Teach for America and its implications on Med. School Apps

[AlexMorph]

So I wanted to get your guys' opinions on this.

Is it worth it to update med. schools if I got accepted into the Teach for America program?
This is probably neurotic pre-med talk but would some schools look at this negatively and question my commitment to medicine?
I would sincerely hope no med. school would ever think so, but you can't be sure with those heavy research oriented ones ...

And if anyone has any experience with successfully getting a deferral for TFA, lemme know. Thanks!

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[Picklesali]

So I wanted to get your guys' opinions on this.

Is it worth it to update med. schools if I got accepted into the Teach for America program?
This is probably neurotic pre-med talk but would some schools look at this negatively and question my commitment to medicine?
I would sincerely hope no med. school would ever think so, but you can't be sure with those heavy research oriented ones ...

And if anyone has any experience with successfully getting a deferral for TFA, lemme know. Thanks!

I've recently been solicited by Teach for America and they gave me this website which cites schools which have partnered with them and grant deferrals for accepted students.
http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/grad_school_partnerships.htm
(scroll down for med schools)

In the email the recruiter specifically mentioned that Yale and Baylor have indicated that Teach for America is a very highly valued experience in their applicants.



All in all, I doubt that schools would doubt your commitment to medicine, but it would further show you commitment to helping others. I say go for the update - it may give you an edge at schools you have yet to hear from..

(Disclaimer: my 2c)

 

[LikeClockWork]

So I wanted to get your guys' opinions on this.

Is it worth it to update med. schools if I got accepted into the Teach for America program?
This is probably neurotic pre-med talk but would some schools look at this negatively and question my commitment to medicine?
I would sincerely hope no med. school would ever think so, but you can't be sure with those heavy research oriented ones ...

And if anyone has any experience with successfully getting a deferral for TFA, lemme know. Thanks!

"Update" schools? Does this mean you're already applying this cycle? Since TfA is a minimum 2 yr commitment, you might be hard-pressed to get a med school outside the ones partnered with the program to let you defer for 2 years. You might just have to re-apply next cycle for a 1 year deferment.

I also applied to TfA, though not accepted, and I'm not sure it does as much for a med school application as, say, working in research for 2 years. It would give you cool stuff to talk about in interviews, but the same could be said for research. I ended up doing the research route, and I definitely don't regret it.

 

[AlexMorph]

"Update" schools? Does this mean you're already applying this cycle? Since TfA is a minimum 2 yr commitment, you might be hard-pressed to get a med school outside the ones partnered with the program to let you defer for 2 years. You might just have to re-apply next cycle for a 1 year deferment.

I also applied to TfA, though not accepted, and I'm not sure it does as much for a med school application as, say, working in research for 2 years. It would give you cool stuff to talk about in interviews, but the same could be said for research. I ended up doing the research route, and I definitely don't regret it.

Ya, I applied this cycle. I also got in to TFA. I'm really hoping they let me defer. I just thought it would be a pain to apply while I held down a full-time job. Since I had the option to apply right now, I did.

 

[bellaepie]

if you've applied to TFA this early, aren't you required to give them an answer by sometime in Feb (I'm not sure when, exactly, but I looked at the TFA timeline, and all but the very last application date would force you to make a decision on whether to do TFA or not before med school stuff is all sorted out for this year)?

 

[AlexMorph]

if you've applied to TFA this early, aren't you required to give them an answer by sometime in Feb (I'm not sure when, exactly, but I looked at the TFA timeline, and all but the very last application date would force you to make a decision on whether to do TFA or not before med school stuff is all sorted out for this year)?

Correction, they need a response from me on Nov. 21st. Ya, a week. My state school, which I would love to go to, does partner with TFA, so I'm thankful for that. I just hope I get lucky with the others as well.

 

[littlealex]

Oh screw TFA. I have a friend doing it right now. He's teaching the worst students imagineable and he barely has enough money for ramon becaues they pay him so terribly.

Just goto med school already.

 

[AlexMorph]

Oh screw TFA. I have a friend doing it right now. He's teaching the worst students imagineable and he barely has enough money for ramon becaues they pay him so terribly.

Just goto med school already.

LOL. Let me make my own mistakes and learn from them.
It's a hit or miss for a lot of people. I'm willing to take that chance.

 

[GoldShadow]

I'm not saying anything about the worth or value of TFA, but I don't think the following mentality is a very good one:

LOL. Let me make my own mistakes and learn from them.
It's a hit or miss for a lot of people. I'm willing to take that chance.

If everybody learned from only their own mistakes rather than taking others' mistakes into account as well, they'd end up dead or screwed. Also, I sure as hell wouldn't take a "hit or miss" chance on a 2-year commitment, especially when you have the prospect of medical school on the horizon.

 

[beachblonde]

Oh screw TFA. I have a friend doing it right now. He's teaching the worst students imagineable and he barely has enough money for ramon becaues they pay him so terribly.

Just goto med school already.

That's too bad about your friend, but unfortunately that's the risk you take when teaching underprivileged children. Many of them will have behavioral problems. TFA also places teachers as employees of school districts, so they get paid what the other teachers get paid. Sadly, in the US, it's typically pennies-says a lot about our education system.

FWIW, I have many friends doing TFA on both coasts and they say it's a major challenge but they love it. Most medical schools see TFA as a valid reason to defer your admission for two years. If the school doesn't allow you to defer, do you really want to go to that institution? Seriously-TFA is a pretty selfless thing to do, and I can't imagine what kind of medical school wouldn't want its students involved in the community.

Congrats on TFA, btw!

 

[Lshapley]

I'm not saying anything about the worth or value of TFA, but I don't think the following mentality is a very good one:

If everybody learned from only their own mistakes rather than taking others' mistakes into account as well, they'd end up dead or screwed. Also, I sure as hell wouldn't take a "hit or miss" chance on a 2-year commitment, especially when you have the prospect of medical school on the horizon.

No. Just no. Alexmorph is not making a terrible mistake, and he knows it. Better not to make your choices based on the anecdotal experience of the friend of someone in cyberspace. TFA is well-documented to be a valuable experience for many, and Alexmorph should explore that if he wants. Besides, what Alexmorph likes and what someone else likes are likely to be totally different!

Anyway, it is also better to make a mistake when you are young and learn from it than to "do the smart thing" and live a life full of regret.

 

[AlexMorph]

I'm not saying anything about the worth or value of TFA, but I don't think the following mentality is a very good one:

If everybody learned from only their own mistakes rather than taking others' mistakes into account as well, they'd end up dead or screwed. Also, I sure as hell wouldn't take a "hit or miss" chance on a 2-year commitment, especially when you have the prospect of medical school on the horizon.

I was being sarcastic with littlealex. Trust me. I've looked into this for months now. I'm confident I'm making an informed decision.

 

[GoldShadow]

I was being sarcastic with littlealex. Trust me. I've looked into this for months now. I'm confident I'm making an informed decision.

Heh, okay, my bad. Sometimes it's hard to tell when on the internet!

 

[GoldShadow]

No. Just no. Alexmorph is not making a terrible mistake, and he knows it. Better not to make your choices based on the anecdotal experience of the friend of someone in cyberspace. TFA is well-documented to be a valuable experience for many, and Alexmorph should explore that if he wants. Besides, what Alexmorph likes and what someone else likes are likely to be totally different!

Anyway, it is also better to make a mistake when you are young and learn from it than to "do the smart thing" and live a life full of regret.

Like I said, I wasn't saying that TFA is bad. Not by a long shot. I've heard a lot of great things about it. I was just saying that it's not a good idea to jump into a commitment like that without giving it lots of thought.

 

[Lshapley]

Like I said, I wasn't saying that TFA is bad. Not by a long shot. I've heard a lot of great things about it. I was just saying that it's not a good idea to jump into a commitment like that without giving it lots of thought.

No worries. Looks like we were all coming from the same place, but like you said it's sometimes hard to interpret these things online. If I thought he was being rash, I would have agreed with your earlier advice.

 

[meowkat444]

Congrats on your TFA acceptance. I am an LA corps '05 alum (high school chemistry), so if you have any questions that I can help with please PM Yes, our kids are challenging and it was a very difficult experience, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Sometimes I wonder if the people who are miserable had unrealistic expectations--I mean, teaching underprivelaged kids in difficult conditions is kind of the *point.*

In any case, I would definitely update the schools that have partnerships. I have some friends that deferred law school, and some of them actually ended up getting scholarships because they informed the schools about their TFA status. And as for the non-partnership schools... I guess maybe you could wait until you have a decision from them, but if you know you're going to do TFA anyway then it probably won't hurt to tll them up front.

Also the not being able to pay for ramen comment is just unrealistic. Los Angeles is one of the most expensive places in the US and I was able to go out a lot and have a perfectly nice apartment with a pool, hot tub, etc. Got a huge raise the 2nd year, too. Actually I just switched to a research job and took a 50% pay cut and am still living the same way so it shows you that I was basically paid twice of what I really needed, alhtough of cousre it is true that teachers are way undervalued.

Other advantage? Everything else in life is going to seem easy peasy after.

 

[A Wall]

I was TFA in NYC from 05-07. As Meowkat said, the pay was not a problem at all, and I also took a huge paycut to switch to a research position.

With regards to deferring/applying to med school after TFA--I applied to TFA first, did my two years, and am applying to med schools now in my third year out of college. Med schools LOVE TFA. Of the 10 or so interviews I've had, I've spent an average of 30-50% of the time talking about my experience teaching, what it meant to me, and how I plan to use what I learned in my career as a physician. Of the two acceptances I've gotten (Downstate and Hopkins), an even larger portion of the interview was dedicated to my time teaching. Moral of the story: Don't commit to spend two years teaching as a way to get into medical school, because you'll be miserable, very likely quit, and then it will hurt rather than help your chances. DO commit to spend two years teaching if it's something that you want to do, if you're not quite ready to commit to a lifetime in medicine or want to spend a couple of years out of the classroom before you head back to school, or if you're not even sure that you want to go into medicine at all. I've never once felt defensive about my decision to take a few years off, and as I said, I think I'm a much stronger applicant as a result of taking that time off and spending it as I have. I wouldn't even apply to medical schools this cycle if I knew I was going to do two years of TFA, since as I said, I think you'll have a better chance of getting in afterwards than you do now. Still, if you're already in the middle of the process, I think more and more med schools offer two year deferrals for TFA every year. Sorry about the long post, and feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about your options.

Congrats on your TFA acceptance. I am an LA corps '05 alum (high school chemistry), so if you have any questions that I can help with please PM Yes, our kids are challenging and it was a very difficult experience, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Sometimes I wonder if the people who are miserable had unrealistic expectations--I mean, teaching underprivelaged kids in difficult conditions is kind of the *point.*

In any case, I would definitely update the schools that have partnerships. I have some friends that deferred law school, and some of them actually ended up getting scholarships because they informed the schools about their TFA status. And as for the non-partnership schools... I guess maybe you could wait until you have a decision from them, but if you know you're going to do TFA anyway then it probably won't hurt to tll them up front.

Also the not being able to pay for ramen comment is just unrealistic. Los Angeles is one of the most expensive places in the US and I was able to go out a lot and have a perfectly nice apartment with a pool, hot tub, etc. Got a huge raise the 2nd year, too. Actually I just switched to a research job and took a 50% pay cut and am still living the same way so it shows you that I was basically paid twice of what I really needed, alhtough of cousre it is true that teachers are way undervalued.

Other advantage? Everything else in life is going to seem easy peasy after.

 

[A Wall]

Looking back, I think I may have sort of skirted your question... You just wanna know whether to tell the med schools you haven't yet heard from that you were accepted into TFA. My thought would be no. Getting in is great, but it's not like it makes you a better med school applicant than if you had applied and not gotten in. Your background and activities haven't actually changed. On the other hand, you can probably breathe a little easier knowing that if this cycle doesn't go as you'd like, and you really are interested in teaching, you can do that for a few years and be a stronger applicant at that point.

 

[Drogba]

Interviewing during your second year of TFA would not be an option right? This means that your time off will be a minimum of 3 years if you wait to apply as opposed to applying for TFA and deferring medical school.

 

[A Wall]

I didn't want to do it, but I have a good friend who applied during her second year (and is at UCSF), and have met several people on the interview trail who are doing it. You definitely end up using all your sick days for interviews, but I think it's possible to do without doign a disservice to your students, as long as you time it well. Med schools are generally more flexible in scheduling interviews if you have a reason like that, I'd imagine. Scheduling and traveling to interviews is a pain whether you're in college, teaching, or working full time. You just sort of have to deal with it, I think.

Interviewing during your second year of TFA would not be an option right? This means that your time off will be a minimum of 3 years if you wait to apply as opposed to applying for TFA and deferring medical school.

 

[meowkat444]

A Wall had a good point in that what may make you a better applicant is *completing* TFA, not necessarily just getting in. There is actually a fairly large attrition rate, and the experience itself is why I'm a better applicant now.

Yes, people do interview during 2nd year, but it's very hard, especially if you're traversing coasts. Simply would not have been an option for me as an MSTP applicant.