Neag School faculty have been busy interviewing prospective undergraduate students for Fall 2011 and recently selected most of the incoming class for the various programs. Prospective students went through an extensive selection process that included applications and portfolios, along with written and oral interviews.

For 2011, the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Teacher Education Program (IB/M) admitted 117 new students. In the Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG), 57 new students were accepted for the Hartford location and 19 for the Waterbury location. For candidates in pre-kinesiology, 56 new students were accepted.

“The spring semester every year, faculty sit down and look very, very carefully at a portfolio that is offered up by every candidate who wishes to enter the Neag School of Education,” said Dr. Wendy Glenn, director of Teacher Education at the Neag School. “These candidates are evaluated on a variety of different factors. Ultimately, they are invited into an interview that gives faculty an opportunity to meet each of the candidates and make a determination as to whether or not the student might have the potential to do well in our program.”

Faculty and administrators in the Neag School spend a lot of time evaluating and selecting candidates that leads to the admission of highly qualified pre-service teachers who are “up to the challenge of thinking innovatively and creatively about American public schools and their role as teachers in those schools,” said Glenn.

“The overall quality of applicants is improving every year, which makes this a very competitive process,” said Dr. Carl Maresh, department chair of kinesiology in the Neag Schol. “Furthermore, by the time these students submit applications to us they are already well focused on the direction they want their careers to go, which for most will also include graduate school or professional school preparation. These are very motivated and capable young men and women.”

For more information on the Neag School, visit www.education.uconn.edu.