Sunday, March 04, 2012

Where Are You Applying? Part 4

And the posts just keep on coming! As usual, use this thread to post your lists of applications, acceptances, rejections, and waitlists. Fingers crossed for all of you!

240 comments:

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Anonymous said...
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egordon28 said...

I got my acceptance from Emerson last Friday for poetry. Ive seen other poets and nonfiction on facebook that were accepted.

egordon28 said...

still hoping to see if anyone knows anything about Boston U. or Umass Boston.

Bird said...

@MisterSammie: That's incredible. Goodness knows you deserve it! I'll second the Woo-Hoo.

Unknown said...

spring frenzy! it's 65 degrees! freak out!

Teesha Noelle Murphy said...
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SpunkyJess said...

@Jeff, Dad Bubble and Me -

I wonder about this too. It does seem that persistence pays off eventually. But without knowing why we don't get in, it's insanely difficult to pinpoint aspects of your application to improve.

I just had a graduate mfa director when I asked where I fell short on the application, tell me this generic, completely useless information: "We make our choices based on the following, in this order:
1) writing sample
2) statement
3) transcripts & letters of recommendation

Should you decide to reapply, examine these aspects of your application carefully, strengthening them as much as possible."

So with a response like that, it goes to show how much these folks care about the applicants. They don't. At some point, out of 100s of applicants, it's like throwing darts and the committee could make very different decisions from one day to the next because it's SO subjective.

This is my second year applying to schools. Last year I was waitlisted at UW - oh for the UW folks waiting, they take forever and are not considerate in their notification. I had to call to learn about my waitlist status in March and then I didn't find out until mid-April that they weren't taking anyone on the waitlist. I did rework my personal statement and swapped out half of my old portfolio for new material. I've been rejected by 4 out of 6 schools so far.

If it helps for context - I have a BA in English-Creative Writing (honors for whatever that's worth), also in Journalism. I've worked on an independent small zine for a few years and have had two poems published there. Also have extensive volunteer work as a teaching assistant in English classroms to improve youth literacy. I studied abroad for literature and creative writing, which were competitive programs to get into. And I have pretty strong recommenders, including a state poet laureate.

I'm thinking that my lack of publishing is the most detrimental piece of my application, along with shortfalls in my poetry that they're finding. But the thing with publishing is, when you're broker than broke submitting all the time to everywhere is impossible. I barely scraped by getting 6 apps done this year, and it was extremely financially painful.

I hope that helps...I wish I knew more so I could give myself a better chance too, since it seems I'll be going for a third round next year.

Andrea Ruggs said...

@egordon...there was at 1 fic acceptance for UMASS Boston posted earlier on this threat. There has been a report of a rejection via email on the FB group. I have not heard either way...

ship of fools said...
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Unknown said...

Here's my list so far (all fiction):
Rejected:
UT Austin
UW in St. Louis
Wisconsin
Michigan
Ohio State
Cornell
Brown (today)

On the wait list for Syracuse, although they don't tell you where you are on the wait list.

Waiting on:
Purdue
Virginia
Vanderbilt
Iowa
Arizona State

Unknown said...

SpunkyJess, you've made me really want to call or email UW. If I get in, I want to have time to visit before making a decision, and time is running short. Did they sass you when you called?

SpunkyJess said...

@Unknown

For UW-just looked through e-mails to give you more insight. The person I spoke with was Judy Leroux and she was very very nice.

My timeline was a little off. I actually didn't get a final notice that UW isn't taking any waitlist folks e-mail until May 9, which is pretty crazy.

What they did was sent out their initial acceptances and waited until mid-April to hear back from those people before talking anything concrete with their waitlist folks.

I never even got an official rejection letter, it was only from Judy that I was kept in the loop.

I will tell you that UW is a beautiful campus and Seattle is amazing-lived there for six years. However, I kind of consider their rejection a blessing in disguise. Only a few students get full funding and teaching opportunities and I have a very close friend in the BFA program there now and he said there's no way he'd consider grad school there after the classroom/teaching experience he's had. Not to discourage you in any way, certainly don't mean to. Just passing on what I know.

Best of luck to you!

Unknown said...

@SpunkyJess,

Thanks! This is all helpful. It must have been really tough to have been left hanging like that... better luck this year!

Dark_Interpreter said...

In regards to the discussion about what MFA's are looking for - I actually think that publications is something they don't care about. There's some many journals, especially online journals, that if you are willing to take the time to apply, you can get "published". That's not going to impress them if they aren't impressed by reading your work themselves. Maybe if you are publishing frequently and in major journals, maybe they might be swayed to accept someone in the hopes that they can add that persons resume to their own - i.e. the whole "Our students have published in such journals as...". But really it comes down to exactly what was posted earlier - or at least this is what I've always been told:

1. writing sample
2. personal statement
3. letters of recommendation

Srta. saltarina said...

Applied for Nonfiction:

Accepted:
University of New Hampshire

Waiting List:
University of Arizona
University of North Carolina Wilmington

Still waiting to hear from a few other schools.

Good luck everyone!

Dark_Interpreter said...

Also, in regards to getting feedback from the admission committee - sure that would be great - but they are reading hundreds of stories, plus they teach, plus they are writers themselves - they don't have time to write thoughtful comments for every slouch that applies.

Unknown said...

If two people submit two really good writing samples and one graduated from Brown and the other graduated from Chico State who gets the acceptance?

Bird said...

@Unknown: Probably the candidate with the Really Good Writing Sample that the program prefers, regardless of which school he or she went to.

Sure, an impressive alma mater might help you. It's just unlikely to make a difference.

Dad Bubble and Me said...

Afrogirl, Teesha, Spunky J, Dark I, unknown, Bird and anyone I may have missed-

Thanks for the input. I guess I was reacting to the email I got from LSU that said
"this year there were a number of good, well-qualified, applicants" and I wondered what was meant by "well-qualified".
Thanks again for your thoughts. Good luck to you all.

Eketer-Pietra said...

Any idea when Virginia (fiction and poetry) results will be coming out?

I heard Ole Miss (Poetry) will be out Mar 15th. Can anybody confirm this?

And Arizona, Tucson (Poetry and Fiction)....waitlist/reject letters on the way?

NMSU (fiction): what's going on there? Anyone heard anything?

Thanks in advance!

popmartyr said...

Poetry:
Wyoming(rejected)
Cornell(rejected)
Montana
New Orleans
Columbia Chicago
Hunter
San Francisco State
UNC W (rejected)
Mississippi
Illinois (rejected)
University of North Texas- accepted (MA... but with B.H. Fairchild... but with no funding :( )

Any word on New Orleans from anyone? Montana? Ole Miss?

Bree Barton said...
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Bree Barton said...

What a wild and wacky world this is. I've now received (timely) rejections from Iowa, Brown, Michigan, Cornell, Bard, and Syracuse. I felt like printing up copies of my personal statement and writing samples and burning them in a self-effacing bonfire. Then, tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, I received a phone call from Columbia notifying me I'd been accepted. Good thing I didn't buy the lighter fluid . . .

Bree Barton said...

Oops. Forgot to specify: I applied for an MFA in Fiction. Now I just have to figure out a way to drum up $100k for tuition . . .

To all other writers out there: fingers crossed and good luck!

mehitabel said...
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mehitabel said...

Word here in Seattle is that UW has started to let people know about poetry acceptances.

SpunkyJess said...

@Unknown

Chico State's a great alma mater to have (I'll admit my bias for my hometown school here)...but Bird is right, your writing will trump the name of your undergrad degree, at least it should in almost all cases.

Max said...

@lotteryplayer & @TG: For what it's worth, my research agrees with yours...fiction notifications come after poetry. And there is some chatter out there regarding the poetry honorees...but not a peep about fiction. So, either mum's the word, or calls haven't been made. Not sure what to think.

blackhound said...

Rejection via e-mail from Oregon State - poetry, Thursday, 3-8. As another person posted, very strangely worded, very much a bureaucratic form letter, and from the graduate school, not the program.

WildeMum said...

I saw cerclerouge asking about New School letters and though I applied for New School for Drama, I have some intel. I gather they are not very forthcoming with admissions info so I emailed admissions and got some assbackwards email from a student worker notifying me that all students receiving "call backs" had already been notified and please try again next year. When I responded and pressed her for an ETA on a rejection letter, she never got back to me. I waited a week and then wrote to the director of drama admissions and have yet to hear back from her.

This is a direct quote from the website: "Applicants will receive one of three letters by mid-February. Some applicants will learn that they are no longer being considered for admission to The New School for Drama; others will receive a letter stating that their application is still under consideration and that they will be notified as soon as possible of their status; and a select group will be invited to the Chair Audition Weekend, which takes place in New York in mid-March."

So what is going on? I don't know but take heart,cerclerouge! I don't know anything definite either but it's probably worth an email or follow-up call at this point. Aren't final decisions made by April 1?!

lottery player said...

IS there a chance of starting a new thread? The new comments arent showing up here for some reason...or is that just my computer's issue? I'm interested in starting a conversation for those few stegner applicants, very interested in knowing if the fiction acceptance calls have all been made! Figuring it's well past the time people usually hear, guess I"m looking for a more definite reason to give up hope.

Andrea Ruggs said...

Waitlisted for UMASS Boston in Fiction, just now via email! This is the first bit of good news I've gotten so I'm pretty happy even though it is not my first choice and I might not move off the waitlist. :)

Max said...

Comments are showing up fine for me, @lotteryplayer -- are you sure you're always hitting the "newest" link at either the top or bottom of the first page? Anyway, I'd be in for a new thread for those with (lofty?) Stegner aspirations (not that I'm not very happy to hear of all those here having great success with various tremendous MFA programs).

Similarly (and sadly), I too am feeling a bit like a need a definitive reason to stop hoping. I had a phone call last night from an unidentified number and nearly threw up, started crying, launched myself across my desk to answer my phone despite simultaneously feeling paralyzed, all whilst experiencing heart palpitations.

It was a sales call.

greenjeansgifts said...

Just got rejection e-mail from University of Arkansas (poetry)

@ Dad Bubble and Me

I have often wondered the same thing. I am in at the University of Florida, and I point blank asked both William Logan and Sidney Wade how/what they base their selections on. There response: we look at the manuscript. Period. They didn't even know I was from Arkansas or other little things I put on the application (that I have several years of collegiate teaching experience, for instance). And on that note, the University of Oklahoma did not give me an assistantship due to "lack of teaching experience"--it was obviously a stock letter.

Maybe other schools look at other things, but when you've got 300 people applying, my guess is the first few rounds are only looking at the writing sample. The main thing I did differently this time was put what I thought were my absolute best poems first. Before, I structured them so that the whole sequence had a kind of arc. My guess is, the schools that rejected me before didn't make it past the first page. This time around, I'm 4/7 and waiting to hear back from a few more schools.

Dad Bubble and Me said...

greenjeansgifts

Thanks for being specific about what you changed in your manuscript. This made me start thinking about my own submission. I sent 3 short stories. There weren't really cohesive features about them. They were 3 of what I consider my best. I know we are discussing something subjective here, but should we be sending our best work necessarily or should we concentrate on sending something that feels more complete? And has anyone sent just a portion of a novel or something like that?
And although I don't want to look dumb. But can other fiction applicants tell me... how do you research and determine what kind of work they are looking for and if yours fits in with their idea? Is it just by reading the published work they put out and then making your own decision or is there a place where you can read specifically what they are looking for?
One of the stories I sent was written more for a young adult audience while the other two had in mind an older and more experienced reader. I did this to show range. Is it better to limit or narrow the material, do you think?
I realize that I am competition to other fiction writers, and maybe you will scoff at my idiocy. I just want to become a better writer, so any advice you have that you want to share...

qqqq said...

Has anyone been rejected from University of Florida? Are they just sitting on them? Any ideas how they will or have notified?

Thanks!

lottery player said...

checking

lottery player said...

checking

Rude Jude said...

@itsBarbieBiatchh :)

You're right, Barbie. You are a girl, and yes, you can use exclamation marks anyway you see fit. I also did get a chance to see the book you're getting published, (and I have to say I am impressed by the several million copies), but unfortunately I am not interested in a tampon catalog. Too bad, so sad.

You are, gosh, so brilliantly fabulous. It's really hard for me to fathom how your vampire skin must glisten in the sun.

Not really going to talk about my "package," but if you ever want to see it you can find it in the GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS FOR BIGGEST(bet you didn't see that one coming).

Gah, I guess I just feel bad for you, actually. You see, in life you won't be able to attack every ninny, nit, and nancy who disagrees with you. Do I think you're a moron? Yes. Do you know it's true? Probably. You should be thanking me for scraping up your knees. Before someone cuts them off.

Inheritx Solutions said...

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