on a completely different note: I currently work for the AmeriCorps and my contract runs till August…if I got in to TFA than that would mean I would have to quit AmeriCorps for TFA training. DO you guys think TFA will be ok with this given they also are sponsored by AmeriCorps educational grants?
@wild11 I am in an AmeriCorps program and will be in a similar situation. I don’t think TFA cares, but I’m not sure if it will affect you getting TF grants.
Some information I came across from a previous thread from like 4-5 years ago:
“I was speaking with my recruiter during the “Congrats” dinner we had at my school. She informed me that the regional office makes the decision on whether you are accepted within a week of your interview. Then they send that list to TFA admissions and they place you into your regions. Your regional offices don’t have any idea where you are placed”
Regional office being where you interviewed/the closest region to you.
More information I found:
“So apparently they have a scoring rubric. Don’t know if it’s just for the final interview day, or if it’s a culmination of the entire process from the beginning (I assume it’s the latter). I say this because I think my letter of intent and online activity are what got me to the final round. But apparently, once you reach a certain score, you are “recommended”. That’s all I could manage to get out of my interviewer. But apparently the process is still holistic…”
Excerpt from another post: “I know they use a rubric and it’s a total from all the rounds. If you reach a certain score then you are basically accepted.”
Still trying to figure out how every aspect of the process is weighed though. I’ll let you all know if I ever find out.
@TFA2016AJ Thanks for all of your investigative work! 
This is the closest information I could find regarding how our acceptance is determined:
“At each stage of the process, highly trained evaluators measure individual evidence of the
competencies – leadership and achievement; perseverance; strong critical thinking; organizational skills; the ability to influence and motivate others; building relationships in diverse settings; and fit with Teach For America. Data gathered throughout the evaluation process is fed into our selection model, allowing us to rank candidates according to the likelihood of their success and to accept those for whom there is strong evidence that they could be a highly effective teacher in our context. Additionally, our senior admissions staff reviews hundreds of decisions each year. Re-reviewing files allows us to safeguard against false positives and false negatives that would impact our ability to accurately measure whether an applicant meets our admissions criteria.”
Here is a full link to the paper if anyone is interested in other aspects of the TFA process pre application & post acceptance.
So… I logged on this morning (7:00 am ET) and saw that all of my forms had been verified, however I still have the “We have not yet reviewed your application or documents,” notice, which is odd, as it’s clearly not true. I’m guessing they were verified by someone on the West Coast, because I checked it last night around 8:00 pm ET and there was no update. For those of you who are trying to see if there’s a pattern, I interviewed virtually on Feb 26th, and I finished my TF app on its due date, but I didn’t upload the required documents until the 6th. My highly prefered regions are Sacramento, Idaho, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Washington, and Massachusetts. I’m trying not to get too excited about this news, but it’s sooo hard to not buy into the rumors. I guess we’ll all know in six days!
@awesomebins thanks! I hope I still qualify for AmeriCorps educational grant despite quitting on them once…
@TFAMike A TFA admissions personnel told me via email that any changes/updates made on the application after it is submitted is only visible on their end…hence, it makes sense that you are not able to see the changes in its entirety.
@TFAMike This is what I was told, “Thanks for letting us know, sorry for the duplicate emails. If you do not see an update from us on your page requesting further documents, then you can expect to see an award offer on the day you receive your final admissions decision, provided you are accepted into the corps. Until that time, your status will show as “Under Review”.”
I sure hope the decision is based off of a rubric. My interviewer didn’t seem too interested, but that’s probably because she was typing furiously the whole time. Still no TF change, but that’s no big deal considering many wont see a change until next week. Maybe even the day of…
@93Polarbear I think we all feel similarly about our interviewers. And rubrics would make sense. It seems like the best way to remove any biases and/or prejudice.
Lol…What I’d do to get my hands on a copy of this supposed rubric!
Hahah I know! I’d love to see how they score it. Like, “5 points to such and such for volunteering to be the scribe for the discussion activity”. Lmao
So, I’m in the process of gathering data regarding the TF rumor. It’s been a rather lengthy process, but I hope it helps us as well as future applicants. I will post my statistics later on, but in the meantime I want to share this:
Prior to the 2013 Corps, it seems that TF Status changed from “Under Review” to “Complete” and those who’s status changed to “Complete” were ultimately admitted. I think there was ONE exception (but there was also another poster that claimed they got their rejection before notification day and it wasn’t early notification). I’ve concluded some people just t r o l l for the heck of it.
Moving along, during the 1DL/2DL (same day notification), TONS of people in that thread emailed & called TFA and their recruiters whining about TF Status. Recruiters even complained to higher up TFA staff about how it’s not fair for anyone to have an early indication of acceptance or not via TF Status Updates. So many people in that thread sent emails wondering why their status was under review. When the response was that everyone’s would state that until decision day, they whined that some people went complete. It’s no coincidence that in that same thread (2013 Corps), by the time we got to the 3DL, anyone’s status that went complete, went BACK to under review. This was the TF team’s way of trying to make the process fair and non transparent I suppose. That is why we no longer see that “complete” status anymore.
rolls eyes at the complainers in that thread that harassed the TF staff
All of our statuses will be under review with the generic message saying our documents have not been looked at. If you have been emailed asking for additional documents, take it as a good sign. If your documents have a yes or n/a next to it, take it as a good sign. If no changes have occurred yet, wait it out. Changes take place up until the big day next Thursday so there’s no need to stress yet.
I am still reading through that thread (at page 118 now), once I am done, I will compile all of my data (amount of posters in each deadline, amount of acceptances vs rejections, and TF status changes)
You’re a rock star, @TFA2016AJ . Thank you!!
Does anyone know what time we’ll be notified on Thursday? I know with the final interview, they usually let us know earlier than said.
6 PM is the official time. Could be as early as 3 or 4 though, from what I have read.
EST?
I believe so, but don’t quote me.