Local Colleges among the Top Contributors to Teach For America’s 2011 Teaching Corps

This week, Teach For America posted its annual ranking of the colleges and universities contributing the greatest number of graduating seniors to its 2011 teaching corps.

And if you think cracking the Ivy League is tough, try getting an appointment to this exclusive group.

With a record 48,000 individuals applying to join, Teach For America’s 2011 acceptance rate hovered around 11 percent. Incoming members earned an average GPA of 3.6, and 100 percent have held leadership positions.

Corps members are highly-accomplished college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in underserved schools. The organization recruits from all academic majors and backgrounds and seeks individuals who have demonstrated “outstanding achievement, perseverance, and leadership.”

This fall, more than 5,200 new members will start teaching in 43 regions across the country. They represent more than 1,500 colleges and universities, and 77 percent are 2011 graduates. The top 2011 college producers for Teach For America were:

Large Schools
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (119)
University of California-Berkeley (89)
University of Texas at Austin (87)
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (80)
University of Florida (75)

Medium Schools
Harvard University (66)
Boston College (56)
Georgetown University (54)
Duke University (53)
Brown University (49)/Northwestern University (49)

Small Schools
Spelman College (36)
Wellesley College (24)
Barnard College (21)
Amherst College (18)
Claremont McKenna College (17)/College of the Holy Cross (17)

Among the top local contributors were the Universities of Virginia (66) and Maryland (56) in the large school category. Georgetown University (54), Howard (25), Johns Hopkins (25), and American University (22) also earned recognition in the medium-sized school category.

For college-bound students interested in pursuing careers in education, Teach For America offers incomparable training and leadership opportunities. In fact, two-thirds of the more than 24,000 Teach For America alums across the country are continuing to work full time in education. More than 550 serve as school principals or superintendents and over 50 serve in elected office.

More information and the complete list of top college contributors to the corps may be found on the Teach For America website.