Cult-like, 24/7 job - if you drink the Kool-Aid, you'll love it. Otherwise, be prepared.
Pros
Great resume builder and opportunities for networking. True learning experience that is humbling and satisfying at times. Students can really touch your heart and change your life. If you are successful in achieving great results with your students, you will be praised and glorified. You will be opened up to opportunities to other jobs both in teaching and other aspects of education, as well as within the TFA corporation itself. Teaching jobs offer nice paid vacations and holidays, and it's a steady income right out of college.
Cons
Your personal needs and work/life balance are NOT prioritized. Be ready to give up your entire life in the relentless pursuit of data points on a graph. They want results, regardless of the toll it takes on members. While some members get a fairly "normal" teaching position, others are placed into the worst of the worst scenarios, classrooms where no one person should be expected to thrive, and yet are asked to pop out the same "amazing" results as others. Complaining/struggling will get you sent to a meeting where you are made to feel unworthy of being a corps member, ungrateful, etc. so you may as well just take it in stride. On top of that, your struggles will be ignored. They don't want the hardships of the commitment displayed, only the success stories. The Teach for America organization is definitely more about the "image" and the financial, corporate end of the business than truly caring about their teachers. They care about the achievement, yes, but not so much about what the teachers go through to get there. I think the organization started with the right mission and in the right place but has veered into another corporate money machine. Also, not nearly enough training to be prepared to lead a classroom of strugglers after 5 weeks at an institute.
