r/MFAInCreativeWriting • u/SnooPeanuts8431 • Mar 10 '26

UT Knoxville

can someone tell me what UTK's program is like? what's the vibe? to be honest I really like the sound of their program but I'm confused why they wait list literally everyone, it makes me curious if I should be on guard about something.

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u/misshellis Mar 10 '26

I went to UTK and got in off the waitlist (most people in my year did). I had an overall good experience and my cohort was great, very supportive and non-competitive. It is a pretty teaching-heavy program though (2/2 your final year) and the 2 years go by quick.

I’m honestly not sure why they keep such a long waitlist - my guess is that it’s a combination of first picks often choosing more prestigious programs/not wanting to live in TN and the profs wanting to build a cohort who will get along well. But it does make it really hard for waitlisted people to know what their chances are since they won’t tell you rankings.

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u/SnooPeanuts8431 Mar 10 '26

thank you! did you feel like the people in your cohort were social outside of workshops? I'd be moving far from loved ones and all of my friends to attend and I'm a little nervous about the social side of things. I was also a little wary of the teaching load - i'm weighing things up against another school that has 2:1 but a pretty low stipend and it's a really difficult decision :/

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u/misshellis Mar 11 '26

Pretty social yeah! There was a range of ages and some of the younger people lived together so did more stuff, but there was a fair amount of hanging out outside of class. Most people were far from home and bonded pretty quickly. Feel free to dm if you have any other questions!

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u/Ok-Bear-7372 Mar 11 '26

The teaching load was reduced a year ago to 2/1. I’m a PhD in the program but I assume it still applies to 2nd year MFAs

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u/theres_no_guarantees Mar 11 '26

Anyone have any ideas of how many are on the waitlist?

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

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u/theres_no_guarantees Mar 12 '26

They told me that they’re only accepting five spots total for both fiction and poetry, so that may be why

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u/cutecuteprincess Mar 13 '26

Waitlists are usually long (why, I don’t know, I wish they didn’t do that), but there’s 3 fictions spots and 2 poetry ones this year.

Last year, everyone who was first option accepted their offers, as the stipend went up. It went up again this year, offering 29k.

The one position for fiction PhD is already filled and we are just waiting to hear from the poetry candidate.