<p>My post-college plans basically break down to teaching English in Asia or teaching English in the US for TFA.</p>
<p>Either option would allow me to pay off my undergrad loans in two years if I save six or seven thousand a year, but I'm leaning towards TFA because I would like to be able to see my family without paying cross-Pacific airfare. TFA likes to brag about how favorably graduate schools look on their alumni. Is there any truth to their assertions? Do admission boards actually think that teaching in underprivileged schools constitutes a legitimate form of community work?</p>
<p>This might just be my working class B.S. detector but I don't see how working as a teacher and getting paid 30k a year is a meaningful sacrifice.</p>
<p>TFA has now become just as competitive (or more competitive) than getting into law school. In some parts of the country there are not hiring TFAs due to hiring freezes by the dept of education.</p>
<p>TFA is looked at vry favorably. UChicago Law actually reserves a couple of merit $ awards each year for TFA grads. (Tere may be other LSs that do this as well; I just happen to know about UChi.)</p>
<p>based on 2009 NYU application, they also allocate a $40,000 scholarship for a TFA applicant (you learn a heck of alot by studying the application). Why TFA applicants are held in much higher esteem than someone who teaches directly for a school district somewhat baffles me- but someone will justify it by saying TFA is extremely selective and takes many Ivy grads.</p>
<p>When people discuss the relative merits of different soft factors on the law school application, most agree that TFA and Peace Corps stand out as two ECs that stand out and can actually make a big difference.</p>
<p>I already knew about the scholarships, but I just don’t understand why TFA seems to hold such cachet. The rhetoric just sounds strange. Doesn’t it seem just a bit condescending to assume that overprivileged, underqualified Ivy Leaguers can automatically make a difference in the seriously underfunded ratholes that constitute education for the lower masses?</p>
<p>I keep hearing how selective TFA is and yet it was a successful endeavor for all my friends who applied (most of whom have less relevant qualifications than I do). I’d like to see an applicant breakdown for HYSP, because I think the prestige factor is heavily weighted in their hiring process.</p>
<p>I would say that TFA alum are held in high regard because of the type of person they are. Not just grades or personality, but their mindset and life mission. Keep in mind, that the TFA application process is FAR different than any school application, in that it may be seen as considering strongly the subjective side of the applicant. Not to mention that TFA is very very tough; not just the pre-teaching orientation, but the actual job.</p>
<p>I’ve already written the app essays and read through the literature they require for the interviews as well as conducting other research. Unless I blow the interview completely I can’t see them not hiring me.</p>
<p>1) I come from the same socioeconomic background as the children I’d be teaching. (Something they cite as a strong factor.)
2) I’ve successfully worked with children as a ski instructor (Classroom control over 10-12 seven-year-olds when they’re tired, cold, and missing Mom and Dad).
3) I’ve held a supervisor position with actual responsibilities during my academic year job (and consistently logged twenty-hour work weeks, including final and dead weeks).
4) I’m an excellent public speaker if my teachers/church leaders/profs are to be believed.</p>
<p>I probably qualify as a bit of a dreamer, but I’m a grunt when it comes to working jobs. Every supervisor I’ve ever had was willing to write a strong recommendation afterwards.</p>
<p>I’ll let you know how the TFA app goes. The deadline is in September, so I should know in October or November. Perhaps I’ll get shot down, but I can’t reasonably see it happening.</p>
TFA is an intensely selective program. I don’t know anything about your academic qualifications, but they do pay close attention. Even if that’s in line as well, the truth is that very selective programs always have to make arbitrary decisions at some point.</p>
<p>In other words, there’s some randomness in the process.</p>
<p>^ Again, I wouldn’t say random, but I would say subjective. They aren’t looking for a “story” of the life of the applicant, such as in school admissions. They will interview, a few times, and discover who you are as a person. This selection process is what makes TFA so attractive to graduate schools and employers alike.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s the selection process that makes TFA attractive to law schools. Law school faculties want to have some students who are interested in making the world a better place. While they know that many of their students will go on to be partners at large firms making substantial $, they’d like it if some of them still took time to take some interest in things other than the size of their bank accounts and the personal lives of their immediate family members. </p>
<p>People willing to spend a couple of years of their lives in the Peace Corps, TFA, and similar programs have exhibited a willingness to do this. Moreover, in many–though certainly not all–cases, the person who does TFA comes away from the experience with a better idea that the system is not perfect and could be improved and that improving it is not an easy task. When they come from privileged backgrounds, they also learn to interact with folks who are different than they are. </p>
<p>Those are good attributes for a young attorney to have.</p>
<p>^ I would agree, but anyone can join the peace corps, and anyone can write an application essay expressing their interest in something like the TFA mission. TFA has a rigorous admission process that weeds out those who say they are interested in making the world a better place, by doing something like TFA, v. those who are actually passionate about doing it. This external, and additional, level of selection it attractive to law schools, in my opinion.</p>
<p>This is from the TFA site, albeit from the Business School Partnerships: "From an admissions perspective, we recognize that 1) the screening process at Teach For America is intense, 2) the job at Teach For America as a corps member is even more intense, and 3) the students who have come to Stanford from Teach For America have done very well. [They have] been disproportionately represented in the top of the class; and have been very strong contributors in the classroom setting and to the culture of the school. So when I see Teach For America on an application, I smile. I’m very happy to see it. " Derrick Bolton, director of M.B.A. admissions for Stanford’s Graduate School of Business</p>
<p>I concede the point. I think I have an excellent chance at getting in, but given how much more popular TFA has become it is far from certain that I’ll make the cut.</p>
<p>I spent the weekend talking with friends in TFA and I think I have a better handle on the nature of the beast. I think the difficulty of the job and its transformative nature would be a greater draw for law school than the selection process, although both are beneficial. I still think I’ll apply, but I need to give it a little more thought. Both of my friends described it as a tremendous ride, but much more demanding than they thought beforehand. One pretty much bluntly said don’t do this if you’re just using it to chase law school.</p>
<p>There’s a tutoring program at a local school and I think I might try volunteering to see if this is something I’m really interested in. I like working with kids and I like ski instructing, but teaching is another ball of wax.</p>
<p>delz: your attitude sounds a little cynical for TFA, which is looking for upbeat, optimistic, and positive people. Aside from these qualities, one has to be really smart, giving, and willing to see the good in people. Your having a “B.S. detector” is not as impressive as you might think. On the other hand, if what you originally stated was merely bravado, tone it down, and go for it.</p>
<p>I don’t think cynicism and optimism are necessarily exclusive categories. I tend to look at advertising with a hard eye and that’s what the TFA site is. Advertising. I think there is a genuine chance that they are doing admirable and helpful to the community, but it’s difficult for me to assess from the outside. It is also impossible for me to not be cognizant of the credibility factor that working for TFA endows. Do their alums come out of the experience with a genuine understanding of their community and the difficulties they face? Will this allow them a greater ability to effect change? I don’t know.</p>
<p>This is what I do know. Well meaning college students came to my schools and tried to make a difference. And I can’t help but feel it was a way for them to polish law school applications. They volunteered. Congratulations to them. Not very many of us got out. A lot of my grade school friends are working at gas stations or pouring concrete or (if they were lucky) working at the mill. One of my best friends from elementary school went to work in the fields after the eighth grade because he was the oldest.</p>
<p>I have three high school dropouts in my family (one within my immediate family, several more just outside). I’ve been there on the other end. Foodstamps, assisted housing, drugs. You name it. I’ve seen it. So yes I am a little cynical and yes I’m a little brash, but I am optimistic as well. It’s hard not to be when you are constantly aware of how nice it is to have a place to sleep.</p>
<p>This is the sort of stuff I usually don’t talk about, but I hope this explains the cynical edge. I’ve been flippant on this board about TFA (hiding behind a persona to a certain extent), but I am considering it with a serious mind. I won’t go in unless I actually find a way to deal with my doubts about its efficacy.</p>
<p>With regard to delz’s comments about the effectiveness of these types of programs- I used to roll my eyes at the idea of college grads “changing people’s lives” by only working for a year or two. It sounds so corny when you first think about it. But when I went in for my interview with the MATCH School in Boston, I saw students from some of the poorest places in Boston consistently outachieving kids from those wealthy suburbs and prep schools. Something like 50-60% of the students coming into the school did not pass the state assessment tests; by the end of 10th grade apparently EVERYONE passed, and the school ranked in the top 10 in terms of test scores. And not just test scores- when I went there, I could imagine how different some of these kids’ lives would be if they did not attend this school. I have to say, I am also someone with a pretty active “BS detector”, and I still think it is just remarkable, and it is also pretty inspiring. I can’t speak for the effectiveness of TFA or other programs because I do not have any first-hand exposure to them, but I saw with my own eyes incontrovertible proof that these education service years can be effective if applied correctly.</p>