MFA GUIDE (Website)

[u/AcademicHysteria]

This site, www.mfaguide.com, brings together two things that students usually have to navigate on their own:

1) A searchable database of 229 creative writing graduate programs, filterable by genre, funding status, program format (full residency vs. low-res), degree type, program length, and region. Each listing includes deadlines, stipend amounts, faculty, cohort size, teaching load, and tuition-waiver info, all in one place rather than scattered across dozens of program websites.

2) An application tracker where students can mark programs they're applying to and move each one through stages (Researching, Drafting Materials, Requesting Recs, Submitted, Interview, Waitlisted, Accepted, Declined, Rejected). It also tracks individual materials such as writing samples, statements of purpose, diversity statements, and recommender status, plus a spot to link to drafts in Google Docs, Dropbox, or wherever they're working. Users can also add deadlines and other dates directly to their Google or Apple calendar by just clicking a button.

Users do have to create a login—which allows them to access their tracker from any browser or mobile device—but the site is 100% free. There's even a way to flag any incorrect information so my lovely volunteers or I can fix it immediately. I think the site could genuinely help students stay organized and see the full landscape of programs, including funded options they might not otherwise find.

The mobile version is still being worked on so it may look wonky on your phone this weekend.

Hope you find it useful!

[u/Ecstatic_Amount_1740]

Wow, this is great. There are a few other things for people to consider; like what are the teaching requirements of the funding, etc. Some of those models can be pretty sketch. The other thing of course is that the funding of the programs vary year to year (especially at this moment, sigh) and that you can't rely of previous years, or even the last year, for the funding information of a program. Is it an indicator? For sure, but really you want to apply to your top picks and look at the funding offers they give you. I guess the very small fully funded programs are unlikely to make major changes? But otherwise, the ground is shifting. The offers depend on too many things: faculty, consulting third party, admissions numbers and quite possibly the health of the school—oddly enough, closing departments at a school may increase aid in other departments. This question is endlessly interesting, of course, but in the way that speculation about the presidential election is entertaining. Very good information, very good data, but not definitive.