Big congrats to the Syracuse waitlisters! I mean, my heart is melting inside at your success, but not YOUR success. Yall, individually, I am thrilled for.
And massive kudos to Nick and anyone else rocking the acceptances.
Burlaper, that's hilarious that you use The Room in your film studies class.
Burlaper, Jessie, and Kaybay: I watched a five minute interview with Tommy Wisseau (sp?), and it was hilarious. He seems to genuinely believe that it's a good film. Also, he tried saying that it's a "black comedy" without seeming to have any clue what a "black comedy" is. Then at the end of the interview, he just...gets up and leaves.
"You should tell me everything. I'm your future husband!"
I applied to Syracuse in Fiction, and hopefully that is what they waitlisted me for. Congrats re: Temple. Samuel Delany is amazing. Read his book on writing "Seven Essays, Four Letters, Five interviews" or something like that. And his actual work is pretty good too.
Umm...quick question. It's my first time applying and I really don't know what the wait time is for the schools. I've heard a couple people have been accepted to Indiana. For those of you applying to Indiana University at Bloomington, has anyone recieved status updates on the onestart website besides "Hello, thank you for your application to Indiana University. Your application will be reviewed by the graduate program you have applied to shortly."
Does anyone know if they've made all of their decisions yet? Should I give up hope on them? :(
Ok, I've been ignoring all comments about "The Room" but now I must add this: Anybody who doesn't know what it is, google it and start watching some youtube videos. PLEASE. You thought you would never smile again, never feel good about your writing again... Now I understand. Thankyou, google. Thank you, MFA blog and whoever has been talking about this movie.
@ c wink: I'm glad you won't be disturbed by Laramie. You can still keep in mind Colorado is a stone's throw away. There are infinite things to do here and, of course, it's beautiful!!
@ Mike: Congrats on Temple!
@ Everyone: Did someone say Stuart Dybek is at Western Michigan? I didn't apply there, but I'd consider it now! He's a great poet.
@ Monica - that's where you need to go. All the good stuff is in the gray bar on the right. Scroll down and click the links.
@ everyone else - Has anyone read the collection "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" by Daniyaal Mueneuddin? These are amazing, amazing stories. It won a big prize recently - I first read this writer in Granta.
I missed a call from a blocked number and they didn't leave a message. i have now decided it was an MFA program and that they will never call me back or contact me in any other way and i have lost my chance to go to grad school all because of my fear of blocked calls.
There's another Sam here, so I changed my name to avoid any confusion. I'm the neurotic Sam that writes long posts about genre and stuff.
Congrats to everyone with acceptances. Lots of good writers here with many more acceptances to come.
I also received the waitlist email from Syracuse. FYI, they accepted 6, waitlisted 10 and had around 500 applications. I feel pretty lucky to be waitlisted at this point, especially since I've been worried about my application materials beyond my writing sample. (Thanks for all the supportive comments on my last post, btw.)
With that said, it's going to be an exciting couple of months. We're still only getting started.
"Last Night" is fantastic. So is "Dusk." Actually, I've never read anything by Salter that was bad. I think A Sport and a Pastime is the best of the novels.
He and Alice Munro may write the most elegant short stories in the language, at least to my mind.
Holy hell! Thanks for bringing The Room to my attention. I just about hyperventilated over the flower shop scene.
(Oh hi, doggie!)
Fellow bad film enthusiasts: I highly recommend The Wicker Man (2006 remake of the 1970s cult classic). I was in physical pain from laughing, and it wasn't supposed to be a comedy.
Here's a taste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6i2WRreARo
Sam, Congrats! Do you know if they accepted 6/waitlisted 10 all together or just in fiction? Sounds like just fiction numbers, but I'm unsure with this economy. :(
Congrats to everyone who got an acceptance/waitlist today! I just got home from work, so I kind of read through everything I missed; lots of good news! And hugs to everyone who got not-so-good news.
And I can't remember who asked, but I applied to The New School, as well. I marked today on my iCal as the earliest that people might hear from them, and the 15th for the earliest in Fiction (according to TSE history). I hope they start notifying soon.
So I feel like a total idiot, and I feel like I made a huge mistake and applied to all the wrong schools.
When I was choosing my list, I listened to the advice of friends who are already in MFA programs, I researched programs through their own websites, and I looked at rankings from the same places that rank undergraduate colleges (US News, PR, etc). I didn't know about this blog until just a few days ago.
I just read Seth's rankings of % accepted, and I'm horrified to realize that 5 programs I applied to have a 10% or less acceptance rate. I never would have applied to so many "exclusive" programs had I known this - the acceptance rates do not directly match general rankings, and although I knew to stay away from too many programs that ranked high over-all, I didn't know so many were so exclusive. I feel so dumb - I guess I should have done more research - but nothing on these programs' websites suggested they had SUCH a low acceptance rate.
Sigh. Rejected by Michener. Somehow makes it easier to share the pain with many of you fine people (and, seriously, Nick MacRae rejected? No way! congrats on the acceptances, though, Nick!)
My dad called my cell phone today at work and I heard it vibrating but I couldn't check the message for an hour and a half. I spent that entire hour and a half with my heart in hysterics, imagining which incredible program had called. Gahdamn, Dad, why is this the FIRST time you decide to call my cell phone in the middle of the day?
Megan, where did you apply? 10% is actually relatively high for an acceptance rate... You did what you could with the information you had. If you have to apply again next year, you're better informed. Good luck!
Man, megan, I really sympathize. I was in your exact situation this time last year. I had stumbled upon this blog and Seth's stuff right around this time and I was like, good heavens, so, this MFA thing is like . . . competitive? Always remember, tho, it's not the exclusivity that matters, it's how much faith you have in your sample. Just try to remember that and hold on for dear life to the maxim that: it's still early in the game. G'luck.
Waiting for one's phone to ring with this type of news is simply dreadful!
I'd much prefer that they immediately e-mail out rejections right off the bat so I'm not sitting here with bated breath trying to convince myself that I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me.
I'm not really sure what the numbers are. I'm guessing 500 is the total applicant pool, but 6 (16 with waitlist) is only fiction. The email does say 6 out of 500, but I think Syracuse normally accepts 6 in each genre and gets around 400 total applications.
@J
I'm not sure if all the emails have gone out, although a few here have already mentioned them. They sent mine at around 10 A.M. Central today.
Oh hi, Sarah B - The Wicker Man is hilarious! Even more hilarious considering it wasn't supposed to be so funny. I've never seen so many women get the shit beat out of them by Nicolas Cage. Haha, good times...
It's not that I didn't think this would be competitive, it's just that I thought by avoiding the "top schools" I would also be avoiding the most exclusive schools. I have faith in my sample, but I'm not so naive as to think I would fall into the top 10% of writers.
At least some of my applied-to programs are not super-exclusive - and I knew going into this that I could easily have to apply again next year. It seems like I wouldn't be the only person in the world to have to apply more than once before getting accepted somewhere, and since I'm committed to this, I can be patient if I have to be.
Re: the GRE - although I'm not the most knowledgeable about this process (obviously!) absolutely everything I've read says the GRE is pretty much just a formality. I wouldn't sweat it at all.
Allow me to echo much of the advice that has already been given to you--
This is not an undergraduate degree. It's much less advisable to choose which schools you're applying to by selectivity this time around. You do not need reach schools and back-up schools. You just need to apply wherever you think you would be happy. That's the bottom line. So don't worry about that data.
And as someone already mentioned, anything at 7+ percent is pretty high in most peoples' books.
^ | | (Poetry applicant here) Helloooo, everyone! Since Seth's blog is all business, I wanted to drop in to say hi to my fellow comrades who are obsessing as much as I am over this entire process (compiling lists of area codes, maniacally checking blogs on my phone til 3 or 4am, etc.). My professor tells me that it doesn't help much, but I can't stop. And the worst thing? I'm on antibiotics and I can't DRINK because I get duck lips if I do. WTF?! so cruel.
Congrats to everyone who's been accepted/waitlisted. =D
Gah! Sorry if this has been covered already but I just wanted to make sure with you guys - on the UT Austin status check page, if it ONLY says "we have all your materials" WITHOUT "it has been sent to committee" or whatever, we should just assume that they haven't even looked at it yet? That's the impression I'm getting...because mine doesn't have the second part about it being reviewed or whatnot. Bah. I want to know everything already! Don't we all.
I'm an infrequent stalker of this blog, but I have to come in and say I'm so sorry about your ferret. I sincerely hope you get some good news soon to balance out the sadness.
your fear/anxiety is probably getting the best of you now ... it's the tense part of the waiting game right now.
but ... my own thoughts on how/where to apply: simply, i applied to places that i wanted to go to. cities i liked, with faculty that i enjoyed reading their work. and a couple of places that would push me as a writer out of my comfort zone.
i was lucky ... i realised last january or february that i wanted to apply to MFA programs this year, so i had a year in which to develop a list, research places, read stuff from a couple fac members at each place, look them up on rate my professors, etc ...
but worrying about where you applied might be getting ahead of yourself at this stage in the game. wait and see if you get in somewhere, then make sure you talk to faculty and students there so you know what you'll be getting if you go there. :-)
I've just been assuming that means I didn't require any "consideration" because my name was on their grand list of people who they'd certainly accept if only they sent in an application. Actually, UT-Austin's acceptance criteria involve time on a highpowered distributed computing network leased from Nasa, a copy of the I Ching, and the latest census data-sets. Thousands upon thousands of people were accepted on the day of their birth. Now all they have to do is realize it.
Courtney- So sorry to hear about your ferret. That breaks my heart. You now have a little furry angel on your shoulder. He will guide you into the best MFA Program ever!
Guess what -- My beloved laptop, the only thing that connects me to the rest of this planet, has decided to stop working. Actually it's the power cord that no longer works. I ordered a new one online (fifty freaking bucks!) but, until it arrives, I have NO INTERNET. (Right now I am at library on a computer, eight minutes left before I'm booted off. Plus, major snowstorm is hitting now, so likely I will not drive to library tomorrow.)
What an awful time to have no internet -- I can't stalk this blog! I can't check the online status of all my apps! God forbid some school would accept me via email!
Anyway. Congrats to all who have heard (Go Rugby Toy!) -- and I'm so sorry for all the UT rejections. Courtney, sorry about your ferret. That's sad :(
Oh RugbyToy, a question: are you sure 17 total at FSU? I applied there for fiction. In the past, it's been an entering class of about 30 for the MFA (I'd assume, split between fiction and poetry), with PhDs separate from that count. Maybe the number 17 is just for the poetry people? -- I'm hoping, since I really want FSU to accept me of course.
I'll get a chance to read your response in like 3 days. Ha. Dammit.
appreciate yr inquiry about ucsd/ poetry. I was wondering, too! and now I have a date to keep in mind! so I don't have to keep checking my e-mail in fear.
So sorry about your ferret. I'd trade a couple hundred acceptances to keep my dog and kitty safe and in good health --- sometimes we lose track of the truly important stuff (like creepy fun little rodents!). I hope you get good news to balance the scale.
@ kaybay
What about chain stories? I moved a lot growing up and they were a pretty fun sort of entertainment over email. Rule #1: each person can only write one sentence, so make it good. Rule #2: you can't kill the character. An offering:
Vanna White stood in the Aldi parking lot with a can of marshmallow fluff and a handle of rum.
TrapCall is a free service that unmasks blocked/restricted numbers. Once you sign up, you can reject any incoming call, and it bounces back with the name and number. All the caller hears is ringing.
Just bought a carton of cigs for the coming weeks. Between rocking back and forth like a psycho, drinking, refreshing this site (and my email and online status check sites) every other minute, I think I can handle just about anything. Bring it on.
Until today, my application status read, "We have received all credentials required to process your application." Today, the additional sentence ("Your file has been forwarded to the Graduate Committee for review.") was added.
My suspicion is that the application packets are sent in groups to the Graduate Committee (GC) and that the GC must have recently finished its initial review of one batch.
Thanks about the tip with trapcall. I'm signed up. :) For these past calls though, should I assume that they are not calls from colleges? Or that they are? Or should I assume nothing?
Embarrassing Disclosure: I was thrilled to learn today that SF State's 'MySFSU' site for enrolled students allows you to sign in with your applicant ID and PW. I tooled around on there for a solid 45 minutes pretending I'd been admitted.
I feel you. I was doing pretty good with the smoking thing, down to less than half a pack a day, but uh...I think imma have to go to Costco now to stock up & prep me for the coming weeks.
Yeah, my UT-Austin page has said "We have received all credentials required to process your application. Your file has been forwarded to the Graduate Committee for review" this whole time. So maybe that means I made it through the first round? Yay if so!
(Last name "B," applied for Playwriting/Fiction, filed 12/4.)
Oh unholy woe, that's 2 out of 7 I seem to have not been accepted to so far (Illinois and Syracuse). No status change on UT Austin, nothing from Brown, Cornell, Iowa, or Michigan. PS congrats to all who got in etc.
@ Vanni -- Check out Cloud's post on here about a hundred comments back, and my own a few hundred back from that. I'm guessing this person was also one of the people contacted by GMU via email, which basically read that they are a strong candidate for an offer from GMU. It's not an official acceptance, but rather a heads up that GMU is currently reviewing their application and that they very well might be receiving an official offer soon. GMU hasn't made any decisions, yet.
@Megan (and everybody, I guess), where's the site with the acceptance rate percentile? Can't seem to find it anywhere. I'm in the mood to distress the crap out of myself.
Hey, I'm a longtime reader (couple years), but haven't commented in ages. Just wanted to throw out that I'm another Texas reject -- just found out about ten minutes ago. Still no word from Syracuse either.
To those with shiny acceptances: big congrats.
To those still waiting: Enjoy the the ignorance while it lasts. I know I'm trying to.
Ugh, those of you who sent me samples. I swear I am going to read them. I've just been a wreck these past few days. But I did finally take a look at Seth's selectivity rankings. I wish that I could compare them with undergrad.
awww, sorry to hear about mr. ferret, courtney. that's a real bummer. :(
my vices to get through this waiting? wine (duh) and shopping. lots and lots of shopping. i need someone to hide and freeze my debit card ... or else start sending my paychecks directly to anthropologie, h&m and zappos.
@Emily I wasn't worried until I saw your post, haha but thanks for the heads up! That's okay, after looking at Seth's rankings again, I am convinced that I won't get in anywhere and should have applied to Harvard Law School instead...at least my chances of being accepted would been better there :P
Congrats to new acceptances/waitlists! And continued condolences to those who weren't accepted to Michener (and others). I'm preparing to join you in feeling sad when the Wisconsin news comes out late this week. (And Emily, I've been wondering if this will actually happen or not, too, due to the crazy weather over there!)
In other news, I went to the Tobias Wolff talk last night and loved it. Could have listened to him for hours- he was very funny and very, very wise. After, I got to meet him and he signed a few books. I was shaking like a fangirl, but managed to stay composed (or so my boyfriend tells me). Hearing him speak only confirmed my extreme love of his literature. A very strange woman in front of me tried to give him a jar of home-made jam and he kindly deflected it.
Also, yesterday, my boyfriend walked inside with the mail in his hand. He said, very innocuously, "You got something from Wells Fargo." I began to panic, and my thought process went something like this:
What? Wells Fargo?! Did I apply to an MFA from Wells Fargo?! Holy shit! I must have been accepted! Yeahyeahyeah! Wells Fargo! ...is...a bank. Fuck.
Thought I'd share with all of you who can (hopefully) understand this level of anxiety/insanity. Oh Marlboro Reds, I miss you so...
As far as time wasting/anxiety reducing activities go, I'm currently obsessed with playing poker on facebook. It has saturated my braaains. I've started thinking about things in terms of lame poker analogies. Like how I went all in and spent $715 and six months applying to nine MFA programs. Yet, despite how hard I tried or how good I've deluded myself as being, a ton of other people might have the application equivalent of a pair of aces.
@ Emily, EVERYTHING about WI worries me, including the snow, and especially that they'll have the UT-style rejections without any acceptances. I have absolutely no basis for worrying about that, but there you have it.
I'm watching American Idol for the first time ever. I think that show might catch on. :P
Your Wells Fargo story almost had me LOL'ing in my little cubicle.
Holy shit, we've all gone mad.
What I'm gonna go do is to help a friend out in his confectionary shop and make some truffles, and try not to think too much about how I have a crush on him, and maybe have a beer or two in the process.
Ugh, it looks like there's a good chance I'll be snowed in tomorrow, which means I won't have the usual distraction of 8 hours of classes. So I'll likely be sitting around mourning the death of my Syracuse application and worrying about the fact that Temple has started notifying poets. I usually love snow, too. *sigh*
@WI applicants ... for everyone's sakes, I hope they know how to deal with winter weather & that we'll hear something this week. I'm poetry, but I'm still anxious for y'all. :-)
@Dig, glad the reading was great ... and now I've got the "Wells Fargo Wagon" song in my head grrr!
@ the question of what I'm doing ... I'm currently looking online for poems on various topics. Tonight's topic is tampons. Don't ask. I blame something Tory said a few days ago for sending me off looking for poems on odd topics such as that.
@ Laura, I wouldn't worry about Temple just yet. I got the impression that the phone call I got was impromptu and not at all official. Official notifications should be out withing the next couple days, if I remember correctly.
I think you might be misreading the rejection. To me, it reads that there is a committee on graduate studies in each department, which is why they refer any questions directly to the department to which you applied.
Someone just posted an acceptance into poetry from U of Minnesota. I almost applied there, but I think they were asking for $95 for their app (I may be mistaken). But, I was primarily attracted to there cos I wanted a chance to head into the heart of Minneapolis, do a little twirl then THROW my little cap in the air.
Yeah, well, I'd do anything for a snow day right now. We get hurricane days down here. Yay, my roof fell off, good thing I have the day off from work. Hurumph.
yikes. ok, i'll take snow over the threat of a hurricane any day. although i'm sure my employer doesn't believe in snow days and it would pretty much take the city's entire public transportation system shutting down for them to let us even think about working from home. i'm truly missing those LA "winters" right about now.
I just freaked out b/c my phone flashed an unknown number. Alas, it was just my alma mater, asking for money. Of course, they had some current student making the calls and she tried to lead up to "the ask" with the usual b.s - what student groups were you a part? what did you major in? Did you know blah, blah about some new colloquia? Fortunately, I already had my evening 7 & 7 or else I would have bust the bubble of an eager, young mind.
Bd - my mom lived in SoCal for a good part of her life and said that the weather down there was boring because it was 80 and dry year round, little rain or anything. That makes me laugh. Human beings are never happy with anything. I complain about it being too hot here, others complain about it being too cold, still others complain about the lack of change in the weather patterns. I love human beings, we're so weird and fickle. I say I want to live in a snowy area, but something tells me that would anger me to. Yeesh :)
Koru - good point. I didn't know it could snow enough to do that to a roof. I'm very naive about snow!
I must admit though, it is hardly "nice" weather during hurricane season. There is something terribly wrong about being stuck in 95 degree weather with a whole lot of humidity without roof or AC. I shudder at the thought!
I had the same initial impression about the UT rejection, but I can't believe that a nondepartmental grad committee would get the intial yay or nay. I did well in the objective criteria (GPA, GRE) - yet I was rejected from UT. So I wouldn't fret that any of those criteria kept you from making the cut. (Of course, it doesn't make me feel better to think that I was rejected solely on the basis of my writing sample!)
that's because of the pile of rejections that have been rolling in...for pessimists like myself, that rings the bell to start reading bukowski poetry and begin a steady dose of self loathing and booze... maybe that's just me
@Michelle - I'd bet you are wrong. While at some schools the grad school does forward all of the info to the department, the department chair can generally iron out certain grad school requirements (minimum GPA for instance) if the department wants the student. Happens in a lot of disciplines. I think it's unlikely the grad school blackballed your application if all the materials were in on time.
You did not get rejected from Michener due to your bad GRE Quantitative score.
That would only have been the case if you were on the brink of being accepted, they tossed your name over to the grad school, and the grad school came back with "this person's GRE scores are so unthinkable we just can't endorse this."
That seems like an unlikely scenario this early in the game.
In the words of Terry Kennedy at UNCG, "If anyone with a 99th percentile math score applies, we reject them because we figure they'll go postal in the first month."
I'm with frankish. My professor told me he received a call from a faculty member at one of the schools I applied to. He said that they really want me, BUT, since my gpa is lower than the office of grad admissions' min., that they'll have to write the department & ask for an exemption for me.
Unless the school explicitly says that you MUST have a certain # for gpa, gre, etc., I think you should be good to go.
@kaybay: yes! i lived in LA for 6 years and by the end of my time there i was complaining about the "constantly sunny, 70-degree weather." what i wouldn't give for that now! i'm originally from the midwest, but where i am now is a hell of a lot more brutal in the winter than my home state. grass is always greener, indeed. :)
Actually, Dreux, it's impossible to get in the 99th percentile on the math side. Because of how many people get a perfect 800, you can only know you're in the 94th percentile. (Not the case in Verbal, of course-- heck, I think you can get a 750 and be in the 99th percentile then). Though, considering that you were merely quoting Terry Kennedy, you may well know this already. I had a few science-fiend friends who got an 800 on the Quantitative portion of the GRE this year.
Not to be a number ninja, I'm just really bored... no change to Michener status, no word from Syracuse. Boo.
It's not really the classy thing to do, in my opinion.
Sharing my final decision/where I settle on going is one thing -- and I'll probably do that. Listing all my acceptances, I prefer not to do. Not because of you all. I wouldn't do it in any public forum, virtual or actual.
Besides, it's only the one acceptance you choose that matters in the end. All the others are just going to turn into subsequent acceptances for waitlisters, anyway.
Aww, Michelle, don't feel too poorly about your quant score. I was beating myself up over mine as well. I mean, what the hell, I haven't taken math in what...6 years? 7? I keep telling myself that they'll average the verbal & written and completely overlook the quantitative. ^_^
New to this whole blog thing, but just wondering when most U.S Colleges get back to people about whether they get accepted or not, because those application forms were confusing, especially for an international! Thanks a mil!
I hadn't recalled how the percentiles broke down at the upper end of the math scores. My math score was a touch higher than my verbal, but it was not an 800.
I do recall the 99th percentile of verbal scores being well below 800, though.
@ Dreux, i understand where you're coming from, but acceptances are also a way of letting everyone know that a school has notified *some* people at least, so people have a sense that that school might not still be an option. having more clarity's a good thing, even if at the cost of (some) hope.
True, Koru. I had considered sending Seth my acceptances directly and asking for them not to be associated with my name, or just posting them on the TSE page anonymously.
Ultimately, though, I'm just not comfortable being the first to share that information, even anonymously, which sort of decreases the relevance of my sharing it at all.
Whereas most of you choose to give more weight to sharing information so that everyone can stay updated about admissions decisions in real time, I put more weight on privacy (mine and the school's). If at any point I felt applicants were being treated unfairly and I could remedy that by revealing my own admissions status, I will. But the bottom line is that this game is going to stretch until April and nothing I share will really be a decent substitute for that letter or phone call that everyone will eventually get, even if it's not as soon as they'd like.
I'm sorry, but is everybody on this blog from the U.S, because I'm from Ireland and have applied to 4 U.S colleges, and 4 in Europe, and have heard back from some here, but none there...
Love this blog by the way, it's all baout the info!
Terry Kennedy gave me that one as a total freebie when I called UNCG for the first time way back at the beginning of admissions season. It was a good indication of the kind of program they run down there, for sure. They've since been the most communicative and helpful school to which I've applied and it seems like most people here have had similar experiences with them.
Yes, majority Americans. Whether or not your schools have notified depends on what schools you applied to. If you list them, folks here can try to catch you up on whether they've done any notifying.
You can also Google 'The Suburban Ecstasies' and in the blog it leads you to, go down on the right sidebar to where it says '2010 application response dates' or something like that. Then you can check to see if anyone has reported an acceptance at your schools.
@patrick, the majority, but not all are north americans. we have a few from the uk, india, bangledesh, etc. welcome, and what are you doing up at 02.30? :p
@Dreux, understood. I don't agree, I guess I figure that if a school didn't want the info known, they'd say something, but I suspect most know that you're about to go call your friends, family, email your recommenders, etc, so they know the news will get out as soon as they call you. :-)
Well, I do plan on telling the type of people you mentioned (friends, family, mentors) about my acceptances. It's not that I don't love you guys, it's just that you're none of the above.
And I don't foresee any of the above hopping on a public forum and sharing the information on my behalf.
So the key difference there is that I'm sharing the information privately. Posting it here would be sharing it publicly.
And it's not really about the school's wishes. Though that was what I was getting at in regards to the teaser emails Wyoming sent, I don't feel the same way about official acceptances. They're certainly fair game for you to share.
In this case, it's just a matter of personal preference. I do not enjoy self-publishing details about my life, even details like these, even in a setting like this one. I have a strong distaste for it. It's just not something I need to share, and if I don't need to share it, I'm not going to.
I know this probably seems totally irrational to a lot of people, but before social networking, it was considered more/less normal. I'm just following the buffalo as they slowly go their way.
As far as this blog knows, none of your schools have notified yet.
UNCW tends to notify this month, but I don't think the North Carolina schools will be notifying as early as usual this year, due to a combination of a spike in applications and a super-tight funding situation that will keep them busy trying to find money to fund new students with for a bit longer. But that's just my best guess.
Iowa also tends to be a fairly early notifier, if I recall correctly, but they received a record number of applications and they usually receive the most of all in the first place.
Brown should notify anytime between 06 Mar and 16 Mar,
Iowa between 10 Feb and 25 Feb,
UNCW seems to be running behind schedule; normally they notify in early Feb, but several of us just received emails saying things were just going to committee to be read; probably had more apps than usual. So late Feb maybe?
I've been lurking for awhile now, but decided it's time to jump in. I was rejected yesterday from UT - "A" last name, so I was likely one of the first.
@Coughdrop - When did you apply to American? I haven't heard anything, but since their admission process is rolling I feel like their notifications might be pretty spread out.
And does anyone have any thoughts on the MA program at Bath Spa in England?
God, I step away for one second and the blog lights up!
@Patrick - love the Irish by the way, my favorite peoples ;)
@sharing acceptances - I'm kind of torn on this one. On the one hand, I see the value in sharing info so that others know what's going on with a program. I was happy to hear the Syracuse acceptances because I knew that not hearing anything likely meant rejection (of course, I could be admitted later anyway, but still).
However, it also doesn't really matter because I'll get accepted/rejected regardless, checking a blog is irrelevant. But, me being an info hog (I have insatiable curiosity), I like to know what's going on. So, my illogical, slightly incoherent rant leads to this conclusion - I personally would like to know all acceptances. I don't think it's classless unless the person is gloating, which is hard to tell over the internet.
Thanks Mike -- that makes me feel better about Temple. Now I will just have to switch from staring at my phone wondering if Syracuse will call (seems very unlikely now), to staring at it wondering if Temple will call :)
Lads I'm not gonna lie this blog is crazy, I'm never going to sleep!
Okay, Dreux and Koru, thanks a mil, really helpful...love it!
But, is this blog meant to like calm the nerves and stuff, because now I'm more nervous than ever, ha! Kaybay, I studied aborad last year in the states, and I love ye guys too! Thanks a mil!
One more Q for ye lads, um, do ye check online and stuff, or do you just wait for e-mails, or should we be logging onto our applications etc, because I havn't at all?
Really, I'm not stupid, I am just pretty blasee about things, until now it seems!
@patrick, the blog's a double-edged knife. it's good for knowing what's going on, but you'll find that at times people get shrill/anxious/short-tempered and discussion flares up a bit due to the waiting game tension.
generally, it's a great community of people who want to write, and with whom we can share our anxiety, since a lot of us either can't share at work, or our friends don't understand the complexity and competitive nature of all this.
but ... that said, i've wandered off for days on end when i've gotten annoyed at how stress is making people act. and the UT rejections might still send me away for a bit, since I'm still waiting on my own status being updated. that's been tough on me today ... the constant UT talk.
@patrick, UT=Michener Centre at University of Texas, Austin. It is a very popular programme with good funding, so a lot of us have applied. And the rejections have started trickling in.
Patrick - this might be a strange question, but why do the Irish like America so much? I work with/know a lot of Irish ex-pats (I work at a Catholic school, the Irish just seem to gravitate to the nearest Catholic Church/school, haha), but they all love America! Maybe we can do a swap, because I would love to live in Ireland for a while :)
@patrick, you can just wait for notification. since you're overseas, most likely they'll be via email. Maybe by phone. Rejections come later than acceptances, via mail in most cases.
For three of your schools, UNCW has traditionally notified acceptances via email, and Iowa and Brown via phone, but might via email for foreign calls.
Honestly? I was indifferent, you knwo yourself, i was like meh about it, but I studied abroad last year and had the best time ever, like savage! Good people, good weather, good cities, cheap travel, it was brilliant! And do come to Ireland, It's great craic! You better be a drinker though, ha!
@patrick, I thought about a few UK programmes, as I've been living in the UK, but ultimately decided to give US ones only a shot in my first set of applications. I just didn't find a programme in the UK that seemed as good, especially since I really wanted a three-year programme.
@Franny, yes, weather played a big factor in the cities I thought about. Hence I did not apply to Syracuse, Minnesota, places in Michigan, etc ... I couldn't stand the thought of winters like that.
I'm not, but I could feign interest in Guinness to be polite ;). There are certain "peoples" (can't think of a better word), that really interest me. The Irish have been through some tough shit, yet they have a very jovial spirit. They have a strong sense of culture and identity. They laugh at anything, even something that could be insulting. They always have a joke ready to tell. Even the priests from Ireland have that "eh, fuck it, let's have a beer" mentality that I think is so awesome.
The other "peoples" that interest me are the Russians. They too have gone through some tough shit, but they react totally differently. Yes, they love their alcohol too, but they tend to bury their emotions and embrace cold, hard stoicism instead. I love Russian literature too. Nitty-gritty psychological/existential stuff mixed in with ethnic folk tales. Awesome.
I should also say that I am both Russian and Irish, hehe, but I'm also British. No offense to the Brits on this blog, but they don't interest me as much. Kind of whiny. Sorry, that might open a can or worms!
Since the conversation is getting all international, just wanted to throw out this question again (which I asked a few mailbags ago, but I think got lost in some very enthusiastic tatt-related show n' tell):
Anyone know anything about the MFA in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan? Or anyone who has been there?
Thanks heaps.
p.s. It's extremely hot and humid in Melbourne today. The dark clouds have gathered overhead; a storm is going to break imminently. My sister is going to have her first baby in like, 2 hours. And I still haven't heard a PEEP from any of the schools I applied to. Something needs to happen, stat. A storm. A baby. Anything.
i did think about the weather when i was first compiling a list of schools. i had a hard time with the harsh winters my first two years here in chicago, was missing california something fierce and thought i'd for sure apply to schools there. but as time went on and i did more research, i realized i had to apply where i wanted to go/thought i could tough it out and weather became less of a factor. wisconsin is my first choice, if that tells you anything! but i'm doing much better with the snow and cold this year.
i also applied to michigan, syracuse (sigh), george mason, and brown. all of my friends (especially the ones who listened to me complain incessantly about the negative temps and snow) thought i was crazy when they heard my final list. but i figure i can put up with anything at this point.
still, i wish there were more choices that fit my criteria in the LA area, as it really is perfect weather there and i would selfishly like to be near that group of friends again.
In the United States the median amount of time taken to complete a Ph D (including thesis) is 9 years. So no, the 3 year folks are not going for Ph Ds.
@patrick, you're right most of the programmes that would be 3-year in the UK would be Ph.D's ... american degrees just take longer than british ones do, and i wanted to just have a few years to work on my craft, and the british degrees, being more condensed time-wise, just didn't have enough time to linger over writing, workshop, etc. or at least, of the programmes i knew about, or that my mentor in notts knew about. *shrugs* the landscape also seems to be changing in CW work in the UK rather rapidly these days.
@ kaybay: re: "They're kind of whiny." That just killed me. I have an image of an archetypal Brit male with a smug, whiny, contorted little mouth.
@koru: Fuck the tundra. I can't take it! I live in Colorado, but Denver is so mild compared to the Midwest and Northeast. It's also sunny 300 days a year. In an ideal world, there would be a fully funded MFA in LA. You'd never hear this little ninny wish for snow.
It's like they disappeared off the face of the Earth! I've only heard from Goldsmith's once and that was back in January. Oxford and East Anglia are a little more responsive. I kind of wish I put off Oxford. Their Ms in Creative Writing is part time, but they have a PH.D program (programme)
Bath Spa is apparently a really good school, but I had to shave off schools. Bath Spa and UT had to go. Which ones did you apply to?
The Brit side of my family is ridiculously annoying and depressed and entitled. The Irish/Russian side rocks! I know, not a good way to judge a whole people, but still...
2,238 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 601 – 800 of 2238 Newer› Newest»Big congrats to the Syracuse waitlisters! I mean, my heart is melting inside at your success, but not YOUR success. Yall, individually, I am thrilled for.
And massive kudos to Nick and anyone else rocking the acceptances.
Congratulations Mike!
To all still waiting, here is some excellent stress relief. Just saw it on reddit.
http://cdn-www.i-am-bored.com/media/72827_Glidecat.gif
@black water
Fart lightly is your friend. Just don't do it more than once.
Also, remember to take your pants off before you actually shit.
(this is quite an odd post, I'm aware. If you haven't played Don't Shit Your Pants, you really should.)
Congrats to Mike and the Syracuse waitlisters!
Burlaper, that's hilarious that you use The Room in your film studies class.
Burlaper, Jessie, and Kaybay: I watched a five minute interview with Tommy Wisseau (sp?), and it was hilarious. He seems to genuinely believe that it's a good film. Also, he tried saying that it's a "black comedy" without seeming to have any clue what a "black comedy" is. Then at the end of the interview, he just...gets up and leaves.
"You should tell me everything. I'm your future husband!"
"You sure about that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe I'll change.......my mind."
@ A. Astur and Sam - Literally laughing outloud right now and getting strange looks in the computing commons. thanks for that, guys.
my afternoon has just been made by seeing the words "You just shit in the toilet, congratulations!"
at least someone congratulated me on something today! :p
@Pencore - I would have to assume that anyone responsible for his or her own finances would have to take out loans AND work.
NYC can be worth it. I just don't know if I want to jump back into that after working 30+ and going to school full time to get my MA.
@Mike
I applied to Syracuse in Fiction, and hopefully that is what they waitlisted me for. Congrats re: Temple. Samuel Delany is amazing. Read his book on writing "Seven Essays, Four Letters, Five interviews" or something like that. And his actual work is pretty good too.
I can't do this anymore. Have they no mercy !!!
Umm...quick question. It's my first time applying and I really don't know what the wait time is for the schools. I've heard a couple people have been accepted to Indiana. For those of you applying to Indiana University at Bloomington, has anyone recieved status updates on the onestart website besides "Hello, thank you for your application to Indiana University. Your application will be reviewed by the graduate program you have applied to shortly."
Does anyone know if they've made all of their decisions yet? Should I give up hope on them? :(
Ok, I've been ignoring all comments about "The Room" but now I must add this: Anybody who doesn't know what it is, google it and start watching some youtube videos. PLEASE. You thought you would never smile again, never feel good about your writing again... Now I understand. Thankyou, google. Thank you, MFA blog and whoever has been talking about this movie.
@Ashley Brooke
Wait wait that's not REAL is it? That can't be real. Not Possible.
Oh my god, are you kidding? I cannot stop laughing.
@ c wink: I'm glad you won't be disturbed by Laramie. You can still keep in mind Colorado is a stone's throw away. There are infinite things to do here and, of course, it's beautiful!!
@ Mike: Congrats on Temple!
@ Everyone: Did someone say Stuart Dybek is at Western Michigan? I didn't apply there, but I'd consider it now! He's a great poet.
Good luck today, friends :).
There's an Illinois fiction acceptance on Seth's blog!
Emily,
Oh no, they di'n't.
I thought UTA was when it started. But now it's REALLY begun.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey yall--can someone post the URL of Seth's blog? Whenever I google for it, I just get the one discontinued in 2009...
Thank you!
@ Monica - that's where you need to go. All the good stuff is in the gray bar on the right. Scroll down and click the links.
@ everyone else - Has anyone read the collection "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" by Daniyaal Mueneuddin? These are amazing, amazing stories. It won a big prize recently - I first read this writer in Granta.
@Monica
http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2010/01/2010-data-bank-cw-mamfaphd-application.html
Thank you kindly, guys! :)
I missed a call from a blocked number and they didn't leave a message. i have now decided it was an MFA program and that they will never call me back or contact me in any other way and i have lost my chance to go to grad school all because of my fear of blocked calls.
i've lost my mind.
@Black Water--I loved "Extremely Loud," so I'll def check out "Last Night."
@Franny--Yep. It's true. Dybek teaches at Western. He's their claim-to-fame and I would be THRILLED if I got in there.
Hypothetical scenario:
If you do receive an acceptance from your top choice via phone w/full funding, is it ever wise to accept on the spot?
Just daydreamin' @ work...
@ Sunfish - Any acceptance you make by phone is worth the paper it's printed on.
There's another Sam here, so I changed my name to avoid any confusion. I'm the neurotic Sam that writes long posts about genre and stuff.
Congrats to everyone with acceptances. Lots of good writers here with many more acceptances to come.
I also received the waitlist email from Syracuse. FYI, they accepted 6, waitlisted 10 and had around 500 applications. I feel pretty lucky to be waitlisted at this point, especially since I've been worried about my application materials beyond my writing sample. (Thanks for all the supportive comments on my last post, btw.)
With that said, it's going to be an exciting couple of months. We're still only getting started.
"Last Night" is fantastic. So is "Dusk." Actually, I've never read anything by Salter that was bad. I think A Sport and a Pastime is the best of the novels.
He and Alice Munro may write the most elegant short stories in the language, at least to my mind.
Cheers!
Gotcha! Thanks, Jamie.
Congrats Sam N.!
No phone call from Illinois :(
Sam!
Congrats on the waitlist!
It gives me goosebumps to think of the samples that I've read and to connect them to the admissions game.
Good luck!
Fist-bumpage!
@ Mike - Congratulations!
@ Sam N. - big congrats too! Are you the Sam who asked not to share any comments when we swapped samples? (I think so.)
Does anyone know how many fiction seats there are at Illinois?
Freak outtage commencing.
So no poets have heard anything from Syracuse re: waitlists?
Holy hell! Thanks for bringing The Room to my attention. I just about hyperventilated over the flower shop scene.
(Oh hi, doggie!)
Fellow bad film enthusiasts: I highly recommend The Wicker Man (2006 remake of the 1970s cult classic). I was in physical pain from laughing, and it wasn't supposed to be a comedy.
Here's a taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6i2WRreARo
Sam,
Congrats! Do you know if they accepted 6/waitlisted 10 all together or just in fiction? Sounds like just fiction numbers, but I'm unsure with this economy. :(
PS: Congrats to all those with acceptances, and good luck to all those in limbo!
Sarah,
You're my favorite customer!
In at Otis for Fiction by phone!
Congrats to everyone who got an acceptance/waitlist today! I just got home from work, so I kind of read through everything I missed; lots of good news! And hugs to everyone who got not-so-good news.
And I can't remember who asked, but I applied to The New School, as well. I marked today on my iCal as the earliest that people might hear from them, and the 15th for the earliest in Fiction (according to TSE history). I hope they start notifying soon.
So I feel like a total idiot, and I feel like I made a huge mistake and applied to all the wrong schools.
When I was choosing my list, I listened to the advice of friends who are already in MFA programs, I researched programs through their own websites, and I looked at rankings from the same places that rank undergraduate colleges (US News, PR, etc). I didn't know about this blog until just a few days ago.
I just read Seth's rankings of % accepted, and I'm horrified to realize that 5 programs I applied to have a 10% or less acceptance rate. I never would have applied to so many "exclusive" programs had I known this - the acceptance rates do not directly match general rankings, and although I knew to stay away from too many programs that ranked high over-all, I didn't know so many were so exclusive. I feel so dumb - I guess I should have done more research - but nothing on these programs' websites suggested they had SUCH a low acceptance rate.
I feel so discouraged. :(
@ Yay Maslo! Hope you're rocking it bicoastal soon!
... and warmest congrats to those of you who are hearing good news!!!
@Sam N -- Big congrats, man! Let me ask you, when did you receive the email? All these waitlist emails go out, you think? Cheers, J.
hey guys,
looking for a little comfort here. just received my GRE scores and bombed the writing section. Got a 3. Is this something to worry over?
Thanks and good luck to all.
Congrats to all the Otis and Illinois acceptances!!!!
...
I have the song "Nobody likes me everybody hates me guess I'll go eat worms" stuck in my head...hmm, too childish?
congrats sam n. and maslo!
re: GRE
Spilled milk. Don't worry about it. It's more of a formality than anything. If you've got the chops in your writing sample, that's all that counts.
I'm sure adcoms are fully aware of the limitations of a standardized essay exam.
Sigh. Rejected by Michener. Somehow makes it easier to share the pain with many of you fine people (and, seriously, Nick MacRae rejected? No way! congrats on the acceptances, though, Nick!)
My dad called my cell phone today at work and I heard it vibrating but I couldn't check the message for an hour and a half. I spent that entire hour and a half with my heart in hysterics, imagining which incredible program had called. Gahdamn, Dad, why is this the FIRST time you decide to call my cell phone in the middle of the day?
Megan, where did you apply? 10% is actually relatively high for an acceptance rate... You did what you could with the information you had. If you have to apply again next year, you're better informed. Good luck!
Man, megan, I really sympathize. I was in your exact situation this time last year. I had stumbled upon this blog and Seth's stuff right around this time and I was like, good heavens, so, this MFA thing is like . . . competitive?
Always remember, tho, it's not the exclusivity that matters, it's how much faith you have in your sample. Just try to remember that and hold on for dear life to the maxim that: it's still early in the game.
G'luck.
Oh, also, last name L and applied December 1st. I dunno when I was notified because I was too scared last night to check.
Waiting for one's phone to ring with this type of news is simply dreadful!
I'd much prefer that they immediately e-mail out rejections right off the bat so I'm not sitting here with bated breath trying to convince myself that I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me.
@pencore
You crack me up. *E-fist bump* Represent!
@Jamie
Thanks, man. That was me.
@AshleyBrooke
I'm not really sure what the numbers are. I'm guessing 500 is the total applicant pool, but 6 (16 with waitlist) is only fiction. The email does say 6 out of 500, but I think Syracuse normally accepts 6 in each genre and gets around 400 total applications.
@J
I'm not sure if all the emails have gone out, although a few here have already mentioned them. They sent mine at around 10 A.M. Central today.
Oh hi, Sarah B - The Wicker Man is hilarious! Even more hilarious considering it wasn't supposed to be so funny. I've never seen so many women get the shit beat out of them by Nicolas Cage. Haha, good times...
@ ashely & cratty:
thanks for the words of comfort!
It's not that I didn't think this would be competitive, it's just that I thought by avoiding the "top schools" I would also be avoiding the most exclusive schools. I have faith in my sample, but I'm not so naive as to think I would fall into the top 10% of writers.
At least some of my applied-to programs are not super-exclusive - and I knew going into this that I could easily have to apply again next year. It seems like I wouldn't be the only person in the world to have to apply more than once before getting accepted somewhere, and since I'm committed to this, I can be patient if I have to be.
Re: the GRE - although I'm not the most knowledgeable about this process (obviously!) absolutely everything I've read says the GRE is pretty much just a formality. I wouldn't sweat it at all.
Hi all, I'm a longtime visitor and I'm very excited that my first post is an acceptance! Memphis via email for fiction.
It was a mass email, and I don't know if it's genre-specific.
Good luck to everyone!!!
Megan,
Allow me to echo much of the advice that has already been given to you--
This is not an undergraduate degree. It's much less advisable to choose which schools you're applying to by selectivity this time around. You do not need reach schools and back-up schools. You just need to apply wherever you think you would be happy. That's the bottom line. So don't worry about that data.
And as someone already mentioned, anything at 7+ percent is pretty high in most peoples' books.
^
|
|
(Poetry applicant here)
Helloooo, everyone! Since Seth's blog is all business, I wanted to drop in to say hi to my fellow comrades who are obsessing as much as I am over this entire process (compiling lists of area codes, maniacally checking blogs on my phone til 3 or 4am, etc.). My professor tells me that it doesn't help much, but I can't stop. And the worst thing? I'm on antibiotics and I can't DRINK because I get duck lips if I do. WTF?! so cruel.
Congrats to everyone who's been accepted/waitlisted. =D
AH,
Nick cage. Why why why? I mean, you CAN be brilliant. So what is with the wicker man, national treasure, etc?
Matchstick Men is one of my favorites. I KNOW he can do it. He takes so many stupid big budget movies because he has a ***~~spending program ~~~***
I'm losing my mind in Texas limbo. I'm sure there is no method to this madness, but I'm a B who got her shit in early. WHAT IS HAPPENING THERE.
Let's delete that last post. Nobody needs to know that :D
My darling sweet ferret died last night and no schools want me. Worst. Day. Ever.
@Ashley Brooke
What? National Treasure is the cat's pajamas. I cannot abide by this non-acceptance of a modern masterpiece.
@ kaybay
I'm with you, but keep your chin up. I hear they save the best acceptances for last... at least that's what I keep telling myself. :-P
Nick Cage sucks. The roles that didn't call for very nuanced acting (Raising Arizona, drunk guy in Vegas) make up his best work. :D
rahkan! yes! national treasure is brilliant! haha.
Gah! Sorry if this has been covered already but I just wanted to make sure with you guys - on the UT Austin status check page, if it ONLY says "we have all your materials" WITHOUT "it has been sent to committee" or whatever, we should just assume that they haven't even looked at it yet? That's the impression I'm getting...because mine doesn't have the second part about it being reviewed or whatnot. Bah. I want to know everything already! Don't we all.
Courtney! :( :( :( :( That sucks! poor Mr. Ferret :(
@kaybay
I feel your pain - my job is the suck. MFA gatekeepers please save me from this job.
I contacted Indiana and UCSD regarding poetry notifications. There's already been activity on the fiction side at both places.
The lady at Indiana said mid-March but I am hoping she is not serious and is merely trying to prevent me from calling for another month.
The lady at UCSD said we should hear by Feb. 26 - yay for specifics! She also said feel free to nudge if I don't get a response by then.
Congrats to today's acceptees and best wishes for the rest of us.
RIP Creepy Von Ferretstein. ;-(
Courtney, my condolences.
:(
@ Courtney --
I'm an infrequent stalker of this blog, but I have to come in and say I'm so sorry about your ferret. I sincerely hope you get some good news soon to balance out the sadness.
Is a restricted or blocked call a potential possibility of a college calling you or am I going insane?
Would colleges call from restricted numbers??
Thanks, you guys. I really loved him! He would have been so down with moving to another part of the country for an adventure! So mischievous!
@megan,
your fear/anxiety is probably getting the best of you now ... it's the tense part of the waiting game right now.
but ... my own thoughts on how/where to apply: simply, i applied to places that i wanted to go to. cities i liked, with faculty that i enjoyed reading their work. and a couple of places that would push me as a writer out of my comfort zone.
i was lucky ... i realised last january or february that i wanted to apply to MFA programs this year, so i had a year in which to develop a list, research places, read stuff from a couple fac members at each place, look them up on rate my professors, etc ...
but worrying about where you applied might be getting ahead of yourself at this stage in the game. wait and see if you get in somewhere, then make sure you talk to faculty and students there so you know what you'll be getting if you go there. :-)
just my thoughts, for the tuppence they're worth.
Courtney!
My condolences for your Ferret! It can be so hard to lose a pet! Major major hugs!
@Sister Ray
I've just been assuming that means I didn't require any "consideration" because my name was on their grand list of people who they'd certainly accept if only they sent in an application. Actually, UT-Austin's acceptance criteria involve time on a highpowered distributed computing network leased from Nasa, a copy of the I Ching, and the latest census data-sets. Thousands upon thousands of people were accepted on the day of their birth. Now all they have to do is realize it.
@Amber-- i don't know!! I got a blocked call today too. AGH.
Why can't it all be simple and all the schools just email all of us on the same day????
@Courtney ... sorry about your ferret :-( i lost a cat a year and a half ago. losing pets is hard.
@Coreyann
I know what you mean! I had a restricted call number last week and now one from yesterday and I missed both!!
I thought it was weird because I never get calls from restricted numbers. Like ever. Ergh!
Courtney-
So sorry to hear about your ferret.
That breaks my heart. You now have a little furry angel on your shoulder. He will guide you into the best MFA Program ever!
We need a good discussion to distract all of us without acceptances yet. You acceptancees are welcome to join too. Now, what to discuss?
Just seen on TSE:
"a friend of mine was just nitified via email that he'd be receiving an offer from george mason"
They email you to tell you that they'll contact you? What?
Hi everyone!
Guess what -- My beloved laptop, the only thing that connects me to the rest of this planet, has decided to stop working. Actually it's the power cord that no longer works. I ordered a new one online (fifty freaking bucks!) but, until it arrives, I have NO INTERNET. (Right now I am at library on a computer, eight minutes left before I'm booted off. Plus, major snowstorm is hitting now, so likely I will not drive to library tomorrow.)
What an awful time to have no internet -- I can't stalk this blog! I can't check the online status of all my apps! God forbid some school would accept me via email!
Anyway. Congrats to all who have heard (Go Rugby Toy!) -- and I'm so sorry for all the UT rejections. Courtney, sorry about your ferret. That's sad :(
Oh RugbyToy, a question: are you sure 17 total at FSU? I applied there for fiction. In the past, it's been an entering class of about 30 for the MFA (I'd assume, split between fiction and poetry), with PhDs separate from that count. Maybe the number 17 is just for the poetry people? -- I'm hoping, since I really want FSU to accept me of course.
I'll get a chance to read your response in like 3 days. Ha. Dammit.
duchess,
appreciate yr inquiry about ucsd/ poetry. I was wondering, too! and now I have a date to keep in mind! so I don't have to keep checking my e-mail in fear.
re: blocked/restricted calls
TrapCall is a godsend.
@ Courtney
So sorry about your ferret. I'd trade a couple hundred acceptances to keep my dog and kitty safe and in good health --- sometimes we lose track of the truly important stuff (like creepy fun little rodents!). I hope you get good news to balance the scale.
@ kaybay
What about chain stories? I moved a lot growing up and they were a pretty fun sort of entertainment over email. Rule #1: each person can only write one sentence, so make it good. Rule #2: you can't kill the character. An offering:
Vanna White stood in the Aldi parking lot with a can of marshmallow fluff and a handle of rum.
@SaraB
what in the world is TrapCall??
@Coreyann
TrapCall is a free service that unmasks blocked/restricted numbers. Once you sign up, you can reject any incoming call, and it bounces back with the name and number. All the caller hears is ringing.
I don't know if I could contribute very well to that. I might just resort to murdering the main character from a lack of on the spot creativity. :)
@SaraB, thanks for the heads up re: trapcall! woohooo!
Just bought a carton of cigs for the coming weeks. Between rocking back and forth like a psycho, drinking, refreshing this site (and my email and online status check sites) every other minute, I think I can handle just about anything. Bring it on.
@ Sister Ray re: UT Austin status
Until today, my application status read, "We have received all credentials required to process your application." Today, the additional sentence ("Your file has been forwarded to the Graduate Committee for review.") was added.
My suspicion is that the application packets are sent in groups to the Graduate Committee (GC) and that the GC must have recently finished its initial review of one batch.
Thanks about the tip with trapcall. I'm signed up. :) For these past calls though, should I assume that they are not calls from colleges? Or that they are? Or should I assume nothing?
Has anyone had this experience in the past?
Embarrassing Disclosure: I was thrilled to learn today that SF State's 'MySFSU' site for enrolled students allows you to sign in with your applicant ID and PW. I tooled around on there for a solid 45 minutes pretending I'd been admitted.
@WanderingTree
I feel you. I was doing pretty good with the smoking thing, down to less than half a pack a day, but uh...I think imma have to go to Costco now to stock up & prep me for the coming weeks.
@ CM and Sister Ray,
Yeah, my UT-Austin page has said "We have received all credentials required to process your application. Your file has been forwarded to the Graduate Committee for review" this whole time. So maybe that means I made it through the first round? Yay if so!
(Last name "B," applied for Playwriting/Fiction, filed 12/4.)
Oh unholy woe, that's 2 out of 7 I seem to have not been accepted to so far (Illinois and Syracuse). No status change on UT Austin, nothing from Brown, Cornell, Iowa, or Michigan. PS congrats to all who got in etc.
@ Vanni -- Check out Cloud's post on here about a hundred comments back, and my own a few hundred back from that. I'm guessing this person was also one of the people contacted by GMU via email, which basically read that they are a strong candidate for an offer from GMU. It's not an official acceptance, but rather a heads up that GMU is currently reviewing their application and that they very well might be receiving an official offer soon. GMU hasn't made any decisions, yet.
@Megan (and everybody, I guess), where's the site with the acceptance rate percentile? Can't seem to find it anywhere. I'm in the mood to distress the crap out of myself.
http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2010/01/2010-mfa-rankings-selectivity_26.html
Hey, I'm a longtime reader (couple years), but haven't commented in ages. Just wanted to throw out that I'm another Texas reject -- just found out about ten minutes ago. Still no word from Syracuse either.
To those with shiny acceptances: big congrats.
To those still waiting: Enjoy the the ignorance while it lasts. I know I'm trying to.
Thanks, Black Water. Imma go back to staring longingly at bottles of alcohol that I can't drink now.
@pencore, jamie, megan
thank y'all for the comforting remarks. We are lucky to have this blog and again I wish the best of luck to all.
Ugh, those of you who sent me samples. I swear I am going to read them. I've just been a wreck these past few days. But I did finally take a look at Seth's selectivity rankings. I wish that I could compare them with undergrad.
Well, I don't have a discussion topic, but this video never fails to make me happy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1nzEFMjkI4
(The real action starts around 0:35.)
@Amber McCaskill - What I remember from posts on the P&W boards from last year is that if they call you and you don't answer, they'll leave a message.
awww, sorry to hear about mr. ferret, courtney. that's a real bummer. :(
my vices to get through this waiting? wine (duh) and shopping. lots and lots of shopping. i need someone to hide and freeze my debit card ... or else start sending my paychecks directly to anthropologie, h&m and zappos.
Anyone worried Wisconsin decisions won't actually be out by Friday, since they're under a snow emergency for the next two days?
@Emily
I wasn't worried until I saw your post, haha but thanks for the heads up!
That's okay, after looking at Seth's rankings again, I am convinced that I won't get in anywhere and should have applied to Harvard Law School instead...at least my chances of being accepted would been better there :P
So much going on...
Congrats to new acceptances/waitlists! And continued condolences to those who weren't accepted to Michener (and others). I'm preparing to join you in feeling sad when the Wisconsin news comes out late this week. (And Emily, I've been wondering if this will actually happen or not, too, due to the crazy weather over there!)
In other news, I went to the Tobias Wolff talk last night and loved it. Could have listened to him for hours- he was very funny and very, very wise. After, I got to meet him and he signed a few books. I was shaking like a fangirl, but managed to stay composed (or so my boyfriend tells me). Hearing him speak only confirmed my extreme love of his literature. A very strange woman in front of me tried to give him a jar of home-made jam and he kindly deflected it.
Also, yesterday, my boyfriend walked inside with the mail in his hand. He said, very innocuously, "You got something from Wells Fargo." I began to panic, and my thought process went something like this:
What? Wells Fargo?! Did I apply to an MFA from Wells Fargo?! Holy shit! I must have been accepted! Yeahyeahyeah! Wells Fargo! ...is...a bank. Fuck.
Thought I'd share with all of you who can (hopefully) understand this level of anxiety/insanity. Oh Marlboro Reds, I miss you so...
@emily: i actually did think about that this morning. i'm really hoping not, but maybe i could use an extra few days to keep the dream alive?
Thanks, Ashley!
As far as time wasting/anxiety reducing activities go, I'm currently obsessed with playing poker on facebook. It has saturated my braaains. I've started thinking about things in terms of lame poker analogies. Like how I went all in and spent $715 and six months applying to nine MFA programs. Yet, despite how hard I tried or how good I've deluded myself as being, a ton of other people might have the application equivalent of a pair of aces.
The unknown drives me nuts.
@ Emily, EVERYTHING about WI worries me, including the snow, and especially that they'll have the UT-style rejections without any acceptances. I have absolutely no basis for worrying about that, but there you have it.
I'm watching American Idol for the first time ever. I think that show might catch on. :P
DigAPony,
Your Wells Fargo story almost had me LOL'ing in my little cubicle.
Holy shit, we've all gone mad.
What I'm gonna go do is to help a friend out in his confectionary shop and make some truffles, and try not to think too much about how I have a crush on him, and maybe have a beer or two in the process.
Ugh, it looks like there's a good chance I'll be snowed in tomorrow, which means I won't have the usual distraction of 8 hours of classes. So I'll likely be sitting around mourning the death of my Syracuse application and worrying about the fact that Temple has started notifying poets. I usually love snow, too. *sigh*
@WI applicants ... for everyone's sakes, I hope they know how to deal with winter weather & that we'll hear something this week. I'm poetry, but I'm still anxious for y'all. :-)
@Dig, glad the reading was great ... and now I've got the "Wells Fargo Wagon" song in my head grrr!
@ the question of what I'm doing ... I'm currently looking online for poems on various topics. Tonight's topic is tampons. Don't ask. I blame something Tory said a few days ago for sending me off looking for poems on odd topics such as that.
@ Laura, I wouldn't worry about Temple just yet. I got the impression that the phone call I got was impromptu and not at all official. Official notifications should be out withing the next couple days, if I remember correctly.
You people and your snow! It's so unfair! I'm beginning to resent sun, like a vampire :( I want a snow day!
@Michelle,
I think you might be misreading the rejection. To me, it reads that there is a committee on graduate studies in each department, which is why they refer any questions directly to the department to which you applied.
Oops, did I just out myself as a UT rejectee?
Oh dear lord the Wells Fargo thing made me laugh!
@Raine -thanks so much for the input. I was afraid that was the (logical) case. I'm just going stir crazy, jumping every time my phone goes off.
This blog is awesome though. I'm glad to know I'm not alone.
kaybay, you can have our snow! we're not getting as much as DC, but it's enough to be pretty for one day and annoying for about 2 weeks.
Someone just posted an acceptance into poetry from U of Minnesota. I almost applied there, but I think they were asking for $95 for their app (I may be mistaken). But, I was primarily attracted to there cos I wanted a chance to head into the heart of Minneapolis, do a little twirl then THROW my little cap in the air.
Oh...over on TSE
Yeah, well, I'd do anything for a snow day right now. We get hurricane days down here. Yay, my roof fell off, good thing I have the day off from work. Hurumph.
you're gonna make it after all, cratty! ;)
yikes. ok, i'll take snow over the threat of a hurricane any day. although i'm sure my employer doesn't believe in snow days and it would pretty much take the city's entire public transportation system shutting down for them to let us even think about working from home. i'm truly missing those LA "winters" right about now.
I just freaked out b/c my phone flashed an unknown number. Alas, it was just my alma mater, asking for money. Of course, they had some current student making the calls and she tried to lead up to "the ask" with the usual b.s - what student groups were you a part? what did you major in? Did you know blah, blah about some new colloquia? Fortunately, I already had my evening 7 & 7 or else I would have bust the bubble of an eager, young mind.
@kaybay, ahhhh but the snow days here are involving roof collapses as well! the fire station in my hometown's roof collapsed. eeek.
might as well have nice temps if you're going to have a roof collapse, rather than freezing cold and snow!
Bd - my mom lived in SoCal for a good part of her life and said that the weather down there was boring because it was 80 and dry year round, little rain or anything. That makes me laugh. Human beings are never happy with anything. I complain about it being too hot here, others complain about it being too cold, still others complain about the lack of change in the weather patterns. I love human beings, we're so weird and fickle. I say I want to live in a snowy area, but something tells me that would anger me to. Yeesh :)
Koru - good point. I didn't know it could snow enough to do that to a roof. I'm very naive about snow!
I must admit though, it is hardly "nice" weather during hurricane season. There is something terribly wrong about being stuck in 95 degree weather with a whole lot of humidity without roof or AC. I shudder at the thought!
It's seemed so nice and courteous on the blog lately. No antagonism or drama...
Where do you think Dreux is? Think he got into Mich and is afraid to say?
Truth be told I kind of miss his many instigations.
Are these early offers mostly coming from schools with earlier (December) deadlines?
I had the same initial impression about the UT rejection, but I can't believe that a nondepartmental grad committee would get the intial yay or nay. I did well in the objective criteria (GPA, GRE) - yet I was rejected from UT. So I wouldn't fret that any of those criteria kept you from making the cut. (Of course, it doesn't make me feel better to think that I was rejected solely on the basis of my writing sample!)
that's because of the pile of rejections that have been rolling in...for pessimists like myself, that rings the bell to start reading bukowski poetry and begin a steady dose of self loathing and booze...
maybe that's just me
@Michelle - I'd bet you are wrong. While at some schools the grad school does forward all of the info to the department, the department chair can generally iron out certain grad school requirements (minimum GPA for instance) if the department wants the student. Happens in a lot of disciplines. I think it's unlikely the grad school blackballed your application if all the materials were in on time.
Good luck!
the last comment was in reference to jamie's comment about the troublemakers...we're in timeout...
I'm still around. Tomorrow was supposed to be a travel day for me, but snow has put an end to those plans.
I did not get into Michener because I didn't apply there.
You are correct, however, in assuming that I probably won't be sharing my acceptances with this blog.
Rejections, I'm happy to share. I haven't heard a peep from Syracuse, which doesn't seem to bode well.
Oh, and Michelle-
You did not get rejected from Michener due to your bad GRE Quantitative score.
That would only have been the case if you were on the brink of being accepted, they tossed your name over to the grad school, and the grad school came back with "this person's GRE scores are so unthinkable we just can't endorse this."
That seems like an unlikely scenario this early in the game.
In the words of Terry Kennedy at UNCG, "If anyone with a 99th percentile math score applies, we reject them because we figure they'll go postal in the first month."
@Michelle,
I'm with frankish. My professor told me he received a call from a faculty member at one of the schools I applied to. He said that they really want me, BUT, since my gpa is lower than the office of grad admissions' min., that they'll have to write the department & ask for an exemption for me.
Unless the school explicitly says that you MUST have a certain # for gpa, gre, etc., I think you should be good to go.
Ugh, and I applied to UNCG. :P
@ Dreux, I shall ask on behalf of the masses, why would you share your nays but not your yeas with us?!
@ Dreux,
why won't you share your acceptances with us?
@kaybay: yes! i lived in LA for 6 years and by the end of my time there i was complaining about the "constantly sunny, 70-degree weather." what i wouldn't give for that now! i'm originally from the midwest, but where i am now is a hell of a lot more brutal in the winter than my home state. grass is always greener, indeed. :)
Actually, Dreux, it's impossible to get in the 99th percentile on the math side. Because of how many people get a perfect 800, you can only know you're in the 94th percentile. (Not the case in Verbal, of course-- heck, I think you can get a 750 and be in the 99th percentile then). Though, considering that you were merely quoting Terry Kennedy, you may well know this already. I had a few science-fiend friends who got an 800 on the Quantitative portion of the GRE this year.
Not to be a number ninja, I'm just really bored... no change to Michener status, no word from Syracuse. Boo.
@Gena - You're probably right. The GRE, like the SAT, used to be harder. When I first took it I think an 800 math score was 96th or 97%ile.
This time it was something like 94.
Cheers!
It's not really the classy thing to do, in my opinion.
Sharing my final decision/where I settle on going is one thing -- and I'll probably do that. Listing all my acceptances, I prefer not to do. Not because of you all. I wouldn't do it in any public forum, virtual or actual.
Besides, it's only the one acceptance you choose that matters in the end. All the others are just going to turn into subsequent acceptances for waitlisters, anyway.
Aww, Michelle, don't feel too poorly about your quant score. I was beating myself up over mine as well. I mean, what the hell, I haven't taken math in what...6 years? 7? I keep telling myself that they'll average the verbal & written and completely overlook the quantitative. ^_^
New to this whole blog thing, but just wondering when most U.S Colleges get back to people about whether they get accepted or not, because those application forms were confusing, especially for an international!
Thanks a mil!
I hadn't recalled how the percentiles broke down at the upper end of the math scores. My math score was a touch higher than my verbal, but it was not an 800.
I do recall the 99th percentile of verbal scores being well below 800, though.
@ Dreux, i understand where you're coming from, but acceptances are also a way of letting everyone know that a school has notified *some* people at least, so people have a sense that that school might not still be an option. having more clarity's a good thing, even if at the cost of (some) hope.
True, Koru. I had considered sending Seth my acceptances directly and asking for them not to be associated with my name, or just posting them on the TSE page anonymously.
Ultimately, though, I'm just not comfortable being the first to share that information, even anonymously, which sort of decreases the relevance of my sharing it at all.
Whereas most of you choose to give more weight to sharing information so that everyone can stay updated about admissions decisions in real time, I put more weight on privacy (mine and the school's). If at any point I felt applicants were being treated unfairly and I could remedy that by revealing my own admissions status, I will. But the bottom line is that this game is going to stretch until April and nothing I share will really be a decent substitute for that letter or phone call that everyone will eventually get, even if it's not as soon as they'd like.
I'm sorry, but is everybody on this blog from the U.S, because I'm from Ireland and have applied to 4 U.S colleges, and 4 in Europe, and have heard back from some here, but none there...
Love this blog by the way, it's all baout the info!
Terry Kennedy gave me that one as a total freebie when I called UNCG for the first time way back at the beginning of admissions season. It was a good indication of the kind of program they run down there, for sure. They've since been the most communicative and helpful school to which I've applied and it seems like most people here have had similar experiences with them.
Patrick,
Yes, majority Americans. Whether or not your schools have notified depends on what schools you applied to. If you list them, folks here can try to catch you up on whether they've done any notifying.
You can also Google 'The Suburban Ecstasies' and in the blog it leads you to, go down on the right sidebar to where it says '2010 application response dates' or something like that. Then you can check to see if anyone has reported an acceptance at your schools.
@patrick, the majority, but not all are north americans. we have a few from the uk, india, bangledesh, etc. welcome, and what are you doing up at 02.30? :p
@Dreux, understood. I don't agree, I guess I figure that if a school didn't want the info known, they'd say something, but I suspect most know that you're about to go call your friends, family, email your recommenders, etc, so they know the news will get out as soon as they call you. :-)
Well, I do plan on telling the type of people you mentioned (friends, family, mentors) about my acceptances. It's not that I don't love you guys, it's just that you're none of the above.
And I don't foresee any of the above hopping on a public forum and sharing the information on my behalf.
So the key difference there is that I'm sharing the information privately. Posting it here would be sharing it publicly.
And it's not really about the school's wishes. Though that was what I was getting at in regards to the teaser emails Wyoming sent, I don't feel the same way about official acceptances. They're certainly fair game for you to share.
In this case, it's just a matter of personal preference. I do not enjoy self-publishing details about my life, even details like these, even in a setting like this one. I have a strong distaste for it. It's just not something I need to share, and if I don't need to share it, I'm not going to.
I know this probably seems totally irrational to a lot of people, but before social networking, it was considered more/less normal. I'm just following the buffalo as they slowly go their way.
Doesn't seem irrational. In fact, a lot of applicants may never even get involved with the blog in the first place for that very reason.
In the end, though, who cares? :D
Cheers and good luck!
In the category of ways to kill time, Henry Rollins writes an editorial about The Tea Party for Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2010/02/were-gonna-have-a-tea-party-tonight.html
@Dreux - Thanks a mil, yeah I've appliede for like, Iowa, Brown, Nyu and UNCW?!
And loads in the UK too that I hear more from, I was just worried I didn't fill out the forms properly, because they were LENGTHY!
Thanks a mil anyway!
@Koru, I know I should be sleeping, but I'm trying to finish my thesis for my undergrad...not fun!
Patrick,
As far as this blog knows, none of your schools have notified yet.
UNCW tends to notify this month, but I don't think the North Carolina schools will be notifying as early as usual this year, due to a combination of a spike in applications and a super-tight funding situation that will keep them busy trying to find money to fund new students with for a bit longer. But that's just my best guess.
Iowa also tends to be a fairly early notifier, if I recall correctly, but they received a record number of applications and they usually receive the most of all in the first place.
@patrick,
Brown should notify anytime between 06 Mar and 16 Mar,
Iowa between 10 Feb and 25 Feb,
UNCW seems to be running behind schedule; normally they notify in early Feb, but several of us just received emails saying things were just going to committee to be read; probably had more apps than usual. So late Feb maybe?
I've been lurking for awhile now, but decided it's time to jump in. I was rejected yesterday from UT - "A" last name, so I was likely one of the first.
@Coughdrop - When did you apply to American? I haven't heard anything, but since their admission process is rolling I feel like their notifications might be pretty spread out.
And does anyone have any thoughts on the MA program at Bath Spa in England?
God, I step away for one second and the blog lights up!
@Patrick - love the Irish by the way, my favorite peoples ;)
@sharing acceptances - I'm kind of torn on this one. On the one hand, I see the value in sharing info so that others know what's going on with a program. I was happy to hear the Syracuse acceptances because I knew that not hearing anything likely meant rejection (of course, I could be admitted later anyway, but still).
However, it also doesn't really matter because I'll get accepted/rejected regardless, checking a blog is irrelevant. But, me being an info hog (I have insatiable curiosity), I like to know what's going on. So, my illogical, slightly incoherent rant leads to this conclusion - I personally would like to know all acceptances. I don't think it's classless unless the person is gloating, which is hard to tell over the internet.
Thanks Mike -- that makes me feel better about Temple. Now I will just have to switch from staring at my phone wondering if Syracuse will call (seems very unlikely now), to staring at it wondering if Temple will call :)
You all can find out my acceptances from Kaybay, who I will send them to via certified letter. =)
Lads I'm not gonna lie this blog is crazy, I'm never going to sleep!
Okay, Dreux and Koru, thanks a mil, really helpful...love it!
But, is this blog meant to like calm the nerves and stuff, because now I'm more nervous than ever, ha!
Kaybay, I studied aborad last year in the states, and I love ye guys too! Thanks a mil!
I highly doubt this blog calms anyone's nerves.
One more Q for ye lads, um, do ye check online and stuff, or do you just wait for e-mails, or should we be logging onto our applications etc, because I havn't at all?
Really, I'm not stupid, I am just pretty blasee about things, until now it seems!
@patrick, the blog's a double-edged knife. it's good for knowing what's going on, but you'll find that at times people get shrill/anxious/short-tempered and discussion flares up a bit due to the waiting game tension.
generally, it's a great community of people who want to write, and with whom we can share our anxiety, since a lot of us either can't share at work, or our friends don't understand the complexity and competitive nature of all this.
but ... that said, i've wandered off for days on end when i've gotten annoyed at how stress is making people act. and the UT rejections might still send me away for a bit, since I'm still waiting on my own status being updated. that's been tough on me today ... the constant UT talk.
this blog fans my nerves like Bear Grylls fans a stack of smoldering tinder in the forest.
@Dreux - Sweee-eeet! :P
@Koru, what's UT, haha, I'm sorry, new to all the lingo you know!
Good luck with all your applications by the way! Hope you recieve nice letters, e-mails; phone calls, however you hear it!
@patrick, UT=Michener Centre at University of Texas, Austin. It is a very popular programme with good funding, so a lot of us have applied. And the rejections have started trickling in.
@Koru, Okay got it!
Thanks a mil, good luck!
Patrick - this might be a strange question, but why do the Irish like America so much? I work with/know a lot of Irish ex-pats (I work at a Catholic school, the Irish just seem to gravitate to the nearest Catholic Church/school, haha), but they all love America! Maybe we can do a swap, because I would love to live in Ireland for a while :)
@patrick, you can just wait for notification. since you're overseas, most likely they'll be via email. Maybe by phone. Rejections come later than acceptances, via mail in most cases.
For three of your schools, UNCW has traditionally notified acceptances via email, and Iowa and Brown via phone, but might via email for foreign calls.
Personally, I haven't been checking websites.
@Kaybay,
Honestly? I was indifferent, you knwo yourself, i was like meh about it, but I studied abroad last year and had the best time ever, like savage! Good people, good weather, good cities, cheap travel, it was brilliant! And do come to Ireland, It's great craic! You better be a drinker though, ha!
@Koru,
Yeah I think I'm just gonna wait and see you know, what happens happens!
Not going to keep checking things!
Did anyone apply to any UK schools no?
@ Kaybay, beedeecee (and everyone really): Did anyone else think at length about weather in their MFA hopeful cities??
Glad to see everyone playing nicely in the sandbox. It's sweet. I still have to check out The Room (like 3 weeks late in MFA blog time).
@patrick, I thought about a few UK programmes, as I've been living in the UK, but ultimately decided to give US ones only a shot in my first set of applications. I just didn't find a programme in the UK that seemed as good, especially since I really wanted a three-year programme.
@Franny, yes, weather played a big factor in the cities I thought about. Hence I did not apply to Syracuse, Minnesota, places in Michigan, etc ... I couldn't stand the thought of winters like that.
I'm not, but I could feign interest in Guinness to be polite ;). There are certain "peoples" (can't think of a better word), that really interest me. The Irish have been through some tough shit, yet they have a very jovial spirit. They have a strong sense of culture and identity. They laugh at anything, even something that could be insulting. They always have a joke ready to tell. Even the priests from Ireland have that "eh, fuck it, let's have a beer" mentality that I think is so awesome.
The other "peoples" that interest me are the Russians. They too have gone through some tough shit, but they react totally differently. Yes, they love their alcohol too, but they tend to bury their emotions and embrace cold, hard stoicism instead. I love Russian literature too. Nitty-gritty psychological/existential stuff mixed in with ethnic folk tales. Awesome.
I should also say that I am both Russian and Irish, hehe, but I'm also British. No offense to the Brits on this blog, but they don't interest me as much. Kind of whiny. Sorry, that might open a can or worms!
Patrick,
I applied to three UK schools. I'd tell them which ones but I like to keep my life private. =P
@Koru
I think any 3 year ones here would ultimately be PHD's, is that what you're going for?
They aren't that popular tbh; 2 year ones mostly!
Hi all,
Since the conversation is getting all international, just wanted to throw out this question again (which I asked a few mailbags ago, but I think got lost in some very enthusiastic tatt-related show n' tell):
Anyone know anything about the MFA in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan? Or anyone who has been there?
Thanks heaps.
p.s. It's extremely hot and humid in Melbourne today. The dark clouds have gathered overhead; a storm is going to break imminently. My sister is going to have her first baby in like, 2 hours. And I still haven't heard a PEEP from any of the schools I applied to. Something needs to happen, stat. A storm. A baby. Anything.
@franny:
i did think about the weather when i was first compiling a list of schools. i had a hard time with the harsh winters my first two years here in chicago, was missing california something fierce and thought i'd for sure apply to schools there. but as time went on and i did more research, i realized i had to apply where i wanted to go/thought i could tough it out and weather became less of a factor. wisconsin is my first choice, if that tells you anything! but i'm doing much better with the snow and cold this year.
i also applied to michigan, syracuse (sigh), george mason, and brown. all of my friends (especially the ones who listened to me complain incessantly about the negative temps and snow) thought i was crazy when they heard my final list. but i figure i can put up with anything at this point.
still, i wish there were more choices that fit my criteria in the LA area, as it really is perfect weather there and i would selfishly like to be near that group of friends again.
In the United States the median amount of time taken to complete a Ph D (including thesis) is 9 years. So no, the 3 year folks are not going for Ph Ds.
@BookMoth...
I think your p.s. could be the start of a great read.
4maivalentine, good luck with those! have you heard back from any yet, I know a couple here in the UK have got responses!
@Bookmoth, sorry I don;t but good luck with everyting! ha
BD - From what I've heard, it's more the perpetual gray than the perpetual cold. True?
@patrick, you're right most of the programmes that would be 3-year in the UK would be Ph.D's ... american degrees just take longer than british ones do, and i wanted to just have a few years to work on my craft, and the british degrees, being more condensed time-wise, just didn't have enough time to linger over writing, workshop, etc. or at least, of the programmes i knew about, or that my mentor in notts knew about. *shrugs* the landscape also seems to be changing in CW work in the UK rather rapidly these days.
@Dreux, a british Ph.D. is a three-year degree. british degrees are on a different timetable than american ones.
@ kaybay: re: "They're kind of whiny." That just killed me. I have an image of an archetypal Brit male with a smug, whiny, contorted little mouth.
@koru: Fuck the tundra. I can't take it! I live in Colorado, but Denver is so mild compared to the Midwest and Northeast. It's also sunny 300 days a year. In an ideal world, there would be a fully funded MFA in LA. You'd never hear this little ninny wish for snow.
Patrick,
It's like they disappeared off the face of the Earth! I've only heard from Goldsmith's once and that was back in January. Oxford and East Anglia are a little more responsive. I kind of wish I put off Oxford. Their Ms in Creative Writing is part time, but they have a PH.D program (programme)
Bath Spa is apparently a really good school, but I had to shave off schools. Bath Spa and UT had to go. Which ones did you apply to?
The Brit side of my family is ridiculously annoying and depressed and entitled. The Irish/Russian side rocks! I know, not a good way to judge a whole people, but still...
@Franny, the one thing that scares me about LA are the mudslides ... ok, and fires and smog. :p
Heat I can deal with ... cold ... not so much.
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