<p>@almostapostgrad, Yes, my final interview was so like my phone interview. I felt like I was repeating the same things over and over. At the end I took the time to elaborate on parts of my resume I felt like had been overlooked but I think are my biggest accomplishments. During the final interview I don’t think I spoke directly about my passion for education, I know I did in the phone interview and I know I alluded to it often… I just hope it shines through some of my other answers.</p>
<p>I’m trying really hard to tell myself I won’t get it every day so I won’t be disappointed if I don’t. I’m also checking my status every day to see if anything at all has changed. Anyone else?</p>
<p>Did anyone else take the Spanish proficiency exam? Thoughts?</p>
<p>@Tinitafish I know what you mean! I’m so worried I’ll be devastated if I don’t get it. I just want the 31st to hurry up and get here so that I’ll know either way. The wait is the worst part for me!</p>
<p>I’ve been lurking on this board for a while, so I finally decided to make an account and post. I had my final interview on Thursday, and although I generally feel good about it, of course I keep going over the day in my head and second guessing everything.</p>
<p>I think that the lesson went well but the posters I prepared were not sticking to the board properly - the poster with my name, objective etc even fell down at the beginning of the lesson, which made things pretty awkward, though my interviewer did confirm she was able to see it. The lesson itself went well enough - I budgeted time for questions, since I expected the interviewers to try and mess with me - but I didn’t get a single question…so I actually finished a bit earlier than I expected and had time to walk around for a minute as my “students” were completing their assessment. I just hope that the awkwardness with my boards doesn’t cause me to lose points :(</p>
<p>I thought the group interview went nicely in that we all were respectful and had ample time to speak, and the one-on-one interview was pretty good as well but I would agree with everyone else who said they barely got to talk about why they are passionate about TFA’s mission/closing the achievement gap. I spoke so much more about how I stay organized and my roles in different activities on my resume. I did allude to it when I could but I regret not adding anything about that at the end of the interview when the interviewer asked if I had anything else I wanted to mention. </p>
<p>Now comes the waiting game! Did anyone watch the transitional funding learning module? It claims that one’s status won’t be updated to complete until acceptance day. I wonder if they changed this from last year, or if last year it said the same thing and for whatever reason, people’s statuses were updating beforehand.</p>
<p>I noticed that too! I was wondering if they’ve found a way to stop the statuses from changing early this year, but I hope not. It would be nice to have that heads up either way. This wait is killing me!</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, they decide whether they want to accept you or not before they even look at preferences, however, I think preferences can still play a role, because if you have more flexible preferences, it’s easier for them to find you a placement where you have the appropriate background classes to teach, whereas if you can only go one place (if you have a family or something) and you haven’t taken the courses that region requires, then you might be out of luck. There was one person in last year’s thread who had special circumstances that limited where they could go, and even though they saw a change in TF status, they ended up not getting in, probably because of placement issues (of course, no way to know for sure, but it would make sense)</p>
<p>I think that high needs regions also tend to be more flexible with pre-reqs than other regions, which might help account for that as well</p>
<p>@ elemteacher, I know exactly what you mean! On the one hand, I guess it’s better for no one’s status to change to “complete” before acceptance just in case it’s a mistake. I’d hate to get my hopes up and be denied, LOL… Still, I can’t help but really want the same early clue applicants have had in previous years…that way if things aren’t looking good I can prepare myself beforehand and if my status does change to complete, I can breathe a little more easily while I wait. Waiting really is the worst part, but at least we’re all in it together!</p>
<p>Hey everyone, I am applying for the 2014 corps. I just submitted my application yesterday! I’m so nervous; I keep thinking of things that I should of put on my application to make it better. It’s too late now. I hope I get in. Anyone else apply for the 10/25 deadline?</p>
<p>BTW Congrats to everyone who made it to the final interview!</p>
<p>Welcome to the thread @May0914. I wish you much success, just be positive. In conversations with prior TFA members they said the group discussion would be very critical to their decision. I can contest to this because my interviewer mentioned how she had “enough” information to make a decision(this was at the begginging of the interview). I don’t know this was a good thing or a bad thing. I did voice my opinion during the discussion to make my stance clear, however I was very respectful of everyone.</p>
<p>@Teachtoreach Your interviewer said that? When did you interview? I would guess you’re getting in, I wouldn’t think they’d say that if you weren’t. Would you say you were someone who talked the most in your group or only spoke up a few times? I am very curious! How did your lesson go?</p>
<p>I keep checking my status obsessively every day, although I have convinced myself I won’t get in so I won’t be disappointed if I don’t. I do feel like the one-on-one focused on one bullet of my resume, the same as the phone interview did, which is odd but also one of my bigger leadership roles so understandable. It did feel very repetitive and I hope I got my passion for the mission across, looking back there’s a lot I would do differently but what can you do. I’m someone who gets nervous and really lets it take hold sometimes. Best of luck to all new applicants, and those of us waiting to hear back!</p>
<p>Hm, that’s interesting. I wonder how much bearing the final interview + role play has if it’s the case that they’ve almost made up their mind after the group discussion. </p>
<p>What do you all think is the most impressionable part of the day? The sample teach, group discussion, solo interview? I’m going to have to go with group discussion… In terms of my group, we all had great sample teaches with the exception of a few blunders and a few that were just fantastic but the group discussion is definitely where you were able to see some variation.</p>
<p>I’m extremely anxious for Halloween this year. The anticipation is killing me… Good luck everyone, we’re all in this together!</p>
<p>@Teachtoreach I was going to ask the same question! That’s surprising that your interviewer said it that way… kind of intimidating. My interviewer said she wasn’t going to ask too much because my phone interviewer had taken really good notes, but that was about it. My only regret is that I didn’t add on much at the end of the interview when she asked if there was anything else I wanted to talk about.</p>
<p>@teachtoreach thanks for the advice, it helped a lot. However, the anxiety is killing me! I can’t believe that I have to wait 11 more days to find out if I even get a phone interview. Do you have any advice on passing the time, because all I seem to do is log back on to the application center (although nothing is going to change until the 31st) every ten minutes!
I even started to neglect my reading assignments for class. lol. I’m clearly obsessed!</p>
<p>Good luck! I’d try to catch up on those readings… I really hope you move onto the next round! I’m not gonna lie… if you think you’re obsessed now,just wait until you’ve figured out whether you’ll be advancing to the final interview stage or for your acceptance/rejection notice. It only gets worse! ;P</p>
<p>I’m trying to preoccupy myself with all the reading and studying I’ve dismissed while trying to prep for my final interview. My advice would be to try not to get too behind with schoolwork at this point of application process. If you do advance, it’ll be one less thing to stress about. I totally remember debating whether to skip a whole day’s worth of lectures the day before my interview but decided against it since I was just so behind with my studying that it’d be beyond counterproductive. Give yourself some time to look through threads/blogs for advice but for now, just take it easy. :)</p>
<p>Also, do applicants with experience interning or with volunteering/campus recruitment for TFA find it easier to get in? I think at least half of my interview group has been involved with TFA either as an intern or campus recruiter.</p>
<p>Thought I would post. I applied to TFA last year, during the last round (kudos to you all for not procrastinating!). I ended up getting waitlisted, but at the end of the summer TFA offered me a position in the 2014 corps! My top choices are: NYC (1), Bay Area (2), and then San Diego, Boston, and Chicago tied for (3). </p>
<p>The best advice I can give on the process- just be your genuine self. Y’all made it this far for a reason; now let your personality and passion for education reform shine. Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>@nothingcompares I am in the same boat as you my friend. </p>
<p>Reading this thread brings me back to last year’s application process. The waiting is the worst part of all. </p>
<p>My top choices were 1. Bay Area 2. Greater Newark 3. NYC 4. Los Angeles… </p>
<p>I’m from the NYC area looking to try out the West Coast. Seems like the Bay is super popular. </p>
<p>Anyway, it was nice to see someone in the same situation who stuck it out from 2013. I was wondering if we have a greater chance getting our top preferences since we got accepted early. I guess time will tell. </p>
<p>I was about to say, it seems like Bay Area is a popular choice!</p>
<p>What were other people’s top preferences? My highly preferred list was 1. Nashville, 2. Eastern NC, 3. South Carolina & South Louisiana, 4. Alabama.</p>
<p>Also, @nothingcompares, are you from the South!? I noticed your “y’all” I’m from NC, but in school in VA now. And I think my preferences show I’m a little scared to leave the region… haha, but I did list Colorado, Connecticut, and Milwaukee in my preferred.</p>
<p>@elemteacher I highly preferred Greater Nashville as #3, behind 1) Colorado and 2) Bay Area. I think because Nashville is the first “green” placement region I placed, I have a high chance of getting here if I’m accepted!</p>
<p>I agree that there is probably a lot of emphasis on the group discussion, because my interviewer asked a lot of questions about it.</p>
<p>@almostapostgrad I am a Campus Campaign Coordinator for TFA, and my interviewer hardly touched upon this experience. In fact, I only talked about it once, when she thanked me for my work. What was more important were the experiences I’ve held the longest; in my case, I am an assistant manager of a Ben & Jerry’s. and @may0914, good luck!! I know what you mean when you say you can’t focus on much else! </p>
<p>I am soo incredibly anxious for October 31! I keep replaying things over and over in my head. My recruiter told me that the group lesson, in the scheme of things, really does not weigh that much, but she did not go into detail comparing the one-on-one interview with the group activity. I would imagine they are both equally important.</p>
<p>I was hoping the lesson would be more important, since I feel like I did really well on that part. Our group discussion was okay, but I feel like it didn’t go as well as it should have. We had a group of 6, and 3 of the people were being very quiet. They all added like one comment that really didn’t help the conversation flow, so I felt like it made it more awkward than anything. When my interviewer asked about the discussion, I was honest though, and said that I felt some people made a comment just to say something and that I didn’t feel the conversation went that well.</p>
I’m from NC, but in school in VA now. And I think my preferences show I’m a little scared to leave the region… haha, but I did list Colorado, Connecticut, and Milwaukee in my preferred.</p>