I have discovered, through postings on the MFA creative writing blog, that every year most universities have notified all applicants by this point. Acceptances, waitlisters, and rejections should, by now, have been informed.
But this year, a very important writer's conference (that I had no idea about--shows how much of a writer I actually am) was held in Chicago last week, and several universities had spring break this week, so many of the writing programs have not made final decisions. Some Universities send out rejections first, some last.
The blog is an attempt to get out information faster.
So, if you were accepted to McNeese, for example, you post on the blog when and how (email, phone, snail mail) you were contacted. Then everyone else who applied to that program reads your post and becomes excited and petrified as they wait for their email/call/etc. In some ways it is not such a good thing. Its pretty depressing to hear that last Thursday someone else got accepted to a program you hoped to enter. You, of course, have heard nothing. Now, you must wait for what will probably be a rejection. If you didn't follow the blog, you'd have no idea anything had been decided until you received your decision. That way you could at least hope until the end, and not feel horrible waiting for what you are pretty certain will be bad news.
On the other hand, it can be comforting as well.
When I received my rejection (terrible word) from LSU, only moments after others did too. I felt connected to them. I felt like it wasn't so bad to be rejected as long as these other writers were as well.
Recently the post has been hit by several rejection notices. It feels like hearing about loved ones dying in a war. All these hopefuls writing things like:
Today I received an email from NYU, rejection. Later I got another email from Hopkins, also rejection. That makes four rejections so far...
Every now and then a really uncaring soul will write something like:
Just got accepted to Columbia!
Only on the waitlist for UBC :(
but I've also been accepted to London.
So now I have to decide. Columbia or London... oh decisions are so difficult.
Sure, be happy you have been accepted, but don't try to tell a bunch of folks who've been rejected 10 times in the last two weeks that DECISIONS are difficult.
Anyway. I am going to post again later today or tomorrow with the three stories I sent to the Universities. Two of them you may recognize from earlier posts, one will be new. It'll be a long post because all together its something like 30 pages. Maybe I'll just send you the new story.
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