Are the regions they just sent the high needs ones for this cycle? And is it true we have to list at least one?
I just applied for it about 2 days ago! I am so nervous! I have a question. Did anyone receive an email right after they applied? I did not and it does not allow me to login to see my current app. Any tips?
@tfacali2018 yes you have to list at least one high needs region. The high needs region this year are Milwaukee, Kansas City, Greater Tulsa, Mississippi, and Eastern North Carolina. Each region has something to offer so I highly recommend researching them (especially if you’re like me and don’t know anything about them). If, after looking into them, none of them are your top choices, don’t put them high on your preference list.
AH THAT EMAIL! My heart was in my throat when I saw the email on my phone’s home screen. I was still excited because the email listed one of the regions I am really hoping for as a priority region, so that helped soften the blow of disappointment when I realized the email had nothing to do with any admissions decision.
@Ranza123 I think @TFAcali2018 was talking about the regions we just received an email about, though, which are different from those regions. The email listed Alabama, Buffalo, Mississippi, St. Louis, and Las Vegas Valley as “regions where both the opportunity and the need for great teachers are particularly high.” It’s sort of unclear if those are also counting as high-priority regions, like the ones you pointed out are listed as high priority on the website.
Yeah I was confused because I thought Milwaukee, Kansas City, Greater Tulsa, Mississippi, and Eastern North Carolina were the high needs regions for this year but then we just got this email about Alabama, Buffalo, Mississippi, St. Louis, and Las Vegas Valley so I was confused.
@Ranza123 That’s what I thought. Honestly none of those regions are where I would like to be so if I get in, I am going to put the one I eventually pick into the least preferred column. Out of those options I am leaning towards Milwaukee. I don’t really want rural or southern
@heartofateacher @tfacali2018 ah yeah I applied 2nd deadline so I didn’t get that email. I actually just went back and checked what my “Lead Where You’re Needed Most” email looked like, and it had a different set of regions (the ones I just listed), so it may be possible that as they get further along in the admissions process, different regions have higher needs as some fill up, if that makes sense. But now I’m just speculating!
If anyone who has already gone through the process is still reading this, what are the categories for placing choices into and what is the min/max in each category?
@Ranza123 What is the region selection process like? How many categories are there and is there a max number of regions you can rank?
@Ranza123 Oh so your “Lead Where You’re Needed Most” email had the regions you listed earlier as the high-priority regions? Hopefully that means exactly what you suggested! I’ll take your educated guess over my head-scratching while refreshing the [unchanged] “high priority” page on the website, haha.
@Aglass3 Congrats on submitting the app! I just double checked my email, and it looks like I did get a “Thank you for applying!” email that confirmed I had submitted an application. I’m not sure if it came through on the same day that I actually submitted it, though… I don’t have that date exactly memorized. Maybe reach out to TFA via their webpage to double check?
Thanks so much! I’ll do that!
@heartofateacher yeah those were the regions listed in the email for the second deadline. Like I said, I’m just speculating; I guess you will know for sure on Monday so don’t rely too much on what I say! Maybe they chose to just highlight a couple regions that weren’t on the high needs list.
@TFAcali2018 So you’ll get a map of all the regions in which you’re eligible to teach; it’s basically like the map on their website but it’s more detailed. It’ll highlight the high needs and popular regions and tell you exactly which subjects you’re eligible to teach in each region. The subjects you’re eligible to teach actually varies a lot from region to region (or at least mine did). In some, I was only eligible to teach one or two subjects, whereas in other regions, I was eligible to teach basically anything (including French in a couple, despite not speaking a word of it). So pay a lot of attention to that if subject matter is really important to you!
You put the regions into three categories: highly preferred, preferred, and less preferred. You have to list at least ten regions total (I ended up listing 12), and at least one needs to be a high needs region; there’s no limit to how many you can rank. Beyond that there’s no hard rule for how many to put in each category, but ideally the majority of your regions should be in highly preferred or preferred. You can then rank each region within the category (or list them as all being equal or some being tied). If there are subregions, you can rank each of those (e.g. Massachusetts has three subregions). From what I’ve read, they give more weight to the overall category than to the rankings within the category. So you might get a highly preferred region, but it might be the least ranked one in your highly preferred category. So basically make sure that each of your regions in that category really are highly preferred! If, for example, you have Rhode Island as 4th in highly preferred and D.C. as 5th, but you would really much rather be in Rhode Island than D.C., maybe move D.C. over to number one in preferred instead. It’s kind of hard to explain, but hopefully it might make more sense once you see it! Although feel free to ask more questions.
Ultimately, I ended up with 2 regions in highly preferred, 9 in preferred, and 1 in less preferred, and I got placed in my number one choice.
@Ranza123 Thanks for all the information! Seems pretty complicated! I have a general idea of where I might want to go but I’m going to put a pin in this until I find out whether or not I was accepted.
@Ranza123 That is suuuuuper helpful, thank you for sharing all of that detailed information! I’m glad to hear they tell you what subjects you’re eligible to teach in each region. Do you get to rank those, too? …I know we’ll either find out or we won’t on Monday, so sorry for peppering you with questions beforehand. There’s only so much anticipation and curiosity I can handle at once though, haha.
@heartofateacher Don’t apologize; it was super overwhelming when I got all the info at once which is why I thought it would be helpful if I answered questions here! Yes, you do also get to put subjects into highly preferred, preferred, and less preferred, but with subjects you have to place all of them in a category and you don’t rank them within the category. I don’t think there are any other rules about how many subjects you should place in each category, but I wouldn’t preference only really popular subjects (like English and Social Studies) and then put everything else in less preferred, because then there’s a high probability you’ll get a subject you don’t want.
This week went by surprisingly fast, but I think this weekend is just going to inch by.
@TFASR2018 especially because i have nothing to do all weekend
Has anyone else been checking their applicant center?
I’m glad I have long hours at work so I don’t think about it too much lol! I keep checking but nothing happens, and my timeline is still there so not sure if that means anything