<p>Congrats jos828! Where have you been placed?</p>
<p>Thank you so much. I have been reading this thread for weeks now and it has been beyond helpful. Not sure on your current status, but i wish you the best. They informed me that although i would receive an early notification the location and subject would not be released until March 6th.</p>
<p>Has anyone got an early notification this morning…I’m still waiting on mine.</p>
<p>congrats jos828!!!</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone as well. I can’t imagine how you must feel to be a part of something so important.</p>
<p>Hey everyone. As my nickname explains, I am longtime lurker on this board. I think I’ve been checking this page daily since about page 30-something. Sorry to hear some of the bad news a few of you got today. You all seemed like very qualified candidates–more qualified then me, which scares me.</p>
<p>My top subject was high school English and my top location was Denver. I’ll be blunt, my old housemate last year is in his first year of the corps. I went to go visit him which I think benefited me on multiple levels. One area it benefited me was honesty. There is a lot of things I feel that recruiters/reps/interviewers, etc… aren’t allowed to tell you. With my friend, as well as his housemates and fellow TFA co-workers, they were honest with telling me what based on personal experience and what they’ve been able to gather, what TFA wants to see in an applicant. I feel that helped me big time, as my friend helped me along with every step of the process.</p>
<p>Overall 1st Round: A</p>
<p>Yeah, I thought I wrote a really strong letter of intent. I also thought my resume was pretty attractive. Overall, I actually wasn’t very surprised when I found out I made the 2nd round. Happy, of course, but surprised, not terribly.</p>
<p>Overall 2nd Round: B+/A-</p>
<p>Phone Interview: A
I thought I more or less nailed the interview. I think she really liked what I had to say. There was several standout points I was able to identify. The first was, after I found out I made the 2nd round, I hopped on a bus and traveled three hours to go visit my roommate in TFA and observe him and other TFA members in the classroom. She really seemed to love that. The second was, when I visited my old roommate, I met his housemates who were also TFA who gave me really good advice. One of them told me they will definitely ask you about a time in a leadership role. They will ask you how you thought you did and he was very upfront in saying to be honest and talk about a time where things did not go so well, but more so, take accountability for it. I did that in my interview and she seemed rather impressed. She also seemed very impressed with my leadership role in general, which was something to do with my fraternity where I had to sacrifice a ton.</p>
<p>Quiz/Video Response: B
I suppose a, “B” would work. I don’t think I hit a homerun here, but I made it to the next round. Honestly, there is not too much in depth I can go with this, because I really don’t know if I did good on it or not.</p>
<p>Overall Third Round: B+</p>
<p>Lesson Plan: B-
If I don’t get picked, I feel like I will able to pinpoint my lesson plan to being a key reason why. It just didn’t go as well as it did during practice. First of all, during my practice runs, I was often getting between 4:45-5:00, but during the real thing, I feel like I rushed it and it was somewhere between 4:15-4:30. Another part was one of the girls in my group asked a question that I didn’t give a great answer to. It wasn’t a tough or tricky question, I just sort of stumbled my way through. With that said, I think I had a very well constructed lesson plan that went over what they want to see, I just think my performance could of been better.</p>
<p>Group Session: B
I don’t know. I have no clue what they wanted to see. I didn’t necessarily take charge of my group, but I also wasn’t overbearing. I kind of just sat back and contributed and when I did contribute, I think I had some decent things to say. I Don’t think I wowed, but don’t think I bombed. Overall, I kind of get the feeling that this isn’t a seismic part of the evaluation process, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>One-on-One: A-
Personally, I thought I killed it. Then again, that was me. My interviewer could of hated me. She could of hated how much I spoke or my somewhat heir of cockiness in my voice, who knows. She seemed very impressed with several thing. The first was again, my initiative to go visit my friend and observe the classroom. I also think she liked what I had to say in the role play, but I could be wrong. We then went on to speak about my experience coaching rec sports for middle school kids. One thing I feel she liked about that was the motivational techniques I used. I spoke about how when our team was on a really bad losing streak, I actually used some of the techniques that the supplemental article on student winning/losing streaks taught me to bounce my kids back. Another area I thought she liked was how I volunteer to advise this youth group in my area. I spoke about how they were really struggling when I came in and helped push them in the right direction. One of the initiatives I took she seemed to really like. There was two parts I feel I was kind of suspect on. The first was the organizational part. I started off kind of all over the place with it, thought I think I eventually reeled everything in and tucked it away nicely. The second was when they asked me to talk about the video. I don’t know, I guess it all stems back to the fact that I don’t how good my initial answers were so I didn’t feel super confident about it. Overall, I left the 1v1 feeling pretty good, but still bogged down by my performance in the lesson plan.</p>
<p>Others things: I was super detailed on the “notes” section of my CIF, which can either be really bad or nothing at all. I don’t want them to think I’m crazy neurotic. I also hated having to turn in my transcript. Specifically, I have a “W” from my junior year on there and a freshman year intro level math class I was terribly embarrassed about having to take. Like, I’m talking about a math class that was so intro and easy that it didn’t count towards graduation. Like the class football players take their freshman year. I thought I had good references and I think they did a good job boosting me and providing positive feedback about me, though.</p>
<p>My Final Grade: B/B+</p>
<p>I guess I think I’m a solid candidate, but by no means do I think I am an excellent candidate. I could just be acting modest and trying to humble myself so I don’t feel so disappointed if I don’t get it, but I think I’m a decent candidate. The way I told my Mom was this–if I don’t get, I won’t be surprised; If I do get, I won’t be surprised… though who am I kidding, I probably will act surprised. I am choosing to be pessimistic about so if I get rejected, it won’t be shocking. If I don’t get in, I suppose I’ll look for other options. I might work for my Dads business or do something else, hopefully for a couple years and then get my MBA, but I really want TFA. If I don’t get this, I can’t think of another situation where I would be teaching. I know that sounds bad, but I really like this program and believe in it, and I also love the many resources it gives you.</p>
<p>I’ll start posting some more and keep you all updated!</p>
<p>Best of luck to everyone!</p>
<p>Welcome tfalurker!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the W’s too much. I know a few of us have them. Thanks for those notes, I know future applicants will appreciate it</p>
<p>Another day of waiting :)</p>
<p>i know… im glad its finally March</p>
<p>Anyone that put a request in for early notification heard anything?</p>
<p>Wow, there has been so much good news posted! Welcome and congratulations everyone.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all those that have been accepted and my sincerest condolences to those that have been rejected.</p>
<p>@Satelle–I can’t believe you didn’t get in! You sound like a very impressive and passionate individual. I am bracing myself for my March 6th rejection. I would love to hear about any alternative programs that you find out about that are similar to TFA. Good luck moving forward!</p>
<p>husker, you still havent heard back? thats crazy because the few people who submitted the request last minute heard and you didnt…</p>
<p>Yeah…stinks. Hopefully I hear something soon. I really want this, so getting great news today would be wonderful. The beginning of something special!</p>
<p>Just wondering, what was everyone’s male/female breakdown at their interviews? Out of the eight people at my interview, I was interestingly enough the only guy there. I mean, I doubt that helps me or anything, but I suppose it makes me a bit more easy to remember when the interviewers are thinking back on things.</p>
<p>Out of the ten people in my interview, only three of us were guys. One of the numbers that TFA boasts about is how they have a higher percentage of male teachers than the national average. I don’t know if this plays a role in the selection process (it probably doesn’t), but one of my friends who interviewed at a different location also mentioned that there was a disproportionate girl to guy ratio (I think he said his was 8:2).</p>
<p>there was only 1 guy at mine</p>
<p>I was in a group with 12 interviewees, and we were all female. I have a friend who went to an interview in NOLA and he said there were 2 guys (including him) there. </p>
<p>Both of my interviewers were male!</p>
<p>There were 3 guys and 5 girls at my interview. That would be great if guys got some sort of small bump in the admissions process. I definitely need it! (If you can’t tell, I’m grasping at even the smallest signs of hope.)</p>
<p>I give up on getting early notification. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will probably not hear anything until next Tuesday. It is unfortunate but it is beyond my control. Good luck to everyone else that is waiting!</p>