My daughter did too. And we also thought the slim envelope was a rejection. Is she going? We are still waiting to hear from Iowa but she is pretty excited by the writers that will be at Sewanee.
@cassienj My daughter is waiting for two more, but the only one I believe she would take over Sewanee is Iowa. She spent a long time looking into the programs (she doesn’t get on college confidential so she hasn’t read any of the CC feedback) but she felt that Sewanee would be ideal for her if she doesn’t get Iowa. (and she really doesn’t believe she will get into Iowa) I think there’s a very good chance she’ll attend Sewanee. And it sounds fantastic! There was a lot of excitement in our house the day she heard from them!
@cassienj Also, I know I’ve asked this on several threads, but what are you doing about the fact that Sewanee wants the deposit received by April !st and Iowa doesn’t email decisions until then?
Desie1 keep us posted. We are in the same boat. My daughter is really excited about Sewanee and I think is almost hoping to get rejected from Iowa to make it that much easier! Our daughters maybe seeing each other this summer.
Hi. As my name implies I’m a mom. Just read 5 years of posts on summer writing programs in one sitting. All very interesting. My daughter is a rising junior. She attended Kenyon last summer. I originally had to encourage her to try something new and she wasn’t sure. When she returned she said it was the best two weeks of her life.
Has anyone attended the Emerson writing program or the Bard program? The latter has been mentioned but not reviewed.
@florida13mom Kenyon is considered to be one of the best summer writing programs in the country. Did she apply to the other competitive ones for this summer? From reading the CC posts, it doesn’t seem like Emerson or Bard would compare although I have heard students really enjoy Bard. (Haven’t read any feedback on Emerson)
She is waiting to hear from Iowa
LAst year as a rising sophomore she applied to Sewannee, Iowa and Kenyon. She got into Kenyon only. As I said, she loved it. She also is looking at Summer at Briwn which has a lot of different summer classes but also creative writing. Where have you attended
I sent you a private message.
Desie 1 I’m new to chatting and am not sure how to send a private message.
My daughter said they did a lot of poetry at Kenyon. They had a morning class and I think some afternoon electives. My daughter has never ( except Kenyon) had any formal training or group to help her with writing. She just decided she loves to write and does it. She likes speculative fiction. That’s what she says it’s called. It’s kind of sci if to my mind.
Kenyon is selective but yet they did not require much in the way of writing sample as you said. Maybe they base it on transcripts and recommendations. I don’t know. My daughter has a good school record so that likely helped. She was wowed by the other students and teachers at Kenyon. But she’s in public school in Florida so it was eye opening for her to be around such a diverse and intellectually motivated group of kids with similar interests.
Sewannee looks like a great program and I’m sure your daughter will live it. Last year I thought my daughter would’ve gotten in there over Kenyon but who knows? Maybe sci fi/ speculative fiction submissions are not as highly regarded as poetry?
@florida13mom I don’t know all the college confidential rules, but I think you aren’t allowed to write a private message until you have a certain amount of posts. So maybe that’s why you couldn’t respond with a PM. Thanks for the info on Kenyon. My daughter isn’t really interested in poetry so Kenyon might not be a good fit for her. She submitted a short story to Sewanee. She is so happy that she got one of these programs that she doesn’t even really care if that’s the only one she gets. It looks so great! Good luck to your daughter. Some other programs I heard of that were good were Interlochen and California Arts - something like that. I’m sure you can find the exact name on this thread.
U of I Summer Academies-Creative Writing
It’s through 4-H, but it’s something cheap like $200 per night. Includes meals, housing, the course, and transportation. Oh, and a banquet!
Has anyone heard from Kenyon?
Got it today. Waitlisted.
My daughter got into Kenyon today. She is going to have to make a decision about where to go. But a waitlist spot will open at one of the programs.
Anybody have any opinions about Kenyon vs. Sewanee?
Hi Desi, her wish came true and she didn’t get into IOWA so we accepted Swanee today and I am mailing the check. What have you decided?
@cassienj We figured my daughter wouldn’t get Iowa, so we mailed the check a few days ago. It was making me nervous because they said the check had to be received today. But she did get Kenyon so she hasn’t decided 100% that she will attend Sewanee, but I think she is leaning that way. I will post wherever she decides to go – completely up to her. But maybe they’ll meet at Sewanee! I think the program sounds fantastic, and I loved their videos!
Did you notice that the zip code on the Sewanee papers was wrong? When I went to the post office to mail it, they said that there is no such zip code as 36383. It’s 37383.
Hi everyone! I originally posted this in the Iowa thread but @desie1 thought people might find this helpful, so here goes: my (far too lengthy) recap of my experience at Sewanee last summer.
It really was a great experience, and unlike any other academic summer program I had done before. It’s a small community, around 60 or so kids, and everyone basically hangs out in a big group.
One thing you should be prepared for is the freedom. Workshop is for several hours in the morning, readings are at night, and there are several other mandatory activities. Other than that, however, you’re on your own. It’s up to you to wake up on time, attend meals, get your work done, and stay entertained. Some kids took advantage of the gorgeous campus (seriously, it’s breathtaking) and went on walks during their free hours. Once, a group of us took a late night hike down a steep hill to a hidden waterfall, went swimming, and made our way back with no supervision. While most of us ate in the dining hall, there were some people who went to the (very small) town every day for lunch, others survived off bookstore snacks, and a few chose the hummus-and-olive sandwiches at the student-run coffee house, Sterlings (probably one of my favorite places on earth). There would be counselor-run activities, but it was the responsibility of the individual to figure out the time and place. Workshop was mandatory, obviously, but if you overslept, it was nobody’s fault but your own. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that Sewanee will be whatever you make of it. Personally, I liked the independence. It was one of the first times I felt like a real adult, as juvenile as that sounds.
Also, if you’re a rising sophomore like I was, be ready to be one of the youngest there. The vast majority of the attendees were rising juniors and seniors. However, there isn’t much of an age divide at all, and everyone is accepting. The kids are all sweet, talented, and pretty laid back. A good amount of them were from the South, but there were several from the West Coast and New England. We spend hours writing and reading in the dorm courtyard while somebody played Hedwig’s Theme on a pink ukulele. The kids were all individuals; there was no sense of conformity. It was easy to make friends.
I absolutely adored my workshop. Each class is taught by a professional, most of them with MFAs and many with published books. The groups are small (I think mine had nine people). In my fiction workshop, we spent most of our time actually writing, rather than sitting around and discussing technique. We had short prompts, long prompts, and one final story that is excerpted and read aloud at the end of camp. There is also a lot of time dedicated to short stories. If you’ve never been critiqued before (I hadn’t), don’t worry. Basically, everyone in the group reads your work and comments on it in class while you stay silent and observe. It’s not half as scary as it seems, and it’s actually a quite enriching experience.
Wow, this turned out a lot longer than I originally planned. I hope this helps anyone who is curious about the program. Feel free to let me know if you have any more questions!
@octaviablake Did you do any other programs before Sewanee? Like Kenyon, by any chance?
@desie1 I was a rising sophomore when I did Sewanee, so I wasn’t eligible for Kenyon until this summer. It looks amazing, but I didn’t apply because of scheduling. One thing that jumped out at me, though, was the fact that they don’t require a writing sample in the application. Since I might apply next year, does anyone have any information about that? Or am I mistaken?