homeric_voice

I'm very interested in pursuing a career in gifted/talented education. What kind of a demand is there for these teachers? What's the best path to pursue such a career? Does anyone have any advice?

As far as the application process goes, I'd say your CC teaching experience will be a positive all on its own. I have CC teaching experience, and I definitely think it was a positive, especially given the fact that I'm expected to teach during my first semester in the Ph.D. program. I don't feel like teaching at a four-year university would have put me in at any department where I was rejected. As far as applications to Ph.D. programs go, my opinion is that it's not worth it if you're not making quite a profit driving all of that distance. I'll be surprised if a lot of people disagree. On the other hand, teaching at a four-year university (besides the one where you get your degree) may be *very* valuable experience to have once you have the terminal degree and are officially looking for a T-T job.

Still nothing. It's possible those two acceptances belonged to a very limited first wave of admits. I get the feeling that if they were done with their acceptances, we'd be seeing some wait-listers by now. My optimism amazes me.

Something else to consider: In my experience at two different community colleges, you can expect to adjunct for six years (conservative estimate) before you're seriously considered for the full-time gig. Also in my experience, "full-time gig" is far more accurate a description for the CC level than is "tenure-track job." In theory, you could get a full-time gig after adjuncting for three years (or perhaps even fewer), but that'll depend on where you're teaching, of course. I would go on about everything I've experienced at the adjunct level, but I don't really feel like writing a novel right now. If anyone's interested, just PM me and I'll write you a massive epic.

Nothing in the mail yesterday or today, but I am a few states away. According to last year's posts, there wasn't a ton of contact from the department, so a snail mail notification from the university itself wouldn't shock me.

Just got the rejection e-mail. Lovely.

I went to WFU for my MA, and we had a number of potential students visit during my time there. It's nothing unusual--or at least it wasn't while I was there! Feel free to send me a private message if you'd like to hear my rambling, potentially incoherent, and likely outdated thoughts on WFU's program.

Congrats and hurrah for happier dreams! Haha. :-)

Was this a job in a town like NYC or Boston? 800 applicants for a job in one of those towns wouldn't surprise me in the least. If this was for a job in Nowhere, USA...I'm going to go ahead and go into panic mode.

Thanks for the congrats from everyone! Good luck to everyone.

For what it's worth, my status still reads as "NA."

That wasn't me, but I also got an acceptance this afternoon. Over 250 applicants for "around 12 positions." Okay, I'll now go post my result like a responsible member of this community. :-)