March 20, 2011 - 4:33pm
'U' students among top accepted to Teach for America
BY BRIENNE PRUSAK
For the past two years the University has had more students than any other college in the country gain acceptance into Teach For America, a national organization that gives college graduates jobs to teach in low-income school districts.
According to Lorraine Anderson, managing director of regional communications for Teach For America, the corps has received 46,359 applications this year. Out of approximately 3,500 undergraduate students in the University’s senior class, 7.4 percent applied to Teach For America.
Eva Colen, recruitment director for Teach for America, wrote in an e-mail that 461 University seniors applied to Teach for America this year, which is 37 more students than last year.
Last year, 35,178 people applied to the corps, but only about 4,000 applicants were selected to teach in the organization, Anderson said.
According to a Teach For America press release, 103 out of 442 University students who applied to the program last year were accepted.
As of Feb. 15, 2010, 59 University students had accepted offers to participate in Teach For America this year, the press release stated.
According to Anderson, Teach For America looks for qualities like academic and extracurricular achievements, ambition, perseverance and the ability to motivate others. However, she said there isn’t an exact profile that applicants have to match in order to be accepted into the corps.
LSA senior Elizabeth Sinclaire, who was recently accepted to Teach For America, will be teaching early childhood education in Chicago for two years. In an e-mail interview Sinclaire wrote that the admissions process is “demanding” and “exhausting.”
LSA senior Samuel Marvin, who was also recently accepted to Teach For America to teach math in Memphis, expressed a similar opinion and said applying to the program was “stressful” and “arduous.”
The application process for Teach For America consists of an online application. The organization then selects applicants to participate in a 30-minute phone interview. If applicants pass the interview, they are asked to attend an all-day interview.
Sinclaire said she believes that Teach For America looks for specific qualifications and that “something off-track or different than these particular qualifications can lose someone the spot to become a corps member.”
According to Anderson, last year’s accepted applicants had an average GPA of 3.6.
Before applying to Teach For America Sinclaire worked with the Detroit Public School district through the Detroit Partnership — a University student organization that offers opportunities to perform community service in Detroit.
Sinclaire said she believes her previous work in a struggling school system increased her chances of getting into the program and that her past experiences will help her be successful in Chicago.
Marvin said he was attracted to the program because he is passionate about public service and sees Teach For America as a program that “doesn’t try to make a new generation of teachers” but instead chooses applicants that will bring their own strengths.
Sinclaire and Marvin both plan to attend law school after completing their time with the corps. However, many Teach For America participants continue to work in the education sector, with two-thirds of Teach For America alumni currently working full-time in education, Anderson said.
