Dear Student: The Creative Writing MFA Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has now completed its graduate admissions deliberations, and I am indeed sorry to report that we will not be able to offer you admission for the 2026-2027 academic year. This decision should not be taken as a sign that our readers did not enjoy reading your work or that you would not thrive in study at the graduate level. We receive many applications, and with an incoming class of only three poets and three fiction writers, we must make difficult decisions. We hope that you will be able to pursue your goals for advanced study in another context, and we wish you the very best success in your creative-writing endeavors. Many thanks for your interest in our program.

Rejection in portal. Email to come soon.

Please consider this letter as a formal acknowledgement that you have been placed on our short and selective waitlist for the MFA Program in Creative Writing at The Ohio State University. All of us on the faculty here greatly admire your work and would be delighted to have you with us next year should a spot open.  The truth is, determining “who gets in” versus “who gets waitlisted” once we have agreed on a group of writers we want to admit is always ridiculously difficult. This is an inexact business (and of course it’s not a “business” at all), and ours is a very small program by design. Please be aware that you are among a distinguished group of writers who received enthusiastic “yes” votes from every one of the relevant faculty.  I can promise you that the very latest you will hear from us about your admission will be one week after April 15, which is the date by which all admitted students must either decline or accept our offer. It’s very possible that you will hear from us sooner, but I wouldn’t count on that, as many people wait until the last possible minute to say yes or no. All I can tell you for sure is that as soon as we know how many offers have been accepted, I will contact you one way or the other.

on site interview

Moved on to second round

Informed by email, no financial aid information yet

4th year applying, this was a big shock

Personal email from program director, followed by a zoom call. Followed up by an automated University email and portal update.

Had a call with the director, who told me on the call.

Called by director first.

Asking to defer enrollment, seeing if they can give me funding (I applied WAY late in the season)

Low-residency, Pan-European MFA.