Industry Spotlight: TFA

Basic Information

What is Teach for America (TFA)?

TFA refers to the nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to “enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence.”

  • TFA recruits college graduates to serve as teachers who eventually become “corps members”

  • “Corps members” undergo an application progress, attend an intensive summer training program, and are then placed into a public or public charter K-12 school for at least two years 

  • Teachers are provided a salary of $25,500 to $51,000, health insurance, retirement benefits, up to $6,000 of no-interest loans or grants to help pay for relocation costs, and potential scholarships from grad schools and employers Why do people do investment banking?

TFA & Harvard - by the numbers:

  • 31 current corps members are Harvard grads

  • 651 total Harvard grads have joined TFA since 1990, bringing expertise from 60 different concentrations

  • Top 3 concentrations:

    • Government (93)

    • Social Studies (58)

    • Psychology (57)

  • 3.78 is the average GPA of corps members

  • 50% of these alumni continue to work in education today, as PreK-12 educators or in education-related policy or nonprofits 

  • 75 alumni are graduate students at programs such as Stanford Graduate School of Business, Yale School of Medicine, and Harvard Law 

Where is the program located?

  • The program serves schools in 52 low-income communities across the United States

  • Five “High Priority Regions” within this network are: Las Vegas Valley, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Eastern North Carolina, Northeast Ohio 


 

So how do I get hired?

Applying to TFA

How do I land a TFA position full-time, post-grad job?

Apply online

  • Sign up & prepare for your interview

  • Attend your interview

    • You will be notified of a decision 2 weeks after your interview

Select where and what you want to teach

  • You will rank locations 

Acceptance (up to 10 days after offer)

What does the application timeline look like?

TFA has four upcoming application windows, providing flexibility to apply between October and February for 2020 opportunities

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What should I expect in interviews?

  • The interview (in person or virtual, depending on preference) has three major components:

  1. Sample lessons: each candidate delivers a five-minute sample lesson while the rest of the group (5-10 other interviewees) participate as “students”

  2. Group activity: each candidate then takes part in a group activity & discussion

  3. Personal one-on-one conversation: after breaking for lunch, each candidate will then spend the afternoon in a one-on-one interview

I’m hooked! How can I learn more?