<p>@ELEM Teacher I wouldn’t say intimidating, but it left me feeling uncertain. The comment in particular could be a good thing or bad thing, I’m trying to forget about it honestly. </p>
<p>@may0914 No problem, anxiety is the worse. You’ll do well! Expect the best, prepare for the worse. Be prepared…for success is only achieved after preparation has met opportunity. </p>
<p>@emac452 Yes, it was said just like that. Although beginning with that statement she still seemed to be very interested in what I had to say. Although I can’t state exactly what she said, she didn’t ask me too much about my leadership skills. It was very conversational I learned a bit more about her. I was also very vocal during the discussion, not for the purpose of spotlight but I’m a very outgoing gregarious individual generally. I did reference the articles during the role play. </p>
<p>@almostpostgrad Yea, I personally feel they have an idea if you’re the right “fit” prior to the interview. My phone experience was far more in detail, the interviewer allowed me to fully elaborate on my experiences. During the phone interview I feel I was able to clearly convey my reason for joining the corps, and my personal convictions to education equity. So I would say the group discussion played the most important role in the interview. I say this because many people have never taught a lesson, so having a “bad” lesson wouldn’t say you’re not passionate about education equity, it would just confirm what TFA already knows(you’ve never taught). On the other hand the group discussion could show them; personalities traits, passive or non-passive behavior traits, could show respect or their lack of respect for other individuals opinions. So I would say the group discussion followed by the role play probably had the greatest significance on your decision. </p>
<p>Although I strongly believe my fate was decided prior to beginning my 19 minute interview(yes 19 minute). So I’ve prepared myself for the worse, meaning I’ve came to terms with not being accepted into the program with the understanding that everything happens for a reason.</p>
<p>Has anyone’s transitional funding status changed to complete as of yet? I’ve been obsessively checking the applicant center, but no changes so far, documents have not been verified, etc.</p>
<p>I applied for TF on 10/18 (but submitted some documents on 10/19) and interviewed on 10/17, which was the last day for interviews. Even though it has just been a few days, the wait is killing me! </p>
<p>I keep trying to tell myself that if it’s meant to be, it will happen - but my boyfriend also applied and I really think he has a great shot. If he gets in and I don’t, it will be difficult emotionally - even IF I know this just means I’m meant for another opportunity!</p>
<p>Also, I do think the lesson is very important! To a certain extent, the dynamics of the group discussion are beyond our control based on who is in the group, and I would imagine that interviewers understand that.</p>
<p>Congrats on everyone who made it through last week in one piece! To those who are coming upon a final interview, here’s some tips that helped me:</p>
<p>My group was of about 10 people, most college seniors with 3 or 4 being professionals in their 30s. I thought the lesson plans were all impressive but the strongest ones were the ones that were simple and to the point while also having some type of display or engagement from the audience. </p>
<p>-Practice your 5 minute interview within a 4 minute window. This will help you cut the superfluous content in your presentation and keep it mean and lean. I found that I was able to present my information in only 2 minutes, go over a couple problems as a group in another minute in a half and spend the remaining time for independent practice mixed with questions from interviewers/students. The 4 minute practice window definitely allowed me be in charge of the time that I had, rather than the other way around. </p>
<ul>
<li>Read the prerequisite reading and find some way to incorporate it into your day…whether the group, personal interview…its not something that is thoroughly dissected by the interviewers during one of the segments. My guess is they would like to hear people bring this info up within the dialogue of the day. </li>
</ul>
<p>The group interviews, IMO, were the most ambiguous of the day in terms of how strongly we/I did. I felt we as a group each got to articulate strong points and eachh person got to get a say in. I’D recommend that within the group setting, avoid redundancies and stating the obvious…Its cool to hear suggestions about the situations that are a little outside the box…that’s where I felt our group was strongest. </p>
<p>-It’s surprising how getting there early to meet the others can completely eradicate any fears or nerves. Remember to socialize…it truly is not a competition and every applicant is in the same shoes.</p>
<p>And stay positive people! WORDS DO HAVE POWER! lol…you do not wanna feel defeated 20 minutes into the days. I would say remain cautiously optimistic before, during, and after interview day.</p>
<p>It is already so hard to wait for news. Just 10 days to go! Luckily(?) I have a job that is currently throwing tons of horrible messes my way, so I am keeping plenty busy. I ranked Colorado, San Diego and New Mexico first, followed by Phoenix, Oklahoma, and Nashville.</p>
<p>Hi everyone! I have been reading the posts since September and I just had to jump in. I couldn’t take not being part of the conversation anymore haha! I interviewed in Philadelphia last Wednesday. It went well. Everyone was extremely supportive and I feel I did decent on both the sample lesson and the group activity. I felt weird about the interview, however, because my interviewer didn’t ask me the questions I was anticipating. He only asked a couple of questions. We spent most of the time just talking… haha! </p>
<p>I wanted to pose a question for everyone who went through the final interview. Did your interviewer at one point stop to comment on TFA’s commitment to increasing the diversity of the corps since people of color have the potential to have a greater impact on the students? It was awkward for me even though I’m a black male. I understand it’s one of their core values but it felt unnecessary to repeat it during the interview day, especially when there were a lot of white applicants. It felt uncomfortable. But maybe that was just me. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>@Rolemodel32 Welcome to the conversation! 
And that does seem a bit odd… I’m a white female, and my interviewer said nothing of that sort. Did he turn it into a question, or just make that comment?</p>
<p>Hey everyone so believe it or not i’ve been a CC lurker since high school lol I’m a senior now and finally decided to join in. I interviewed last Monday in VA and I think I did okay but I won’t jinx myself. @Rolemodel32 when I spoke to a recruiter they told me TFA is looking to increase black male participation in the program because less than 2 percent are teachers, and yes in the interview they mentioned diversity and why it was important for people from different backgrounds to teach.</p>
<p>I’ve been creeping on this thread as well, I interviewed last week! I think it went pretty well, especially the one-on-one, so we’ll see!</p>
<p>During the informational part of the morning, our interviewers did stop and make a huge point about trying to increase diversity. I thought it was kind of awkward, I mean, it’s a great goal and I think it’s important but I didn’t think we had to stop the info session for 5 minutes, and have her tell us about how they want to increase diversity in the corps. It wasn’t posed as a question either, just a statement really. Either way, I’m excited for Oct 31!</p>
<p>Haha…@SweetPresh, I’m even worse than you - I’ve also been a CC lurker since high school but I graduated from college 2 years ago and I first made my account a few days ago to join the conversation on this thread.</p>
<p>@Rolemodel32…the interviewers mentioned diversity during my final interview as well. I think it is part of the spiel of the day.</p>
<p>Hello everyone! I’ve been a lurker for a while now and decided that it might help my stress/nerves to join in on the waiting game with y’all! I interviewed last Wednesday in Texas. I can honestly say that my lesson was one of the best in my group (not many people even left time for questions), and I think my role play/interview went well also. But replaying it in my head, I’m a bit worried: my interviewer asked me literally TWO questions and said she didn’t need any more information. I’m worried this is a bad thing. What do y’all think? Also, I’m going to the TFA Sponsored Latino Leadership Summit this weekend in San Antonio–is anyone else going? Do y’all think that would have any bearing on my admissions decision? </p>
<p>@Rolemodel32: They did mention the whole diversity statement in my interview. It seemed a bit out of place…I get what you’re saying. I can see how it was uncomfortable for some folks. </p>
<p>9 DAYS!! So glad we’re all in this together!</p>
<p>Hi Everyone! I decided to join the wait with all of you! </p>
<p>I participated in the Final Interview last week on October 16th and my interviewers were really pretty forward about what would be happening next. They explained that the selections would be made by Friday (October 18th) and the remainder of the time would be used for placement purposes, as that there are only 2 people on the TFA staff that do the placements! </p>
<p>I found this research article to be pretty interesting too (<a href=“http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/teachercharacteristicsjuly2011.pdf[/url]”>http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/teachercharacteristicsjuly2011.pdf</a>) as far as what TFA is looking for in candidates.</p>
<p>9 more days :)</p>
<p>@elemteacher Yeah it was a statement. I talked to a friend of mines who interviewed on Tuesday and she had the same interviewers. She said they did the same thing, but she didn’t feel uncomfortable by it all all. She is a black female, but she understood why they wanted to include it. For me, it was just weird. We’ve all probably seen it within their core values before, so I didn’t know why they wanted to repeat it again. But maybe different people would take it in different ways It’s so interesting to see how everyone viewed it haha!</p>
<p>Also quick question. Did anyone change their preferences after their final interview. One of my professors is an alumni of TFA and she asked me if they did their whole spiel on the high need areas. It’s so funny they keep trying to do that. It did feel like they were trying to guilt trip us a little haha! I picked Memphis as my number 1 though. I have so much debt already that I need a spot that will have a low cost of living but with a relatively high starting salary.</p>
<p>@Rolemodel32 When I first read your post, I thought you meant they mentioned it to you in your one-on-one interview, which is why I said I didn’t experience the same thing. After seeing everyone’s responses, I realized you meant they mentioned it as a group! I’m pretty sure my interviewers also mentioned it, but it was a very quick comment.</p>
<p>They didn’t really need to reiterate it with my group. More than half of my group was a person of color. Things got a little passionate and heated during our group discussion when the topic of race came up.</p>
<p>@explorer17 lol glad I’m not the only one!
and @DianaDiamond that is such an amazing opportunity please let us know how it went!!
I’m so nervous now that I know they’ve made the decision and are know placing people they want hopefully it is all of us! I preference NY, Chicago, DC, NJ, Baltimore, and Miami as my top preferred all popular choices so I heard but we’ll see.
I don’t know about you guys but I’m steadily checking my transitional funding status praying it changes lol</p>
<p>Yeah, it makes me anxious knowing that they already chose people. I wish they could tell us now, and then tell people their placements later… 
But I guess if they can’t find a placement for some people, that’s where the problem is.</p>
<p>@SweetPresh - I’m glad I’m not the only one obsessively checking my transitional funding status and praying it changes lol…I’m on there at least several times a day. So far, there haven’t been any changes…glad I’m not alone! </p>
<p>@elemteacher I was thinking exactly that! It’s scary to know that our fate is already decided even though we don’t find out until the 31st. I too wish I could find out now because the wait is making it so difficult to focus on other things I need to do, lol!</p>
<p>@TFAHopeful21, welcome to the discussion, and thanks for the article you posted! More food for thought during the 9 day wait!</p>
<p>I want someone’s status to change! Ahh. If it doesn’t happen soon, I guess we’ll have to believe that it really won’t be changing until we are given decisions this year, and that’d be a bummer. It seems like last year, a lot of people had seen changes by now.</p>