1. Am I qualified? Does ACE only accept people with certain academic majors?

We want people who will be great teachers, not just those with high grades. Applicants are considered on the basis of several factors, only one of which is their academic record. Your GPA will not automatically qualify or disqualify you. Applicants should be well-rounded and willing to commit to Catholic education. ACE encourages seniors and graduates from all disciplines to apply, especially those with backgrounds in math, natural sciences, and foreign language, and those with varying cultural or ethnic backgrounds. In the past ACE has accepted candidates from a variety of disciplines, ranging from math to Spanish, English to computer science, psychology to biology, architecture to engineering.

2. Can education majors apply?

Yes, education majors can apply. However, ACE is an initial licensure program; and so in order to receive a Master of Education degree in Indiana, those who majored in Elementary Education as undergraduates must concentrate in an area outside of their undergraduate major for ACE, e.g. Middle or Secondary ; and vice versa.

3. Where will I teach? Can I choose my own site?

The ACE staff will place you in one of 108 schools, spread out over 13 states. You will live in community in one of 29 ACE houses in 25 dioceses.

ACE has communities in the following cities:

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
Biloxi, MS
Birmingham, AL
Brownsville, TX
Charleston, SC
Charlotte, NC
Dallas, TX
Fort Worth, TX
Jackson, MS
Jacksonville, FL
Kansas City, KS
Lake Charles, LA
East Los Angeles, CA
South Central Los Angeles, CA
Memphis, TN
Mission, TX
Mobile, AL
Montgomery, AL
Napoleonville, LA
Nashville, TN
Oklahoma City, OK
Pensacola, FL
Phoenix, AZ
Shreveport, LA
St. Petersburg, FL
Tulsa, OK

While applicants cannot specifically select their own site, ACE does request that its applicants describe their preferred school settings on the application. For example, you may prefer working in an inner-city school in Los Angeles, or a rural community in Louisiana. Your preferences are considered when determining your placement.

4. How does ACE determine my placement? Can I choose what I will teach? What grades can I teach?

Based upon your academic background, the ACE staff matches your strengths to the needs of a diocese served by ACE. Applicants are asked to indicate their teaching preferences, including grade level and subject area. ACE teachers may be placed in classrooms at any level from 2nd grade to high school, and often are called upon to teach multiple subject areas, including language arts, mathematics, Spanish, computers, PE, music, art, and the like. While ACE teachers may be asked to help in some of these areas, they are expected to serve primarily as full-time, core faculty, teaching mainly in disciplines such as math, English, science, social sciences, foreign language, or religion.

5. Does ACE accept applications from students at schools other than Notre Dame and Saint MaryÕs?

Yes — in fact, we encourage them! More than one-third of the current class of ACErs hail from schools other than Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s.

6. Can I apply if my college doesnÕt graduate until after the ACE summer program starts?

Yes, you certainly may, but it is essential that you not miss much of the beginning of the summer program. Thus your ability to participate will depend upon how late your school term finishes. Should you find yourself in such a situation, please make a note of this on your application.

7. What does "community" really mean?

ACE members live together in affordable housing with 3-6 other ACE participants. Houses are provided by the diocese in which members serve, and are all gender-balanced. Communities often pool their resources to pay utilities and rent, and to purchase food, etc. As well, they are encouraged to eat together several times each week and to pray together regularly. Community is a vital aspect of ACE — research shows that one out of six first-year teachers leave teaching in their first year, and one-third leave in the first three years. In sharp contrast, ACE boasts a 95% or higher retention rate every year, and we credit that success to the support ACE teachers receive in community.

8. Can married people apply?

No. Admission to ACE is reserved for single lay people committed to living in the ACE house with the other community members. The commitment to the sacrament of marriage must necessarily supercede an ACE teacher'’s commitment to intentional Christian community as it is designed according to the ACE model. The ACE Marriage Policy states: "The emotional, social, and spiritual energies required by the ACE model of intentional Christian community are likely to conflict with the demands connected with the intimacy of marriage, particularly at the outset of marriage. Because of our profound respect for the sacrament of marriage, we strongly recommend that ACE participants enter into marriage at a time when they are able to enter fully into that sacramental relationship without having substantial responsibilities to an ACE community in fairness to the marriage and to the other community members."

9. Will I get paid?

What will I have to pay for? Yes, you will receive a modest living stipend (usually about $11,000) from your school. You will be required to pay rent (usually under $200/month) and to share utilities for your house. You will also be responsible for your own food and personal expenses, including your text books for the academic program. Room and board during the summer session is free, as is tuition for the M.Ed. program. You will also receive $300 in travel stipends each year in order to subsidize expenses in traveling to your site and to Notre Dame.

10. I have a lot of student loans. Can I get them deferred or forgiven by doing ACE?

Yes. As full-time graduate students, most teachers in the ACE program are eligible to defer undergraduate student loans. As well, many ACE teachers qualify for partial cancellation of Perkins loans depending on the subject(s) they teach and on the eligibility of the school at which they teach.

11. What is an AmeriCorps Education Award? What can I use it for?

All members of ACE become members of the AmeriCorps program, which entitles them to receive an Education Award of $4,725 to be used for further graduate study or to pay off student loans.

12. Will I receive health insurance?

Yes. You will be covered under ACE's health plan. The plan provides comprehensive medical coverage but does not offer an optical or dental benefit.

13. I’m a principal/superintendent. Can my school/diocese get ACE teachers?

ACE has grown dramatically in the first 7 years of its existence, and now supplies 150 teachers to more than 108 schools in 25 dioceses. The close support and personal, family atmosphere of the program has been crucial to its success, and ACE does not plan to accept more than 80 teachers in any new cohorts. Therefore, in order to maintain the current number of members (150-160), any expansion necessitates contraction elsewhere. In order for ACE to decide to serve a diocese, the diocesan schools office must demonstrate both a marked need and a willingness to support ACE members if placed in their diocese. Such local support has been vital to the success of ACE teachers. Currently ACE is unable to meet every diocesan request. However, each year the ACE staff reviews current participating dioceses for both level of need and amount of support. Interested dioceses are encouraged to apply for ACE teachers, and are should to contact the office directly for an application packet.