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Teach for America---might it hurt?

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:26 am
by BlueGiraffe
I know TCR on TLS is that Teach for America might not help much as a soft (well, does anything short of curing cancer), but do people think for HYS it might hurt a bit actually because it's so common? For example: http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... essay.aspx

Re: Teach for America---might it hurt?

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 8:15 am
by haus
BlueGiraffe wrote:I know TCR on TLS is that Teach for America might not help much as a soft (well, does anything short of curing cancer), but do people think for HYS it might hurt a bit actually because it's so common? For example: http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... essay.aspx
I doubt that it would hurt. Try to avoid writing a personal statement that sounds like a cheesy young teacher television after school special. Then again, maybe you should try that curing cancer thing, that might help.

Re: Teach for America---might it hurt?

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 8:49 am
by BillPackets
BlueGiraffe wrote:I know TCR on TLS is that Teach for America might not help much as a soft (well, does anything short of curing cancer), but do people think for HYS it might hurt a bit actually because it's so common? For example: http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... essay.aspx
Moral of the story: don't be a cookie cutter TFA applicant.

Re: Teach for America---might it hurt?

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 9:10 am
by mx23250
haus wrote:
BlueGiraffe wrote:I know TCR on TLS is that Teach for America might not help much as a soft (well, does anything short of curing cancer), but do people think for HYS it might hurt a bit actually because it's so common? For example: http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... essay.aspx
I doubt that it would hurt. Try to avoid writing a personal statement that sounds like a cheesy young teacher television after school special. Then again, maybe you should try that curing cancer thing, that might help.
I tried the whole curing cancer thing and actually published a couple research articles showing a potential new treatment for a specific subset of breast cancer patients (my doctoral work was in cancer). It did give me a boost in admissions :)

Re: Teach for America---might it hurt?

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:14 am
by Hat.trick
I highly doubt it will HURT you and it will certainly look better as opposed to doing nothing for a year. Also, if you plan on pursuing public interest, TFA could be a great thing to highlight in your personal statement.