Best of luck to you, @“sueñosTFA2019”! I’m sure you’ll do amazing.
How’s everyone prepping for the final interview?
I am preparing my worksheets now and presenting to my friends for practice lol. For the interview portion I’m doing research on what they might ask so I can start preparing answers! Where are you guys interviewing at?
Same! I started prepping my materials and will start bothering my friends this weekend for practice ?
I’m interviewing in Houston.
Thanks @hopefulbulb good luck to you with the lesson! I see you’re in Houston, that’s where I want to go!
@“sueñosTFA2019” - It’s a great city to be in, so I hope you get placed here! Which other regions are you looking at? I’m hoping to get out of Houston for a few years and explore the world for a bit.
@hopefulbulb I’m from the DC area so I also will put philly, maybe Baltimore, DFW, DC, New Orleans, Houston, Atlanta, and two others I guess. Houston being my top choice. But before I can think about that I just want to produce a good 300 word essay lol. What about yourself?
Good luck to everyone preparing for their interviews! I was accepted in the 2019 Early Admit pool back in April. I’m going to be teaching in Dayton, Ohio. If anyone has any questions I’m happy to help!
@HopingForTFA2019 Hi there! How did region placements work? Were you able to get your top choice?
@“sueñosTFA2019” I’m hoping to get either OKC since my boyfriend is in the corp there or the DFW area to be near family!
Hi, @hopefulbub
The day you’re accepted, they supply you with a massive spreadsheet with TONS of information on every region. This helps you narrow down your selection. You’ll create a list of 10 and list each region as highly preferred, preferred, and not preferred. You must include at least one high need region, and do NOT list any region you wouldn’t be excited to get. I got my second choice, which is actually my hometown, so it worked out well for me. Have you already interviewed?
@HopingForTFA2019 My interview is on Tuesday, and I’m super nervous about it! For the general admissions cycle, they’re going to tell us what our region and assignment are on acceptance day. If I don’t have 10 ideal cities in mind (7-8 at the moment), what do you suggest doing?
@hopefulbub I suggest looking at the spreadsheet and finding other regions with similar needs and characteristics as the regions you are interested in. So say you really want to teach high school. You can look and see what percentage each region typically places in high school. Or say you dont want to be required to go to a masters program. The spreadsheet will tell you which regions require a masters program. It will help you pick at least ten, I’m sure! Good luck and don’t be nervous, it’s a really fun interview process!
I’m fine-tuning my sample teaching lesson for my interview on Thursday. I’m trying to follow the “I do…we do…you do” model but feel like I spend the majority of my time on the “I do” part. Probably about 3 - 3.5 minutes. Does this sound disproportionate?
@Princeton’19 a bit, just make sure you dont run out of time before you get to “we do.” Maybe try and cut it down just to be safe. My “I do” was only about a minute.
Oh wow, 1 min is quick. What were you teaching?
Also, anyone have some insight on special circumstances? Boyfriend and I currently live in NJ where I go to school and he works full time. We would really like to move to RI (where his family lives). He has a job offer already and a place to stay lined up if he accepts the job. He also supports his family so it’d be way easier to do that if we lived in the area. I’m just not sure if this would qualify for special circumstances since we’re not married/engaged (but do live together) and since it would also be possible for us to stay in NJ where his current job is. Could I say that we need to be in either NJ or RI or can I only say one region? Thoughts? Thanks:)
I’d like to know the answer for this as well! I have a similar special circumstance but for OKC and wonder how the TFA admissions team takes these into consideration.
It’s finally interview time - good luck to everyone this week!
@Princeton’19 I taught Italian cognates. I’m not sure about your special circumstance. I am married and was told a mortgage or job offer for my spouse would count, but I dont think a boyfriend d would count. If you’re buying in NJ and your name is on the mortgage, that will count. But I dont think boyfriends/girlfriends are considered. You can, however, only list NJ as your highest priority and list the other nine region that you must list as preferred/not preferred.
@HopingForTFA2019 Do you think it matters the particular circumstance or just the legal status? Like we’ve been together for 3+ years AND we currently live together. Might be engaged by the time I start teaching. Would that qualify? Or only marriage/mortgage?
@Princeton’19 Here’s what it says in the portal where one would input a special circumstance: “If you have a significant special circumstance which requires you to be placed in a specific region, please let us know. Due to the complexity of our placement process and the varied certification requirements of each region, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to accommodate your request but we will review all circumstances.”
You’ll have to remember that they deal with thousands of applications each round. So to honor a special need, they probably take it pretty seriously. A mortgage or a spouse with a career is hard to argue with and is persuasive enough to have to be in a location. I think a sick family member was also an example I have heard before. I’m not sure if they will honor your current living situation, as they tell you to be prepared to move. Maybe if you were engaged it would be a more solid need to be in a certain area, but I would venture to guess that the team who has 1 week to place thousands of applicants in their regions will quite possibly not accommodate your request if they need your skills elsewhere. But, again, that’s just my guess. There’s also the chance you won’t be certifiable in NJ. My round, I saw someone who needed to be in Memphis, but they weren’t qualified to teach in Memphis and they unfortunately had to drop out, so that’s something to consider as well. I would hope that applying in the first round you would be able to get your top choice. You should reach out to their team to ask for specifics on special circumstances.