Teach for America and Post-Bacc/SMP

[morethanever]

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Hello!

Now before you dismiss my questions as being redundant, I just want to say that I've read most everything on this forum in regards to Teach for America, but some of my questions are still unanswered and most of the information on the threads about TFA seem to be a few years old 🙁 Sooo I was hoping that some of you may have some recent information/stories/statistics for me (Don't let me down SDN ! But then again..when has SDN ever let me down haha?)

I'm really interested in the TFA program because I've been a huge proponent of education reform from like day 1. This is evidenced by various levels of involvement and commitment during my first two years of college with volunteering in Title I schools and involving myself in a service learning project with said schools. However, I'm more convinced this year than ever that medical school is something I want to pursue. I've always been interested in medicine but as an engineering major, I wasn't sure if I wanted to train to go to medical school and train to become a physician or go into engineering research with biomedical companies. However, after 3 years of engineering and several experiences with clinical volunteering, I'm more than convinced that medical school is my calling.

With that being said, I also don't know if I'm ready for medical school yet. I feel like now is the time for me to mature in terms of thinking and real-world experiences. So I'm definitely going to take at least a year off. And I believe TFA is an excellent option for me (yes, I know it is a two-year commitment but I'm willing to take two years off if it is the right fit for me). However, I do have a couple questions for anyone that has done TFA/looked into doing TFA and has substantially more knowledge than my somewhat-limited knowledge:

1) What were your experiences with TFA? Did you enjoy it or did you regret taking that much time off from matriculating at medical schools?

2) Were you in any SMPs or post-bacc programs during your commitment with TFA? If not, do you know if this is common for some pre-meds in TFA or if it's even feasible?

3) Do you think TFA got in your way with the admissions process (has being a teacher deterred you from being able to attend interviews or have you found it to be manageable?)

4) Do you think TFA was looked favorably upon by medical schools? Would they have wanted to see applicants make better use of their time doing research, gaining more clinical experience, etc...?

Thank you so much for the super long post but I thank you all in advance for any responses! 😍

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

[jesse120]

I don't have any advice to give, but I was in a similar situation as you. I was an engineering major and really wanted to teach math/physics for TFA before med school. I wasn't admitted into the program though, which was a real letdown, and I have no idea why -- with the way they had things set up, I wasn't able to contact the people who made the ultimate decision. Although I don't have any firsthand experience, I think it's a wonderful program and would definitely help prepare you for med school. Best of luck you to with whatever you decide!

P.S. I did take time off between undergrad and med school and have been doing other meaningful things. For what it's worth, taking time off was the right decision for me. Some people get bored out of their mind during that gap year(s), but I found it to be a much needed break!

 

[jesse120]

4) Do you think TFA was looked favorably upon by medical schools? Would they have wanted to see applicants make better use of their time doing research, gaining more clinical experience, etc...?

Straight from the very popular Ask me (almost) anything thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11940584&postcount=182

 

[NickNaylor]

I would encourage you to think very carefully and do your research before committing to TFA. There are a couple of people in my class that did TFA and it's a very trying, demanding, and at times unfair environment that you're put into. Talk to several TFA alumni and do some serious soul-searching before you decide to apply.

2) I highly doubt you can be enrolled full-time in a SMP/post-bacc. Keep in mind that teaching is more than a full-time job. Designing lesson plans, grading, and the inherent administrative crap that's part of the job will require more than your standard office hours, ESPECIALLY in your first year.

3) I imagine that it'd be very difficult to go on many interviews while you're still employed.

4) TFA is a very valuable experience to have. It will almost certainly be viewed extremely positively.

 

[ensuii]

1) What were your experiences with TFA? Did you enjoy it or did you regret taking that much time off from matriculating at medical schools?

I did TFA from 2007-2009 and had a wonderful experience. I was a product of the inner-city public school system and have a very strong opinion about the inequities in public education. Being an econ major with a few hundred hours of clinical experience, going to medical school felt right but I wanted to see what was out there before committing myself to medicine. I think considering the political climate surrounding the future of medicine, it's even more worthwhile now to evaluate all potential career opportunities. TFA definitely allows you to do do that.

TFA will give you 2 years to mull over your options and figure out what path will give you the highest amount of satisfaction in context of length of education, work environment, job availability and investment in education. It's generally a very favorable thing to have on your CV regardless of what field you go into. On top of that, you'll spend your time righteously trying to resolve the achievement gap. It's like community service on steroids. I really had a high amount of satisfaction doing my job. Every day wasn't pretty and there were A LOT of days (especially during the first year) where I felt absolutely miserable but at the end of the day when I look back on what I did for my students, I really feel like I accomplished something for those two years. Periodically one of the little rascals manages to find me on facebook somehow and will send me messages about what I did for them and they always make my day.

The skills development was also pretty huge. I was a fairly poor public speaker in college/high school. I'm a pretty damned good public speaker now. I get comments on it all the time. I think the nature of the work also makes you more assertive and outspoken over the two years (you'll get eaten alive the longer you aren't). Like all postUG programs, TFA is pretty big on """""professionalism"""". They are more so than most master's programs or medical school's I bet. I'm not kidding you...they watch you like a hawk and have excel documents to track how you're measuring up to professional standards and if you're not you'll certainly hear about it. I hated it at the time but I think the rigorous nature of the program allowed me to avoid some of the growing pains some of my classmates have had. I was never really miserable in med school and I kindof was already in the habit of treating school like a job. Going from TFA to first year of medical school was a fairly easy transition. Aside for the part where I had to take anatomy, medical school was a giant vacation until I had to start studying for Step1.

2) Were you in any SMPs or post-bacc programs during your commitment with TFA? If not, do you know if this is common for some pre-meds in TFA or if it's even feasible?

When you join TFA, you're not going to be doing anything else. You'll work fulltime as a teacher, be expected to complete a concurrent master's degree in education/curriculum and meet all your TFA program requirements. Trust me, your plate will be full. Some of it is region-specific I guess but where I did TFA I was working 100-110 hours a week. It was pretty bad...at one point I think "sleep" was 15 minute catnaps throughout the night. I think I was also one of the crazier ones though. If you try to shave as much time as possible I think you could get it down to 60-70hours a week (again, some of this is region specific) and then MAYBE do a post-bacc program/SMP. TFA by itself is a pretty big emotional/time commitment though and I wouldn't recommend adding any additional responsibilities.

3) Do you think TFA got in your way with the admissions process (has being a teacher deterred you from being able to attend interviews or have you found it to be manageable?)

Not really. I usually just took a sick day or two whenever I had an interview. Depending on where you get placed, this shouldn't really be a problem. Teacher's unions are ridiculous and you should have a good amount of sick days saved up that it shouldn't really be a problem unless you take off every Friday for a few months (had a friend in the program do this).

4) Do you think TFA was looked favorably upon by medical schools? Would they have wanted to see applicants make better use of their time doing research, gaining more clinical experience, etc...?

I think I went on 9-10 interviews and each one went 😱😍😱😍 when they saw that I was doing TFA. It's a good talking point but make sure it's not the only thing you talk about during your interview. I never once had it communicated to me that it was a suboptimal use of my time...but your mileage may vary.


Extra thought: The other day in the physician's lounge my former IR preceptor sat down and had lunch with me and another student. We were making random conversation and my friend asked him if he would recommend IR to medical students. He said that if he had to do it all over again, he would not have chosen medicine at all. Being a physician is hard work...the hours are long, the liability is high, the stress is never ending, midlevels annoy you, and the compensation is far from being entirely stable. However, I think that a lot of physicians have lost touch with the plight of the common man. It's pretty easy to say you hate your job when you're making 100k less than you were last year and you get called at 3am every night because a patient's WBC went from 23 to 26...but you're still making 400k+/60hrs (in the case of my IR preceptor) whereas most people would go their lifetime capping out at 70-100k, if that. I hate to stereotype but I think you see this a lot more in the people that never had a 40-50hr/wk job before medical school.

Wow that was long...any way, PM me if you have any other questions or want advice throughout the application process.