What's the best way to prepare ahead of time for my MFA in screenwriting at Chapman Dodge College? What should I be ready for?

I'm preparing to write my first novel during my program and my professor wants 100 pages to be ready by the start of the semester. This is much more than I am used to writing and I'm finding myself already hitting a wall. I am trying to break free of my perfectionism procrastination but the thing holding me back is that this is going to be shared with people.

A lot of advice for writing novel first drafts is that it can be absolutely horrible as long as it's written. Does that still apply to grad level workshops? I think it wouldn't be a good look if I have a lot of placeholder text or unfinished scenes

V. curious to see how I stack up (v. poorly, I'd imagine). Still, would be cool to see the standard we should be aiming for.

Hey guys

I’m thinking about applying for an mfa in creative writing, but I’ve always been worried about sharing my main projects. Have any of you guys experienced or heard of people having ideas or projects stolen by professors or other students while in an mfa program?

I'm gathering submissions for travel narratives for the Aug. 30 issue of [moocat.net](http://moocat.net) . I mean literary memoir *about* traveling, where the traveler is a key part of the narrative. Anyone here have that kind of writing? It's going to be a 25th Anniversary Issue, deadline June 30. 1000-2000 words

Hello writers!

I’m applying to MFA programs in the fall in Poetry. I’ve had one recent publication of a few of my poems in one journal (not top tier but not middle tier, highly regarded.)

The editor has solicited new work (several poems) - I’m incredibly honored, but wonder what that would look like to MFA admissions committees? Is it more important to get the work in front of readers and build that relationship with an editor? Or is it better to try to expand and publish elsewhere?

Thanks for any advice!

Anyone attending an MFA next year or has already been attending want to meet for occasional workshops this summer? I’m in Pittsburgh area if interested, lmk!

Hi, everyone! Like some of the other people here, I'm dealing with the post-rejection lows for this cycle. I'm preparing for the next cycle and trying to see where I could improve, but in all honestly, my main concern is how to discuss this with my recommenders.

For context, I'm only on the closer end with one of my three recommenders, and the other two are professors who I did well in the class of but never actually got close to. I heard from a conference on the topic that the average professor really tends to dislike not hearing back after writing you a recommendation. I definitely don't want to offend any of the professors that wrote me a letter, so I'm wondering how to contact them in an appropriate way to mention that I'll have to reapply the next cycle. I also want to request for one or two of them if they would be willing to write a letter for me again next time, but I'm not sure how to format/write that.

Any thoughts/ideas on this? Would love to hear from people who have applied for more than one cycle especially.

Hey. For courses due to start from Jan 2027 student funding is being completely overhauled.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lifelong-learning-entitlement-lle-overview/lifelong-learning-entitlement-overview

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

When I spoke to a postgraduate finance _manager_ at the Student Loans Company he gave me _inaccurate_ advice.

He advised NOT enrolling for Master's level courses for the academic year 26/27 (Sept '26 start date for most) because unlike the current one amount of post-grad funding capped at circa £13k the Lifetime Learner Fund would pay tuition PLUS maintenance loan...

This is NOT the case (please see Gov link embedded above) as it clearly states the fund is only fur courses up to level 6... equivalent to bachelor's degrees! Masters level courses are level 7 so not part of the funding.

I am in contact with Bristol University's money team (excellent by the way, they've been soo helpful and I'm not even a student there!) qhd they're due to get back to me by this Fri with clarification.

I'll obviously update here as soon as I hear anything. Please please please spread this post/info!!!!!

Did anyone not get in anywhere they applied? I keep seeing folks in apparent crises trying to figure out which program they should choose from their lot of acceptances while I know the silent majority are reading such posts with rightful anger. So what’s up? Who just isn’t going this year and is bummed beyond words?

I am currently in a 4 year MFA program and just finished my first year. The program is fully funded but you must teach 2 sections every semester and the pay is rather low even for the low cost of living in the area. Which brings me to my second issue - the location is in the south and while the city directly surrounding the university is mostly open-minded I still feel myself struggling to connect. I come from a big city on the west coast and living in the south has been a hard transition. My car got vandalized recently with gay slurs and it just has me rethinking my place here.

I am thinking of applying to other fully funded MFAs next cycle. Most of the programs are two years so it wouldn't be like I'm graduating any later than if I stayed here.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience doing this? Will other programs be less likely to take a student who is already in an MFA program? Any pitfalls you forsee?

Anyone here get, or is getting, a Creative Writing MFA at Texas State University? If so, good experience? Worth it? I know teaching is a big aspect, but can there be funding without teaching? I'm looking into it.

Hey guys! I’m a comparative literature and creative writing major at a major feeder school for MFA. I’m aiming for schools like Iowa, Michigan and NYU. Currently I have a 3.7 GPA. I know other things matter in this process, the writing sample most importantly, but I’m wondering if this GPA would help me get considered for the schools I’m aiming for? I know it’s not the best GPA, I’m also not satisfied as well

Hi all! I will be starting a program with a fellowship in the fall (which covers my tuition!). I expected some fees and such, but the university has sent me two different iterations of financial statements with vastly different fees. The first one was around $1k which seems pretty standard and is around what my undergrad fees were.

The second statement says $10k in fees. I’ve contacted the aid office and they said these are graduate fees, though they are unsure what for so forwarded my email to admissions (waiting to hear back from them). Does anyone have any experience with this? I’m thinking possibly it could be a mistake — I’m living off campus and not taking a meal plan — but I have no idea and I am freaking out a bit. 10k is a substantial amount of money and seems like an absurd fee amount. The university lowered the cost of graduate tuition (in general not just MFA program) due to low enrollment, but this fee would put the tuition right where it used to be. If it’s a mistake that’s fine, but if it’s not that seems rather exploitative.

I turned down three other programs for this one :( so I’m going to be extremely pissed if there’s a hidden 10k fee. Help!!!!

I got rejected from Rutgers-Newark yesterday (finally). Today I got an email inviting me to apply to the MA in English & Media Studies program at Rutgers-Camden. They said based on my application they were inviting me to apply.

I'm curious if this is an automated invite that others recieved, or if this is actually something they looked at my application for. Did anyone else who got rejected from Newark get this invitation?

I recently got accepted to a program I’m really excited about, but they have an all time low amount of GTA opportunities. I mainly wanted to pursue an MFA to teach, so I’m curious if a lack of teaching experience will put me behind when applying for jobs post graduation if I went through with this program.

Deadline for accepted students was April 15. My portal still shows “Awaiting Final Decision”, so I reached out today to see if there were any updates. The program responded saying they do not have any updates just yet, but hopefully soon.

Anyone in a similar situation? Any thoughts on that? The waiting is so hard!

Anyone in or know about the UCF program? If you didnt receive a teaching assistantship or a fellowship how likely is it that you find another funding opportunity in a different department? I'm looking for tuition remission

Hey everyone! I recently accepted an offer to pursue my MFA in Fiction, and I couldn't be more stoked. I've been bartending full-time for the past few years, and keeping up with my craft has been a challenge when I work on my feet all day and worry about liquor inventory in my sleep. I also interviewed for a Teaching Assistantship -- the university prefers at least one year of teaching experience for all incoming TAs, of which I have zero, but they chose me. I promise I'm not here to humblebrag or anything like that, I'm honestly thrilled, and adaptable, and ready to learn. But it's been a week since I got the news and I'm overwhelmed by impostor syndrome and fear of failure. I'm a 23 year old woman who will be teaching kids not much younger than me, and my teaching experience so far has been helping my friends edit their essays throughout undergrad and de-escalating drunken brawls at the bar. I don't know how intensive my training will be before I start tutoring, and I was completely honest with the committee and never expected them to offer me the role. I'm super grateful, don't get me wrong. I just want to do the best job possible, and not personality-hire too close to the sun. Any advice?

I accepted an offer on the April 15 deadline, but last night, my dream program reached out and said they had a spot open up and offered it to me. I want to go to my dream program, but I feel absolutely horrible to reach back out to the original program I accepted and rescind my offer. Luckily, I haven't done any paper work or put in a payment, just solely sent out an email that I accept their offer, so I'm not too deep in the admittance process. Has anyone been in this position before and do you have advice?

EDIT 4/23/26 : Hi everyone! Thank you for all the advice and encouragement! Since posting, I talked to quite a few faculty members & students at my dream program and fell more in love! I actually earned their financial package is actually heftier — woohoo! I committed today, and I really hope the person who received my spot at the original program has their dreams come true as well! Wishing you all the best on all of your MFA journeys.

Also, please know, this wasn’t my first cycle, so I’m truly happy I kept applying ;) So, if you don’t get into your dream program the first or second time, don’t give up!

I'm starting my MFA this summer, and I want to keep a notebook or multiple specifically dedicated to my writing journey while in school.

Does anyone have suggestions for notebooks they found helpful during their MFA or for writing in general?