In spring of 1999, as the centerpiece of a school-wide evaluation of the credential programs of the School of Education at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, the school of education faculty conducted a self-study involving graduates of the credential programs. To assess how well students were prepared for the reality of teaching, faculty members interviewed and observed the graduates teaching in their classrooms. They deliberately chose to select graduates who had been teaching three to five years, well beyond their first year of teaching. What is it like, they asked, to be a new teacher? What is the nature of the teaching context (the professional community, administrative support, school climate, etc.)? What theories and methods were most useful to these new teachers, and in what ways did their experiences in the credential programs prepare them for these jobs? This article examines not only what the authors learned about the graduates, but, more importantly, what they learned about the promise and pitfalls of the process of self-evaluation. (Contains 1 note.)