MFA Applications Will Kill Your Soul (But Don't Let That Stop You)

PIA08533: Supernova Dust Factory in M74

SO, for months now I've been meaning to post a list of things I learned from the MFA application process. But I just didn't have the strength. Now that I'm safely far, far away from that soul-crushing process, I think I'm ready to give it a go.

Here's the knowledge-like substance I gleaned from the whole torrid affair.

1) MFA APPLICATIONS WILL KILL YOUR SOUL. But pleeeease don't let that stop you. It doesn't feel like it now, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Or insert uplifting cliche of your choice here.

I applied during the last semester of my undergrad. (I graduated December 2008.) I was trying to finish my senior thesis and get through papers & midterms & finals, and at the same time I was revamping my application list again and again, studying for the GRE, taking the GRE, ordering transcripts, writing endless SOP drafts, trying to figure out how to apply to each school (why why WHY can't this process be more streamlined/standardized?), trying to get my writing sample in order, etc. etc. etc.

That was the longest semester of my life. I'd tried to prepare over the previous summer, but by the time I actually sent in my last application, my list of schools was completely different, so all my summer work ended up being kind of irrelevant. Actually, strike that. It would've been a lot harder without the thinking head start, even if I did most of the grunt work during the semester.

Waiting sucks. Rejection sucks. Not knowing sucks. Knowing sucks. Spending 24 hours a day glued to the MFA Blog, TSE and P&W until you forget what the sun looks like sucks. Second-guessing your writing sample/SOP/application list/reasons for living sucks. The whole process really, really sucks.

In the end, it was all worth it. I got into a kickass program with the funding I couldn't live without, and I am so. freaking. grateful.

If I hadn't gotten in, I would've applied again. I was thinking Teach for America for my Plan B.

SO, anyway, I know it's awful. But you're gonna make it. Or maybe you already have. High five!

2) YOU'RE THE DECIDER. Tom Kealey's MFA Handbook is invaluable. Buy it, read it, heed its advice---up to a point. In the end, the only person who really knows which schools should be on your list is you. (Wait, actually I think that advice is in the Handbook, too.) TSE and the P&W boards can be really helpful, too. But there is no magic list. There is no MFA Monarch who can tell you exactly how to get in at your dream school.

3) THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A SAFETY SCHOOL. There just isn't.

I applied to 9 schools. I got into Minnesota and waitlisted (as in, bottom-of-the-list-don't-hold-your-breath-listed) at Cornell. I got rejected outright by 7 schools, including Rutgers-Newark & UMass Boston & Florida, where the stats and the hype and my professors made me think I had some kind of a shot in hell. I also got rejected by Michigan & Syracuse & UMass Amherst & UT Austin/Michener, where the stats & the hype made me think I'd have just as much luck balling up my application and flushing it down the proverbial toilet. But I felt the same way about Minnesota, and somehow that happened for me.

I guess my point is: Apply where you actually want to go to school, where you can actually get funding, and don't worry so much about the stats & the hype. Just do your best and then sit back and see what happens.

At some point I told one of my letter-writers that I was worried because I felt like my list was too pie-in-the-sky, and that's basically what he told me. I think it's really good advice, and I'm glad I followed it. I didn't apply anywhere I wouldn't have been really happy to end up.

This application thing is so not a science. Follow your heart (and the funding!)

You can see my final rundown here: All Results Are In.

4) SCHOOLS WILL FIND YOUR BLOG. They will find it, they will read it, and wondering if it's having any effect on their decisions will drive you crazy. I was totally convinced that schools would never look for, let alone find my blog. But then I started seeing views from urls at schools I'd applied to---I knew because of StatCounter---ON or close to the days those schools sent out decisions. And then the administrative coordinator at Minnesota confirmed, when I was on my visit there, that they like to take a look at them. She did say that they do it after making decisions, so it has no effect on that, but who knows if that's true at other schools.

If you're keeping an open journal during admissions season, be somewhat careful. I really, really wasn't careful, and I tortured myself over it later. It might be a good idea not to show all your cards, just in case.

See this post: Off the Record (You're Not Out There, Are You?)

5) FIND EVERY WAY TO SAVE $$$$. This is a crazy expensive process, and in the end, it's kind of like betting. I'm chronically broke, and I hate betting (why risk not having money I already have for extra money I'm pretty sure I won't win?) So I was all over the money-saving jedi moves.

Michigan, UT Austin/Michener and UMass Amherst will waive their application fees if you send in the proper request form, along with documentation of financial need. This was a big help to me.

Cornell's site said they'd waive their fee in extraordinary circumstances, but it sounded like they were less cool with it than the other schools, and it scared me off, so I didn't ask for the waiver there. I probably should have. There are other schools out there, like Brown, that will also waive their fee, but I mostly just know about the ones where I applied. Doing the research really pays off.

If you get a GRE waiver from your undergrad school (knocks the price of the GRE in half!) a copy of that waiver will usually serve as proof of financial need. That's the easiest way. If you didn't or can't get a waiver, a letter from your financial aid office stating that you're a financial need student (very low EFC, received x percentage of need-based aid, etc.) will do the trick.

Ask the financial aid office at your school about GRE waivers, well ahead of time. As with the application fee waivers, you have to have a significant amount of documented financial need to qualify. And don't forget to always fill out that FAFSA!

Oh! And of course, the most important part: do your research about program funding! (!!!) Do see Seth Abramson's article about funding (here), do consult the MFA Handbook, and do make sure that the info you're getting is still current.

6) READ FACULTY BOOKS, AS MANY AS YOU CAN, AS EARLY AS YOU CAN. Funding (including teaching) had to be first, for me. And then came location. I'm ashamed to say I really didn't manage to start reading faculty works until after my application list was set in stone. But if I had it to do again, faculty would tie with location. After reading faculty works, I really feel like maybe I kinda sorta "get," in some tiny way, why I got in at Minnesota. That could just be in my head, and I still believe that the biggest factor was probably plain old luck, but hey. I feel a certain click, and that's a nice feeling.

That doesn't mean that just because you love somebody's work, they're going to like yours. And it doesn't mean that just because somebody likes your work, you're going to get in at their program. But even if you're strapped for time, like I was, and it comes down to just reading the faculty at the programs you've already decided to apply to, reading faculty work could really help if you're lucky enough to have to pick between 2 or more programs.

Here's the reading list I made up, for the schools I applied to: Fiction Faculty Books

7) COMMUNITY HELPS. But it also drives you crazy. But it also helps. But it also drives you crazy.

I was lucky enough to have a best friend, Sacha, who was applying to Creative Writing PhD programs at the same time I was applying to MFA programs. I think I would've gone crazy without her. If you don't have a friend applying to MFAs at the same time you are, try to find one.

That's part of what the blogs & boards are good for. It felt good to get info, to commiserate and celebrate with everyone else who was going through the crazy ups and downs of the admissions season. I feel like I've met some really awesome people and made a lot of great connections.

But sometimes it's just too much. Try to take it easy. I really, really didn't take it easy, and I think I'm just now recovering. (Ha?) Don't let the information overload/radio silence cycle eat your brain or crush your soul. See this post: Freedom from Information

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Well, I think that's about all I can think of, at least for now. I hope somebody out there finds this helpful. You can find links to all the various MFA hotspots at the linkbar up top, and some more stuff at my Minneapolis Links. My linked searches there are MN-specific, but you can always just plug in your own search term once you get there.

For more information/crazytalk/possibly useless advice, check out the labels below, or check out the searchbox in the sidebar. And feel free to comment with questions. I'll try my best to answer, when I have a chance.

And GOOD LUCK! May the MFA force be with you.

All Results Are In

Got my FINAL notification today---I accepted at Minnesota last month, so this is just for posterity's sake. I'm taking this off the sidebar, now. It feels good to be settled, signed, sealed, delivered.

Nine applications. One acceptance (golden ticket!), one confirmed waitlist, one possible waitlist/eventual rejection, and six flat-out rejections.

How it all shook out:

The Long Wait: MFA Fiction Programs

U Minnesota---Accepted!!! by phone (Letter 2/19)...
I accepted the offer of admission 3/25.

Cornell---Waitlisted 3/24, by email after I called...(I was #8 on a waitlist of 8)

Rutgers-Newark---Rejected 4/16 via website (Letter 4/22) I think I was waitlisted?*

U Florida---Rejected 3/28 by mail

Syracuse---Rejected 3/14 by mail

UMass Boston---Rejected 3/13 via website (Letter 3/23)

U Michigan---Rejected 3/2 by mail

UMass Amherst---Rejected 2/27 by mail

U Texas/Michener---Rejected 2/26 via website (Letter 3/9)

* Online status remained "no decision" long after first-round notifications
(both acceptances and rejections) went out. Finally rejected via website 4/16.

*

PS----Link to a list of literature-related blogs compiled by Rigoberto González (who, as it happens, teaches at Rutgers-Newark.) I originally found the link here, at Practicing Writing.

A Waitlist from Outerspace

So----I'm waitlisted at Cornell. I found out today, J Robert Lennon emailed me after I called the office to ask for an update on my status. I'm so (very very) low on the list that there's no chance I'll get in, but I just feel really really happy to have made the list at all, and it feels really good just to know.

Don't Know About The MFA Blog?

A kind little birdie told me that Cornell has no official waitlist, just a few people on a "shortlist," and they don't tell those people that they're on it unless they ask. I emailed the department on Thursday, asking if they can inform me of my application status, but haven't heard back yet. Maybe they're on spring break? If I don't hear back, I'm calling on Monday for sure.

I guess (according to the birdie) that the program's reasoning for not telling is that they don't want to get people's hopes up...since there are only four spots and it's not the kind of program that people tend to turn down in droves.

Honestly, I don't quite understand that reasoning. Not in the age of internet information overload. I know it's quite possible that my rejection got lost in the mail, but if I am on some kind of shortlist, I sorta think I deserve to know about it. Instead, I'm sitting here in this awful limbo, wondering what's going on. I mean, as it is, if I was on this secret shortlist and never called, I'd end up getting the same standard rejection letter that everyone else got, as soon as the four people accepted their spots. I just would have had to wait for it longer. I'd never know how close I came.

I would treasure even just a little email saying Hey, you almost got in, you probably won't, but you might. It would feel really good to know I got that far. I'm looking at 5 outright rejections and expecting more to come, so a waitlist would feel like a surprise party.

It'll Be Here Tomorrow

So, an update.

Rejected by UMass Boston, via website. Rejected by Syracuse, finally, via mail.

Unsure about what's going on with Rutgers-Newark, I know some have been accepted, but other people are saying they haven't made all their selections yet?

Expecting a rejection from U Florida, I think.

Frantically waiting for a rejection from Cornell. People started getting rejections a while ago, now. Every day I go to the mailbox thinking, It has to be in there today. And then it isn't. I know I should just call them so I can stop thinking about it.


In any case, this brings my count to 1 acceptance (thankyouthankyouthankyou), 5 rejections, 3 waiting (1 probable rejection, 1 totally unsure, 1 possible waitlist?)

Off the Record (You're Not Out There, Are You?)

Ahem...

I've developed the most ridiculous fear that some of the programs I've applied to are finding my blog and actually reading it. This would be a terrible, terrible thing.

"But you're anonymous," you might say. Well, not so much, if you've read my SOP.

How would they find me? I have no idea. (The forums? Google? The tin foil hat I'm wearing?)

Aren't I blowing my relative importance in the MFA world completely out of proportion by worrying that actual faculty are taking the time to scour the internet looking for little old me? Well, yes, I am. That's the only thing that's keeping me from totally losing it about this.

This incredibly self-involved hypothesis is based on stupid, stupid StatCounter. I wish I never installed it. Besides telling me how many people stop by the blog, I just discovered that I can see where they're checking it from. In the past week or two, I've had hits from both Syracuse and U Minnesota.

Of course, I also had hits from Indiana U and Boston U and U Arizona and U Alabama and U Tennessee, and I didn't apply to any of those. The most likely explanation is that these hits are just fellow/future applicants/students looking for MFA info. If so, hi!

But today, on the day when U Florida started notifying for fiction, I see a hit from Gainesville. What?! What?!

So, on the off chance that my paranoid delusions are in fact not delusions (humor me?), I just want to say that some of what I say on this blog is silly, and all of it is off the record, and most of all---please don't judge me based on my babble? Also, hi.

Actually, I'll extend that message to everyone out there in TV-land, not just the imaginary MFA faculty. This process (and waking up at 4 am for my job) is kind of wearing away at my sanity these days. Maybe an open diary was just a bad idea, during decision season.

Too late to turn back now---I believe I believe I believe I'm falling in love? What song is that again? Where am I?

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog, where I'll try to tune the crazy down. Thanks!

*

UPDATE 4/1:

They will find your blog, no matter how anonymous you think you are, and they will read it. And, undoubtedly, they will snicker behind their hands at how silly you are. And even if they don't, you'll always be sure that they did. Just a little warning, there.

Me vs. The Mailbox

The mailbox insisted on remaining empty today.

I'm expecting letters (rejections) from Syracuse and Cornell. But I should say that even when I'm not waiting for anything in particular to come, I'm still crazy about the mail. I feel sad when it's nothing but junk, and part of me wants to do a frantic little angsty dance when there's nothing in it at all.

Maybe it's the little kid in me---every day is another chance for something exciting to arrive, who-knows-what from who-knows-where. A letter from my grandmother, a postcard, an invitation. Anything that isn't trying to sell me something (or to remind me of my debts) feels like a little miracle.

I crave communication that I can put my hands on.

Good Luck, S.

My friend S. is on an incredible roll, and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Our talks help me feel sane (but not too sane) in this crazy time. Here's to dreams come true.



PS---What a great movie, right?

Rejected 3: What Was This Movie About?

Finally got my Michigan rejection in the mail after work today. I was really impressed by the comforting tone of the letter. Is that really so hard to do? Say a few nice things, wish the person luck? Send the letter from the flipping department?

It seems like Michigan could teach some schools a few things. (Cough---UMass---Cough.)

Good luck, anyone stumbling through. Tomorrow's another day!

U Minnesota: My First, My Last, My Everything?

I'm almost positive I'll be heading to Minnesota in the fall, and I'm incredibly excited about it. I don't want to give the impression that I'm not, and I know that that's probably the impression I've been giving lately---what with all the whine, whine, whine. I feel ungrateful.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: like many others going through this process, I started out feeling like my chances of getting in anywhere at all were slim to none. I stand in awe of the mysterious combination of circumstances (what they were, I have no idea) and the huge amount of luck that led to an acceptance for me.

The only thing keeping me from going ahead and accepting my Minnesota offer right now is the fact that it's in, well, Minnesota.

I'm a little bit scared of the Midwest. The only experience I have with the region is this: When I was almost eleven years old, my family set out in a rinky-dink little used RV, leaving forever my grandparents' house in Watertown, Mass. and heading for the vague and distant "West." On our way, we passed through Kansas. All I remember about Kansas is flatness, a lack of grocery stores (we couldn't seem to find bread) and a strange profusion of car washes. I'm sure there's more to Kansas than that, but that's what I remember. Also, I'm aware that Minnesota does not = Kansas, and that they are in fact quite far apart.

What is Minnesota Nice? Is it real? Just a stereotype? It sounds kind of scary. Wikipedia says:

Minnesota nice is the stereotypical behavior of long-time Minnesota residents to provide hospitality and courtesy to others. The term is also sometimes used in a derogatory way, to connote a sort of smiling stubbornness, forced politeness, false humility or passive aggressive hostility.

Stereotypes of Minnesotans often overlap with qualities of other people from the Upper Midwest, including the perception that many are quiet and do not wish to offend others or cause a disruption, even if it's for their own benefit. Writer Garrison Keillor played with this image in a piece written for the radio program A Prairie Home Companion called "Wobegonics," the supposed language of Minnesotans which includes "no confrontational verbs or statements of strong personal preference, you know." [...] The generosity of state citizens has gained respect—the heavily-reported influenza vaccine shortage of fall 2004 did not strike the state as hard as elsewhere since many people willingly gave up injections for others.^[1]

Minnesota Nice is a 2003 28-minute documentary by Jeffrey Schwarz about the Coen brothers' movie Fargo, a movie that displays some of the stereotypical behavior.

Here's another link about the supposed phenomenon in relation to the Twin Cities.

The cold I can probably handle. I know it's the cold equivalent of the heat here in Tucson (eyeballs-frying-hot), but I much prefer being cold to being hot. You can always bundle up, but there's only so much you can do about burning flesh. I dealt with Boston blizzards, even kind of enjoyed them---felt like an adventure. I know MN is going to be much worse, but I think I'll be less miserable than some might be.

In other ways, Minneapolis sounds great, like the "Boston" of the Midwest. If you haven't noticed, I'm in love with Boston. I spent the younger days of my childhood moving around between suburbs of Boston (Watertown, Concord, Belmont, Lexington---and a strange interlude in the boondocks of Clinton.) I have many happy memories of dancing around outside the Au Bon Pan in Harvard Square, listening to the street performers and watching the crazy old men play chess.

Anyway!

Apparently Minneapolis is a big literary and publishing center, has lots of museums, bookstores and all that. People say you can get by without a car, which is VERY important to me, since I don't drive. Some pointed out that it sucks having to get groceries by bus when it's snowing and a billion degrees below zero, but I dealt with some of that in Boston and did fine with just the T.

*

My overactive imagination/raging sense of curiosity is another part of my hesitation. I feel like I should wait until I've heard from everyone. That's the standard process, isn't it? I'm bad with decisions and I feel like I need to have all the information first. When I got the call, my first instinct was to say Yes, yes, I'll be there! I can come tomorrow! But I had to bite down on that urge and try to be sensible about it.

I hate to keep them waiting, though. They've been so good to me. I guess they expect it, right? They know we've all applied to multiple schools and that we're waiting to hear back from the rest. Maybe I should send them chocolates.

The funny thing is, when one of my letter writers asked me (around the time I was sending out my first applications) which school I was really pulling for, the first thing that popped out of my mouth was: Minnesota. I wasn't even sure why, but that was my natural reaction. I said, "Actually, I'm really excited about the program in Minnesota." He seemed a little bit surprised. He wanted Cornell (yeah, right) or Rutgers-Newark for me (because of their diversity focus, which I also find attractive.)

I explained how I really like that Minnesota encourages genre-blending/cross-genre experimentation. This is from their website:

The program encourages experimentation across genres, fostering the discovery of new and varied forms for a developing voice.

I also love that they have social writing programs that focus on young writers (SASE Wings) and women of color (Voices from the Gaps.) I'm so interested in programs like these, and I would love to have the chance to get involved during my MFA.

And the faculty, of course, is amazing. I've been reading their books, and I'm just so excited.

Maybe it's fate. Maybe Minnesota and I are just meant to be together. It must mean something that I felt strangely drawn to the program, and they must see something that they connect with in my writing. That's an incredibly good feeling, knowing that. What more could I possibly ask for?

Anyway, again.

I'm going to the prospectives' weekend, March 26-28. I'm in touch with a couple of other admits who are going, as well, and I can't wait to meet everyone, see the city, explore the program on the ground. Minneapolis, here I come!

*

I'm spending way too much time on this blog. I have homework (writing!) to do, and I go back to work tomorrow. Did I say that my shifts start at 6 am? I need to calm it down, here. But I probably won't.

Rejected 2: The Really Crappy Sequel

I just got my UMass Amherst rejection in the mail, finally. I knew it was coming, but some crazy part of me was hoping I might be on a secret waitlist.

I have to admit that this one hurts a little, maybe a lot---even though I know I'm really lucky to have an acceptance to an incredible program at this point. I've been preparing myself for this (see below), but I'm still kind of on the verge of tears.

Part of me SO wants to be back east, and my uncle went to college in Amherst and has been talking it up ever since I told him I wanted to go to grad school. He thinks I'm going to get in everywhere, as do most of the rest of my family---funny how people just can't seem to understand the way that MFA programs make their decisions.

I keep trying to explain to them that it's not about my grades or GREs or even my SOP. Sample, sample, sample. I'm grateful that my family understands why I want to go to grad school, and that most are even supportive of me pursuing an MFA. (Crazy art school degree...I do get the "What are you going to do with that?" spiel from the extended family I'm not so close with.)

But they think that because I was successful in undergrad, I'm automatically going to get into all these programs and have my pick, with multiple funding offers served to me on a platter. When I told my mom about my first assumed rejection (now a reality), she was way more upset than I was. "I just don't understand why they don't want you!"

Oh, Mama. You don't get it.

Anyway, please forgive me for whining when I don't really have the right. Feel free to mentally slap me. Now I'm waiting for my Michigan rejection---that one won't feel nearly as bad.

I need to get over myself. Down, ego, down!

Good luck to everyone, as always, and continuing congratulations and condolences as this maddening process goes on.

*

PS---I was a little bit miffed to see that the letter came from the graduate admissions office, not the department itself. Feels like they didn't even want to waste their letterhead on me. Sigh.

Rejected

Another Michener rejectee here (fiction, today after work, through the application status check website).

It's my first official rejection, but definitely not a surprise. It's like the Queen of England wrote me a note saying "Sorry, but it turns out you're not next in line for the crown."

Oh, okay. It was silly of me to ask.

Who Am I Kidding...

It stings a bit.

I honestly don't feel hurt about not getting into Michigan, and I won't feel hurt when I get the rejection letter that I'm expecting from Cornell. A little bit jealous, yes, in a harmless way. But I never had high hopes about my chances at those programs, so it's not that much of a blow.

---Also, I was feeling kind of ambivalent about 2 year MFAs, given the current state of the economy. Blech, ptooey on this economy! Also also, I think the prestige of those programs would have put a pressure on me that I was dreading. Like I would have been afraid to just follow my gut, when decision time came around. I'm almost positive that that's not just sour grapes talking.---

A strange little part of me almost feels relief each time another door closes. It makes it less likely that I'll have to make a tough decision, in the end.

But Amherst! Part of me was really thinking I'd make it into Amherst, especially after I got the invite from Minnesota. I'm in love with Minnesota, really and truly. I was really hoping to have an option in the northeast, though. Just so I could weigh things. I have family in Boston and New York. (I really miss living in Boston.)

I know it's not over yet, and no matter what happens I'm incredibly grateful, and I feel incredibly lucky. 3 years, full funding, amazing program, cool city. I honestly feel guilty that I haven't just said yes already, that's how grateful I am to Minnesota.

And I feel guilty for whining when I should just be sitting around all day thanking the stars that I somehow managed to get into one of my top programs. I do spend some of my time doing that. When I started this process, I really had no idea if I would get in anywhere. That's why I applied to nine programs, and I would have applied to more if I'd had the money (or the room on my credit cards.)*

Times like right now, I have to admit that rejection does sting, even though I don't have much of a right to say so.

Okay, slapping myself. Shut up already!

*

*By the way, for future applicants:

I'd like to mention that Michigan, UT Austin/Michener and UMass Amherst will waive their application fees if you send in the proper request form, along with documentation of financial need. This was a big help to me.

If you got a GRE waiver from your school (knocked the price of the GRE in half!) a copy of this waiver will usually serve as proof. That's the easiest way. If you didn't get a waiver, a letter from your financial aid office stating that you're a financial need student (very low EFC, received x percentage of need-based aid, etc.) will do the trick.

Ask the financial aid office at your school about GRE waivers, well ahead of time. As with the application fee waivers, you have to have a significant amount of documented financial need to qualify. And don't forget to always fill out that FAFSA!

Speeding Up

Holy macaroni, ask for a flood and you'll get it! Amherst and Michigan (I applied to both for fiction) notified today. Ahh well...

Iowa also notified at least one person (I didn't apply there).

The big excitement for me is that Minnesota notified more people today. I can't wait to bounce my brain off of other people's brains. Congratulations, MN folks!

Congrats to all acceptances, new and old---and hang in there, those of you who haven't heard yet. It's still crazy early in the game.

PS---Nothing in the mailbox today.

PPS---My cat threw up three times today, and not furballs. I'm kind of worried about him, and I have to admit that a part of me is also wondering if this is some kind of bad omen. Ridiculous.

No promising job leads posted on Craigslist today. Man, it's 5 pm and I haven't eaten yet. I'm going to go get in the shower, then I'm going to eat TWO packages of ramen, and some leftover chicken. And I'm going to watch The Office.

Update 11:30 pm: I think Boots is okay. (I didn't name him that, by the way. He's adopted, and I just couldn't bring myself to change his name. He's old.)

Gimme Information / Please Let Me Wait Your Tables, Please

Both UMass Amherst and U Florida notified poetry people today (well, at least one poet each). Cornell notified at least one fiction writer on Friday.

It's pretty exciting. Maybe this means the big rush is coming soon soon soon? Every morning (well, afternoon) I wake up thinking This is going to be the day. Everyone is going to notify everyone today. I'm always wrong. It's so disappointing to find my mailbox full of magazines and tax forms and my inbox full of junk. Maybe there is no big rush. Maybe it's just going to be this grating little trickle, forever and ever. I'm so impatient, ugh.

Meanwhile, I'm still anxiously waiting for my official letter from Minnesota. (Their website says their notification letters will go out in February. So I'm thinking we'll start hearing about more notifications any minute now.) They're having a prospectives weekend in late March, and I really want the info about that.

Meanwhile meanwhile, I'm sooooo BROKE. I'm running out of room on my credit cards---funny how it doesn't sound so bad when I put it that way. Like I'm just storing stuff on them, instead of burying myself in debt. Lucky for me, I really like ramen. Creamy chicken with a few dashes of a chili flavor packet thrown in. Yum.

I still can't find a job. I've actually thought about standing around downtown with a sandwich board announcing my resume, like that guy in New York did. Maybe I should just have a t-shirt made.

I've begun scouring the internet for telecommuting jobs. I always thought of those as kind of fake, but some of them have to be real (?) I found something called Amazon Mechanical Turk, "Artificial Artifical Intelligence." Apparently it's supposed to allow companies to pay people to do weird little online tasks that "people do better than computers." I looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently some people have likened it to a "digital sweatshop" of sorts.

Kind of bizarre, kind of sad, kind of insulting? Yes. Will I try it? Yes!

*

Update: It's mostly a bunch of crap. Now I'm sorting through ratracerebellion.com, which a kind fellow applicant over at the MFA Blog pointed out.

Fiction Faculty Books/My Current Reading List

So I made this list a while back, of books from all the faculty authors at the programs I've applied to. It's definitely not exhaustive, and for the most part I tried to focus on short stories---it's a long list! Basically I just wanted to have something with me to take to the library, to make sure I could find at least one book by each author. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I just recently realized that the Michener Center does in fact have a permanent faculty (I think?). So there aren't any books from them yet.

Authors and programs are listed in pretty much random order here. I apologize for any mistakes.
s= short stories, ya= young adult, e= essays, c= craft

CORNELL

J. Robert Lennon

Pieces for the Left Hand (s)
Mailman

Maureen McCoy

Junebug
Walking After Midnight

Ernesto Quiñonez

Bodega Dreams
Chango’s Fire

Stephanie Vaughn

Sweet Talk (s)

Helena Maria Viramontes

The Moths (s)
Their Dogs Came with Them
Under the Feet of Jesus

Robert Morgan

Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage
The Balm of Gilead Tree (s)

RUTGERS-NEWARK

Tayari Jones

Leaving Atlanta
The Untelling

Alice Elliott Dark

In the Gloaming (s)
Naked to the Waist (s)

Jayne Anne Phillips (Director)

Black Tickets (s)
Fast Lanes (s)

Rigoberto Gonzalez (poetry)

Men without Bliss (s)

MINNESOTA

Charles Baxter

The Believers (s)
Burning Down the House (e)
The Feast of Love

M.J. Fitzgerald

The Placing of Kings
Concertina

Julie Schumacher (Director)

An Explanation for Chaos (s)
The Body is Water
Black Box (ya)

David Treuer

The Translation of Dr. Apelles: A Love Story
Little
The Hiawatha

MICHIGAN

Michael Byers

The Coast of Good Intentions (s)
Long for This World

Peter Ho Davies

The Ugliest House in the World (s)
Equal Love (s)
The Welsh Girl

Nicholas Delbanco

What Remains
The Writer’s Trade (s)
About My Table (s)
The Sincerest Form: Writing Fiction by Imitation (c)

Eileen Pollack (Director)

Paradise, New York

SYRACUSE

George Saunders

CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (s)
In Persuasion Nation (s)
Pastoralia (s)
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil

Arthur Flowers

De Mojo Blues: de quest of Highjohn de Conquer
Another Good Loving Blues
Cleveland Lee’s Beale Street Band
Mojo Rising: Confessions of a 21st Century Conjureman

Christopher Kennedy (Director, poetry)


UMASS AMHERST

Chris Bachelder

U.S.!
Bear v. Shark

Noy Holland

The Spectacle of the Body (s)

Sabina Murray

The Caprices (s)
A Carnivore’s Inquiry
Slow Burn

UMASS BOSTON

John Fulton

Retribution (s)
The Animal Girl (s)

Askold Melnyczuk

What is Told
Ambassador of the Dead
The House of Widows

U FLORIDA

Mary Robison

An Amateur’s Guide to the Night (s)
Why Did I Ever (s)
Believe Them (s)

Padgett Powell

Aliens of Affection (s)
Edisto
Typical (s)

David Leavitt

Family Dancing (s)
A Place I’ve Never Been (s)
Arkansas (s)
The Marble Quilt (s)

Jill Ciment

Small Claims (s)
The Law of Falling Bodies

TEXAS/MICHENER (Visiting Faculty?)

MFA Applications

I'm starting this blog pretty late in the season here, but I figure it's a time worth recording. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started all of this---it's an utterly life-consuming process!
My sleeping schedule is completely disjointed, and my MFA-related distraction is probably getting in the way of my (increasingly urgent) job hunting. I wake up thinking about faculties, and fall asleep comparing cities. In a way, it's kind of wonderful. In other ways, I probably need to snap out of it. Maybe writing this blog will help keep me a little bit more centered?

The MFA Blog (and Handbook), the P & W boards and TSE have been invaluable resources.

In no particular order, these are the nine schools I've applied to, for fiction:

Rutgers-Newark
U Minnesota
UMass Boston
UMass Amherst
Cornell
U Michigan
U Florida
Syracuse
UT Austin/Michener Center

It seems like notification season is just about to begin in earnest. If anyone else going through the same thing happens to stop by my humble little blog, I wish you good luck.