Thank you! I was rather certain my educational background would be a detriment, actually. Like I said, I was very surprised I was picked up.
Re. race/gender statistics -- I think knowing these kinds of things is really important and they don't get talked about much on the forum from what I've seen. Have you seen
this breakdown? I found it while lurking a while back. It has good statistics on race, ethnicity, gender, age, educational background, etc. from past boards.
In terms of leadership, that was the one area of my kit that my OR kept saying might disqualify me since I did not have the kinds of quantifiable leadership experiences that others in the business or military world have. But I made the case in my interviews and in my letter of motivation that as a teacher I'm a leader in the classroom and in my department. I'm also an advisor in an undergraduate residence.