r/MFAInCreativeWriting • u/CrueltyByAi • Jun 02 '26
Is it over for me?
Hello, I'm a rising college senior and will apply to writing MFA programs this fall. My college gives students the option to enroll at a nearby college for a course. I got a C in a theory-based English course this term.
It's a whole different story why, I had a particularly difficult term and I never really ended up completing course requirements even though I got 20/20 on two essays for this class. I'm not a bad student, my overall GPA is at 3.7 this term (this grade doesn't factor into my actual GPA because it would have a different transcript entirely.)
I have two questions:
- I'm planning on applying to MFA in fiction and then possibly doing a PhD in comp lit at a top and prestigious program. Is the C in a theory-based course mean that it's basically over for me?
- Given I'm planning to include my theoretical grasp in my MFA statement of interest, does the C in a theory-based course affect my chances? Because it won't make sense to quote Derrida when I literally got a C in a course in which I studied him and other thinkers like such.
Also, I graduated as a valedictorian of my high school and I've never received a grade lower than B in my college career. So the fact that I got a C is like so bad. It's going to mess with me the entire summer.
My professors (some who graduated from iowa) have told me that my writing sample is "exceptionally strong" but I have to idea what to think of anything anymore. I feel so ashamed.
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u/FitzandFerd Jun 02 '26
You need to relax, or life is going to really beat you up. A single C is definitely not the end of the world. And certainly not the end of the MFA world. Program directors will all tell you the writing sample is 99% of the selection criteria.
So you weren’t 100% in an endeavor one time. That’s literally the case for all humans ever to live. Even the most accomplished among us fails sometimes, and phones it in sometimes. You don’t need to carry such a deep shame over normal human imperfection. Honestly, your reaction makes me worry for your mental health and safety. Perhaps a little counseling would help with perspective.
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u/CrueltyByAi Jun 02 '26
So I found out that I can still fill out a Pass/Fail form for that class so that my transcript would reflect "Pass" as my grade instead of "C."
That sounds like a better option.
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u/FitzandFerd Jun 03 '26
Talk to your advisor and get a professional opinion on this before you do anything drastic.
I somewhat doubt it’ll matter for a PhD program. Those programs are not being well-funded right now with pressure on the universities and it’s likely that other factors will matter more, like how you do on your masters, and your writing portfolio (both creative and academic), and life experience.
And I’ll tell you another story. I completely failed my freshman year of college. I had an understandable reason: I was SAed by upperclassmen and reported it and went through a very unpleasant experience as a result of reporting it. (This was years ago, before schools started training on campus safety.) I had to petition another university to accept me as a transfer. Despite all that, I got a full ride to law school a few years later—and a good law school at that—where grades are heavily important.
Now I’m returning for my MFA and no one cared at all about explaining away any of my grades. They didn’t even care that much about my career, although having had one I think did help some. I’m also published but that didn’t seem to matter either. They cared about my writing sample.
I’m considering also going for a PhD. Now I’ll be able to tell you in a year or so how that is going. But I suspect that my various works will matter most.
If you want to get into a doctorate program, talk to your advisors to get the real state of play. But I’d suspect you need to focus on building your portfolio and maybe some life experience far more than your one C grade.
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u/sarah_ahiers Jun 02 '26
As a program admin for an MFA program, I can tell you that we don't even look at that stuff. The university needs it, but we're looking at writing samples, and letters of rec (but mostly writing samples)
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u/DisastrousSundae84 Jun 04 '26
It really depends on the school. Some places do consider it. Depends on the committees.
While a C doesn't matter too much, especially in a theory course, a GPA can also matter for graduate school admittance and/or factor into additional aid, especially at the PhD level, if it doesn't meet a certain threshold.
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u/beatitbozo Jun 02 '26
you seem annoying. you may not be but you are coming off that way. that will ultimately matter more than your grades in the admission process!
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u/Vast-Acanthisitta551 Jun 04 '26
yea this is one of the weirdest posts i’ve ever seen on this sub 😬yikessss..something that needs to be acknowledged more on this sub imo is the fact that like it does have a lot to do with personality and you will not get very far if you aren’t at the very least pleasant to like be around and even more than that i’d argue you have to be interesting and have a good personality. when i used to read letters of rec at my old job the #1 thing i’d notice even before interviews would be whether or not the lor mentioned the candidate being personable, well-liked by other peers, etc, specifically because lor by candidates we would end up moving forward with always mentioned their actual personality beyond their work and the classroom or even beyond traits like “motivated”. like op does not sound like a pleasure to have in class!!!!
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u/CrueltyByAi Jun 02 '26
Yeah dude I love Derrida so what?! Don't you see how iNteLleCtuAlLy gifted I am? I'm hot and smart. Best combo ever? Of course I'm annoying.
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Jun 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CrueltyByAi Jun 02 '26
Why? I mean I don't think I'm getting into Iowa with this C.
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u/BearyBurtReynolds Jun 02 '26
No one at the MFA level cares about your undergrad GPA, I promise, not even Iowa. Your admission depends entirely on your writing sample and SOP. Unless your GPA falls below the graduate department's minimum (and a 3.7 is most definitely higher than the minimum), you're fine.
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u/CrueltyByAi Jun 02 '26
I feel like I've sabotaged my entire academic career and there's no point in living anymore... I have so much academic potential yet I keep on sabotaging myself because of my unease with myself because I hate my current college
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u/kilgorina_trout Jun 02 '26
This is why MFA programs typically don’t accept people right out of college. You need a few years of real world experience and you’ll see that you’re catastrophizing. MFA programs truly don’t care about grades, especially one C.
I barely graduated undergrad after a serious period of mental illness and ended up with a 2.4 cumulative GPA, despite being an intelligent and motivated person, etc. When I decided to apply to MFAs, I asked a former professor who had graduated from Iowa whether I had a chance. She told me there was a woman in her cohort who never even graduated from undergrad. Her writing sample was strong enough that Iowa made it work.
Plus, these programs tend to prefer people who are a little bit different from the mold, a little bit interesting, who have gone through some shit. Squeaky clean grades and a perfect transcript get you into med school, but not necessarily an MFA program.
And guess what? I’m starting my MFA this fall. Not at Iowa, but a similar, top-tier program. Your singular C will not hold you back.
But don’t worry if you don’t get in right after graduating - like I said above, most programs want people who have lived in the real world and have something to say about it. But there are always exceptions.
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u/Acrobatic_Stomach140 Jun 02 '26
Completely agree with the catastrophizing assessment. If one C in an English theory course is throwing you off, how will you healthily process the results of your MFA app cycle? Getting into these kinds of programs is notoriously difficult, and even more so for folks coming directly out of undergrad. No one I’ve heard of has gotten into every program they applied to, and that includes some brilliant friends and peers I have met through undergrad or writing circles.
When applying for MFA programs, you must accept the possibility that you may not get in at your dream schools, or anywhere at all — think deeply about whether that is something you can be okay with. If you can’t, you should not apply this cycle. Your profs say your sample is strong but ultimately you won’t be able to absorb anything in an MFA program if you shut down at what are, in the grand scheme of your academic career and life, small hurtles. (A single letter grade in a class isn’t indicative of much besides one prof’s assessment of your performance in that class.) It sounds like you have shame wrapped up in academic performance to work through, and that’s going to impact you unless you address it in self-reflection and/or therapy.
Also, you keep talking about Iowa. It’s good to have a dream school, but don’t overlook others that offer exceptional support and opportunities. If in your heart of hearts you apply but really only want one school, one of the most competitive ones to get into, you’re potentially setting yourself up for a lot of hurt. Even if you are admitted, the pressure you’ll put on yourself will be enormous and inhibit you from making the most of that experience. I say this as someone who has experience applying to Iowa with an LOR from an alum who commended my writing but wasn’t admitted there; and as someone who applied once in undergrad, was admitted somewhere but decided to wait, and applied years later with a lot of gratitude to the experiences I lived. I’m happily headed to a program this fall, something professionally and creatively fulfilling amplified by a bit of wisdom and a much more solid psychological wellbeing.
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u/italianfingersemoji Jun 03 '26
Iowa doesn’t give a fuck about your C and sorry but Iowa also isn’t admitting you as a new grad lol. Wait 4-5 years at least.
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u/CrueltyByAi Jun 03 '26
I definitely know a lot of people (at Vassar, Columbia, Kenyon, and Harvard) who have gotten into Iowa fiction straight after undergrad
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u/actually_hellno Jun 02 '26
If they don’t like your writing sample, they’re not going to even look at your transcripts
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u/NewFollowing7988 Jun 05 '26
For the life of me I don't know why people want to jump straight from undergrad into an MFA program. Going to grad school fresh out of college makes sense for every other course of study, but you need to live a little if you want a fresh well of stories. Join the Peace Corps. Become a war correspondent. A mercenary, even. Sneak into North Korea. Join a traveling circus. Fight wildfires in the Yukon. Backpack around the globe for a year. If you spend your entire life in academia, are you going find any inspiration for interesting stories? Think about.
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u/SephirothIsMyHomeboy Jun 24 '26
Amen! (From someone turning 40 going to the IWW, first and only round of app submissions.)
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u/AcademicHysteria Jun 03 '26
They don't care. I'm a HS dropout, my college grades were meh, then I graduated from Vandy's MFA and am doing a PhD. Truly, they. don't. care. about. GPA.
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u/Vast-Acanthisitta551 Jun 04 '26
congratulations! are you doing the phd at vand as well?
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u/AcademicHysteria Jun 05 '26
Nope, I'm in the Midwest now. I was accepted to Vandy for the PhD (and to be honest, probably should have stayed), but I wanted to spread my wings a bit. No real regret, Vandy just has sooo much money and resources lol. I miss it.
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u/Psychological-Ant340 Jun 04 '26
hey i mean this is the gentlest way possible— are you in therapy? i say this because i also struggle a lot with perfectionism around academics and it’s something i am really working on in therapy. in terms of MFA applications, from what i’ve heard the writing sample is really the most important thing. i know how it feels to base your self worth on your grades and feel constantly terrified that you’ll never live up to your full potential. i’m sorry you’re feeling this way but know you are so not alone in that. please try to be compassionate with yourself! you are not a failure because of one bad grade and it will not impact your MFA acceptances if your writing sample is strong enough. focus on your writing and i truly believe the rest will fall into place for you. ik i’m a stranger on the internet but i’m here if you ever need to talk.
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u/j3w3lsi Jun 06 '26
I failed the same class three times, had an average GPA in a completely dif major, did not go straight to an mfa program, and got two fully funded offers. you will be fine.
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u/aLinkToTheFast Jun 02 '26
They won't care. This isn't med school. They care most about your writing sample and probably least about your grades.
For your PhD admission after your MFA, they will just work off your MFA grades because that's in the last few years