typically post the details of their funding offers -- I haven't talked about mine and I wouldn't feel comfortable doing so, even though I think my programs offer the same standard package to each student. However, I believe that as a community we (particularly future classes of applicants) could collectively benefit from knowing what types of packages the New York schools are offering.
These are some of the steepest admission fees in the country and most of the people who've paid those fees did so in the hope that they will be lucky enough to get some sort of *special* funding package that will enable them to attend. So, it seems to me, that some insight into potential funding opportunities at the NY schools would be immensely helpful. In this situation, I think that if you get some sort of spectacular deal, it wouldn't be bragging but rather a community service to share the details of that offer -- if that's something with which you would feel comfortable, of course. Even some sort of anonymous backchannel notice about it, through Seth or through Driftless House, could probably help a lot of people.
I've applied to NYU and Columbia. I'm pretty sure I've used up all of my positive acceptance karma this year -- but if I get into either program, I will report back to the applicant community on what package I am offered.
@golightly - No problem! The prospective students didn't actually seem too hipsterish... Certainly not as much as the current students! The prospectives were quite diverse, a bit shy, super smart, and everyone seemed to have a fascinating story -- from teaching science to Colombian kids at a Boston elementary school to a background in addiction recovery counseling. I'm not sure if Alabama turns its students into hipsters -- Joel and Peter are pretty f*cking hipsteronic -- or if they somehow chose a less Brooklyn group for the 2010 class.
@Daniel
He was not optimistic about funding at all, but also said it was still under discussion.
As far as whether I'll go, I guess that depends if I get in elsewhere. But I live in Seattle -- I'd love to stay in the area, and I love Portland.
I also think the faculty is awesome. What about you?
@AaronApps - Thanks for all the details on LSU. I take it they've notified their six, then?
Brad Smith:
That was a really nice comment - and encouraging - you posted for Mommy J. I liked the application process itself, it means there is a commitment on some level to seeing where our words can take us. I attended a few open houses and each program director said rejections should be perceived as "It's not you, it's us" and that's all you can do. The world is filled with "no," it's our job to create Yes out of thin air.
Cheers Everyone,
oooh oooh! Another LSU question: is it six per genre or six for both genres? sheeeeesh. and have they started notifying fiction??
eeeek!
Tribe,
Buries deep within NYU's website is a breakdown of the funding package they give program students. It comes to about the price an in-state student would pay to attend Hunter the first year and they have a pretty nicely worded commitment to full funding the second year. I found it while doing-anything-but my applications. Columbia has myriad funding schemes and they took time to have the head of financial aid give a presentation at their Open House, but they made no bones about the $40,000 per year price tag. Each of the students who spoke at open house felt the quality of the program mitigated the expense, it was obvious though that they came from a pretty homogenous economic class. There were a couple of students who had rare teaching grants - and would be in the program 3 years - but two years without tuition responsibilities.
I've read a great deal about New York Schools funding and I view it the way I viewed living on my on in San Francisco - you can do it if you're creative and penny conscious. There is ALWAYS a deal out there, Mira's List, scholarship searches - there are scholarships where if you donate $1 they give you $500 - that almost never get taken advantage of. I fully intend to work no matter where I attend school because I don't want to slip into that alternate reality of academia, work definitely has its merits (plus my idle hands and mind are the devil's playground).
Congrats to everyone accepted!
Anyone hear from City College or LIU? Or know anyone who applied to LIU? No one I speak to seems to know it has an MFA program, makes me wonder...
Also -still waiting for Hunter, Brooklyn, New School.
Getting antsy pantsy.
@EricNus
Just waiting to her from the University of Pittsburgh. Portland (fiction) and Pitt (nonfiction) were my top two programs, so if I get in at Pitt, I'll have some serious decision making to do.
I'm just hoping for a bit of a break on the financial end - I love the faculty an the design of the degree. Also, I went to undergrad in Missoula, MT and found excuses to go to Portland every couple of months. After my first visit, I was hooked.
Good luck with your other schools and maybe I'll see you in the fall.
speaking of which, does anyone know anything about Pitt's notifications this year?
@Adam: Yes, they told me the schools of everyone they made offers to (because I was interested... I won't post in on here, doesn't really matter as there are great writers all over, but I was just interested in the sort of faculty some of the students may have worked with before)
@Meredith: 6 total
congrats everyone!
accepted to University of Alaska Fairbanks for poetry!! Congrats to everybody who received the good news yesterday, and to those still waiting, I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK! It's still very early in the process.
So, I see the word Montana written on various posts.... does this mean they've notified poets?
thanks
good job Mickey!
Hope you like the cold. ;).
Wow. 3 spots out of 184 fiction applicants (approx.)? that's 1.63 percent!
Hm. I didn't see THAT coming....
::crosses LSU off list::
thanks for the info, though, Aaron!
@ daniel,
I got accepted to Pittsburgh in poetry on 3/2 by email, and I believe there was a nonfiction notification the same day, or the day before. The nonfiction acceptance got full funding, I think. (congrats again to whoever it was, I'm sorry I have forgotten the name!) I don't know if I was one of the earlier or later acceptances so I don't know if they have finished notifying or not -- you could always call them, like some of the brave people on the blog. :)
I didn't get any funding from Pitt, and I've gotten emails from both Troy Boone and Fiona Cheong saying that their funding situation is not very good. They accept seven in each genre and give TAships to two out of each seven. There are also occasionally research assistantships that open up. But it all sounded very uncertain. They do encourage students to look for outside funding -- I'm going to ask them more about that.
@ Meredith: Well, they are one of the best funded programs in the country. Great program, too... just not as established as some others. It seems like this may be changing though (look at Austin, etc).
I still haven't decided where I'm going, so, I may open a spot up. I'm going to visit Minnesota later this month before I make any decision.
@mickey
Congrats on UAF! I was also accepted in poetry. Want to talk off blog?Shoot me an email:
happygonowhere11 at yahoo dot com
Late on this, but I got accepted to Texas State in fiction last night. It went straight to vm and the call came in after 6pm eastern--well after I had given up home on TXST. Also, at the end of the message "Lydia" said that they were going on spring break next week and wouldn't be responding to emails or phone calls.
I went to UT austin undergrad and am from San Antonio so I know the region very well, and can answer questions or anything.
@mickey: Congrats! Alaska is a _wonderful_ place (even if it is crazy cold in the winter).
meredith,
ahh, but the true ridiculousness, their are about ten programs with an acceptance rate lower then 1.63%. you'd think creative writers would have starting salaries of 100K+ considering the competition. but of course, we all know this isn't even close to being true.
Congrats to HappyGoNoWhere & RS as well!
@rs congrats on Tx State! We seem to be cleaning up around here, haha.
Also, just got my rejection from michigan (snail mail). finally :)
It's kind of weird after being so immersed in MFA applications, the blog, and everything, knowing how competitive and crazy this all is -- then emerging into the "real world" where most people think a degree in creative writing is a waste of time.
Like, a conversation with an acquaintance:
Acquaintance: How are your grad school applications coming?
Me: Great! I got in!
Acquaintance: That's amazing! What are you going to study, again?
Me: Creative writing.
Acquaintance: ... Oh. And what are you going to do with that...?
@Eric - Congrats! JHU is one hell of a deal. I am going to go check for what is no doubt my rejection letter right now (at least they don't print stuff on the back so that's more space for poems).
@Daniel and EricNus: Congratulations on your Portland acceptances...I also applied there, in CNF, and was wondering--though I bet they probably didn't mention it to you--if you got a sense of how far along they are with notifications. Thanks for your time...and congratulations again!
Not-so-nice, not-so-lovely Alabama rejection waiting for me in the mail this morning (just when I was starting to wonder if I somehow had been waitlisted); it took them five or six long-ass sentences just to say "you've not been admitted to the creative writing program." Well, no kidding. Weak gear, Alalbama grad school.
Congratulations to all who reported good news today, yesterday, and this week for that matter. Here's to more good fortune for y 'all...
Update RE: JHU
Stationary is decent. They don't list how many people applied (probably mercifully), however they do mention that this year's applicants "seem to us uncommonly good," which at least gives me encouragement that I am common and not terrible.
sic *STATIONERY
I think it's very small-minded when people question the 'usefulness' or 'practicality' of a degree, or equate any continuing education to a means of a better job offer. We're not deciding on vocational schools here.
@ Aaron
Thanks! and congrats for getting in, of course!
@ cecil
Seriously. It's. In. Sane. (or maybe we're the ones who are insane... or just masochistic/retardedly hopeful)
sigh.
I don't mind telling people it's a worthless degree. I find that it functions as a nice icebreaker. After they chuckle a bit, they come around and inquire further about it. I give them the usual dirt:
incredibly difficult admissions
better your writing craft
very very low chance of a job upon graduation
Then, they usually say, "So, it's like a Ph.D!"
We laugh. Good times.
(Of course, a Ph.D in, say, engineering may get you a high-paying job. But, a Ph.D in astrophysics usually has to settle for making sandwiches at Subway.)
@JimififeOH (I don't know if I spelled that right)
I got an Alabama rejection today too, and I thought the same thing. Just tell me if I'm accepted or rejected in the first sentence, don't bury it in the middle of the paragraph.
On the PSU note, they didn't mention anything as to where they're at in notification, but it doesn't seem like anyone in CNF has been accepted (not in this blog so far, anyway), so there could still be a shot. Also, they did say that they wanted us to accept or decline offers on the early side because there is a waitlist.
Good luck.
And more congratulations to everybody with good news.
@Emma
So this was a while ago, but I have to say that your confusion about my BF and his Florida acceptance really made me giggle. And I needed to giggle. So thank you for that. And you can let your mind rest, he is far too left brained to pursue creative writing--definitely a mechanical engineer...not a word engineer. :)
@everyone--got my official rejection from Iowa, today, by post. Thought is was worded nicely. I've seen worse!
Laura T: First off, congrats on your good news. Second, I've had that conversation countless times. There are many personality types that prioritize "the end" and totally ignore the process, as if everything we do is for some lucrative goal.
Your mom didn't make you take piano lessons thinking you'd fund her f-ing retirement as an infamous concert pianist.
Also, getting a job, in part, because of your MFA is not the most unimaginable possibility. I'm not saying I assume I'll be tenure track faculty at NYU abruptly after graduating, but I'm not going to assume the degree can't help me, either.
Hi.
Applied to fiction programs at the following 5 schools:
Florida Atlantic
North Carolina State
U of Memphis (accepted 2/19 F/e)
Portland State
Notre Dame
No word from Notre Dame or Portland State. Congrats to those that heard back from PDX! I'm still holding out hope.
I need to stop checking these comments, though. They're turning me into a Debbie Downer.
@ AaronApps
Are you one of the mysterious Minnesota acceptees? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!!
I'm guessing you're going up for the open house at the end of March? We must talk. Please e-mail me: hansenma at onid dot orst dot edu
Congrats! Where else have you been accepted? What's your genre?
@ Any Alaska Hopefuls
I turned down Alaska-Fairbank's fiction offer. I'm not sure if that opens up a spot for someone, but it definitely clears out some funding, so hopefully someone will benefit from that!
Congrats to all the recent acceptances!
anyone hear anything from St. Mary's?
@ Rose
Thanks for letting us know w/r/t Alaska.
@ Rose: Yep! I'm in at LSU as well. & Wayne State and UW-Milwaukee (but I'm only considering LSU/UMN since the funding is questionable at the later programs and because I'd rather deal with an MFA degree right now). I'll definitely be at the meet up in march.
I'll e-mail you later since I'm about to rush out (or you can drop me an e-mail at aaronaapps [at] yahoo.com in the meantime).
I'm a poet, btw.
=)
Thanks AB! Team TSU. I like the sound of that.
re: people not knowing or misunderstanding what an MFA is
Just call them a philistine and walk off.
(Note: If said person is a loved one, call them a philistine and give them a cookie)
I don't usually have a cookie readily available. In fact, I never do. They never taught me this valuable lesson in finishing school.
haha. a cookie would often come in handy.
has anyone heard from Oregon yet? or Colorado State? for fiction?
According to gradcafe, the University of Denver has accepted a PhD in poetry. The other candidates will be notified within 48 hours. I don't know if this means other poetry candidates or if it includes fiction, too.
Crossing my fingers--this is my top choice! If I actually say that, do I jinx myself?
Have there been any official offers from UFlorida yet? Driftless House says nay...
Well, I finally have something to add (all for fiction) :
Rejected: UTexas/Michener (via online app status), UW-Madison (e-mail), UM-Ann Arbor (mail/3/5)
Wait listed: Vanderbilt (email, 2/16)
Accepted!: VCU (with funding, email, 3/5)
So, so happy to have one acceptance. I'm giving thanks that I applied to so many schools (though my bank account thinks differently). Still have 5 more to go (Iowa, Pittsburgh, Indiana, George Mason, Virginia).
Good luck everyone!
RE: Outsider opinions of the MFA...
Ha. When I told my doctor I was pursuing an MFA, she paused for a full five seconds and just STARED at me with this awful blank face. When she realized I wasn't joking, she said, "Oh...interesting." But most people are like my evil dental hygienist, who demanded, "Now what are you going to do with that? Teach?!"
But when I tell my family and friends, they're just like, "Well, duh." Not that all of them understands what an MFA means. My dad still regularly coos, "Oh, does Rosie want to be the next Baba Wawa? Heeheeheeee!"
Honestly, I think the people who get vicious about it are jealous. Not because of the degree itself, but because we have the balls to follow our dreams. And they don't.
Yes, I shall continue telling myself this when I'm living under a bridge, using my degree as a pillow.
Woon,
Pray, what did you learn? I grew quite adept at painting tables, but could never embroider a pillow for all the guineas in Gloucester.
subscribing
@Shawn
In the last mailbag, someone from Oregon's administration (Laurie Lynn, I believe) said not to expect anything from Oregon before the 15th of March.
@Jake Maxwell
Thanks :) I'll quit refreshing my email every ten seconds.
Got a call from Jesse Ball at SAIC today. said to keep my eyes peeled for a letter. Alright then.
@mickey - a huge congratulations! Do you think you're planning on accepting? I'm another person who got good news from Alaska (for fiction), so maybe we'll be seeing each other :) I am super psyched about getting in there and I think I'm pretty much definitely accepting that offer. I've spent the last four years in the California desert though... Haha, how about you, do you think you can take on the cold?
@Rose - oooh, you mentioned you turned down a fiction spot at Fairbanks, with funding... could you tell me when you let them know? If it was Friday afternoon, you've just made me incredibly happy. Also, I wanted to say congratulations! Have you decided for sure where you're going to be next year?
@Zoulou
Yeah! It was Friday! I'm SO GLAD that gave you a positive nudge! What a wonderful world! Congrats!
I'm leaning very heavily towards Minnesota. The weather's almost as rotton as Fairbanks, but at least the houses have running water. And they have Charles Baxter, who is basically my idol.
Have you been to Alaska? I grew up in Southeast, which is sort of another world from central, but still - if you have questions about life up there, fire away!
Michigan rejection finally came in the mail. Very nice watermark!
Hey,
I know you guys follow this all very closely, and my best friend has applied for MFA programs and I've been avoiding showing him the blog so he doesn't check it obsessively. Can anyone give me a heads up on whether the following schools have sent out acceptances in fiction or poetry?
Iowa (duh)
Pitt
Penn State
Ohio State
University of Florida
Thank you so much. He's been accepted to Chatham but they want to know by March 15th and it was kind of his fallback.
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