A Rejection and an Acceptance

Received rejection number four today, from Indiana University. A long time coming, really, and I can't say I'm terribly surprised. For a while, though, I was holding out hope that I was perhaps waitlisted, due to lack of response. Add to the fact that I've always held a special place in my heart for Indiana's focus on diversity in their MFA program makes the outcome a little disappointing, personally speaking. As a writer and a minority, I've always tried to make it a point to immerse myself in an environment that fosters diversity in not only skin color, but culture, voice, and experience. I have no doubt I'll be able to find this in whatever program and school I go to, but I'd be lying if I said this rejection didn't sting just a little.

My acceptance came via email from Western Michigan University. I'm pretty excited with the acceptance, with WMU possessing a fine program with a great faculty. Unfortunately, the offer is unfunded (I had been expecting there to be partial funding, based on my research of previous years), and based on a post with another Western Michigan acceptee (to the PhD program), it seems as if WMU does not have as much funding to provide their students this year as they have in previous years. This, of course, is complete hearsey on my part, so take it with a grain of salt. At any rate, a completely unfunded offer -- however prestigious the program -- is a tough pill to swallow, especially in comparison to the other offers I have on the table.