Don’t apply just for the hell of it. Half of the questions I’ve seen in my months on this sub are things that can easily be found from the application portal ie. Salaries, grad school, cost of living etc. Know as much you can before you even enter a cycle. Read every piece of info given to you. Be realistic with your rankings. Don’t list a city with a high cost of living relative to it’s teaching salaries as #1, get accepted and go “this is too expensive to live on my own”. Well yes... that info was available. Don’t apply if the work hours scare you. Unfortunately, in the U.S’ education climate, you won’t be working a 40 hour week. Don’t apply if you’ve never been around kids! Make sure you at least like kids.