Did I make a mistake doing Teach for America?
Currently in my first year as a teacher for Teach for America. As a little background, I went to a top five school for undergrad, and am planning to get an MBA in a couple years. There were a couple reasons why I decided to do this program, but to be honest, one of the main reasons was because I didn't get a top consulting offer my senior year when I was recruiting. This was partly because my mom passed away my senior year, and I slipped into a depression, and I think I settled for this gig instead of running with a second-tier consulting offer.
I heard that I could do this program, and then still be competitive for top business schools or law schools, if I wanted to do that. When I looked online at the business schools people went to after working at my consulting firm, it was pretty lackluster. So that's how I found myself here.
I have a couple of side projects that give me a little motivation. I'm working on coding an education technology app that I'm a little excited about, which basically fits the niche of gamification within education, and is an app that adds game components to classic review activities. I don't want to give it away, but it's definitely something different than what's out there.
I dislike my dumb co-workers, who chit-chat about nothing all day, and I'm so stressed all the time. I'm more capable than most the people there, but when there's a fight or something in my classroom, which has happened a couple times, I get so anxious and don't know what to do, and the administration doesn't really have clear steps either. They have me teaching both remote students and in-person students at the same time, simultaneously, and it's a headache getting the classroom under control. I wake up at 6:30 AM to catch a train to the inner-city, and then don't get home until 5:30PM, then I have my online classes from 6:00PM until 8:30PM. It's not terrible, but I guess it's exhausting mainly because of the uncertainty. You never know what kind of crazy things students will do, which will, in turn, reflect poorly on you if you aren't able to immediately diffuse the situation. I could definitely do longer hours if I was more interested in this stuff.
I guess I'm just wondering how I can turn my situation around. Should I just crush the GMAT or GRE, then apply to business school? I just can't stand the idea of doing this for another year and a half, but I guess I have no other choice right?
There were a few TFA people in my HWS MBA class. They were all miles behind the people who had actually worked in the private sector for a few years. They were at a huge disadvantage in recruiting because they weren't good at thinking about / talking about business. Most were still able to find some kind of job, but they weren't super competitive for the MBB/IB post-MBA roles.
My rec is to do your 1-to-2 year commitment and then try and lateral into a premier consulting role through your network. You're useless without the analyst toolkit which you'll develop in a junior banking or consulting role (and will not as a teacher). The people who go to MBB consulting out of MBA with no business background (e.g., peace corps, TFA, etc.) are basically useless (no different than an undergrad and usually older, tired, and less hungry) and so are signing up for a really intense uphill climb. You're better off getting that skillset pre-mba and going to get your MBA later on. Plus, you may be able to get a brand name shop on your res and move on to bigger and better things without an MBA (e.g., buyside finance or attractive post-consulting/pre-MBA roles in industry/startups).
TL/DR: You don't owe TFA anything, use your "top 5" degree to go get the job you actually want and use that start your private sector career.
I just wonder if I'd even be able to leverage my network and score a top consulting job without the MBA. Do you think that's realistic? I don't want to waste a year at some lackluster educational consulting firm or something like that.
If you went to a top 5 school and you can't make that happen, you have bigger problems. Yes, you should be able to lateral into a role.
you're teaching rudimentary shit to stupid kids in the ghetto while surrounded by idiots, why did you expect that to not be absolutely horrible?
100% agree with the above post. TFA is valued very highly by MBA admissions departments (for some reason) so that will give a huge boost to your chances, but you need to get a real job too. Top 5 Undergrad + TFA + some other real job = excellent chance at M7, probably HSW. And i'm just going to assume that you will crush the GMAT, coming from a top 5 UG.
Anyone MSing this is kidding themselves.
My wife did TFA for 2 years teaching low-incidence (the worst) SPED to kids too young to be medicated but old enough to throw chairs in North Lawndale. Like 11 people got shot on school property during school hours alone her first year. It was a very bad situation.
I know a bunch of people who did TFA or similar programs. If you got them talking after a few beers, pretty much all of them expressed disillusionment with what they were doing and seemed to be glad it was ending. Some of their students were defiant or even dangerous, the classrooms were chaotic, and the social problems were too intractable. The implicit premise of TFA, that a bunch of smart, idealistic 22-year-olds can transform a dysfunctional culture through long hours and determination, is basically BS.
One girl I knew seemed to deal with the cognitive dissonance by becoming super woke. She claimed to love TFA but moved on to a new teaching gig at a rich prep school, so you can draw your own conclusions. Everyone else moved on to the corporate world or elite academia and never looked back.
Lol, so upon receiving new information she became even more delusional instead of updating her priors?
Beats admitting that you were wrong.
California libs 101
Look at Austin, Phoenix , etc.
lmao
idk, Hilary Swank taught some kids to write or box or something in a two hour movie time frame
Far and away TFA dopes were some of the worst shitlibs in my M7 class. Completely delusional clowns who would double down on wokeness rather than take a step back and think critically about the years they wasted trying to teach kids who would rather fight and spontaneously dance in the middle of class instead of learn about racist algebra.
Oh, and of course they’re always UMC+ white kids who think they’re going to be Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds. Yea clown, start rapping during your Tuesday lesson in class and I’m sure that’ll do the trick. If they didn’t have rich dads, no student debt, and the luxury to dick around for years without real direction, then zero of them would go this route.
Trust me, I really dislike most of the people doing this program to say the least. I guess, to me, it made more sense to do this program and get into a top business school, versus going to a second-tier firm and have sort of limited exit options.
No offense -- it's so funny to read this as someone who took a "second tier" or even third-tier consulting firm (Big 4) offer out of a second-tier undergraduate degree (good public state university).
I spent my first few years out of college traveling internationally throughout Asia, working with Fortune 50 firms on greenfield expansion strategies, top private equity firms (Blackstone, Carlyle etc.) on cross-border M&A, learning new languages, learning how to program, and learning the consulting toolkit.
I parlayed this into a second-tier business school (top 15, not M7) and a second-tier bank. All of my experiences have been amazing and I've had the chance to work on so many interesting deals with so many smart people.
Really, you have to ask yourself if you're still clutching onto prestige -- sitting in your inner city classroom -- when are you really going to live and appreciate what you have? Go out and get what you can, and live your life. I'm not saying to roll over or be content with whatever life throws at you, but a healthy dose of Stoicism could be in order (read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius if you haven't)
Yeah you fucked up. You don't sound like a dumb lib, but that's how most people in BSchool will look at you if TFA is your only experience. Definitely echo the above posters and recommend getting out of it after a year or so and trying to get a couple years of a "real job" under your belt so you've developed some useful hard skills. Wasting two years to teach the problem children of the country, while noble, is not a smart use of your time. Especially if you went to a good school already and could've still gotten a solid role in a true professional setting.
TFA is the liberal version of joining the military after college.
edit: Sorry. I forgot people on this forum need the /s every time to realize I'm not serious.
Uh just no.
You're an idiot. Getting shot at by some young bloods because they don't want to do the homework is not the same getting dropped into a literal war zone in Syria/Iraq. It's not even remotely comparable.
You can get into M7 with a TFA background. Most of the people that I see who did it did their 2 years then went on to a manager/leadership role in an educational nonprofit and came into bschool w/ ~5 years experience. I have also seen several folks w/ this background who seemed extremely put together and well-prepped for consulting interviews but then struck out across MBB, so some of what people are saying here is definitely based in reality.
Let me guess..Yale?
Not Yale, Harvard/Princeton/Stanford.
If your heart is not in it then plan your exit. You'll feel so much better!!
I always found it insulting when top colleges want charge you 70k a year to get a degree and then encourage you to go work for TFA or nonprofit shit. Like how dumb do you think your students are? Talk about underemployment lmao.
No reason not to start networking now with and get a job that you deserve. Why bother working so hard for such futile work, only to get pushed and shoved around by administration? If you wanted to get bossed around and lose your sanity at least join IB and get compensated for it.
Why do people do TFA instead of that foreign service equivalent one where you build wells in Africa etc? I think it's called PeaceCorps? Not from USA so don't know for sure but it sounds atleast a bit more interesting a story than TFA plus you can spin some social enterprise BS story for MBA adcoms...
For some bizarre reason TFA is viewed better by MBA adcoms
PeaceCorp is just as competitive because of those exact reasons, you're doing legit work and have international exposure. It's not like you can just sign up.
As far as I'm concerned, teaching and giving back to troubled kids is better done through volunteering and doing philanthropic work after you become a rich bastard.
In all honesty, I think you should look for other options but do turn a crisis into an opportunity. I bet you can learn a lot of specific skills around handling difficult situations. There ought to be some job where those skills are transferrable.
You did good man. I think a lot of people on here are reading past these sentences above. I have a super smart friend whose mom died his junior year of college (came from a single parent household). He just lost it and dropped out of college. Fifteen years later, he's still only a waiter.
You went through a really tough time, finished college, got a job, and came out on the other end in one piece. You're doing great man.
Of course he’s doing fine. He went to a top UG and TFA is respected. If he gets a real job for two years he can very easily get into M7 and do consulting or IB or whatever.
We’re just razzing him because TFA is a joke and almost everyone who does it is some insufferable wokie with a high IQ but zero agency or ability to apply that IQ towards thinking through how dumb and baseless the ideology they fell into actually is. (This doesn’t appear to apply to OP at all)
yes u fucked up m8
just find urself during this time all will be good
Very interesting reading these responses. My cousin did TFA and he is a republican (not a Trump republican, but he votes red). He even stuck around one of his schools for some extra years because he connected with the people, he was making an actual impact on the kids (introduced new AP courses, test scores went way up), he got involved in local gov't, etc. He eventually left for a top law school.
That's my only experience with TFA, so it's odd to see the perspectives here. Not saying the commenters here are wrong, but there are definitely exceptions.
Did he do the "rural" TFA?
I didn't know there was a difference, but yeah he was definitely in a rural area. Maybe that's where the difference lies
Everyone I've known who has done TFA (all women) was rich, neurotic, and unbelievably stupid. Some were friendly I suppose, but they're kind of people you look at and wonder how they don't manage to trip on their way out the door each morning.
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