My grades are OK, not stellar. I want to go to a top tier law school. If I were to participate in Teach for America, would that raise my profile with law schools. Also, could I apply to the law schools before or after the program. Thanks.
2007-12-23 02:30:48 · 4 answers · asked by The J Man 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
From what I read about Teach for America, they have a lot of partnerships with different law programs. You can also actually apply for a law program, get in, and they will hold your acceptance until after you finish your program with Teach for America. I think it would definitely help you out, plus it will clear out some of your student loans from before and give you a sweet bonus for law school.
2007-12-23 06:13:06 · answer #1 · answered by slovenly 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As I understand it, professional schools don't see Teach for America as an actual training program for career teachers; it's a resume-enhancer, but one that has enough benefits to outweigh the obvious positioning. However, because so many good students go into it for the same reason, your grades and test scores still play the largest role in admissions; everything else is secondary. So even if you ace your LSATs and win a "Teacher of the Year" award, getting into a top-tier school is going to be an uphill battle if you don't have the GPA to match. You might be better served spending a year or two as a paralegal to demonstrate that you can handle the legal environment.
2007-12-23 12:31:15 · answer #2 · answered by MM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would wonder if it wouldn't give them the idea that you had planned on going into teaching, but bombed out there. It is, as I understand it, a way of developing a teaching force for the less-desirable parts of the country. A lot of money is spent to train the people in this program which would be lost if your intent is to leave it after a year or so. I would read this as one of two things - first, that you have no idea of what you want to do (if you apply after the program) or secondly, that you did this in a particular attempt to show off something to law schools (if you apply before the program). Under the circumstances (and this is not a put-down to Teach for America, which I thnk is a wonderful program - for teachers!), I would not be impressed.
2007-12-23 11:21:05 · answer #3 · answered by neniaf 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It could not hurt.
2007-12-23 10:34:41 · answer #4 · answered by Nigel M 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋