It says it all...

Dear Angela,

Thank you very much for your interest in Teach For America and for the time and effort you invested in applying to the 2010 corps. I am very sorry to inform you that, after careful consideration of your application, we did not select you to advance to the next stage of our admissions process.

Your initiative in applying to Teach For America demonstrates your commitment to expanding opportunities for children and effecting social change, and we would like to offer all candidates a path to realizing these aims. This said, we know that Teach For America is not a fit for everyone. While acknowledging the limitations of any selection process, we have developed a set of admissions criteria over time that helps us identify those most likely to be successful in our particular program.

We know, however, that you have the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting our country's pressing social needs, and we encourage you to pursue other ways to make a difference. To assist you in your pursuit, we have posted on our website a list of recommended resources. If you also are interested in being contacted by educational and service-oriented organizations that may wish to recruit Teach For America applicants for similar opportunities, you can complete a short form here.

Although this e-mail may bring disappointment, I hope that your experience with Teach For America thus far has been positive. If you would like to share any anonymous feedback on our admissions process, we welcome your reflections and suggestions here.

Lastly, I am sorry that we will not be able to provide individual feedback on admissions decisions, given that we do not have the resources to handle the volume of potential requests. We attempt to minimize the disappointment we know this can cause by being upfront about this policy in our application.

I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Joshua Griggs
Vice President, Admissions

Is this a reality check for my grad school pursuits? I knew it was competitive. Dr. Henne told me that even 4.0 students have a hard time getting accepted. I just didn't realize I'd take the rejection to heart so much. Hmph. Back to trying to get into grad school, I guess. I should be happy that, at least, I applied. At least, I did the application--which wasn't just a few questions and yes/no blanks. I thought long and hard about what I wanted and I pursued it, regardless of the risk of being rejected. In high school, though I was somewhat competitive in school, I did not go after things that when I knew that I had even a possibility of of failure. I should be proud still, right? I just hope this isn't a harbinger for January when I get my letters of admission from UT-Austin, New School and Tulane. I don't want to feel like a fuck-up, for lack of a better word.