Rejected from all MFA programs

Eluveitie

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I applied to ten MFA programs this year, and I've been rejected from all of them. I just feel absolutely destroyed. All my professors thought I'd get into a program; I have an agent and two traditionally published novels, and I'll be graduating with a 3.85 GPA + Honors. And yet... here I am, with no plans for the future, devastated and totally lost. I don't know what to do. I still have one semester left to complete, and it's like, why bother doing schoolwork at this point? I haven't been able to write for weeks, and it's difficult just getting out of bed.

It feels like this is the world's way of telling me that my stories aren't worthy, that I am not worthy as a writer, and my POV has no value. This hit particularly hard because the story I used for my sample is very personal to me, and it's the first story I've written where the main character fits my identity.
 

Introversion

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I'm sorry you're feeling crushed, but you do realize that it's possible to have a successful literary career without passing through an MFA class?

I mean, you already have an agent and two trade-published novels. Relax. You got this.
 

cornflake

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I applied to ten MFA programs this year, and I've been rejected from all of them. I just feel absolutely destroyed. All my professors thought I'd get into a program; I have an agent and two traditionally published novels, and I'll be graduating with a 3.85 GPA + Honors. And yet... here I am, with no plans for the future, devastated and totally lost. I don't know what to do. I still have one semester left to complete, and it's like, why bother doing schoolwork at this point? I haven't been able to write for weeks, and it's difficult just getting out of bed.

It feels like this is the world's way of telling me that my stories aren't worthy, that I am not worthy as a writer, and my POV has no value. This hit particularly hard because the story I used for my sample is very personal to me, and it's the first story I've written where the main character fits my identity.

You can try again next year, or look into other programs. Ten isn't a huge number.

Why are you interested in an MFA?
 

frimble3

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I have an agent and two traditionally published novels, and I'll be graduating with a 3.85 GPA + Honors. And yet... here I am, with no plans for the future, devastated and totally lost. I don't know what to do.
Please excuse me if this sounds flippant and snarky, but, in answer to 'I don't know what to do', may I suggest you start writing your next book?

You have an agent and two novels, trade published. There are people here who would (metaphorically) kill for that kind of success. What do you think an MFA would add to your life, unless, perhaps, you are wanting to teach?
(Serious question: why does this leave you 'devastated and lost'? You've applied to 10 MFA programs, what drew you towards those ones, or did you just feel a need to be accepted and get a degree somewhere? What are you hoping to learn?)

Is it because
the story I used for my sample is very personal to me, and it's the first story I've written where the main character fits my identity
?
Does it feel as though you are being judged and found wanting? I assume the selection panels don't know you, so they're not judging your character or your life. Just your writing. Which just may not have been what they're looking for. Maybe some of them didn't realize it was based on your life, (it takes guts to submit your life to be judged) maybe some of them think that you're too good, that you're not going to gain much by their program. :Shrug: If you're going to speculate, speculate something hopeful, at least until you're past the initial feelings of desolation.

But hang in there. Treat yourself gently for a while. Rejection is painful, but, remember, you have an agent and two published books. That's more than many have.
 

Filigree

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I hate to tell you this, but having an agent and two books out may have tilted against you in some MFA programs. Not all.

Unless you are planning to teach in a university adjunct setting (itself a dicey plan right now), having an MFA has absolutely no bearing on a successful publishing career.

You've got this.
 

JJ Litke

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Eluveitie, I read your other thread, too, about manuscript rejections. This all super sucks, I’m sorry. Rejection never stops sucking.

Writing is a field where you have precious little control over the outcomes. You can’t force publishers to accept work, and it’s the same with an MFA program. That means it’s one of those fucked up “it’s the journey, not the destination” things. Frustrating as that is, it’s true. I haven’t succeeded in getting an agent yet, and I don’t have any novels published. As your post demonstrates, getting that won’t make me happy, or make me feel like I’ve succeeded to a point that I don’t need to keep on getting work published. It really is a journey.

You don’t need an MFA to be a writer. And if you’re just now finishing your bachelor’s, you’ve got plenty of time to go back for an MFA if you want to later. Instead of chasing the next goal, I think you should seriously evaluate what you truly want to gain from a writing career. And that needs to be framed in goals that you control, not ones that are controlled by others.
 

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I applied to ten MFA programs this year, and I've been rejected from all of them. I just feel absolutely destroyed. All my professors thought I'd get into a program; I have an agent and two traditionally published novels, and I'll be graduating with a 3.85 GPA + Honors. And yet... here I am, with no plans for the future, devastated and totally lost. I don't know what to do. I still have one semester left to complete, and it's like, why bother doing schoolwork at this point? I haven't been able to write for weeks, and it's difficult just getting out of bed.

It feels like this is the world's way of telling me that my stories aren't worthy, that I am not worthy as a writer, and my POV has no value. This hit particularly hard because the story I used for my sample is very personal to me, and it's the first story I've written where the main character fits my identity.

I got rejected by some PhD programs, but I got into others. It wasn't fun getting those rejections. I know the feeling. It will go away.

I assume you are in the U.S. Some reasons for the rejections....

1. What kind of "honors" program were you in (the traditional, school-based honors program or something like the National Society for Leadership and Success)?
2. Did you apply to schools with high rejection rates (regardless of degree program)?
3. Did you send all undergraduate coursework attempted (from all schools, such as community colleges, other four-year schools, and so on)?
4. Is your GPA your last 60 credits or cumulative of ALL coursework attempted (from all schools)?
5. Did you research the professors in the MFA departments and are they able to help you with your focus?
6. Did you contact the MFA department and ask to speak with an admissions specialist (to learn what kind of students they want and what you can do to best match their focus group of students)?
7. Did you download their student handbook (or student manual) with added admissions information (what to apply to your Statement of Purpose letter)?

I got rejected by one PhD program, because I did not read deep into the student manual (where a piece of hidden information was there to address in the Statement of Purpose). There are MANY other reasons to get rejections. If you apply to other programs, answering these questions may help you get into one or more.
 
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Alessandra Kelley

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I’m sorry. I know how painful that is.

When I saw the thread title I thought visual arts because that’s my field and experience (despite, y’know, knowing this is a writers’ board).

And I do have a little experience in that. In college I had a most excellent teacher who had been born in German-occupied Poland, grew up under the communists and came to America as a young man with an arts degree. When some of his students (including me) were growing anxious about graduate school admissions, he told us that the chief, or rather only (he was a bit blunt-spoken) utility of an advanced degree in the arts was if one were planning to become a teacher. For anything else an undergraduate education, experience and practice had just as much utility.

After that I began to notice that some of my teachers had advanced degrees and some had successful working art careers and there was no particular correspondence between the two.

I didn’t get into any of the MFA programs I applied to. That stung. But I went on anyway and made and have made art all my life, and the longer I go on the less relevant the level of formal education I took in young adulthood seems to be. And, frankly, academia is an interesting subculture, but it is only one subculture among many and there are many other interesting and fruitful ways.

As others have noted upthread, you have two trade published books, an agent, and an excellent GPA. These are very good signs.
 

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Ten is rather a lot of schools to apply to; it's expensive and time consuming. Generally with grad school applications, it's better to concentrate on a few applications, say three to five. Quite often with grad school apps and with submissions to agents and editors, the app is rejected because it's incomplete, which is one reason for concentrating on fewer applications.

As others have noted, it's quite possible that having trade published work counted against you, either because you don't need the M.F.A. or because, in some M.F.A. programs, trade publishing is very much seen as the ugly step sister of literary aspirations.

Why did you want an M.F.A.? What did you expect to gain from it?

How did you see yourself going on in your life after an M.F.A.?

What kind of fiction do you write?

Have you considered simply getting an English M.A. degree at a school with a solid creative faculty?

Have you thought about trying a non-traditional M.F.A. at, say, Warren Wilson or Stonecoast?

I know rejection hurts (I too had some grad school rejections, the swine; I went ahead and got a Ph.D. anyway), but you've got this.

Figure out what you want to do with your life, and do some course correction, including re-applying later, if that's what you want.
 
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Layla Nahar

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A lot of the above people said all the other things I was thinking so I'll add (even though it might seem callous and unfeeling but) have you ever heard the expression 'Rejection is God's protection'? Even if you don't believe in God, the idea can be useful - that is - somehow this outcome - not getting into any of the futures you dreamed about and were counting on, this outcome is helping you in some way. Maybe there's another (and better) opportunity that you wouldn't have known about if you'd been in grad school, or maybe it's just the opportunity to learn and grow, which is a more useful thing than many of us might think.
 

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Since we're all like, "Why do you want an MFA?" (me included) I thought I'd throw this out there.

Ways to make good money writing with just an undergrad English degree:
- journalism (industry jokes aside, it's a good way to spend a few years and make steady - maybe not a lot, but steady - money)
- marketing/PR/community relations - There's more to marketing than writing, but, you might be surprised how valued writing is. Trick is to pick your employer carefully if you value your soul.
- nonprofits - So much grant writing, proposal writing, all sorts of writing. People at the top: not often chosen for their writing skills. They need writers for a lot of things.
- technical writing - I haven't done this one personally, but if you're inclined to this, I gather it's good.
- freelance gigs - Only if you have the self-discipline to be your own boss. I do not, but I hear it works for certain personalities.
- There's probably a lot more. You'd be surprised how few graduates can actually write. Employers are really happy to find people who can write and be more than functionally literate. It'll get you in the door in a lot of places if you're simply punctual, responsible and willing to learn the rest. (And be up front about that. Employers would rather have "responsible" than "genius but can't come to work on time" for most recent grads. They already think all recent grads are idiots who will have to be spoonfed for the first year anyhow.)

If writing your own words is the goal, the trick is to stay kinda low-level in your day job so the job doesn't take over your life. It's hard to find time to write for yourself if you're the boss on call 24/7 (ask me how I know!).
 

Richard White

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I applied for an M.F.A. at a local university and while they didn't come right out and say so on my rejection letter, many of the professors didn't think I was a good fit because "I was a genre author" and they didn't know how to work with a SF/F author. I had sold a media tie-in novel, two novellas, and two short stories at the time of my rejection.

Two years later, I was accepted at another local university for their Masters of English program and the professors there used me almost as an adjunct to help out with some of their classes simply because I "did" have professional credits (and the fact I was about 25-30 years older than the rest of the graduate candidates).

Now, my goal was to become an adjunct professor (I started grad school at 52 - no one was going to hire me as a full-time professor at 60, which is when I might have completed my PhD, so there was little point outside of vanity for me to pursue that), so a Masters would have been more than sufficient with my work credits to adjunct. My bachelors was in History (emphasis on Medieval Studies) and I did get an Associates in English just as a warm-up for my MA, since it had been 25 years since I'd last been in a college classroom. But, none of my writing success (meager though it is) had a damn thing to do with my collegiate career.

This is not to make light of your rejections. Rejections suck. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You're obviously doing something right - you've got two published books and an agent. Don't let the momentary bump in the road keep you from what you enjoy.
 
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ChibiUsagi

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You do not need an MFA to be successful. And you especially don't need it to validate you as writer or to help you share your stories with the world.

Honestly, so many of us English majors are just pushed into MFA programs like dolls on a conveyor belt.

I don't wish to downplay the pain you must be feeling right now. But you can always try again if you decide this is something you really want.

But please, I echo the wisdom above: this doesn't define or defeat you.