"She fitted into my biggest armchair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing armchairs tight about the hips that season." -- PG Wodehouse
...didn't have anything to say other than "subscribing," so figured I'd share my favorite sentence by my favorite writer!
Aaaah! Near heart attack: My phone rang, displaying some random number. But it was only a scam--a recording of a woman telling me in Spanish that there is some money I am to receive or something. Guh! Thanks a lot mechanical Hispanic lady!
So, do most programs typically give out acceptances via phone call, e-mail, or snail mail? I don't know which medium to watch more closely, though I've got nervous tabs on all of them...
A great many of them do. If you check out the 2010 responses on the Driftless House blog, quite a few of them are phone calls, indicated by a lowercase "p".
Okay, so this is probably a really ridiculous question, but I'm sort of new to this whole process - do you get notified if you're rejected? Or do you just never hear anything back? Or I guess it could depend on the school....
Thank you, Tory!! How awesome of you to post that info.
Now, I will at least be able to feel a healthy disappointment tomorrow night if I don't get an OSU call. It's better than this unhealthy, lingering feeling of dread I have right now. :/
@kmb last year, I was notified by all of my schools. Some e-mail, some by postal mail. Some I received months after I pretty much already assumed rejection.
If you put in your sign-in info and then click "Preview" then it will sign you in without posting and then the "email follow-ups" box will appear. Just close the preview box and then check the box and Publish! =)
Received notice from Iowa State's financial aid office stating my financial aid award should be posted by mid-April. I find it odd that I should receive this even though I haven't even been accepted by Iowa State yet (hopefully yet, and not if). Should this be positive sign I'll be accepted? Lol
I remember seeing stories like these while lurking last year. It's as if a number of MFA/English departments simply do not communicate with the broader graduate school. So you get stuff from housing or fin. aid. before ever hearing from the department.
Michener Applicants, I have a very silly last minute question for you. On the MCW coversheet, they ask for two IDs - the first being the electronic application ID number and the second being the UTEID. I know my UTEID, but I'm confused about the electronic application ID number. Does this refer to the Application NUMBER or the ApplyTexas ID? >_<
I've asked the admissions office twice and either the wording of my question confused them, or the wording of their answer is confusing me. Help!
This is of course another last minute cock up by my undergrad university - whose transcripts haven't reached three of my four schools. Thankfully they've told me and are hopefully waiting for them. But ... damn it. :( I
@Akatsuki - I'm confused; I'm looking at the MCW coversheet now, and I can't see where it asks for the application ID; it just requests the UT EID. Are you sure you're not misreading it?
I'm sitting in school, hiding from the kids while checking my phone, JUST IN CASE that is the case, Blob. However, knowing I probably won't get the call is making my gut hurt. So I'm gonna go do lunch duty. Wish me luck/lack of ketchup in hair.
PS, to my song being the greatest-- Thanks, and of course! Haha. I expect it to be on the next MFA compilation CD. Who's got a band??
I'm the one who got an email from Alabama, but my post on the FB group keeps disappearing no matter how many times I try to comment, so I'll post here instead, in the hopes that some people from there will see it! (sorry for spamming everyone's emails.)
Thank you to everyone who congratulated me; I'm in poetry (but I THINK the email implied that they were calling everyone really soon, not just poetry candidates), and apparently they only emailed me because I'm in the UK, so they will be calling all accepted US applicants.
Thanks everyone for your congratulations re: my USC acceptance. I'm in LA so it would be great to be able to stay here...I'm crossing my fingers for one of the coveted teaching assistantships!
@Writer Dude - sorry, my email's been flooded! IDK if you saw on the FB group, but the specific wording was "I'll be contacting the rest of your future comrades by telephone today" - I initially thought they meant both poetry and fiction, but upon rereading it, it might just mean poetry acceptances. Sorry! & good luck to you, anyway!
Did I just get the first rejection of the season from a U.S. school? Oy.
Email from the University of Kansas: I am writing to inform you that upon the recommendation of the English MFA - Fine Arts/Creative Writing program, you have been denied admission to The University of Kansas for the Fall 2011 term.
Guess I won't be living in Lawrence for the next few years. 1 down, 19 to go (MFA wise, 22 to go if we're counting MA programs). Good luck to anyone who applied to Kansas. (I applied in poetry.)
I received a letter from Boise State today. The letter said:
"You have been admitted to the University only. This letter does not confirm your acceptance into a graduate program. As of the date of this letter, the item listed (grad school app) below are still needed by Graduate admissions to complete your application. You will receive notification of your admission to the graduate program by letter from the graduate dean when the evaluation process is complete."
I know this means nothing with respect to my acceptance/rejection to the grad program. But just thought I would give fellow applicants the heads up. Just trying to save some people from having a heart attack when they get the letter.
That's just really weird. You've been accepted to the university-- to do what?! If you haven't been accepted at the graduate school where you applied? Hang out at the cafeteria? Work out at the gym? That's such an odd letter!
@thereandbackagain re: Kansas. Sorry about the news.
Ya. It's pretty strange. I was wondering the same thing. What exactly would I do there?
I guess it's just the sort of thing that happens when dealing with any large institution. Still, it's a little cruel to start the letter off with "Welcome to Boise State University!"
I received a request from a faculty member at UCI to see a story I think one of my recommender's mentioned, because I didn't submit it in my packet. I'm guessing that's a good thing, but I'm getting my hopes up.
@Anti- that DEFINITELY sounds like a good thing, so congratulations! It's always good when your work catches an adcom's attention enough that they request to see more, IMO, and it also means that they've got as far as looking at your LORs - as far as I know, a lot of schools discard a lot of apps without even getting that far. Congratulations again, & good luck on getting in - UCI's an amazing school, esp. for fiction!
I also am in Alabama poetry. I got a call today from Joel Brouwer and an email. Very relieved and excited. I will say, they didn't mention anything to me, but I know big schools like that often have slow processing, and the university application wasn't due until January 15th, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were more acceptances on the way.
@jdubs - awesome, congratulations! (though this might spell bad news for the others who've been waiting.) Joel was the one who emailed me too; he seems absolutely lovely, & his email has totally made Alabama shoot up in my mental rankings.
@jdubs: Mega-congrats! Hope you did a little happy dance when you got the news.
@Anti-: Dude, that's not not good news. I'll refrain from any congratulations stronger than litotes, in case you're trying to keep your hopes from getting too high. But big fistbumps for at least getting to the stage where LORs are being read!
@Mercedes and jdubs: Congrats on Alabama! That's so awesome.
And, Mercedes, also -- THANK YOU. I'm the world's biggest idiot! I was looking at the wrong form! >>; Thankfully the transcript needs to be sent in again, so I have time to rectify this. Thanks. e_e;
Congrats Duchess and Amy! Seems like they decided to email people this year rather than call. Interesting. Well if you guys, or any other acceptees that might be lurking out there wanna chat, let me know! Email address is insertbrackets[at]gmail[dot]com! Again, congrats!
No news for me. Sigh. Double sigh. I really liked Ohio State :( I wanted to eat pretzels in German Village and make the O-H-I-O poses with my hands. Too bad. Maybe I'll get into Michigan and I'll be okay with hating them :P
Apparently, one of the poetry acceptancees got an email saying that all notifications have gone out. Those on the waitlist will be notified within the next two weeks. Sorry :(
Congrats! I'm a current MFAer at OSU. Let me know if you have any questions about the program, about Columbus, etc. and I'll try to answer in a completely honest and relatively informed manner.
My email: michael[dot]marberry[at]gmail[dot]com
Oh...and don't listen to whatever that Tory guy tells you. He's crazy and doesn't know anything to boot. (Just kidding. He's awesome and very helpful.)
Ditto Michael's congratulations. I'd also be happy to answer any questions about Ohio State's program -- especially if they are genre specific in the prose variety (I'm a first year in nonfiction, but I'm also taking fiction workshops).
I applied to Alabama for fiction, and I still haven't heard anything as far as whether or not I'm in, but today I got a postcard from the grad school. I know you can technically be accepted to the grad school without being accepted to the writing school, so I was wondering if anyone else received this postcard. It doesn't even really say anything about acceptance to the school either, but it says, "Please consider the U of A for your future graduate study... blah blah blah. Please visit our website... email... call... We encourage you to become a part of our exciting graduate environment..." I checked my application status online, and it didn't say anything new. It kind of sounds like the recruitment stuff they generally send out, so my question is whether I was sent this as a mistake, since I already applied, or what? I'm not really trying to read anything into it, I'm just confused.
@Lovely - tbh, I wouldn't pay too much attention to that - they probably just sent it out because they thought you had good GRE scores or something? I think just disregarding anything that isn't directly from the program is probably the most sensible option, since otherwise you could end up reading way too much into something that's pretty much junk mail.
& re: Alabama fiction, I'm planning to email Joel a bunch of questions about the program, so I'll ask whether fiction applicants have been notified yet, since I know quite a few people have been worrying about it. Hopefully they haven't been notified yet, & (even more hopefully) I'll get to work with all the awesome people posting here & the FB group!
Firesnake - I think all acceptances have gone out. A fiction acceptance was posted on Seth's blog. You could be on a wait-list, though, but you won't know about that for a few weeks.
If you've been on this blog before this year's application season, you may remember me. (Hey again, friends!) If you haven't, then hello, I'm Nick, nice to meet you!
I'm a first-year poet at Ohio State, and I just wanted to join Tory, Michael, and Lindsay in offering to talk with any interested parties about any aspect of Columbus and the OSU program. Feel free to e-mail me, facebook me, or gmail chat me anytime.
nmcrae1[at]gmail[dot]com
Congrats to all who have gotten good news, and best of luck to everyone!
Congratulations, all you Ohio-Alabama-Vermont-Spalding-Charlottians... exciting to see good news rolling in at last!
ABC, I'm in the same boat. If I didn't have to work, I'd go on a month-long bender. That or have myself cryogenically frozen until March. Today I found myself gazing at a state lottery sign and thinking, "Maybe I should buy a ticket. Then at least I'd know SOMETHING in the next week."
I know! Doesn't it just fill your heart with joy that we have such a great little community here? Ink-stained writer fistbumps to everyone who's been accepted, everyone who's offering guidance for accepted dudes, and everyone else who's on pins and needles during this hectic waiting time!
I know, She-Ra! Just the fact that Tory has logged on here two years in a row to inform us about notifications is really awesome. It's the kind of community I'm looking for.
I feel like I've made a massive mistake. I applied to 11 programs, 6 of which (according to Seth's new rankings) are in the TOP TEN, another 3 are in the top twenty, with the remaining two in the top forty.
I considered applying briefly last year but didn't because I knew I wasn't ready - I was tired after grad school (in English) and worn down by an awful relationship that cost me a lot in the way of self esteem. My work didn't feel cooked enough either. Now I am ready, very much so, and I feel I've thwarted my chances of getting accepted this time around by failing to choose a better spread of programs.
I want to believe that I'll be strong enough to apply again next year if this season doesn't work out but, although I can't quite describe how, I sense I'm at a kind of turning point in my life - kind of a fork in the road, if you will - and rejection will most certainly strike me to my very core.
This is such an awful process. My heart goes out to anyone feeling this way, and so to do my very best good luck vibes for everyone applying this year. Also, massive congratulations to all of you who've been accepted already!
Congrats to everyone who has heard good news! And continued good vibes/ positive energy/ luck/ double rainbow/ unicorn tears etc. to the majority of you who are still waiting.
@hopefulscribbler: I can entirely relate with you on one level at least. This is my year off after my Masters and while I was not really "in a relationship", there were broken friendships and family losses that just left me too drained to want to keep going. On retrospect though, I'm very glad I took a year off. I feel a lot more settled.
I haven't applied to too many schools and not all of mine are near the top ten -- but I keep oscillating between feeling as though I've aimed too high and as though I've not aimed high enough -- but I think this is largely the consequence of the waiting period. Hope everything works out for you.
And to everyone who has received acceptance letters, CONGRATULATIONS.
I know exactly how you feel. My list sounds a good bit like yours. After wallowing in pity and doubt for most of the weekend, I figure it's too early to really give up hope and too late to do anything about it. So, there are really only two things left to do: keep your fingers crossed and make sure you have a plan b you can live with, if it comes down to that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Oh, and Wandering Tree, definitely going to need those unicorn tears. Those are crucial.
Here's to some more good news for folks this week.
Your emotions are totally legit, and we'll all go through varying degrees of them (even the folks who have already been accepted somewhere will not get accepted everywhere, which will bring a certain degree of rejection) but it strikes me that you're in a really good place. You've already got a masters degree, which is terrific and makes the MFA a bonus degree in a sense, and if you don't get accepted to your MFA programs this year there are still a ton of ways to improve your writing-- which is all the MFA is after anyway. Writing courses, writing intensives, writing groups, etc. None of our plan B's are as fun or ego-boosting as the plan A, but there are a lot of really good plan B's, which may or may not include an MFA for you next year if things don't work out this year.
All that being true, of course, it's also _way_ too early to think about next year. We're only a few days into acceptance season and most of the schools you applied to haven't made decisions yet.
I did a similar thing with schools, I applied to seventeen, but can only really afford to go to the schools in the top 20.
These moments are tough. Rejection is tough (in every sense) but the quality of our creative lives isn't going to be determined by MFAs but on our overall committment to it over a long period. That's not going to be decided today. And it gives you a lot more room to play with your future than you perhaps feel at the moment.
Hope there's good news for everybody this week. I believe I posted a few months ago to vent about some bad GRE scores. Blob, I remember, gave me some really great perspective on them. Thanks, Blob! I think this blog is pretty supportive group, not to mention a great resource.
@ Hopeful Scribbler (and all of us having a tough time with this process): I hear you on feeling like you could have made a mistake. In the end I applied to 8 MFA's and 1 MA (I know that's a little low but I didn't want to bother my recommenders for more letters after I had my initial list, plus I figured 9 app fees should have been enough. Probably 5 of mine are in the top twenty; and, judging by the news from this blog, it seems pretty likely I'll be officially rejected from Alabama any day now. So that leaves 8 competitive programs...My chances of getting into one are maybe OK. And my chances of getting rejected across the board are pretty good too. I think I've let this process get the best of my sense of self worth at times. It's tough, I bet there are plenty of things we can all do well, and yet it seems most of us only have eyes for the MFA at the moment. Just a reminder for us all, that we can all probably do a bunch of other stuff well, too, if the MFA isn't in the stars for us. And like BPM said, we can all write without the MFA anyway.
That said, I hope we all get into programs we love.
Thanks everyone. You all make me feel more positive.
I guess I didn't really want to leave America when I graduated (I'm from the UK) but was sort of forced to out of sheer heartbreak and exhaustion. Ever since then I've been aching to return, despite having made great new friends at home and having had the time to focus on my skills.
It just feels to me like a make or break moment now. Like I either have to go at this writing thing full throttle (for which an MFA would certainly help in terms of funding, time and support) or resign myself to it being a hobby and searching for another career. I recently gave up my job so I could do this and I'm pretty scared because I've always worked (all through my degrees too) and liked the security of earning.
In my rational mind I know I've done the dangerous thing of turning this process - being successful in this process - as a yardstick by which I can measure the legitimacy of devoting my life to writing. I hate to sound like this! So serious! So damn self involved! At this moment my mother would most certainly tell me that the world does not revolve around me and my dramas.
However, I'm an all or nothing girl. I know for me that writing is something I will have to give my complete self over to and for that reason, being a big wimp, I've largely resisted or sidestepped it my whole life (I studied law before I worked out I could study English Lit, studied English Lit at grad school because I was too scared to go for CW). Now that I seem to have found the balls to go for it, I'm petrified about failing, and equally I'm petrified about succeeding and still not being happy.
So sorry to all for this pathetic whimpering. Until acceptance season hit us, I honestly didn't know how much devoting the remainder of my life to this would mean to me. Like a couple of wise people have said, it's about more than the MFA.
I completely understand. But, it's still so early in acceptance season. You will hear from schools. A friend of mine, last year, didn't receive his first acceptance until toward the end of February. By the start of April, he'd been accepted at six schools!
Stay strong! Put that positive energy out there. It will come back to you!
Maybe this is a good time to post this? I believe I posted it last year in the midst of all the activity; it definitely helped put me in the right mindset to figure out how to use my rejections last year to work harder and get better. And now, here I am back for more! So: Failure, An Appreciation, by Rebecca Brown.
"The sound of failure calls my name. I'm still trying to learn to live with that. To hear it out and follow it, to fail, as Samuel Beckett said, then fail better. To fail then fail better, then fail and fail more but not to stop."
Question for folks who have already been accepted: How long are the schools giving you for reaching a decision? I've heard the standard is April 15, but I've also heard some programs demand a more immediate decision.
@Sam Mitchell - I thought all schools gave students till April 15th? If I got accepted to one that demanded a decision before then, & I hadn't heard back from elsewhere, I'd be seriously questioning whether I really wanted to go there.
& to actually answer your question, Alabama's giving me till April 15th, but they want me to decide earlier if possible. I probably won't be able to decide much earlier, though, since one of my top choices doesn't notify till very late.
U. South Caroline (poetry) didn't give a deadline, just wants to know as soon as I make a decision which I hope will be no later than end of March so they still have time to notify someone else if I get in/decide on another program.
Hello everyone! Excited to hear all of this good news for you guys...especially for Courtney at Indiana: I wouldn't mind being in your shoes in the next few weeks. Nevertheless, for now, I can't complain, for I've received my first notice, an acceptance to Chatham University! Anyone else here considering this school? Any thoughts?
congrats, Eric! That's great news! I don't know much about Chatham, but people seem to love it. I'm sure you must feel a whole load off to get an early acceptance!
Yay Eric! Congratulations!! Just a warning... Chatham's in Pittsburgh. I know, shocker. But the good thing-- it's very environmentally and internationally minded; they take it quite seriously. Expect money for trips and things.
I've heard great things about Chatham, and almost applied there (but that would have made my list 19 schools)! So, congratulations! It looks like a really great place to be, and Pittsburgh, too, is a great city.
Hey Eric, I applied to Chatham! It's my top choice and I'm going crazy because my friend who also applied there just got a rejection letter. I'm hoping for the best tho!
@Kat: I'm biased, we know. But I think the only good things about waking up in Pittsburgh tomorrow are 1) I woke up at all and 2) because of the freezing rain which may knock out powerlines and make streets exceedingly dangerous, I may not have to go to school and actually teach kids.
Thanks, everyone! You know, I'm not quite yet ecstatic because, 1) I have yet to receive their funding package, and 2) I'm just finally settling into San Francisco after years of travel, so I'm sure it will be hard to leave here, particularly considering the weather. Gena, you go there? Is there decent funding, then, to travel on your own? I'd probably gun to spend at least a summer doing "research" in Italy. Hmm...Sarah, good luck, and let me know if/when you get in! I'll bet you deserve it!
Does anyone know of any free online writing workshops? I am hoping to have someone read over a short story and was wondering if there is a site out there that is considered stronger than the others.
@Eric, I don't go there-- I've just know people who have. While I don't know much about their overall funding package, I know they often run trips abroad and I think you can persuade them to give you funds to do as much as a semester abroad, which is pretty rare for an MFA.
I heard from my friend at Syracuse that they've given one of the 6 poetry spots to a current undergrad at Syracuse yesterday (1/31). They told her during class! Can't imagine she could concentrate after that!
So, there's five spots and they usually notify around now so...good luck to everyone who's applied there!
Alabama! Fiction! About an hour ago! Had a lovely phone conversation with the incalculably charming Joel Brouwer -- then promptly shrieked unintelligibly in his ear for fifteen minutes.
I think so, according to Seth's notification databank. Also, that would make total sense since Syracuse got 160 poetry apps and about 600 fiction. Wow!
But, my friend got in last year off the wait list at the end of Feb., so...more waiting games. Ugh.
@ Grace, no kidding! I've heard really great things about the program, including that you don't have to teach for the first year, just work on your writing.
Thanks for congratulations, from everyone who sent 'em! I'm still in shock!
@Glitter Wolf: Congrats! Am I going to meet you during the weekend in March? Are you still totally freaking out? I'm still totally freaking out. Aaaaack! Mega-congrats!
I applied to Indiana's fiction program and haven't heard back. I was just starting to feel sorry for myself and then my dad called and told me my grandma died.
She's been sick for a while, so it's not a shocker. But perspective, right?
Screw these programs. Screw everything. Right now, the most important thing in the world to me is to fly home and get my ears pierced with Grandma's diamond earrings.
Yes, perspective indeed. I'm so sorry about your loss. My grandmother died suddenly last year, and it was so very hard for me.
My condolences, and remember...you have to get your ears pierced with the medical steel first. I only mention this because all of my male cousins got one ear pierced to get one of granny's earrings...and they all forgot about this little fact.
To make matters worse yesterday night my ex-boyfriend told me he's started dating someone new. We've been split about 6 months and I've been dating someone new, too, but he knew my grandma and, on some level, I always imagined him being there for me at a time like this. Except he can't. Because we didn't work out.
Assumed Indiana rejection, ex-boyfriend of 5 years doesn't love me anymore, and dead grandma.
But my other living grandma says bad things happen in 3s, so maybe I'm in the clear for now?
I swear I'm not trying to have a pity party *feebly blows into party horn*
It's hard hard hard to lose a grandma, Jenny. I'm a little older than most of you guys--I lost my last grandparent 11 years ago, and he was 92, but it still hurts. Celebrate her life in your art.
Just to make you feel a little better, someone on the facebook group called or e-mailed Indiana, and they're not finished yet notifying...they're not even finished deciding--it seems as though they only contacted a few people over the weekend.
Cassan Said Amer tells a story about a lecturer who began a seminar holding up a one dollar bill, and asking:
- Who wants this dollar bill?
Several hands went up, but the lecturer said:
- Before handing it over, there’s something I must do.
He furiously crushed it, and asked again:
- Who still wants this bill?
The hands continued raised.
- And what if I do this?
He threw it against the wall, letting it fall to the floor, kicked it, stamped in it and again held up the bill – all dirty and crumpled. He repeated the question, and the hands continued to be held high.
- You mustn’t ever forget this scene – said the lecturer. – No matter what I do with this money, it’ll still be a one dollar bill.
“Many times in our lives, we are crushed, stamped on, kicked, maltreated, offended; however, in spite of this, we are still worth the same.”
Anyone hear anything from U of Wyoming yet? Looks like they notified acceptances about this time last year--other years it was 3 weeks later. How consistent are reporting times? Any thoughts?
But, this waiting is finally driving me crazy! Second day at home because of this winter storm. I'm wearing a hat in my house! At least today writing...yesterday I knitted half a scarf! Blah.
@Trochilidae, I don't think so. I think we would have at least netted one spot between the blog and FB followers?? But, that's just a guess. I heard that the Syracuse profs weren't attending AWP though (second hand info from a current student).
I want South Carolina to start notifying fiction applicants!! I saw the poetry and CNF notifications happening and now I can't stop obsessing over my email inbox...but nothin'. With the weather as it is here right now, I really need to hear a yes from them.
@Pensive Monkey...maybe I'll see you at USC. I'm sure they have more notifications coming. Have you heard much about the community there? I'm going to ask to correspond with a current grad student. I really want a strong, social community.
I check both blogs and the Facebook group constantly and I've heard nothing about Syracuse. They have a fairly large incoming class, so I'm sure at least a few people would have heard if they had begun notifying.
As for Wyoming, that's such a small program, it's possible they've begun making calls but that no one who frequents these e-spaces has so far been one of the chosen.
Sorry, should have specified. I was referring to poetry notifications. There's only around 12 spots for poetry and fiction (I think), but it's been so quiet-other than that first poetry notification-that I'm hoping they just haven't begun regular notifications yet.
@Trochilidae, I was the USCarolina poetry acceptance and, from the email they sent me, I think I was an early notification so there'll be more, I'm assuming.
Wyoming received almost twice the amount of applications as last year. My guess would be that they will notify later than normal. But that's pure speculation on my part.
Jessica, I don't know much about USC. Are you pretty sure you'll accept their offer? It's not my top school, but close. I used to live in Charleston (briefly) and am kind of dying to get back there.
I am anxiously awaiting word from Wyoming as well.
@open spaces - how did you hear about the increased number of apps at wyoming? do you have any additional insider information you would like to share???
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"She fitted into my biggest armchair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing armchairs tight about the hips that season." -- PG Wodehouse
...didn't have anything to say other than "subscribing," so figured I'd share my favorite sentence by my favorite writer!
subscribing.
come onnnnnn, ohio state, call today. i have a snow day today! i literally have nothing better to do than sit around and look at my phone.
And then there was the time that I did that and, like an ass, forgot to hit subscribe. #yesiamawesome
I wish we'd get some more news and activity soon. Even if it's not for my school. It'll just be nice to know things are moving and rolling.
Here's to getting good news soon.
Subscribing
Subscribing
subscribing
subscribing
echoing Katie Oh's plea to Ohio State. here's hoping we all hear good news soon!
subscribing.
I really hate this process.
Subscribing. I'll share my favorite sentence too (though not by my favorite writer):
"The women were blank, shining areas with photographs of sad girls floating in them." -Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son
Aaaah! Near heart attack: My phone rang, displaying some random number. But it was only a scam--a recording of a woman telling me in Spanish that there is some money I am to receive or something. Guh! Thanks a lot mechanical Hispanic lady!
@julienotjuliet: Hey, have you heard my new band, Kat Dionysus and the Thanks A Lot Mechanical Hispanic Ladies?!
So, do most programs typically give out acceptances via phone call, e-mail, or snail mail? I don't know which medium to watch more closely, though I've got nervous tabs on all of them...
@Kat
I'll have to hit you and Ladies up on your east coast tour.
@Bryan
A great many of them do. If you check out the 2010 responses on the Driftless House blog, quite a few of them are phone calls, indicated by a lowercase "p".
Ohio State Applicants,
The scuttlebutt around these parts indicates calls should be going out tomorrow (probably in the evening), I think for all three genres.
Good luck everyone!!!
Okay, so this is probably a really ridiculous question, but I'm sort of new to this whole process - do you get notified if you're rejected? Or do you just never hear anything back? Or I guess it could depend on the school....
Thank you, Tory!! How awesome of you to post that info.
Now, I will at least be able to feel a healthy disappointment tomorrow night if I don't get an OSU call. It's better than this unhealthy, lingering feeling of dread I have right now. :/
Thanks again.
subscribing
@kmb last year, I was notified by all of my schools. Some e-mail, some by postal mail. Some I received months after I pretty much already assumed rejection.
Subscribing. Thank you so much, Tory, for posting that. SERIOUSLY! Although it makes me incredibly nervous, I'm so glad to know! Wish me luck!
Oh, and good luck to everyone else who applied there :P
Gotta click the little button, don't I...
Subscribing
Sorry guys, the option to actually subscribe is never there the first time
@ etrangette
If you put in your sign-in info and then click "Preview" then it will sign you in without posting and then the "email follow-ups" box will appear. Just close the preview box and then check the box and Publish! =)
Received notice from Iowa State's financial aid office stating my financial aid award should be posted by mid-April. I find it odd that I should receive this even though I haven't even been accepted by Iowa State yet (hopefully yet, and not if). Should this be positive sign I'll be accepted? Lol
@FireSnake
I remember seeing stories like these while lurking last year. It's as if a number of MFA/English departments simply do not communicate with the broader graduate school. So you get stuff from housing or fin. aid. before ever hearing from the department.
subscribing.
Michener Applicants, I have a very silly last minute question for you. On the MCW coversheet, they ask for two IDs - the first being the electronic application ID number and the second being the UTEID. I know my UTEID, but I'm confused about the electronic application ID number. Does this refer to the Application NUMBER or the ApplyTexas ID? >_<
I've asked the admissions office twice and either the wording of my question confused them, or the wording of their answer is confusing me. Help!
This is of course another last minute cock up by my undergrad university - whose transcripts haven't reached three of my four schools. Thankfully they've told me and are hopefully waiting for them. But ... damn it. :( I
Subscribing too..
La di da...
Alabaaaaaaamaaaa,
Oh Alabaaaaamaaaaa...
I was sooooooo hoping for yooooou this weeeeeeeeek.
This is why I'm not a songwriter.
Subscribing.
(PS-- Kat Dionysus & da Ladies, hit me up if you want "Alabama: the Low Blow" as your next single!)
Anyone have info on the Drew low-res program? A professor of mine recommended it, but I haven't been able to find much in the way of inside info yet.
@FireSnake
What genre are you?
@jdubs
Fiction
Hey guys,
I got an acceptance from USC Masters in Professional Writing, in fiction. It came in the mail today.
(Also just posted this in the data bank on Seth's blog...not sure what the protocol is...)
@Jean - awesome, congratulations!
@Akatsuki - I'm confused; I'm looking at the MCW coversheet now, and I can't see where it asks for the application ID; it just requests the UT EID. Are you sure you're not misreading it?
subscribing
@Jean, congratulations!
and subscribing
Subscribe at your own risk, BPM. ;)
@Jean
Congrats! I'm wishing I would have applied there. LA keeps looking better and better to this Midwesterner.
@Gena
Umm, best song ever?
I've told myself next week is the earliest we might hear from Bama folks. But oh, how I wish it was today.
I'm sitting in school, hiding from the kids while checking my phone, JUST IN CASE that is the case, Blob. However, knowing I probably won't get the call is making my gut hurt. So I'm gonna go do lunch duty. Wish me luck/lack of ketchup in hair.
PS, to my song being the greatest-- Thanks, and of course! Haha. I expect it to be on the next MFA compilation CD. Who's got a band??
a poetry applicant (not me, sadly) just got accepted to Alabama via email.
Sorry to hear that, Blob. Hopefully yours is coming; but keep your head up about it, either way.
@BPM
Oh no worries, yet. I'm very excited for Mercedes (recipient of acceptance). Her sample is great.
But I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that Bama was in action, at least for poets.
@Blob: The day is still young. Don't give up hope on Bama until you're certain all of the notifications have gone out.
I'm the one who got an email from Alabama, but my post on the FB group keeps disappearing no matter how many times I try to comment, so I'll post here instead, in the hopes that some people from there will see it! (sorry for spamming everyone's emails.)
Thank you to everyone who congratulated me; I'm in poetry (but I THINK the email implied that they were calling everyone really soon, not just poetry candidates), and apparently they only emailed me because I'm in the UK, so they will be calling all accepted US applicants.
@Mercedes
Big congrats!
(facebook is being screwy today. maybe our group overloaded them!)
Well that's a whole different thing!
Congratulations, Mercedes, and turn your cell phone on, Blob!
@ Mercedes, congrats! That's awesome!
Thanks everyone for your congratulations re: my USC acceptance. I'm in LA so it would be great to be able to stay here...I'm crossing my fingers for one of the coveted teaching assistantships!
subscribing.
@ Mercedes
This contact-everyone-today-not-just poetry-candidates theory intrigues me as a Bama Fictioner...
How liberal an interpretation are you basing this theory? ;)
(Congrats, again, btw)
@Writer Dude - sorry, my email's been flooded! IDK if you saw on the FB group, but the specific wording was "I'll be contacting the rest of your future comrades by telephone today" - I initially thought they meant both poetry and fiction, but upon rereading it, it might just mean poetry acceptances. Sorry! & good luck to you, anyway!
@mercedes
I am following the facebook group fervently (and making jackass comments here and there under the name of Peter)-- so I saw ;)
Thanks for the info and apologize for nothing!
Congratulations to Jean (USC MPW)and Mercedes (Alabama POETRY OMG!)!!!
And fingers crossed for the rest of us!
finally subscribing....
Congrats on the early acceptances. And, yeah, subscribing...against my better instincts.
Did I just get the first rejection of the season from a U.S. school? Oy.
Email from the University of Kansas:
I am writing to inform you that upon the recommendation of the English MFA - Fine Arts/Creative Writing program, you have been denied admission to The University of Kansas for the Fall 2011 term.
Guess I won't be living in Lawrence for the next few years. 1 down, 19 to go (MFA wise, 22 to go if we're counting MA programs). Good luck to anyone who applied to Kansas. (I applied in poetry.)
@thereandbackagain
:(
This is why we apply to so many programs. Keeping fingers crossed for you.
At least you know now.
I received a letter from Boise State today. The letter said:
"You have been admitted to the University only. This letter does not confirm your acceptance into a graduate program. As of the date of this letter, the item listed (grad school app) below are still needed by Graduate admissions to complete your application. You will receive notification of your admission to the graduate program by letter from the graduate dean when the evaluation process is complete."
I know this means nothing with respect to my acceptance/rejection to the grad program. But just thought I would give fellow applicants the heads up. Just trying to save some people from having a heart attack when they get the letter.
@Open Spaces - ahh, that sounds like it would give me a heart attack without your warning, so thanks for the heads up!
@open spaces
That's just really weird. You've been accepted to the university-- to do what?! If you haven't been accepted at the graduate school where you applied? Hang out at the cafeteria? Work out at the gym? That's such an odd letter!
@thereandbackagain re: Kansas. Sorry about the news.
Ya. It's pretty strange. I was wondering the same thing. What exactly would I do there?
I guess it's just the sort of thing that happens when dealing with any large institution. Still, it's a little cruel to start the letter off with "Welcome to Boise State University!"
Well, look at it this way-- it's not a harbinger of _bad_ news.
Any word from Ohio State?
oh! one of my students said, 'real talk' today in class. i almost lost it after reading last year's mailbags. too funny.
I received a request from a faculty member at UCI to see a story I think one of my recommender's mentioned, because I didn't submit it in my packet. I'm guessing that's a good thing, but I'm getting my hopes up.
Can't wait for March!...
@Anti- that DEFINITELY sounds like a good thing, so congratulations! It's always good when your work catches an adcom's attention enough that they request to see more, IMO, and it also means that they've got as far as looking at your LORs - as far as I know, a lot of schools discard a lot of apps without even getting that far. Congratulations again, & good luck on getting in - UCI's an amazing school, esp. for fiction!
Anti, that is such cool news and I am completely envious! :)
I also am in Alabama poetry. I got a call today from Joel Brouwer and an email. Very relieved and excited. I will say, they didn't mention anything to me, but I know big schools like that often have slow processing, and the university application wasn't due until January 15th, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were more acceptances on the way.
@jdubs - awesome, congratulations! (though this might spell bad news for the others who've been waiting.) Joel was the one who emailed me too; he seems absolutely lovely, & his email has totally made Alabama shoot up in my mental rankings.
@jdubs: Mega-congrats! Hope you did a little happy dance when you got the news.
@Anti-: Dude, that's not not good news. I'll refrain from any congratulations stronger than litotes, in case you're trying to keep your hopes from getting too high. But big fistbumps for at least getting to the stage where LORs are being read!
@jdubs
congratulations on Alabama! :)
Thanks, all. I was sadly on a bus that was stuck in traffic, so couldn't enjoy the moment as much as I had anticipated.
subscribing.
@Mercedes and jdubs: Congrats on Alabama! That's so awesome.
And, Mercedes, also -- THANK YOU. I'm the world's biggest idiot! I was looking at the wrong form! >>; Thankfully the transcript needs to be sent in again, so I have time to rectify this. Thanks. e_e;
Subscribing for real this time.
really subscribing.
Congrats on Alabama acceptances!
Congrats to all acceptances!
Tory - I'm sure you don't follow this blog regularly, but do you know if ANY Ohio State offers have been made? It's total silence here! Thanks :)
Accepted at Ohio State - poetry - via email this morning. Best wishes to everyone!
Accepted at Ohio State via email this morning, for nonfiction.
Still am not able to process this.
Congrats Duchess and Amy! Seems like they decided to email people this year rather than call. Interesting. Well if you guys, or any other acceptees that might be lurking out there wanna chat, let me know! Email address is insertbrackets[at]gmail[dot]com! Again, congrats!
Accepted via email to Ohio State for non-fiction about four hours ago. Think I'm displaying symptoms of shock.
Congrats Duchess, Amy, K! Must be such a relief to have an early in!
Congratulations to Duchess for her poetry acceptance at OSU and to Amy & K for their nonfiction acceptances to OSU! Way to go!
Congrats to all OSU and Charlotte acceptances!
No news for me. Sigh. Double sigh. I really liked Ohio State :( I wanted to eat pretzels in German Village and make the O-H-I-O poses with my hands. Too bad. Maybe I'll get into Michigan and I'll be okay with hating them :P
Any one hear from OSU for fiction?
Apparently, one of the poetry acceptancees got an email saying that all notifications have gone out. Those on the waitlist will be notified within the next two weeks. Sorry :(
@the duchess, Amy, & K
Congrats! I'm a current MFAer at OSU. Let me know if you have any questions about the program, about Columbus, etc. and I'll try to answer in a completely honest and relatively informed manner.
My email: michael[dot]marberry[at]gmail[dot]com
Oh...and don't listen to whatever that Tory guy tells you. He's crazy and doesn't know anything to boot. (Just kidding. He's awesome and very helpful.)
Ditto Michael's congratulations. I'd also be happy to answer any questions about Ohio State's program -- especially if they are genre specific in the prose variety (I'm a first year in nonfiction, but I'm also taking fiction workshops).
lindshansen9[at]gmail[dot]com.
I applied to Alabama for fiction, and I still haven't heard anything as far as whether or not I'm in, but today I got a postcard from the grad school. I know you can technically be accepted to the grad school without being accepted to the writing school, so I was wondering if anyone else received this postcard. It doesn't even really say anything about acceptance to the school either, but it says, "Please consider the U of A for your future graduate study... blah blah blah. Please visit our website... email... call... We encourage you to become a part of our exciting graduate environment..." I checked my application status online, and it didn't say anything new. It kind of sounds like the recruitment stuff they generally send out, so my question is whether I was sent this as a mistake, since I already applied, or what? I'm not really trying to read anything into it, I'm just confused.
@Lovely - tbh, I wouldn't pay too much attention to that - they probably just sent it out because they thought you had good GRE scores or something? I think just disregarding anything that isn't directly from the program is probably the most sensible option, since otherwise you could end up reading way too much into something that's pretty much junk mail.
& re: Alabama fiction, I'm planning to email Joel a bunch of questions about the program, so I'll ask whether fiction applicants have been notified yet, since I know quite a few people have been worrying about it. Hopefully they haven't been notified yet, & (even more hopefully) I'll get to work with all the awesome people posting here & the FB group!
@Lovely I got the same sort of letter from Texas State San Marcos after I submitted my GRE scores to them, so I think it's exactly what Mercedes said.
Did anyone hear from Ohio State (fiction in particular)? Previous post talked about a rumor about possible calls going out yesterday.
Firesnake - I think all acceptances have gone out. A fiction acceptance was posted on Seth's blog. You could be on a wait-list, though, but you won't know about that for a few weeks.
Thanks Mercedes and Serena. I was figuring it was something of the sort.
Hey, I'm eagerly awaiting application responses too. Now that the time has come, I'm quite positive I'll be rejected from all 7 of my schools.
Congratulations on the OSU acceptances!
Which FB group is everyone talking about?
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_111211268949325&ap=1
or search MFA Draft '11
:o)
Congrats to all the acceptances!
All my apps are to places with late Feb to late March notifiers. Ack.
Howdy folks,
If you've been on this blog before this year's application season, you may remember me. (Hey again, friends!) If you haven't, then hello, I'm Nick, nice to meet you!
I'm a first-year poet at Ohio State, and I just wanted to join Tory, Michael, and Lindsay in offering to talk with any interested parties about any aspect of Columbus and the OSU program. Feel free to e-mail me, facebook me, or gmail chat me anytime.
nmcrae1[at]gmail[dot]com
Congrats to all who have gotten good news, and best of luck to everyone!
O-H! (I-O!)
All best,
NM
Congratulations, all you Ohio-Alabama-Vermont-Spalding-Charlottians... exciting to see good news rolling in at last!
ABC, I'm in the same boat. If I didn't have to work, I'd go on a month-long bender. That or have myself cryogenically frozen until March. Today I found myself gazing at a state lottery sign and thinking, "Maybe I should buy a ticket. Then at least I'd know SOMETHING in the next week."
Really cool to see current students looking to help accepted folk out. Love it.
I know! Doesn't it just fill your heart with joy that we have such a great little community here? Ink-stained writer fistbumps to everyone who's been accepted, everyone who's offering guidance for accepted dudes, and everyone else who's on pins and needles during this hectic waiting time!
I know, She-Ra! Just the fact that Tory has logged on here two years in a row to inform us about notifications is really awesome. It's the kind of community I'm looking for.
I got a call from Indiana University today at 1:52pm Pacific Time noting my acceptance, for anybody not in the FB group.
In fiction!
congrats, Courtney!!
Congrats, Courtney!
Congratulations Courtney! Now I wish I had applied to IU.
I wish IU had called me. :( I already said it on FB, but CONGRATS, CONGRATS, CONGRATS, IU is a great school.
Congrats to all who've made it thus far!
And ditto @Kat's "Ink-stained writer fistbumps." LOVE this! I'm so borrowing :)
Just wanted to say congrats to everyone who's heard back so far! It's awesome you know you're accepted somewhere so early into the app season!
I feel like I've made a massive mistake. I applied to 11 programs, 6 of which (according to Seth's new rankings) are in the TOP TEN, another 3 are in the top twenty, with the remaining two in the top forty.
I considered applying briefly last year but didn't because I knew I wasn't ready - I was tired after grad school (in English) and worn down by an awful relationship that cost me a lot in the way of self esteem. My work didn't feel cooked enough either. Now I am ready, very much so, and I feel I've thwarted my chances of getting accepted this time around by failing to choose a better spread of programs.
I want to believe that I'll be strong enough to apply again next year if this season doesn't work out but, although I can't quite describe how, I sense I'm at a kind of turning point in my life - kind of a fork in the road, if you will - and rejection will most certainly strike me to my very core.
This is such an awful process. My heart goes out to anyone feeling this way, and so to do my very best good luck vibes for everyone applying this year. Also, massive congratulations to all of you who've been accepted already!
Congrats to everyone who has heard good news! And continued good vibes/ positive energy/ luck/ double rainbow/ unicorn tears etc. to the majority of you who are still waiting.
@hopefulscribbler: I can entirely relate with you on one level at least. This is my year off after my Masters and while I was not really "in a relationship", there were broken friendships and family losses that just left me too drained to want to keep going. On retrospect though, I'm very glad I took a year off. I feel a lot more settled.
I haven't applied to too many schools and not all of mine are near the top ten -- but I keep oscillating between feeling as though I've aimed too high and as though I've not aimed high enough -- but I think this is largely the consequence of the waiting period. Hope everything works out for you.
And to everyone who has received acceptance letters, CONGRATULATIONS.
@hopefulscribbler
I know exactly how you feel. My list sounds a good bit like yours. After wallowing in pity and doubt for most of the weekend, I figure it's too early to really give up hope and too late to do anything about it. So, there are really only two things left to do: keep your fingers crossed and make sure you have a plan b you can live with, if it comes down to that.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Oh, and Wandering Tree, definitely going to need those unicorn tears. Those are crucial.
Here's to some more good news for folks this week.
@Courtney
Congrats on getting into IU! Unfortunately, that was one of my schools for fiction...do you know if they've notified everybody yet?
:(
@hopeful scribbler,
Your emotions are totally legit, and we'll all go through varying degrees of them (even the folks who have already been accepted somewhere will not get accepted everywhere, which will bring a certain degree of rejection) but it strikes me that you're in a really good place. You've already got a masters degree, which is terrific and makes the MFA a bonus degree in a sense, and if you don't get accepted to your MFA programs this year there are still a ton of ways to improve your writing-- which is all the MFA is after anyway. Writing courses, writing intensives, writing groups, etc.
None of our plan B's are as fun or ego-boosting as the plan A, but there are a lot of really good plan B's, which may or may not include an MFA for you next year if things don't work out this year.
All that being true, of course, it's also _way_ too early to think about next year. We're only a few days into acceptance season and most of the schools you applied to haven't made decisions yet.
I did a similar thing with schools, I applied to seventeen, but can only really afford to go to the schools in the top 20.
These moments are tough. Rejection is tough (in every sense) but the quality of our creative lives isn't going to be determined by MFAs but on our overall committment to it over a long period. That's not going to be decided today. And it gives you a lot more room to play with your future than you perhaps feel at the moment.
Hi MFA blog,
Hope there's good news for everybody this week. I believe I posted a few months ago to vent about some bad GRE scores. Blob, I remember, gave me some really great perspective on them. Thanks, Blob! I think this blog is pretty supportive group, not to mention a great resource.
@ Hopeful Scribbler (and all of us having a tough time with this process): I hear you on feeling like you could have made a mistake. In the end I applied to 8 MFA's and 1 MA (I know that's a little low but I didn't want to bother my recommenders for more letters after I had my initial list, plus I figured 9 app fees should have been enough. Probably 5 of mine are in the top twenty; and, judging by the news from this blog, it seems pretty likely I'll be officially rejected from Alabama any day now. So that leaves 8 competitive programs...My chances of getting into one are maybe OK. And my chances of getting rejected across the board are pretty good too. I think I've let this process get the best of my sense of self worth at times. It's tough, I bet there are plenty of things we can all do well, and yet it seems most of us only have eyes for the MFA at the moment. Just a reminder for us all, that we can all probably do a bunch of other stuff well, too, if the MFA isn't in the stars for us. And like BPM said, we can all write without the MFA anyway.
That said, I hope we all get into programs we love.
Thanks everyone. You all make me feel more positive.
I guess I didn't really want to leave America when I graduated (I'm from the UK) but was sort of forced to out of sheer heartbreak and exhaustion. Ever since then I've been aching to return, despite having made great new friends at home and having had the time to focus on my skills.
It just feels to me like a make or break moment now. Like I either have to go at this writing thing full throttle (for which an MFA would certainly help in terms of funding, time and support) or resign myself to it being a hobby and searching for another career. I recently gave up my job so I could do this and I'm pretty scared because I've always worked (all through my degrees too) and liked the security of earning.
In my rational mind I know I've done the dangerous thing of turning this process - being successful in this process - as a yardstick by which I can measure the legitimacy of devoting my life to writing. I hate to sound like this! So serious! So damn self involved! At this moment my mother would most certainly tell me that the world does not revolve around me and my dramas.
However, I'm an all or nothing girl. I know for me that writing is something I will have to give my complete self over to and for that reason, being a big wimp, I've largely resisted or sidestepped it my whole life (I studied law before I worked out I could study English Lit, studied English Lit at grad school because I was too scared to go for CW). Now that I seem to have found the balls to go for it, I'm petrified about failing, and equally I'm petrified about succeeding and still not being happy.
So sorry to all for this pathetic whimpering. Until acceptance season hit us, I honestly didn't know how much devoting the remainder of my life to this would mean to me. Like a couple of wise people have said, it's about more than the MFA.
@ hopeful,
I completely understand. But, it's still so early in acceptance season. You will hear from schools. A friend of mine, last year, didn't receive his first acceptance until toward the end of February. By the start of April, he'd been accepted at six schools!
Stay strong! Put that positive energy out there. It will come back to you!
Maybe this is a good time to post this? I believe I posted it last year in the midst of all the activity; it definitely helped put me in the right mindset to figure out how to use my rejections last year to work harder and get better. And now, here I am back for more! So: Failure, An Appreciation, by Rebecca Brown.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/failure/Content?oid=3393599
"The sound of failure calls my name. I'm still trying to learn to live with that. To hear it out and follow it, to fail, as Samuel Beckett said, then fail better. To fail then fail better, then fail and fail more but not to stop."
Though I'll also add to everyone else that said the season has only barely begun--I'm keeping my hopes high for success for us all!
Question for folks who have already been accepted: How long are the schools giving you for reaching a decision? I've heard the standard is April 15, but I've also heard some programs demand a more immediate decision.
@Sam Mitchell - I thought all schools gave students till April 15th? If I got accepted to one that demanded a decision before then, & I hadn't heard back from elsewhere, I'd be seriously questioning whether I really wanted to go there.
& to actually answer your question, Alabama's giving me till April 15th, but they want me to decide earlier if possible. I probably won't be able to decide much earlier, though, since one of my top choices doesn't notify till very late.
@Sam,
U. South Caroline (poetry) didn't give a deadline, just wants to know as soon as I make a decision which I hope will be no later than end of March so they still have time to notify someone else if I get in/decide on another program.
The Poets & Writers MFA rankings has a column that lists whether programs are CGSR compliant.
Has anyone heard about a poetry wait-list for Alabama? I'm not sure if they've notified people yet or not.
Courtney rocks the Kazbah!!!! :P
*I already congratulated her on the FB group, but I thought I should inform everyone here of the above mentioned fact*
Hello everyone! Excited to hear all of this good news for you guys...especially for Courtney at Indiana: I wouldn't mind being in your shoes in the next few weeks. Nevertheless, for now, I can't complain, for I've received my first notice, an acceptance to Chatham University! Anyone else here considering this school? Any thoughts?
Has Alabama notified for prose, or only poetry so far?
congrats, Eric! That's great news! I don't know much about Chatham, but people seem to love it. I'm sure you must feel a whole load off to get an early acceptance!
Yay Eric! Congratulations!! Just a warning... Chatham's in Pittsburgh. I know, shocker. But the good thing-- it's very environmentally and internationally minded; they take it quite seriously. Expect money for trips and things.
Eric,
I've heard great things about Chatham, and almost applied there (but that would have made my list 19 schools)! So, congratulations! It looks like a really great place to be, and Pittsburgh, too, is a great city.
Hey Eric, I applied to Chatham! It's my top choice and I'm going crazy because my friend who also applied there just got a rejection letter. I'm hoping for the best tho!
@Eric: Congratulations! You must be ecstatic!
@Gena: Hey now. Pittsburgh is for lovers! (Of Michael Chabon novels, anyway...)
@Kat: I'm biased, we know. But I think the only good things about waking up in Pittsburgh tomorrow are 1) I woke up at all and 2) because of the freezing rain which may knock out powerlines and make streets exceedingly dangerous, I may not have to go to school and actually teach kids.
But as I said, I'm biased. :).
Thanks, everyone! You know, I'm not quite yet ecstatic because, 1) I have yet to receive their funding package, and 2) I'm just finally settling into San Francisco after years of travel, so I'm sure it will be hard to leave here, particularly considering the weather. Gena, you go there? Is there decent funding, then, to travel on your own? I'd probably gun to spend at least a summer doing "research" in Italy. Hmm...Sarah, good luck, and let me know if/when you get in! I'll bet you deserve it!
Does anyone know of any free online writing workshops? I am hoping to have someone read over a short story and was wondering if there is a site out there that is considered stronger than the others.
Thanks!
Open Spaces,
zoetrope.com
@Eric, I don't go there-- I've just know people who have. While I don't know much about their overall funding package, I know they often run trips abroad and I think you can persuade them to give you funds to do as much as a semester abroad, which is pretty rare for an MFA.
@Open Spaces, I've had pretty good experiences with Review Fuse: https://www.reviewfuse.com
@Open Spaces -- I have been a member of the IWW (Internet Writer's Workshop, internetwritingworkshop.org) for a while. It's easy to join.
Hi Everyone,
I heard from my friend at Syracuse that they've given one of the 6 poetry spots to a current undergrad at Syracuse yesterday (1/31). They told her during class! Can't imagine she could concentrate after that!
So, there's five spots and they usually notify around now so...good luck to everyone who's applied there!
Alabama! Fiction! About an hour ago! Had a lovely phone conversation with the incalculably charming Joel Brouwer -- then promptly shrieked unintelligibly in his ear for fifteen minutes.
Congrats, Kat!!!!!!!!!
congratulations Kat!
Congratulations Kat!
Hi Jess,
That's exciting about Syracuse! Fiction notifications are usually a couple of days later, right?
--Grace (on the FB group)
Hi Grace,
I think so, according to Seth's notification databank. Also, that would make total sense since Syracuse got 160 poetry apps and about 600 fiction. Wow!
But, my friend got in last year off the wait list at the end of Feb., so...more waiting games. Ugh.
Thanks, Jessica! Whoaaa, I had no idea there were SOO many fiction applicants!! :(( Eeek.
@ Grace, no kidding! I've heard really great things about the program, including that you don't have to teach for the first year, just work on your writing.
Good luck!
Congratulations to Kat! About Syracuse, does anyone know when they should contact poetry applicants?
In at Alabama as well, for fiction. In shock.
Congrats, Glitter Wolf!!!!
@Buffet, this week, possibly...
Thanks for congratulations, from everyone who sent 'em! I'm still in shock!
@Glitter Wolf: Congrats! Am I going to meet you during the weekend in March? Are you still totally freaking out? I'm still totally freaking out. Aaaaack! Mega-congrats!
Kat and glitterwolf, congrats! :)
I applied to Indiana's fiction program and haven't heard back. I was just starting to feel sorry for myself and then my dad called and told me my grandma died.
She's been sick for a while, so it's not a shocker. But perspective, right?
Screw these programs. Screw everything. Right now, the most important thing in the world to me is to fly home and get my ears pierced with Grandma's diamond earrings.
Yes, perspective indeed. I'm so sorry about your loss. My grandmother died suddenly last year, and it was so very hard for me.
My condolences, and remember...you have to get your ears pierced with the medical steel first. I only mention this because all of my male cousins got one ear pierced to get one of granny's earrings...and they all forgot about this little fact.
A necklace is good in the mean time.
So so sorry.
Sorry for your loss, Jenny.
Sorry to hear that Jenny, wishing you the best.
@ Courtney, Jessica, Blob
Thanks, guys.
To make matters worse yesterday night my ex-boyfriend told me he's started dating someone new. We've been split about 6 months and I've been dating someone new, too, but he knew my grandma and, on some level, I always imagined him being there for me at a time like this. Except he can't. Because we didn't work out.
Assumed Indiana rejection, ex-boyfriend of 5 years doesn't love me anymore, and dead grandma.
But my other living grandma says bad things happen in 3s, so maybe I'm in the clear for now?
I swear I'm not trying to have a pity party *feebly blows into party horn*
Congrats to acceptances! Except for the damn undergrad stealing my spot :P kidding... sort of... bah...
Sorry for your loss, Anotherjenny. I think an acceptance is in the cards for you based on all that :)
It's hard hard hard to lose a grandma, Jenny. I'm a little older than most of you guys--I lost my last grandparent 11 years ago, and he was 92, but it still hurts. Celebrate her life in your art.
@ anotherjenny
Just to make you feel a little better, someone on the facebook group called or e-mailed Indiana, and they're not finished yet notifying...they're not even finished deciding--it seems as though they only contacted a few people over the weekend.
Congratulations to everyone who received good news today. :)
Cassan Said Amer tells a story about a lecturer who began a seminar holding up a one dollar bill, and asking:
- Who wants this dollar bill?
Several hands went up, but the lecturer said:
- Before handing it over, there’s something I must do.
He furiously crushed it, and asked again:
- Who still wants this bill?
The hands continued raised.
- And what if I do this?
He threw it against the wall, letting it fall to the floor, kicked it, stamped in it and again held up the bill – all dirty and crumpled. He repeated the question, and the hands continued to be held high.
- You mustn’t ever forget this scene – said the lecturer. – No matter what I do with this money, it’ll still be a one dollar bill.
“Many times in our lives, we are crushed, stamped on, kicked, maltreated, offended; however, in spite of this, we are still worth the same.”
---from Paulo Coelho's blog
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2011/01/29/who-still-wants-this-bill/
Anyone hear anything from U of Wyoming yet? Looks like they notified acceptances about this time last year--other years it was 3 weeks later. How consistent are reporting times? Any thoughts?
Tom
@Tom
I didn't apply there.
But, this waiting is finally driving me crazy! Second day at home because of this winter storm. I'm wearing a hat in my house! At least today writing...yesterday I knitted half a scarf! Blah.
I think between the weather in a lot of places and AWP, we can expect this week to be relatively quiet.
@blob
Very true! Good thoughts & so admirably rational. :)
Got a very nice email acceptance from Stony Brook Southampton yesterday for fiction!
It was a surprise because I wasn't expecting any of the schools I applied to to start notifying for another few weeks.
Congratulations, Patrick!! Awesome! What genre?
Thanks! Fiction.
@jessica
It's easy to be practical and logical when you weren't expecting news this week anyway!
But regardless, I do think there might be some delays all around.
Joseph Harrington over at KU just called! In for fiction!
Congrats, TambourineMachine!!! Excellent.
Can't being snowed in speed up the process!? They have nothing to do but read and read and read ;)
A belated congrats to everyone who has been accepted!
Totally forgot about AWP; that should put a slight damper on things for a few days....while I'm snowed in, scavenging my own apartment for food. :)
Does anyone know if Syracuse is done notifying?
@Trochilidae, I don't think so. I think we would have at least netted one spot between the blog and FB followers?? But, that's just a guess. I heard that the Syracuse profs weren't attending AWP though (second hand info from a current student).
@Jessica
I choose to believe that you are right! At least one person on this blog or FB will make it.
I want South Carolina to start notifying fiction applicants!! I saw the poetry and CNF notifications happening and now I can't stop obsessing over my email inbox...but nothin'. With the weather as it is here right now, I really need to hear a yes from them.
@Pensive Monkey...maybe I'll see you at USC. I'm sure they have more notifications coming. Have you heard much about the community there? I'm going to ask to correspond with a current grad student. I really want a strong, social community.
@Trochilidae: When you ask if Syracuse is done notifying, do you just mean in poetry? Or has there been a Syracuse fiction notification that I missed?
I check both blogs and the Facebook group constantly and I've heard nothing about Syracuse. They have a fairly large incoming class, so I'm sure at least a few people would have heard if they had begun notifying.
As for Wyoming, that's such a small program, it's possible they've begun making calls but that no one who frequents these e-spaces has so far been one of the chosen.
@Kat
Sorry, should have specified. I was referring to poetry notifications. There's only around 12 spots for poetry and fiction (I think), but it's been so quiet-other than that first poetry notification-that I'm hoping they just haven't begun regular notifications yet.
@Trochilidae, I was the USCarolina poetry acceptance and, from the email they sent me, I think I was an early notification so there'll be more, I'm assuming.
Wyoming received almost twice the amount of applications as last year. My guess would be that they will notify later than normal. But that's pure speculation on my part.
Jessica, I don't know much about USC. Are you pretty sure you'll accept their offer? It's not my top school, but close. I used to live in Charleston (briefly) and am kind of dying to get back there.
I am anxiously awaiting word from Wyoming as well.
@open spaces - how did you hear about the increased number of apps at wyoming? do you have any additional insider information you would like to share???
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