<p>Does anybody have any experience with their kids in either of these programs after high school? What did they think?</p>
<p>Both my kids took a gap year. One did CityYear, the other worked & volunteered abroad.
This article has info.
[Pros</a> and Cons of Gap Year - Ask The Dean](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000308.htm]Pros”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000308.htm)</p>
<p>Thank you, Emerald Kitty. How did the City Year work out for the first child? How did the other get the opportunities to work abroad? Were you pleased with them doing this? I have a child who just doesn’t seem ready for college yet, and I think he would benefit.</p>
<p>I know two young adults that did Americorps after College graduation. One was in Hawaii and one was in Alaska - both used food stamps.</p>
<p>D1 doing Americorps in NYC right now, just started this fall after college graduation. Like most Americorps members, she too uses food stamps to help get by. So far it’s going well although she’s not doing exactly the position she signed up for, due both to budget cuts and a supervisor deciding to shift things around. </p>
<p>I think you need to be prepared to be flexible. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think that Americorps positions tend to vary more than programs like CityYear and TFA because it really isn’t a uniform program, but rather a group of grants that are given to different agencies.</p>
<p>She passed up a position in No. CA that was interesting but would she would have been the sole Americorps person at her site, with others quite a distance away. The group that she is working with has many Americorps people working in various positions, so she was able to find members to live with and has become friends with several others. Most of the other participants are her age, early 20s, with maybe one younger person and several who are older.</p>
<p>One of the difficult things about the Americorps application process is that every position does interviewing, extra essays, etc. their own way. And when you are offered a position, you usually have to decide within a few days, so it makes it difficult to compare offers and try to figure out which one will best suit your needs.</p>
<p>I also know a kid who did CityYear after HS, for the exact reason you state. From talking to his mother as well as others who know him better than me, it seemed to have really helped. He’s in college now and doing well. Again, I may be incorrect, by my impression is that CityYear is probably better in helping to guide and shape a less mature kid because it is more structured. At least from what I’ve seen with my D1, Americorps can place you in situations where you have to be pretty assertive and independent in order to have a productive experience.</p>
<p>That is really instructive–I have to say, even the Americorps application process seems pretty confusing. You’re helping me make more sense of it.</p>
<p>*How did the City Year work out for the first child? How did the other get the opportunities to work abroad? *
Oldest lived at home while doing CityYear- didn’t need food stamps. She had long hours but seemed to enjoy it.
Youngest was accepted into NCCC but I thought it might be too intense of a program for her & she decided not to do it- but work two jobs ( here) for about 6 months in order to be able to volunteer abroad for 5 months.</p>
<p>Eldest D did a two year Americorps program after college that led to an alternative teachers certification. No food stamps, but program asked members to live “in solidarity” with the students they taught… which translated to a city neighborhood where one would not even walk by themselves to the bus stop. </p>
<p>Payoff was a daughter who has become quite compassionate and definitely less materialistic. Also a masters degree from a top university. </p>
<p>D knew she want to do a community based volunteer teaching program after college and carefully researched different programs. She was open to simple living and faith based programs, but definitely was interested in positions in which she could further her education.</p>
<p>Daughter talks about the experience as the best two years she ever hated … or maybe the most difficult two years she ever loved.</p>
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<p>I agree, it’s not very straigtforward. I remember seeing some jobs being advertised even though the start date for the job had already passed; and some jobs looked open, but when you called, they weren’t accepting applications. </p>
<p>They also had a computer glitch in their search function last spring. There was a place that asked for your highest educational level. The problem was, if you marked ‘college’, it would ONLY give you jobs that required a college degree, when they should have shown ALL jobs with requirements up to a college degree.</p>
<p>D1 also lives in the community she is working in, but in NYC, even non-affluent neighborhoods are expensive, so food stamps help. I’ll see what her neighborhood is like when I visit next year, it’s definitely not one of the gentrified areas of Brooklyn like Park Slope and Williamsburg.</p>
<p>I served as an AmeriCorps/Student Conservation Association intern placed with the U.S. Forest Service, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Those six months of service directly led to my current career-track job with the Forest Service and funded graduate program at Indiana University.</p>
<p>I highly recommend serving through the SCA to anyone who’s interested in conservation careers, and would be happy to share tips and tricks about my time with AmeriCorps. Yes, food stamps are awesome. :D</p>
<p>I’m going to break a rule of mine and bump an old thread. My sister is considering AmeriCorps for after graduation from college; she wants to work in student affairs eventually.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any information or experience with the program? I think she’s worried about selectivity in particular – most of her friends last year had disastrous results applying to TFA, and stats seem to be difficult to pin down.</p>
<p>D landed a great AmeriCorps job just be for graduation in May and has been working for Habitat for Humanity since August. I will echo Entomom’s comments’ re: flexibility. My D’s position varies somewhat from the posted position - - but it’s a job (with benefits, including housing).</p>
<p>AmeriCorps is not nearly as competitive as TFA, but that’s not saying much since it is insanely difficult to snag a TFA job - - especially for female candidates (also, a number of students who were awarded TFA fellowships end up w/o placements b/c as an increasing number of districts fall prey to hiring freezes).</p>
<p>AmeriCorps is not as competitive as TFA… definitely. That said, there were about 50 applications for the AmeriCorps VISTA spot that I ended up getting in 2008. So, 1/50 is not especially good odds. I was working on a team of 8ish other AmeriCorps members and 1 permanent employee who was basically the program manager who got the grants. This was the person who interviewed all the AmeriCorps applicants, etc. The AmeriCorps people were doing all the day to day running of the program, and the permanent employee was doing the big picture / strategic running of the program.</p>
<p>warblers - I don’t know what part of the country your sister is in, but my AmeriCorps program was at a college in VA, and essentially involved recruiting college students to tutor in the community, which could work towards student affairs type stuff. feel free to PM me if you want.</p>
<p>make sure she checks out the difference in the programs… for example, the VISTA program is indirect service, which means you are organizing/managing/doing the office stuff vs. out in the field doing the hands on assistance (direct service).</p>
<p>Agree that AmeriCorps seems to be much less competitive than TFA. </p>
<p>I too was never able to pin down any numbers on applicants per job for Americorps, it likely varies considerably between positions. My guess would be that as long as your D is willing to apply to many positions that fit her general interests, she stands a reasonable chance of landing some.</p>
<p>To clarify - City Year and TFA are both AmeriCorps programs. I was an AmeriCorps member and a staff member at City Year. The program is an excellent opportunity to serve the community and gain transferable skills. However, it is more competitive than it used to be, and applicants will be expected to express some maturity in addition to interest/experience in serving youth.</p>
<p>^While this is true organizationally, I think that the members here have been trying to distinguish practical differences between the programs that applicants/participants deal with, such as: application process, competitiveness, goals, commitment, salary/benefits, etc.</p>