Pros
The positive comments you see here are, for the most part, fabricated. I promise. I came into this organization thinking all bad press about TFA was just people wanting to complain, people who were never happy, etc. I even asked for data from my region on the effectiveness of the corps beforehand so that I could write research articles straying away from the negativity, and focus on the incredible mission. To be clear, the best-- and only-- things going for this organization are 1. corps members are fantastic, energetic, and wonderful people. and 2. the mission is great. Who would disagree that children deserve a wonderful education regardless of where they live? It attracts based off of principles of humanity and social justice.
Cons
Let me be clear. If you are looking to join Teach for America, you are a qualified, intelligent human being who has the potential to be much more on your own. TFA is prestigious because it accepts so few based off of how many apply. But this is NOT prestige. TFA is so hated among actual educators-- and with reason, because the implication of the organization is that it takes 5 weeks of training to become an educator in the nation's most struggling schools. I came in with a masters, and have years of experience in another field. I kept thinking to myself "how would I feel if someone was trained in my field for 5 weeks and then thought they came in and thought they could fix everything?" Pretty appalled and offended. Institute is meant to break you. It is cult-like. There are rituals scheduled every day, my institute had extra staff hovering over us, silent during group discussions, to make sure that we 1. stayed on track, and 2. didn't disagree with anything or question what we were learning! I once asked about data to support some pretty strong claims, and was told that statistics is rooted in eugenics (a principle to create one 'strong' race, eliminate minorities, etc), is inherently racist, and that we should rely on--- BIASED--- stories instead. So much for evidence-based! Do not join. I cannot stress this enough. I didn't want to have this opinion, I came into it wanting to help the public's perception. I defended it to real educators for months before coming in. But you will be controlled, helpless, and underpaid for years.