@MommyJ - ETS took forever to get my my GRE scores. Like 17 days. I wouldn't worry about your scores. They're great. My scores were absolutely abysmal, yet it hasn't affected me getting into programs. I don't think anybody cares about GRE scores. It's the Graduate School admissions departments who want them, not the grad school (even if they might ask for them).
I did my undergraduate at UT(TN). Knoxville is nice, certain parts of the campus are nicer than others due to the constant construction work, but overall I enjoyed my 5 years there.
If you got into fiction you will love working with Michael Knight. He's very laid back, genuine, and his workshops are more than you'd expect.
If you got in for poetry than you're gonna love Dr. Kallet and Art Smith.
As far as your funding question. I don't know about everyone, but a friend of mine who was also an undergrad got accepted there last year. He got funding, however, he also got rejected from his other 8 schools. So just because someone got funding doesn't mean they were accepted at higher ranked schools.
I would have applied there myself, but an MA is of no use to be for the fact that I was entertaining the thought of teaching creative writing at the college level and only an MFA can set me on that path.
I did take a graduate class while I was there and for the most part the grad students are nice and work well in workshops. However, as I'm sure it is at most places, you do have a few tools.
You'll be around HSS/Library area for the most part so it's a pretty enjoyable place. You can find decent rent near campus in "the fort". Now the fort has a reputation for not being that safe, but I've walked home, alone, at like 3am and never was bothered.
I sent the same one 19 page story to all the programs I applied to (except Florida, which explicitly asked for 2 stories), and it's fared pretty well. I really don't think manuscript length has much to do with "the odds." I hate to mimic the pre-application mantra, but from what I can tell, it's a matter of the story itself - and how it fits with the program.
@ Laura
Yes! I'm going to visit Idaho. It's going to be a two-fold trip for me though because I'm checking out EWU and UI. A girl at UI told me that busses are an easy way to get back and forth between Spokane and Moscow.
Feel free to e-mail me if you want to chat more about this issue (and any other Idahoan acceptees!)
hansenma at onid dot orst dot edu
@ DigAPony
Congrats on Minnesota Mankato! Haven't you and I been accepted into the same three programs (right? Alaska, EWU, Idaho...)? Crazy, crazy days. Anyways - congrats again!
@ Any Minnesotans out there?
I've put up a calling like seven times... Has anyone on this blog been accepted into UMinnesota????? I know they extended out three other fiction offers... surely there's someone out there? I would love to talk with you, please!
Just called U of Washington. They've "Just begun" notifying, although they've been saying this for 2 weeks. I wonder why it's taking so long??? I was told to call back in a week, and you can bet yr ass that I will.
Funny story about my GRE Analytical Writing Score -- one of the schools I sent my scores to was Texas. A week or so (maybe 2 weeks?) after I took the test, I checked my Longhorn account and there, right in front of me, was my Analytical Writing Score! A few days later, the ETS letter with my scores arrived, confirming what I already knew. So, I actually found out what my Analytical Writing score was from a source other than corrupt ETS.
I talked to Daniel as well and he seemed cool. He said I'm #2 on the TA waitlist- are you at the elusive #1 spot? :) I'm really hoping to get off that list! I really like what I know about the program, but do not want to go into debt.
@ Rose
Gracias! Though Idaho is our only overlap. Keep us posted on your visit! (I should probably just be emailing you...) Did you receive a TA spot?
@Houston applicants - Can someone call them and ask when they're notifying for fiction? Because I just did and the woman transfered me to Graduate Admissions. She's a tricky woman!
@Arizona State fiction applicants - I called. Francine Prose is there and the department is in a tizzy. They have a partial list of acceptances ready but they won't be finished until Monday or Tuesday. The lady assured me they're moving as quickly as possible as they know people are waiting.
Francine Prose will want you to read Chekhov in your spare time, esp. during long bus/train commutes. I always felt bad that Chekhov didn't get as much screen time as Sulu.
Antalya, Thanks for the info about San Marcos! I too like the idea of living there, though I also like the idea of being near Austin with all its music and vegetarian restaurants. I've never actually been there, though, so who knows?
DigAPony & J.R. Andrews, Congrats!
Kara, I also applied to UNLV but I feel a little differently about Vegas. It's not like I'd be living on the strip (though the university is pretty close). Vegas is near all kinds of beautiful national parks and has some good places. Also, alcohol is free in the right casinos (I'm looking at you, Mermaids!)... Pop in, play a few penny games, and drink yourself to death! Not to mention that flights home out of the airport there are cheap. Vegas might not be where I want to spend my entire life, but I think I'd enjoy living there for a few years. Even if I have to get used to 115 degree summers.
I am waiting to hear about TA spots at Idaho, too. Are you fiction, poetry, or nonfiction? I spoke to Bob Wrigley today. He said one of the poetry TAs have already been filled, and they are waiting to hear from the poet who was offered the only remaining slot.
I was thrilled to hear that they might have funding for a new poet faculty member for Fall 2011. Their faculty is already very impressive. I wonder who they would choose.
I didn't specify my genre. When I called last week (haha this becoming a part time job), I was told fiction had not yet begun. So across the board, they're taking their sweet time.
Melissa, My page still pretty much just says "You will receive written notification of the admission decision after we receive the departmental recommendation." I was told I'd be receiving an official acceptance letter from the graduate school at some point.
A note for fiction applicants to George Mason University:
We're about to go on spring break, and unfortunately that means that there will be an additional delay in fiction notifications (beyond what you all have already endured because of the snow). Thank you for your patience, and we do apologize for the wait.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me--I will be in the office during break.
Got an email from Virginia Commonwealth today informing me I got in and have been wait-listed for a TA spot. From the sound of it, I have a good chance of landing $$ ONLY if I LET THEM KNOW ASAP on whether or not I plan on attending. I wonder how I should play this...
Fiction:
George Mason (accepted) Virginia Commonwealth (accepted) Alabama (assumed rejection) Florida (?) Arkansas (assumed rejection) Virginia Tech (rejected)
I've spent a whole lot of time in Vegas. Its dark side is a great place to find stories. Has anyone read Jodi Angel's History of Vegas? It's incredible.
Congratulations, Emma (and others - Emma just happens to be the most recent)!
Why can't all schools e-mail their waitlists, instead of sending by snail mail? Now I'm going to be tempted to run straight home after work, which isn't at all on my way to an appointment that I have this evening, just so I can check my mailbox for a letter that will most likely not be there. And if it's not there, I'll still harbor hope that it will arrive someday soon, due to the unpredictability of the USPS. And then I'll wonder if it possibly got misdelivered and I'll never get it.
Ugh. Please, schools: in the future, if you have good news, just e-mail me (or call). Please. Don't drop it in the mail.
Also congrats to Matthew, and all others that I know I'm totally forgetting!
Happy Friday to all! And to those who weren't accepted to Brown or who haven't received good news yet, I leave you with my dear, profane aunt's response to literally everything:
Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.
(And she's a college professor, so she knows what's up.)
P.S. Dear schools, in case you haven't fully recognized the beauty of modern technology, e-mail is free. E-mail saves you the costs of postage and materials. E-mail prevents your rejection letters from being criticized for being printed on flimsy paper. It's the wave of the future, schools. And it cuts through my anxiety because then I receive your rejection instantaneously rather than going through the false hope that my waitlist letter is simply lost in the mail.
@Emily - Good luck to you on the ASU front. My friend, also a St Louisan, applied there, and I really hope he gets in. When I talked to the lady on the phone at ASU, I asked her whether I was on that partial list she had. It went like this:
"Hmm," she said, "what's your name?" "Klairkwilty," I said. "K-L-A..." "Oh, oh--hahaha--I don't know anything! Don't know anything! They'll be calling next week!"
I'm like...uh...does that mean I wasn't on the list? Or...
Oh, I forgot to add in my post about snail mail fears the unlikely but anxiety-provoking possibility that an Iowa waitlist letter might be dropped in one of my neighbors' mail slots by mistake, and they'd just throw it out thinking it was junk, and then I'd never ever know.... Schools, in case you didn't get the message yet: e-mail is the way to go. Please.
I just wanted to share how totally bummed I am to find that Florida's made contact with -- it's being assumed -- all of their picks. And I got no phone call. I get it -- it's pretty darned conceited of me to assume I might have been one of those people. Ugh. Darn. I wanted Florida SO badly.
Ugh, another day-ruining bit of news here on the MFA Blog. What fun! So, I'm officially jobless, in dire financial straits, the a**hole ex-husband is totally flaring up lately, stuck in Cleveland's endless winter, and I had a root canal yesterday! My tooth hurts like crazy today.
Ok, so I think the worst thing happened today aside from a rejection. I was at an in-service the whole day and had to turn my phone off to save battery. When I turned it back on during lunch, I noticed a voice message. I try to access the message but the phone drops the call to my voice message and when I try to go back to the message, it's gone!!! And there's no record of the call as a missed call. I wasn't hallucinated, it wasn't a text it was a VOICE message. So now I'm totally paranoid that it was a program calling, but I no way to know!! I think I'm going to call every single program left to notify and see what's up now. What if it was a GNP/GNE??? BAH! I'll never know and it was probably just some schmoe dialing the wrong number. :(
Did anyone hear anything from Notre Dame, FSU, UF, or UNCG today? I can't keep up with the 500 comments!!
Do you have AT&T? Because with AT&T you can recover deleted phone messages. There is an option to find "trashed" messages when you go into your voicemail settings.
@Kara: I was still in my pajamas until a minute ago!! And that time in the shower was seriously the only moment all day that I haven't been constantly staring at my inbox and willing an acceptance letter. Though if I could've figured out a way to bring my iPhone in the shower with me, I certainly would have.
It's my understanding that changing the formatting of an email address keeps potential spammers/robots from recognizing a valid emailing address in a blog or wherever. That's just my assumption, though, and it's why I do it.
No I am not the elusive #1 so don't worry about me. I'm fiction, but it's cool nonetheless just to be expected.
Laura, when are you headed up or down?
my email is lauren.eyler @ gmail if you want to hit me up. I'm interested in reading your stuff and seeing what we might be sharing with each other ahead of time. Let me know if you are interested.
I just had a spirited viewing of Alice and Wonderland following some "Cheshire smoke" and a bottle of wine, and came out with a poem which I thought I'd offer as a diversion...
Vorpal, Jab or Walk
To day I saw Alice in Wonderland—I know—fucking disney but
It ran from the red, pink transition into white. And oh, the urging hedgehog in the garden. A virgin queen, an English meshing of the colors of purity & sin
My finger ought’ve not ventured there, but her blood is luckily, madly minimal, as a hat
and there is a friend whose smile transcends— as a dodo—to a vertical like she, just the bloody Cheshire cat
I’d’ve to be half mad to dream this up, and Carroll must have been, but I certainly will miss you all when I finally wake up. Still
sometimes, I believe six impossible things before breakfast
But I didn’t picture it a boyhood drag-on—rather a yellow clay figure, whose fingerprints held more meaning than I ever could’ve imagined. And
yet, down the spiral staircase our heads descend, lost in the hue of a ponderous eternity. Oh well,
at least it’s all quite 3-dimensional, and I stole their glasses, ha ha ha…
Laura, I have Metro PCS, which is sort of inept, but it's a cheap ass plan! $50 unlimited everything. But it deleted my message!! How would you go about retrieving it on a regular old phone?
I had seen a few people on here today get letters informing them they were waitlisted at Iowa, so when I got home from work and found a letter from Iowa in my mailbox, I was very excited. It would be the first good news I'd recieved. Turns out, my excited was completely unwarrented. Rejected. And the word "terse" doesn't even begin to describe the letter. A good quarter of the text was the number 1,283 (the number of applicants this year) written out. Thanks, Iowa.
so no Notre Dame, FSU, UF, or UNCG?? What's up with that?? I thought this week was going to be it!! I'm dying here, people!!
And no way to retrieve trashed messages :( It doesn't really matter, I'm sure it was that old guy from Ohio that keeps randomly calling me accidentally asking for "Rhonda." Jesus.
As far as UNCG goes, I was told by the assistant director that my manuscript was in committee as of yesterday, so I'd assume that they are still in the decision-making process, at least for poetry...
On the preceeding page of posts (2201-2400) somebody (an Emma I think) posted that she'd gotten some sort of phone call from the University of Florida. NOT Florida State. I gather from the posts that followed, although Emma did not say specifically, that it was a sort of "getting to know you" phone call. And the assumption seemed to be they've called everyone they might admit -- ??? This is total conjecture, it seems, but a few posters here seemed to think that was the nature of the phone call.
I'm the Emma with the Florida phone call. It was a getting to know you kind of call, and they notified me that I was going to be either accepted or placed high on the waitlist. That said, I have no idea if they're done calling people. They aren't making final decisions until next week. Good luck to you!
Wanted to rephrase something I posted earlier: YAY, waitlisted at VCU for poetry!!!
Have to start thinking of my waitlists more positively. :D Especially, ones that I actually have the chance of seeing movement on (yeah I'm talkin about you, Vandy).
Just received my official rejection from Minnesota (through email link) and official rejection from Michigan through post.
Kara, Vegas is MUCH hotter than L.A. The average high is over 100 for July & August and over 80 for half the year. Winters are supposedly nice/mild, but I've only ever been there in summer. It is a dry heat, which they say is better, but I'm not so sure when it's 110 and feels like when you open an oven. I am willing to put up with it, though. There are always swimming pools!
Congrats to today's acceptances & to the waitlisters at Brown & Iowa!
how do I check my online status? anyone? do you have to log into some account? b/c I don't seem to have an account other than the one I made for the application, and that link isn't operable anymore, or something.
can someone send me the link, or something? I'm sorry, I don't know how this mystery link is actually working. meredith (dot) c (dot) fraser (at) gmail .com
Hey Joni, I'm in at Memphis for poetry as well. Would love to talk to another prospective student. Email me off-blog if you want to chat: mandasue at gmail dot com.
@ Ian: they were one of my top programs, too. However, the funding from OSU is too good to turn down, so I will be officially taking their offer as soon as I can figure out how to do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your acceptance/TA position. I can't imagine they'd have you interview as a TA if they hadn't accepted you. I think this might be one of those times that you could get away with a politely worded e-mail or phone call asking what's going on. Maybe there was a typo in your e-mail address when they tried to contact you re: your acceptance? Keep us posted.
I couldn't find funding numbers online, so I got the MFA Office to estimate it at $10,800-$12,600. Poetry classes are MTW nights if you want to visit, and I got a student contact address if you'd like it. Just add @gmail to my name.
About Minnesota, I haven't heard anything yet either (for fiction) (although I'm not expecting good news - I think people got contacted with acceptance a few weeks ago?). But I will let you know when it comes... Ahhh, good luck!
Thanks Ashley! I am so annoyed right now. Of course my internet keeps freezing. When I signed in, the Brown site tried to get me to start a new application... I'm trying to figure this out. SO FRUSTRATED WIHT MYSELF RIGHT NOW. Ugh, why was I not more organized!
I'm one as well, and honestly, coming from someone who dated a Vegas native (born and raised), everything changes once you live there. It loses all of its luster and allure, and becomes just any other town...except that there's tons of shiny lights at the end of this one. Summers are hell: if you don't have a/c, you'll die. Winters aren't so bad, just rains or gets pretty cold.
But hey, where else can you get a $2.99 steak and eggs dinner at 3 am on a Sunday night?
Also, I have a great amount of respect for the strippers. I saw one jogging on Las Vegas Blvd. in 110 degree heat. That is some real dedication!
Just wanted to tell Melissa and others waiting for Texas State, that they're not done notifying yet, so heads up! I just got the call this afternoon and it sounded like they had quite a few more to go. They're looking to accept about 11 folks for fiction and funding will be determined by the end of the month.
Oh and for Emily, who asked if anyone was WL at UIUC, I am...though I don't think anyone will turn down their spots there :( The WL, I hear, is "fairly small."
Cratty, If I remember correctly, you had gotten in a few places already, right? Including VT? Is that still on the table? Would love to talk to you about your thoughts on the program if so.
Congrats to all the acceptances and WL folks! And folks with neither, trust me when I say the game really ain't over til the end of April. Really!
Congrats, Chrissy, on the GMU waitlist. I'm also on their waitlist for CNF -- just got an email. I am "very high" on their waitlist, they say, but if I need a TAship I should forget it. GMU is local for me, so I would not need a TAship there. It's good to hear something -- the silence was making me crazy.
@willson -- I agree that the format of blogs sucks for following threads of conversations. But you have two alternatives:
http://mfa-limbo.ning.com/ (you have to get an invite by emailing amanda or Jasmine. I don't have their emails. Sorry. I used to have them, but now I've misplaced them.)
http://yxnstat.com/forum/ (It's called Discuss MFA. It's brand new. hardly anyone there only because, as the forum admin observed, people are unwilling to change. So, yes, we come to this MFA Blog when a much better format like Discuss MFA is available.)
There's also the Speakeasy at P&W and the gradcafe, which is crap for MFA peeps.
New user here...hello all!...I thought I'd weigh in on Poetry Programs. My results so far:
Acceptances:
Sarah Lawrence New School Brooklyn College Warren Wilson Vermont College of Fine Arts
Rejections:
Hunter College
No Decision:
Columbia School of the Arts Queens College
I just called Columbia and was told no decisions were going out until the end of the month, and that there was some consortium of colleges who had all agreed not to pressure applicants until the end of the month...I said that's interesting because I have deadlines looming for before that time. She said, well, Ivy League schools have all agreed. Oy. Which prompted me to this blog--has anyone heard from Columbia?
Hi, bloggers. This is the person who stepped on Seth's and others toes with a poorly written, rambling query about PSU a month and a half back, where I accidentally dissed Seth. I wrote an apology then and following that took a week or 2 away, and since then I've been mostly lurking in the background erratically. Odd as it sounds I never saw Seth or anybody else's response to my apology, until just a few minutes ago when I finally searched it out. But now I've read it and feel happy and touched with how nice everyone was in the end following my faux pas, and want to say thanks to y'all for that.
2,504 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 2401 – 2504 of 2504Well played, Ink and Beans. Well played.
@MommyJ - ETS took forever to get my my GRE scores. Like 17 days. I wouldn't worry about your scores. They're great. My scores were absolutely abysmal, yet it hasn't affected me getting into programs. I don't think anybody cares about GRE scores. It's the Graduate School admissions departments who want them, not the grad school (even if they might ask for them).
Thanks, guys! I wasn't sure if it was a trendy thing among today's youth or something actually practical.
@Lauren
I did my undergraduate at UT(TN). Knoxville is nice, certain parts of the campus are nicer than others due to the constant construction work, but overall I enjoyed my 5 years there.
If you got into fiction you will love working with Michael Knight. He's very laid back, genuine, and his workshops are more than you'd expect.
If you got in for poetry than you're gonna love Dr. Kallet and Art Smith.
As far as your funding question. I don't know about everyone, but a friend of mine who was also an undergrad got accepted there last year. He got funding, however, he also got rejected from his other 8 schools. So just because someone got funding doesn't mean they were accepted at higher ranked schools.
I would have applied there myself, but an MA is of no use to be for the fact that I was entertaining the thought of teaching creative writing at the college level and only an MFA can set me on that path.
I did take a graduate class while I was there and for the most part the grad students are nice and work well in workshops. However, as I'm sure it is at most places, you do have a few tools.
You'll be around HSS/Library area for the most part so it's a pretty enjoyable place. You can find decent rent near campus in "the fort". Now the fort has a reputation for not being that safe, but I've walked home, alone, at like 3am and never was bothered.
MommyJ--I took it in December, and it took just over two weeks to get them, I believe.
What a stress--so glad I will probably never do that again. It's been several decades since I took a standardized test.
@ Red Mickey
I sent the same one 19 page story to all the programs I applied to (except Florida, which explicitly asked for 2 stories), and it's fared pretty well. I really don't think manuscript length has much to do with "the odds." I hate to mimic the pre-application mantra, but from what I can tell, it's a matter of the story itself - and how it fits with the program.
@ Laura
Yes! I'm going to visit Idaho. It's going to be a two-fold trip for me though because I'm checking out EWU and UI. A girl at UI told me that busses are an easy way to get back and forth between Spokane and Moscow.
Feel free to e-mail me if you want to chat more about this issue (and any other Idahoan acceptees!)
hansenma at onid dot orst dot edu
@ DigAPony
Congrats on Minnesota Mankato! Haven't you and I been accepted into the same three programs (right? Alaska, EWU, Idaho...)? Crazy, crazy days. Anyways - congrats again!
@ Any Minnesotans out there?
I've put up a calling like seven times... Has anyone on this blog been accepted into UMinnesota????? I know they extended out three other fiction offers... surely there's someone out there? I would love to talk with you, please!
@New Mexico State applicants - I called. They said not to expect any notifications until APRIL. APRIL! The first week of April.
Just scratched them off my list.
Just called U of Washington. They've "Just begun" notifying, although they've been saying this for 2 weeks. I wonder why it's taking so long??? I was told to call back in a week, and you can bet yr ass that I will.
@MommyJ -- those are great GRE scores!
Funny story about my GRE Analytical Writing Score -- one of the schools I sent my scores to was Texas. A week or so (maybe 2 weeks?) after I took the test, I checked my Longhorn account and there, right in front of me, was my Analytical Writing Score! A few days later, the ETS letter with my scores arrived, confirming what I already knew. So, I actually found out what my Analytical Writing score was from a source other than corrupt ETS.
Did anyone apply to LIU's (Brooklyn campus) CW program in fiction?
@ETS - You're corrupt!
Helena Bonham Carter is trending now. Ooooh. Time for lunch.
@ Lauren
I talked to Daniel as well and he seemed cool. He said I'm #2 on the TA waitlist- are you at the elusive #1 spot? :) I'm really hoping to get off that list! I really like what I know about the program, but do not want to go into debt.
@ Rose
Gracias! Though Idaho is our only overlap. Keep us posted on your visit! (I should probably just be emailing you...) Did you receive a TA spot?
@Houston applicants - Can someone call them and ask when they're notifying for fiction? Because I just did and the woman transfered me to Graduate Admissions. She's a tricky woman!
@Arizona State fiction applicants - I called. Francine Prose is there and the department is in a tizzy. They have a partial list of acceptances ready but they won't be finished until Monday or Tuesday. The lady assured me they're moving as quickly as possible as they know people are waiting.
@klairkwilty: You just beat me to it!
I spoke with ASU today (my poetry waitlist situation is looking hopeless) and confirmed that fiction info as well. Good luck to all!
Francine Prose will want you to read Chekhov in your spare time, esp. during long bus/train commutes. I always felt bad that Chekhov didn't get as much screen time as Sulu.
Antalya, Thanks for the info about San Marcos! I too like the idea of living there, though I also like the idea of being near Austin with all its music and vegetarian restaurants. I've never actually been there, though, so who knows?
DigAPony & J.R. Andrews,
Congrats!
Kara,
I also applied to UNLV but I feel a little differently about Vegas. It's not like I'd be living on the strip (though the university is pretty close). Vegas is near all kinds of beautiful national parks and has some good places. Also, alcohol is free in the right casinos (I'm looking at you, Mermaids!)... Pop in, play a few penny games, and drink yourself to death! Not to mention that flights home out of the airport there are cheap. Vegas might not be where I want to spend my entire life, but I think I'd enjoy living there for a few years. Even if I have to get used to 115 degree summers.
@DigAPony
I am waiting to hear about TA spots at Idaho, too. Are you fiction, poetry, or nonfiction? I spoke to Bob Wrigley today. He said one of the poetry TAs have already been filled, and they are waiting to hear from the poet who was offered the only remaining slot.
I was thrilled to hear that they might have funding for a new poet faculty member for Fall 2011. Their faculty is already very impressive. I wonder who they would choose.
To those accepted at Texas State:
Did your application status page change?
Thanks!
@ laura
I'm fiction! Crossing my fingers for both of us. It sounds great there.
@Morgan,
Did you ask U of Washington about fiction or poetry, or both?
@Melissa
No, my status has remained unchanged. But they may be staggering phone calls over a few days. Don't lose hope!
I didn't specify my genre. When I called last week (haha this becoming a part time job), I was told fiction had not yet begun. So across the board, they're taking their sweet time.
Since it's been mentioned by two people now, I feel like I should just note that I didn't apply to Brown.
Melissa,
My page still pretty much just says "You will receive written notification of the admission decision after we receive the departmental recommendation." I was told I'd be receiving an official acceptance letter from the graduate school at some point.
A note for fiction applicants to George Mason University:
We're about to go on spring break, and unfortunately that means that there will be an additional delay in fiction notifications (beyond what you all have already endured because of the snow). Thank you for your patience, and we do apologize for the wait.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me--I will be in the office during break.
Best,
Cloud
@Arna - Thinking about taking Michener over Iowa?
@Arna
Sorry to use you as a hypothetical example. But your legend has grown beyond all bounds. You can't control it!
Mein list:
(Assumed) Rejections:
Iowa
Brooklyn
Hunter
SAIC
Waiting on:
CCNY
Queens College
Columbia
Accepted:
TNS
I might defer my spot for 2011.
It's Friday, people. Have fun!
PS: I love the community you guys have made here. A journal or a web-based workshop would be an interesting consideration.
Lurker here...
Got an email from Virginia Commonwealth today informing me I got in and have been wait-listed for a TA spot. From the sound of it, I have a good chance of landing $$ ONLY if I LET THEM KNOW ASAP on whether or not I plan on attending. I wonder how I should play this...
Fiction:
George Mason (accepted)
Virginia Commonwealth (accepted)
Alabama (assumed rejection)
Florida (?)
Arkansas (assumed rejection)
Virginia Tech (rejected)
@Cloud
Great to see another MFA program acknowledge the existence and payoffs (applicant empowerment, transparency, etc) of this blog!
You guys, we're doing it! Powers combined!
http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/b/bd/ThePlaneteers.JPG
I've spent a whole lot of time in Vegas. Its dark side is a great place to find stories. Has anyone read Jodi Angel's History of Vegas? It's incredible.
Hi all. I just got a letter in the mail from Iowa, and I've been waitlisted.
That's awesome, Emma! Great Job!
Awesome, Emma!! How exciting!
Congrats, Emma, and everyone else with acceptances and waitlistings!
I wonder how deep that list is at Iowa. That's, what, two or three of them posted today?
@Morgan
Haha, thanks, you're awesome! Keep up the hard work, and be sure to report the fruits of your labor on here! :)
Congratulations, Emma (and others - Emma just happens to be the most recent)!
Why can't all schools e-mail their waitlists, instead of sending by snail mail? Now I'm going to be tempted to run straight home after work, which isn't at all on my way to an appointment that I have this evening, just so I can check my mailbox for a letter that will most likely not be there. And if it's not there, I'll still harbor hope that it will arrive someday soon, due to the unpredictability of the USPS. And then I'll wonder if it possibly got misdelivered and I'll never get it.
Ugh. Please, schools: in the future, if you have good news, just e-mail me (or call). Please. Don't drop it in the mail.
Congrats Emma, very cool!
Also congrats to Matthew, and all others that I know I'm totally forgetting!
Happy Friday to all! And to those who weren't accepted to Brown or who haven't received good news yet, I leave you with my dear, profane aunt's response to literally everything:
Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.
(And she's a college professor, so she knows what's up.)
P.S. Dear schools, in case you haven't fully recognized the beauty of modern technology, e-mail is free. E-mail saves you the costs of postage and materials. E-mail prevents your rejection letters from being criticized for being printed on flimsy paper. It's the wave of the future, schools. And it cuts through my anxiety because then I receive your rejection instantaneously rather than going through the false hope that my waitlist letter is simply lost in the mail.
@ klairkwilty
Thanks for posting the info about Arizona State... maybe, MAYBE I can relax over the weekend :)
I'm in St. Louis, too, and hopefully I'll be able to enjoy this rare and gorgeous weather instead of freaking out!
@Emily - Good luck to you on the ASU front. My friend, also a St Louisan, applied there, and I really hope he gets in. When I talked to the lady on the phone at ASU, I asked her whether I was on that partial list she had. It went like this:
"Hmm," she said, "what's your name?"
"Klairkwilty," I said. "K-L-A..."
"Oh, oh--hahaha--I don't know anything! Don't know anything! They'll be calling next week!"
I'm like...uh...does that mean I wasn't on the list? Or...
Maddening.
@ emma - congrats on the Iowa waitlist!
Oh, I forgot to add in my post about snail mail fears the unlikely but anxiety-provoking possibility that an Iowa waitlist letter might be dropped in one of my neighbors' mail slots by mistake, and they'd just throw it out thinking it was junk, and then I'd never ever know.... Schools, in case you didn't get the message yet: e-mail is the way to go. Please.
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to share how totally bummed I am to find that Florida's made contact with -- it's being assumed -- all of their picks. And I got no phone call. I get it -- it's pretty darned conceited of me to assume I might have been one of those people. Ugh. Darn. I wanted Florida SO badly.
Ugh, another day-ruining bit of news here on the MFA Blog. What fun! So, I'm officially jobless, in dire financial straits, the a**hole ex-husband is totally flaring up lately, stuck in Cleveland's endless winter, and I had a root canal yesterday! My tooth hurts like crazy today.
Bring on the hard liquor. *Sigh*
Lauren
I feel your root canal pain. Got one last week. Looking forward to a tonsilectomy next.
Ok, so I think the worst thing happened today aside from a rejection. I was at an in-service the whole day and had to turn my phone off to save battery. When I turned it back on during lunch, I noticed a voice message. I try to access the message but the phone drops the call to my voice message and when I try to go back to the message, it's gone!!! And there's no record of the call as a missed call. I wasn't hallucinated, it wasn't a text it was a VOICE message. So now I'm totally paranoid that it was a program calling, but I no way to know!! I think I'm going to call every single program left to notify and see what's up now. What if it was a GNP/GNE??? BAH! I'll never know and it was probably just some schmoe dialing the wrong number. :(
Did anyone hear anything from Notre Dame, FSU, UF, or UNCG today? I can't keep up with the 500 comments!!
@Lauren . . . when you say Florida, do you mean the University of Florida or Florida State?
@Lauren:
I will be partaking in tequila. Through an IV.
I'm a health food fanatic, but I just ordered a pizza ate ate nearly the whole thing.
MFA programs, I blame you!
@kaybay
Do you have AT&T? Because with AT&T you can recover deleted phone messages. There is an option to find "trashed" messages when you go into your voicemail settings.
just got wait listed at George Mason for poetry.
little chance of ta-ship though.
still awesome.
doing better than i did last year.
@Kara: I was still in my pajamas until a minute ago!! And that time in the shower was seriously the only moment all day that I haven't been constantly staring at my inbox and willing an acceptance letter. Though if I could've figured out a way to bring my iPhone in the shower with me, I certainly would have.
@Woon
It's my understanding that changing the formatting of an email address keeps potential spammers/robots from recognizing a valid emailing address in a blog or wherever. That's just my assumption, though, and it's why I do it.
@Digapony and Laura--
No I am not the elusive #1 so don't worry about me. I'm fiction, but it's cool nonetheless just to be expected.
Laura, when are you headed up or down?
my email is lauren.eyler @ gmail if you want to hit me up. I'm interested in reading your stuff and seeing what we might be sharing with each other ahead of time. Let me know if you are interested.
@cloud: thank you for the info!
Accepted.....sigh that's about the 5th time I've done that. My brain enjoys being expected or excepted.
I just had a spirited viewing of Alice and Wonderland following some "Cheshire smoke" and a bottle of wine, and came out with a poem which I thought I'd offer as a diversion...
Vorpal, Jab or Walk
To day I saw
Alice in Wonderland—I
know—fucking disney
but
It ran from the red,
pink transition into
white. And oh, the urging
hedgehog in the garden. A
virgin queen, an English meshing
of the colors of purity &
sin
My finger ought’ve not
ventured there, but her
blood is luckily, madly
minimal, as a hat
and there is a friend
whose smile transcends—
as a dodo—to a
vertical like
she, just the
bloody Cheshire cat
I’d’ve to be half
mad to dream
this up, and Carroll
must have been, but
I certainly will
miss you all when I
finally wake up. Still
sometimes, I believe
six impossible
things before breakfast
But I didn’t picture
it a boyhood drag-on—rather
a yellow clay figure,
whose fingerprints held
more meaning than I
ever could’ve imagined. And
yet, down the spiral
staircase our heads
descend, lost in the
hue of a ponderous
eternity. Oh well,
at least it’s all quite
3-dimensional, and I
stole their glasses, ha
ha ha…
After Carroll’s ; Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
Laura, I have Metro PCS, which is sort of inept, but it's a cheap ass plan! $50 unlimited everything. But it deleted my message!! How would you go about retrieving it on a regular old phone?
I had seen a few people on here today get letters informing them they were waitlisted at Iowa, so when I got home from work and found a letter from Iowa in my mailbox, I was very excited. It would be the first good news I'd recieved. Turns out, my excited was completely unwarrented. Rejected. And the word "terse" doesn't even begin to describe the letter. A good quarter of the text was the number 1,283 (the number of applicants this year) written out. Thanks, Iowa.
so no Notre Dame, FSU, UF, or UNCG?? What's up with that?? I thought this week was going to be it!! I'm dying here, people!!
And no way to retrieve trashed messages :( It doesn't really matter, I'm sure it was that old guy from Ohio that keeps randomly calling me accidentally asking for "Rhonda." Jesus.
@kaybay
As far as UNCG goes, I was told by the assistant director that my manuscript was in committee as of yesterday, so I'd assume that they are still in the decision-making process, at least for poetry...
cheers!
K
@Emily,
On the preceeding page of posts (2201-2400) somebody (an Emma I think) posted that she'd gotten some sort of phone call from the University of Florida. NOT Florida State. I gather from the posts that followed, although Emma did not say specifically, that it was a sort of "getting to know you" phone call. And the assumption seemed to be they've called everyone they might admit -- ??? This is total conjecture, it seems, but a few posters here seemed to think that was the nature of the phone call.
Florida. Not Florida State. I applied to both.
@Lauren
I'm the Emma with the Florida phone call. It was a getting to know you kind of call, and they notified me that I was going to be either accepted or placed high on the waitlist. That said, I have no idea if they're done calling people. They aren't making final decisions until next week. Good luck to you!
and yes, it was University of Florida.
A very polite snail mail rejection from Michigan was waiting for me when I got home from work.
Only 5 assumed rejections left.
A very polite snail mail rejection from Michigan was waiting for me when I got home from work.
Only 5 assumed rejections left.
Wanted to rephrase something I posted earlier: YAY, waitlisted at VCU for poetry!!!
Have to start thinking of my waitlists more positively. :D Especially, ones that I actually have the chance of seeing movement on (yeah I'm talkin about you, Vandy).
Just received my official rejection from Minnesota (through email link) and official rejection from Michigan through post.
And, seriously, where is Dreux?
Oops! Screwed that one up. I read Sam's post and wrote Michigan instead of Montana, which is what I meant. Rejection letter from Montana.
Kara, Vegas is MUCH hotter than L.A. The average high is over 100 for July & August and over 80 for half the year. Winters are supposedly nice/mild, but I've only ever been there in summer. It is a dry heat, which they say is better, but I'm not so sure when it's 110 and feels like when you open an oven. I am willing to put up with it, though. There are always swimming pools!
Congrats to today's acceptances & to the waitlisters at Brown & Iowa!
has anyone who applied in fiction to minnesota received an official email rejection?
Okay guys. I still haven't heard from Brown.
how do I check my online status? anyone? do you have to log into some account? b/c I don't seem to have an account other than the one I made for the application, and that link isn't operable anymore, or something.
can someone send me the link, or something? I'm sorry, I don't know how this mystery link is actually working.
meredith (dot) c (dot) fraser (at) gmail .com
Hey Joni, I'm in at Memphis for poetry as well. Would love to talk to another prospective student. Email me off-blog if you want to chat: mandasue at gmail dot com.
@ Ian: they were one of my top programs, too. However, the funding from OSU is too good to turn down, so I will be officially taking their offer as soon as I can figure out how to do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your acceptance/TA position. I can't imagine they'd have you interview as a TA if they hadn't accepted you. I think this might be one of those times that you could get away with a politely worded e-mail or phone call asking what's going on. Maybe there was a typo in your e-mail address when they tried to contact you re: your acceptance? Keep us posted.
Meredith,
You just log into Embark like you did when you applied here
@ Texas State San Marcos friends
I couldn't find funding numbers online, so I got the MFA Office to estimate it at $10,800-$12,600. Poetry classes are MTW nights if you want to visit, and I got a student contact address if you'd like it. Just add @gmail to my name.
@inkli_11
About Minnesota, I haven't heard anything yet either (for fiction) (although I'm not expecting good news - I think people got contacted with acceptance a few weeks ago?). But I will let you know when it comes... Ahhh, good luck!
New mailbag is up for the weekend.
Thanks Ashley! I am so annoyed right now. Of course my internet keeps freezing. When I signed in, the Brown site tried to get me to start a new application... I'm trying to figure this out. SO FRUSTRATED WIHT MYSELF RIGHT NOW. Ugh, why was I not more organized!
anyway, thank you Ashley!
To UNLV Applicants,
I'm one as well, and honestly, coming from someone who dated a Vegas native (born and raised), everything changes once you live there. It loses all of its luster and allure, and becomes just any other town...except that there's tons of shiny lights at the end of this one. Summers are hell: if you don't have a/c, you'll die. Winters aren't so bad, just rains or gets pretty cold.
But hey, where else can you get a $2.99 steak and eggs dinner at 3 am on a Sunday night?
Also, I have a great amount of respect for the strippers. I saw one jogging on Las Vegas Blvd. in 110 degree heat. That is some real dedication!
Just wanted to tell Melissa and others waiting for Texas State, that they're not done notifying yet, so heads up! I just got the call this afternoon and it sounded like they had quite a few more to go. They're looking to accept about 11 folks for fiction and funding will be determined by the end of the month.
Oh and for Emily, who asked if anyone was WL at UIUC, I am...though I don't think anyone will turn down their spots there :( The WL, I hear, is "fairly small."
Cratty,
If I remember correctly, you had gotten in a few places already, right? Including VT? Is that still on the table? Would love to talk to you about your thoughts on the program if so.
Congrats to all the acceptances and WL folks! And folks with neither, trust me when I say the game really ain't over til the end of April. Really!
@Austin
That sounds great. We'll party like there's no tomorrow. fingers crossed!
email me at fifth(dot)cousins(dot)stepsister(at) gmail
M. Swann -
I finally broke down and sent Syracuse an E-mail. I'll keep you posted.
Congrats, Chrissy, on the GMU waitlist. I'm also on their waitlist for CNF -- just got an email. I am "very high" on their waitlist, they say, but if I need a TAship I should forget it. GMU is local for me, so I would not need a TAship there.
It's good to hear something -- the silence was making me crazy.
Arna, appy polly loggies. Sheer laziness on my part. You are not an abstraction... You are not an abstraction :-)
Just waitlisted at Indiana (fiction).
@willson -- I agree that the format of blogs sucks for following threads of conversations. But you have two alternatives:
http://mfa-limbo.ning.com/
(you have to get an invite by emailing amanda or Jasmine. I don't have their emails. Sorry. I used to have them, but now I've misplaced them.)
http://yxnstat.com/forum/
(It's called Discuss MFA. It's brand new. hardly anyone there only because, as the forum admin observed, people are unwilling to change. So, yes, we come to this MFA Blog when a much better format like Discuss MFA is available.)
There's also the Speakeasy at P&W and the gradcafe, which is crap for MFA peeps.
Current status for MFA in Poetry programs:
Rejected:
UNH University of New Hampshire
Accepted:
LIU Long Island University Brooklyn
CCA California College of the Arts
NMSU New Mexico State University
Pending:
Hunter - assumed rejection
Brooklyn College - assumed rejection
Queens College - anyone hear yet?
Thanks to all who are also posting. Like many, I still have the enormous, rather primary concern of funding to grapple with.
oh my god SHOES
lol sorry couldn't resist
New user here...hello all!...I thought I'd weigh in on Poetry Programs. My results so far:
Acceptances:
Sarah Lawrence
New School
Brooklyn College
Warren Wilson
Vermont College of Fine Arts
Rejections:
Hunter College
No Decision:
Columbia School of the Arts
Queens College
I just called Columbia and was told no decisions were going out until the end of the month, and that there was some consortium of colleges who had all agreed not to pressure applicants until the end of the month...I said that's interesting because I have deadlines looming for before that time. She said, well, Ivy League schools have all agreed. Oy. Which prompted me to this blog--has anyone heard from Columbia?
Also, any thoughts on low-res vs. traditional?
Subbin'
@Jessica -- umm, dear, you may want to subscribe to the March 16 mailbag. The world is movin' away from you.
Hi, bloggers. This is the person who stepped on Seth's and others toes with a poorly written, rambling query about PSU a month and a half back, where I accidentally dissed Seth. I wrote an apology then and following that took a week or 2 away, and since then I've been mostly lurking in the background erratically. Odd as it sounds I never saw Seth or anybody else's response to my apology, until just a few minutes ago when I finally searched it out. But now I've read it and feel happy and touched with how nice everyone was in the end following my faux pas, and want to say thanks to y'all for that.
Cheers,
Daniel AKA Dandelion
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