Hi Sanket,

It was not required to remove the earlier post, neither would have it affected anyone. It is only that it isnt required for any of the applicants know how better or far behind one is from anyone. The applicants are diverse and hence they cannot be weighed against each other.
The interviewer in going to judge to against yourself, but not against any other person in the room. So work to be the best of yourself and you'll get through.

Cheers!
Vineela
Teach for India fellow
2011 - 2013

Hi Sanket,

Please do not compare your profile with anyone else. TFI is not looking just for an excellent profile. Even people with lesser or no experience and people have made it through and people with much better experience have been rejected.

For the AC, please be yourself. They are more interested to see what you are and how you are in person more than on the paper. They would want to know more about your good or bad experiences and your approach towards them rather than looking at the your academic successes.

Hope this helps!

Vineela
Teach for India fellow
2011 - 2013

Teach for India is looking for staff members!!!

If you have it in you to be a leader, join our growing team on staff!
For job opportunities, check @ Teach For India

If you are interested to join the fellowship, please register yourself @ http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tfi-2012Fellowship

You will be intimated when the application for fellowship batch of 2012 - 2014 opens.

Regards,
Vineela
TFI fellow 2011 - 2013

Hello Veeru,

As Ankith pointed out, the admission process for the class of 2011 - 2013 is closed. In case you have applied and are awaiting results, then it will take atleast 3 - 4 weeks from the ACs before the results are out.

As mentioned earlier, Teach for India is not looking for people with prior teaching experience. It is looking for people who have the vision to make an impact in the classroom and the surroundings their students live in. Inorder to address the issue of educational inequity, not only good teaching skills but good leadership skills are required. This is what makes one a fellow.

I understand that not everyone has great leadership experiences or opportunities around them all the time. And there are many a times where we even fail in many tasks. But it is not important here that you succeed. It is how you catered to the given situation, how you handled the setbacks and how you dealt with the failure. These are some crucial aspects of the selection.

There are no off the book tips to be a part of TFI. The idea behind having a lengthy and rigorous selection process is for the selection team to understand who you really are. Anything presented by the applicants will be deeply assessed. The selection process is highly introspective as well. So, one has to first understand their reason behind joining TFI and only then can they be confident about their interview.

Inorder to understand how TFI is different from other organizations, I recommend you to do a little research yourself. It will be helpful for you to understand TFI from your own perspective and give you a much broader picture. Things I'll mention here about TFI is that, it is not a part time job as compared to many organization and it is not looking for teachers who can just teach in these classrooms.

In case you are interested to join TFI as a staff member, please check http://www.teachforindia.org/careers.php and send in your CVs to careers@teachforindia.org.

Hope this was helpful to you and the rest.

Regards,
Vineela

Hello Ankith,

A total of 300 fellows are expected to join the fellowship this year.

The selection is done on a non-competitive basis. So, there are chances where all the applicants from an AC might get selected or none might be selected depending upon individual performances.


Regards,
Vineela

Hello all,

There are 2 special concerns in the previous posts which I would like to address.

First, regarding the post fellowship opportunities and second, requirements to be a part of the fellowship.
When Teach for India says that it looks for outstanding college graduates and young professionals, there are a lot of spheres that is considered before an applicant is given the offer. It is not just academic, but also the leadership skills that one has, and how he/she has exhibited it till date. They are on the look for people who have the mindset to survive in the toughest possible scenario. When I mention toughest, it is both physical and emotional. If today we are sitting infront of a system in an AC room, tomorrow we must be ready to stand and teach in the SUN for 8 hours with high commitment. Not just that, but one will have inculcate the habit of being extremely patient(coz one will not be able to see the results right away).
Anyone applying for the fellowship must remember that this is not a platform to get into IIMs or Mckinsey. If that is what one is looking for, there other ways to do it. Addressing educational inequity is the task assigned for these 2 years. And one who understands that properly and applies with the right mindset will be choosen for the fellowship, irrespective of their background.

Regarding post fellowship opportunities, as mentioned in the previous posts, the first batch of TFI fellows had had their placements successfully. Organizations varying from corporates to NGOs to education organizations attend the placement drives held by TFI and recruited the fellows. The packages were offered to the fellows depending upon their profile.
Please find the list of companies below
==============================================================================
NGOs
==============================================================================
Akanksha
Aseema
Aatnna
Avsara Leadership Academy
Bharti Foundation Education Initatives
Educo
Give India
ICICI Foundation
iDiscoveri
Kaivalya
Leaders' Quest India
Piramal Waters
Reliance Foundation
Riverside School
Sujaya Schools
Teach For India
UNLtd
=============================================================================
Corporates
=============================================================================
Avalon Consulting
Bain Capital
Ernst & Young
Godrej Industries
Goldman Sachs
ICICI Bank
Intellecap
Lanxess
McKinsey
Monitor Consulting
Star TV

Hope this was helpful to all

Regards,
Vineela

I won't be selfish and would try to put my experience across.

As TFI mentions, the process happens just like that. They advise you to enjoy the process and yes to some extent you do.

Sample teaching:-
Mine went well, had researched on it. The thing is you have to be energetic, interactive and yes little innovation and humor doesn't harm. Some applicants were bland and just produced, what they had read in some course book.

Case study: -
It's a real life scenario, what they give to you as a case study. If you have good knowledge of what goes around there in low income schools, it would be easy to understand the problem. TFI officials had said the process would be non-competitive, so case study goes smooth. You should have some good points to make, that is it.

Written Assessment: -
normal data analysis questions, but main part was the reasoning question, which again if you can analyze can be a cake walk. Some applicants were grunting about this, written assessment to be lengthy, but i found it manageable.

Break and the result: -
after all of this they gave us 10 mins break and called us one by one. almost every one made it to the next round.They would handout a role play to you which you have to act in the interview.

Interview:-
very nice experience. Mine went for over an hour. Questions were usual, I was prepared. If you are very sure for Teach for India and when i say very sure, it is just not about feeling that it is a great cause.

In the end a nice experience.

The things i have missed and you mite want to know:-
They divided us in groups.
There were in all 15 people.
People weren't extraordinary, just normal people, working, studying, in reputed companies and institutions.

In the end if you want to make it, real bad..the process will go real good.

Nicely put....

Please find the blogs of the fellows who will be joining the TFI fellowship this year.

Words Unspoken..: A New Begining
http://vineela-tfi.blogspot.com/2011/02/from-being-engineer-to-being-fellow.html.

Regards,
Vineela

Hello all,

I see that there is a lot of confusion going on among the phone interview applicants.

First, please check your spam box. There are high chances that mails will be there.

In case it is not in the spam box, please personal message your details to me by end of the day. TFI staff will follow up with you asap.

Details should be as follows

Name(As in application)
Phone Number(As in application)
Email id(As in application)
Date of phone interview

Regards,
Vineela

tridevagarwal Says

hey vineela, hav u infrm al guys getting call or not? i had my interview on 18 feb bt not got any staus.... pls help

Hi Tridev,

Cant say anything about phone interview. Maybe you can check out by email to the mail id from which you got the phone interview call.

Cant help you more than this.

Regards,
Vineela

Hello all,

Am sorry to keep you waiting for the response for so long. Have been really busy. Its really nice to see so much activity on the thread.

Ok first of all, all the very best to all those who are going to attend there interviews.

For anyone doubts or concerns you have about the AC please find the answers below.

For the assessment centre, you'll have an introduction, 5 minute teaching session, group discussion, Q&A; round, written test and post lunch in person interview.

For the introduction round, all the applicants and interviewers will introduce themselves. This round is to help you feel comfortable.

The next round will be 5 minutes sample teaching session. During this round, you'll be given 5 minutes to execute your teaching plan and 1 minute before that to set up your teaching aids/distributing hand outs required by you to execute your lesson. You can choose any topic to teach from KG - 5th grade.
Try to keep your topic as simple as possible. 5 mins time limit is followed very strictly. Once the time is over, you'll be asked to stop. You are not expected to be an expert at this. But you are expected to deliver the topic you planned to teach in these 5 mins completely.

Next is the group discussion. In the group discussion, you will be given a case study. It is basically related to various obstacles faced in the school. You'll have to work as a team in the group discussion. At the same time you'll also have to contribute individually. You'll need to identify what are the problems being faced, hurdles you might face while working on them. What is your solution for the problem! You'll be alotted 15 - 20 mins for this(not sure about the time limit). Make sure you do not overpower the whole group in this particular task.

Next there will be a Q&A; round about TFI with the interviewers. You can get your doubts about TFI clarified from them.

Next will be the written exam round. You'll be dealing with questions based on data which is used by teachers on a day to day basis. You dont need to prepare for this round before hand. It is not that difficult.

They will then shortlist candidates for a personal interview post lunch.

In the personal interview, there will also be a role play. Prior to your interview, you'll be given a scenario which is dealt in school. You'll have to come with a role play for it. This will take place between yourself and your interviewer during the interview for 5 - 10 mins.
Each interview goes on from 30mins - 45 mins. It basically checks why you are applying for TFI and how passionate you are about the TFI cause. You'll received your results 3 - 4 weeks after your AC.

And no, you are not asked to sign any bond once your interview is over. You give a 2 years commitment to the fellowship. Even if in between, you feel it difficult to keep up or are falling back, then it is tried in all means possible that you feel comfortable during the fellowship and complete it successfully.

Hope this is helpful to all of you!

Regards,
Vineela