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Teach for America Partnerships

by menacel » Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:11 pm
Hey all, I'm debating about whether I should join Teach for America. I think it's a great organization and would love to work with them to fulfill my societal passions. However at the same time, I have much more financially intriguing offers on the table.

I've read that Teach for America offers "great partnerships" with top graduate schools, such as: Harvard, MIT, etc. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with this? Or is it just a showboat feature? I'm sure it all depends on what your background is so here is mine:

Graduating senior from non-target school
3.77 GPA
planning to take the GMAT soon (hopefully 700-730)
work experience: summer internship and various on-campus jobs

I guess what I'm asking is: What are the real incentives to joining Teach for America? Are b-schools more relaxed on GMAT scores? Do they offer scholarships? Are you a shoo in?

I'd love to hear anything from anyone that has experienced going from TFA to ANY b-school.
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by Tani » Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:57 am
There are no shoo-ins anywhere when looking at a top B-school (unless maybe your name is on the library). TFA is a great program and I have known people who have gone from TFA to top schools. There are, however, no guarantees. For specific partnerships you should check with Teach for America.

It looks from your post as though you have not held a full-time job. That will make acceptance at a top school very tough, even with TFA under your belt. The people I have worked with have combined TFA with two or more years professional experience. Top schools have so many exceptional candidates that they don't need to "relax" on scores or GPAs for any class. Yes, they do consider each candidate as an individual and often "break the rules" to accept someone with a particularly interesting background, but those cases are rare.

In general, schools are looking for business experience for several reason. First, they want to see that you have the potential to do well in a business environment and history is the best predictor. Second, they want every student to be able to contribute substantially to classroom discussion from a professional perspective. Something that is difficult without a working background. Finally, the student benefits far less from the education without professional experience to which to relate the classroom work.

You are much safer making your decision on TFA from your societal passion, not from your hope of a payout in acceptance to business school.

Good luck,
Tani Wolff
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by menacel » Sat Mar 05, 2011 12:56 pm
thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it! With that in mind, I will probably pursue an avenue similar to TFA later in my future because I'm being offered a chance to gain some experience after graduation. Hopefully, that will give me a more solid foundation for my application to b-school.
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by Tani » Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:41 pm
Sounds like a wise plan! Good luck! Teach for America is an outstanding and worthwhile program.
Tani Wolff
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