Iowa Young Writers' Studio

@desie1 My acceptance letter said to call to reserve a space ‘now’, it didn’t mention anything about April 1st. Once we called them the lady said that they would notify the waitlisted people on that day. I’m annoyed that they were vague on the acceptance letter, because it said that they were taking calls until April 15, but that they would’ve liked to hear earlier or something like that. We told them we wouldn’t have our summer plans figured out until next week, so we will have to let them know day Iowa letters go out.

@desie1 I wonder why it says $50 on my letter. My mom checked once more and it says $50.

i wonder why there are so many discrepancies.

@sfijm23 Yes, they mentioned that they would be taking calls till April 15 but would prefer to hear earlier. I am, kind of, annoyed by this issue.

@victorianlass I think it is strange that you received a completely different letter. I wish my daughter could only lose $50! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you are international? We still haven’t decided what to do , but I will let you know when we make a decision.

@sfijm23‌ I just saw your post now. Are you international? Why do we seem to have different letters? Mine definitely says they need a phone call to confirm and a check for either the whole amount or $500 by April 1st.

Wait a minute.I am thinking about this now. I may have figured it out. I’m not talking about the original letter sent to my daughter, I am referring to the packet addressed to the parent that we received two days later. The original letter DID just say to call now to reserve a space. It is the letter that came to me that said they need the money by 4.1.15. Did your parents get a follow up letter?

@desie1‌ my parents did get a letter, but I don’t think it said they needed an answer and deposit by April 1st. I’ll check again, but it definitely wasn’t explicitly in the letter if it did say that. I’m not international, but I live on the West Coast if that makes a difference.

@sfijm23 Our parents letter says to forward $2200 by April 1st the date is (in bold) Then it says if you want, you can just pay the $500 now and the rest later. With so many program deposits due April 1st (and this happens every year) I don’t know why Iowa can’t release decisions on March 31st. (and then there’s Alpha, which doesn’t give decisions to April 15th. Crazy!)

@victorianlass I think I know where you got the $50 idea from. I went to pay my $500 today, and I saw that they make you pay a $50 extra fee for a key. At the end of the program, they return the $50 to you. The way it was worded on the invoice, it said $50 refundable deposit. That was not a deposit for the program - that’s in addition to the $2200. It just wasn’t that clear.

@desie1 Yeah, my mom must’ve confused the two. But we paid $500 anyway, she told me. Since my parents didn’t want to take any risk in case I don’t make it to Iowa. Well, April 1 has finally arrived. I wish your daughter best of luck! Fingers crossed. Around what time do they release their decisions? The time difference is vast, ten and a half hours exactly. I don’t want to stay up all night, waiting for the decision!

@VictorianLass‌ Good luck to you, too. Don’t know what time Iowa is releasing. I just know that when UVA 's decision day arrived, we heard at 9 pm! I hope Iowa doesn’t do the same thing.
Now my daughter is thinking about Kenyon too. Hopefully she will make a decision soon!

Well, looks like I’m going to Sewanee. Did anyone here get in?

Amy daughter didn’t get into Iowa. She has to choose now between Kenyon and Sewanee. Any feedback on the two?

@sfijm and @desie1‌ I have been accpted at IYWS Session 1!

@victorianlass. Congratulations to you! Have a wonderful time!

@desie1‌ Thank you! Has your daughter been accepted too? Which program will she be attending? We immediately sent an email to Sewanee stating that I’d be attending IYWS and by tomorrow, we expect to fill up the numerous IYWS forms and send them.

@victorianlass No, I posted right before you that she wasn’t accepted to Iowa. She is deciding between Kenyon and Sewanee, but I think she is going to Sewanee. It looks like the best program for her. But I hope if anybody has input about the two programs, they will post.

Have a wonderful time at Iowa. I’m sure Sewanee will refund most of your money.Hope you have wonderful time- heard Iowa is terrific.

I got my email today! IYWS session 1! Can’t wait to meet everyone!

I got accepted, too! I am stuck in this in-between place of bliss and wanting to cry. Can’t wait for Iowa!

By the way, I attended Sewanee last year. If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask.

@octaviablake I just committed to the Sewanee program today. Since I’m already going it would just be nice to know what to expect and how you liked the program. I don’t have a lot of friends that are as interested in writing as I am so I hope it will be a good opportunity in that respect. We can move this over to one of the other writing program threads if you guys want to keep this one focused on Iowa. Congratulations on getting into Iowa to everyone who got accepted! I think the acceptance rate this year was around 18%.