Columbia and the Smoking Hiatus

I received yet another rejection last night. Columbia College Chicago has officially declared my writing less than worthy of their MFA in Fiction Writing program. I realize that my ultimate goal revolves around teaching Memoir, Non-Fiction, Autobiography, etc, but the MFA at Columbia has a dual degree option, combining an MFA in Fiction Writing with an MA in Teaching Writing. It was such a beautiful idea. And now it is gone. I thought the rejections would get easier as they came, but of course that was a lofty ideal. The sting is just as sharp.

This news brings my current status to Rejections-2, Wait-Lists-2, No Word-5. Bleh. And still no word from Notre Dame. Patience.

The sadness I felt from hearing the rejection letter as Danny read it to me over the phone could only be cured by experiencing true joy, in it's purest of forms. By this I mean (drum roll) a trip to In-N-Out. Yes, I know... what about the diet? Er, excuse me... life-style change? I figured I deserved a break from all of the rejection, and In-N-Out is the best place to take a break. Of course, Danny and I agreed to roll our fat asses out of bed this morning and hit the gym to ease the damage. After 1 hour of cardio and ab workouts, I felt like I was going to hack my brains out from all the coughing.

Hence, the reference to smoking in the title. Yes, my dear friends and creepy stalker readers, it is that time. As much as I enjoy sucking in the warm taste of tobacco and feeling the rush of nicotine-ey goodness, I have decided to take a smoking hiatus. If I really want to lose weight... If I want to be able to get out of bed in the morning and not feel like the King of Nasal Problems is wrapping himself around my face... I need to call it quits. I am not promising forever - just 30 days. I figure if I allow myself the idea that I can smoke again one day, it might be a little easier than the word FOREVER, which drives me insane. But the true hope is that when I wake up on April 11th I will think to myself, "maybe just one more day."

Wait-List #2 + Fun Trip Things!!!

I broke down yesterday and called all of the schools I have yet to hear from. I felt it was my right as an applicant not to have a hernia over waiting. Here is what I was told:

Arizona: no admissions decisions for creative non-fiction have been sent out (yay!)

Baltimore: no admissions decisions have been made (double yay!)

Columbia: some admissions decisions have been sent out, but not all (not as big of a yay, but still good)

George Mason: wait-listed and midway on the list, meaning i have a 25-30% chance of getting in... the email was sent to the wrong address (awesome!)

Hollins: no admissions decisions have been made (cool!)

Notre Dame: no admissions decisions for prose have been made (BEST NEWS EVER!!!)

So I can breathe now, knowing I haven't been completely rejected. And now I still have hope for Notre Dame!! FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Also on the "news" front - Danny and I have purchased tickets to visit our friends Tucker and Amanda in South Carolina during the first week of May! We are so excited. Tucker and Amanda are two really great people. We can't wait to see them and experience Charleston and Myrtle Beach. And what is also pretty great is that if I end up getting admitted to any of the above schools, we are taking a long enough trip that I could fly to visit one of them one day while we are out there! So much fun!

New News

So I may have spoken too quickly the other day. It looks like the University of Arizona has not yet notified any fiction/non fiction applications of acceptances as of yet. Sad new though: Notre Dame notified their acceptances yesterday. So here are the stats as of now:

University of North Carolina-Wilmington (waitlisted)

Hunter College (rejected)

Columbia College Chicago (assumed rejection)

George Mason University (assumed rejection)

University of Arkansas (assumed rejection)

University of Notre Dame (assumed rejection)

Hollins University

University of Arizona

University of Baltimore

I have officially decided that if I do not get in anywhere, I will take a deep breath, keep writing and apply again next year.

Application Status

As someone who has been obsessing over Driftless House and Poets and Writers Speakeasy forums, I have gotten a brutal dose of reality. My top choice schools have already dished out what I can assume is most of their acceptances. Here is where I currently stand:

University of North Carolina-Wilmington (waitlisted)

Hunter College (rejected)

Columbia College Chicago (assumed rejection)

George Mason University (assumed rejection)

University of Arizona (assumed rejection)

University of Arkansas (assumed rejection)

Hollins University

University of Baltimore

University of Notre Dame

The final 3 on the list are the only schools who have yet to send out any acceptances. Thank God one of them is my top choice. I really hope I end up lucky on this one....

School List

It occurred to me recently that I have never posted a list of schools I am applying to...

Columbia College Chicago

(Dual Program: MFA in Creative Writing/MA in Teaching)

George Mason University

(MFA in Creative Writing)

Hollins University

(MFA in Creative Writing)

Hunter College

(MFA in Creative Writing)

University of Arizona

(MFA in Creative Writing)

University of Arkansas

(MFA in Creative Writing)

University of Baltimore

(MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts)

University of North Carolina-Wilmington

(MFA in Creative Writing)

University of Notre Dame

(MFA in Creative Writing)

Tetris and the Irish

I have been a huge Tetris fan since I was around 10 or 11 years old. Currently, I have a free version on my computer called Sporktris, and my boyfriend Danny enjoys teasing me about my obsessive nature when it comes to this wonderful, finger-aching, time consuming game. I love leaving one column open, building up the rest, and then knocking out four rows at a time. Not too many people know that doing it this way gives you more points than getting rid of the rows one at a time.

Today was a big Tetris game for me.

For the past week, Danny and I have been talking about visiting Notre Dame. We want to go so that we have a weekday and a weekend day at ND so I can get a tour and visit the Creative Writing Department while they are open on a Friday and, of course, so we can see a football game on Saturday. We went back and forth about what weekend, tried to figure out what tickets to get and see if we even had enough money to take a trip before Thanksgiving (yikes!) It didn't look like it was going to work. My work couldn't guarantee I could take off work during the week before thanksgiving... plane tickets were priced ridiculously high due to it being the weekend before a holiday... football tickets were non-existent... and hotels in South Bend are priced at $200 a room due to it being a home game weekend.

But then today happened, and everything fell in to place. Not even just the things we were hoping for, but circumstances far beyond my personal hopes. My parents are giving us a free ticket, knocking out $350. We found INCREDIBLE tickets online, and this kind man knocked a huge chunk off of the price because Danny's grandfather is an alum of ND, saving us $100.

Danny's best friend has a "really cool aunt" living in Chicago (where we are flying in) that is going to let us stay with her zero dollars, getting rid of what could have been $250-$300 in hotel costs. We might also get to use their car (still in the works) which would save us another $100 on renting one. Lastly, Danny's brother is in the Naval Academy, and ND will be playing Navy on the 7th, a game that all students at the Naval Academy get to attend. We will not only get to see his brother Jordan, we will get to spend much needed quality time with him. Danny is also going to help me study for the GRE on the plane, because the test is the day after we get back! (CRAZY!!! hahaha) Plus, I will probably get to visit Columbia College Chicago, which is my number 2 graduate school choice, for an hour or so.

It's like all of the little blocks, the blue L shape, the pink backwards L shape, the red Z shape, the yellow backward Z shape, and the orange rotatable T, were all in this weird arrangement that kind of fit, but there was something huge missing. Then the wonderful green long block graced the screen, and fell into the far left column that was still empty, and everything came together. It's wonderful. I cannot wait for this weekend. :)