<p>Welcome macphisto. Great to see people join. We can be each others support systems.</p>
<p>I’ve been reading these boards over and over again these last few days. Seems to me a lot of people found out the day before and also knew people who did have a “complete” but didn’t get in!</p>
<p>Laine, I think I only checked mine four times today too!! Good for us HAHA!!! I was a librarian today and man did those kids keep me busy! I had to teach about Dr. Seuss six times!</p>
<p>So, I have the following two concern. First, I made the decision not to apply for transitional funding because (financially speaking) I’m not in a position where moving would be a significant drain on resources; this position is due to generous scholarships and stipends that have gotten me through college without any expense. I’ve saved up a lot as well. Furthermore, I personally don’t think it’s ethical to apply when others might have more need. Will not applying for transitional funding impact acceptance?</p>
<p>Secondly, I specified ~ 11 or 12 regions on the region preference form. As I read through the back pages of this thread, it seems that some people put significantly more regions down, perhaps to increase the odds of acceptance. Again, I thought it would be unethical to put down as many regions as possible if I didn’t feel like legitimately going there; I’m convinced it has to be about the kids, and I wasn’t going to risk a situation where I would be miserable teaching students. Will the number of regions applied for be a factor in acceptance?</p>
<p>I can appreciate that responses to this might be conjecture. I’m too new to this thread to know if there someone in a position of knowing who could answer these questions. However, I think responses to this question will be helpful, even if just for therapeutic value.</p>
<p>macphisto, first in regards to transitional funding…no, it will have no impact at all on your admittance. TF is there for everyone so they can apply if they need it. TFA states they would hate if they gave out an offer but someone couldn’t accept bc of $ issues. </p>
<p>As for regions, same thing…no impact, unless you are waitlisted. They accept you first then try to place you. If you are waitlisted, then they will look at all the regions you put on and see if they can place you there</p>
<p>Hmm, ok.</p>
<p>One thing has been bugging me since my final interview. I volunteered to go first during the presentations and taught my lesson fine. I had a handout related to the activity with a question at the end to test for comprehension. I had just finished reading the question and telling the room (as students) to pick the answer choice that best fit the question. I walked them through the question, but I didn’t necessarily tell them the answer because time was called right afterwards.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I believe my presentation was flawless. Does this seem like a damning mistake that I didn’t tell them the answer to the question on the handout testing for comprehension?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t stress too much over not finishing the assessment part of your lesson. I think it’s more important that they at least saw that you designed some sort of an assessment. My recruiter kept stressing the importance of having a clear objective and some sort of assessment to show that the students grasped the concept. I think the most important part of the lesson is showing that you can communicate well. Five minutes is enough time to tell if somebody can speak in front of a crowd or work a room and I get the impression that this is not a skill they want to teach at the summer institute.</p>
<p>I agree with MrLahey, I think they are looking that you can control the classroom and clearly present an idea</p>
<p>I am reallllly starting to second guess my lesson plan. I did not make sure they grasped the concept except for asking. They said they really learned something after my lesson, but maybe that was sarcasm? I don’t know. Almost one more week thank god.</p>
<p>zettibetti, I’m sure your lesson plan was great. I know I have been second guessing my one-on-one interview since the day after the interview. My TFA alum mentor told me to stop since I’ll just be making myself crazy haha. I just can’t wait till next tuesday</p>
<p>I cant either! It is going by quickly though.</p>
<p>@layne that was also one of my considerations for choosing South Louisiana as a high preference! I was born and raised in the Northwest so traveling to an area of the country that is completely opposite and rich in cultural tradition would be amazing - and the waived LSU tuition blew my mind!</p>
<p>To the individuals worrying about their lesson plan: Don’t worry 
I would imagine that from first-hand experience, the interviewers know the odds of performing a lesson plan flawlessly, especially one that can only take up 5 minutes time. I would assume that they grade upon the accessibility of your lesson plan and how well you were able to communicate information in an organized manner to your students.</p>
<p>And I got lucky today - Had an interview downtown near Pike Place so I spent the day down there. Only thought about TFA 3 or so times! ;)</p>
<p>That is good you had an interview! Good luck either way. I live in Michigan so the job market is not good. I have applied for many jobs; still no calls back. That is another reason why I hoped tfa would work out!</p>
<p>I feel like the days have been going by so fast! Before you know it, it’ll be next tuesday :D</p>
<p>@zettibetti Thank you! For the past two days, I seriously considered calling off the interview due to no motivation for anything other than TFA, so I had to force myself to go! Luckily, this is an internship position so it would work out whether I got into TFA or not. But I hear you about the job market. I’m from Boise, ID where the market has consistently flat-lined for about three years, so I’ve been staying with a relative in the Seattle area while I search for jobs. But I wish you the best of luck too, and be patient with the phone calls! Sometimes they take longer than expected.</p>
<p>and Oa0176 I like your optimism! I wish the days were flying by as quickly for me… I feel like a kid counting down the days until Christmas at the peak Santa-belief stage!</p>
<p>Saw this was posted earlier in the thread and thought I would share with you guys:
<a href=“http://www.genv.net/files/Teach%20For%20America%20One.Day_.Selection.pdf[/url]”>http://www.genv.net/files/Teach%20For%20America%20One.Day_.Selection.pdf</a></p>
<p>satelle i’ve been so busy which is why I feel like time is flying, i have two jobs (i finished school in december so i decided to work and save up $). Also I applied for a Fulbright, so the TFA wait compared to that is nothing.</p>
<p>Oh yes, I remember the Fulbright wait. THAT was a pain. Thankfully, I’d been accepted into TFA long before I was rejected by Fulbright, which helped.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link calijunkie, it oddly makes me feel more comfortable!</p>
<p>How long is the wait for Fulbright?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the feedback guys. It has made the waiting game be a little less stressful. Only one more week to go:)</p>
<p>I had one more concern about my one-on-one, and I’m wondering if anyone else had this concern or sees this as an issue. Without giving too much away (the control freak in me wonders if TFA Admissions ever check up on CC), I started a really cool organization on campus freshman year that has grown to be the largest, a force of good in the community, etc. We faced so many startup problems that were solved through creative and unconventional approaches (es.g. how to win faculty support, have continuing leadership after the founders move on, etc.).</p>
<p>I made a remark during my one-on-one that TFA requires corps members who are unconventional thinkers who are passionate, think outside of the box, etc, and compared my organization to TFA in the very beginning as both had startup and sustainability issues. I based this on my reading of two books by Wendy Kopp I read a few months ago in which she described the unique challenges of creating a new organization through the lens of TFA. I meant to say that I believe TFA needs members who are willing to think outside of conventional ways to solve a problem that hasn’t been solved by conventional means. And while the comparison is there between my org and TFA, I’m wondering if that came off as a little pretentious.</p>
<p>the Fulbright wait takes forever!! The deadline was Oct 17th, everyone heard if they made it to the second round January 19th (but this decision can come out as late as Jan 31st) and now everyone is waiting to see if they get the grant, which we could find out any time between March-June</p>