http://faerye.net/tag/worritPosts tagged with "worrit" - Faerye Net2006-02-23T13:38:09+00:00Felicity Shouldershttp://faerye.net/http://faerye.net/post/are-you-ready-to-be-rejecteeeeeeeeeedAre you ready to be rejecteeeeeeeeeed?2006-02-23T13:38:09+00:002008-06-08T15:13:25+00:00<p>It’s my last week before my first application to grad school is due. I have two essays still to write, and my manuscript (writing sample) is making the rounds of my immediate family, gathering comments. I should really stop reading things like message forums full of other <span class="caps">MFA</span> applicants/students.</p>
<p>Things I’m worried about:</p>
<p><b>1.</b> Most people are already worrying about whether they got in. Is this just because I’m applying low-residency and they’re not, so they have different deadlines? Or do all <em>serious</em> applicants beat the deadline by two to three weeks? Is my application, screeching in a day before the deadline, going to be viewed with disdain?
</p><p><b>2.</b> I have never attended a workshop or seminar on writing outside of undergrad. Will my lack of an academic career post-UG brand me as a dilettante?</p>
<p><b>3. </b> People talk about reader’s fatigue, and not wanting to make the readers cross by sending them <span class="caps">TWO</span> stories which total up to one page over the page limit. What? I am sending two short stories <span class="caps">AND</span> two very short stories. It says ‘25 pages’, and I took that seriously! ‘Reader’s fatigue’? Damn!
</p><p><b>4. </b> I have to write a personal essay that answers about five questions. Is this supposed to be narrative, cohesive, amusing? Will they find my personality charming if I infuse it, or do they want some sort of formal artistic screed? How the heck am I supposed to divine their intentions?</p>
<p><b>5.</b> I have to write a critical essay, about anything I’ve ever read, but which has to address issues of being a writer, my own writing, writing craft, et cetera. So not only do I have to narrow the field from ‘everything I’ve ever read’, but I have to decide whose writing I should analyze in order to say something about <span class="caps">MINE</span>.</p>
<p>I have read these message boards, and I have looked up other information online, but at the end of the day, I feel like an outsider. There are intangibles at work here, unwritten rules of academia, and I guess I have no choice but to ignore them. I’ll follow the directions, do my best, and then hope and pray.</p><p>At least I seem to have a better grade-point than the average forum-poster….</p>