As you explore a career in medicine, whether as a physician or public health professional, consider beginning with Teach For America. By teaching for two years in a low-income community, you will have the opportunity to make a significant impact on the education and life prospects of students. You will immediately assume tremendous responsibility, managing a classroom of students while also being uniquely positioned to make an impact on their academic achievement, specifically in the math and sciences. By committing two years to focus on measurably improving student academic performance, you will plant the seeds for future doctors and scientists.
A growing number of graduate schools in a wide variety of fields partner with Teach For America to offer special benefits for corps members and alumni, such as a two-year deferral and scholarships. They know that alumni have gone through a highly selective process and have engaged in a challenging professional experience. Below is a list of partnerships available with graduate schools in medicine and public health. Click here to search our complete database.
The best physicians have mastered both the scientific and the humane sides of medicine. They are problem solvers who strive to communicate effectively and compassionately with their patients by understanding them as individuals and as members of families and communities. Teach For America provides aspiring medical students a unique opportunity to increase their understanding of diverse communities and enhance their ability to work with people from all backgrounds.
- Richard A. Silverman
Director of Admissions
Yale University School of Medicine
Our alumni report that the corps experience leads to tremendous personal growth and gives them a more concrete, in-depth perspective on the medical needs of the underserved populations, and on the relationship between disparities in health and educational systems. Further, they say that teaching for two years hones communication and leadership skills that lead not only to increased effectiveness in clinical settings, but frames their medical careers in the context of service. To learn more about what alumni in medicine say about their corps experience, read below.
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Alumni videos |
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I was first inspired to be a physician from a young age, observing my uncle-a physician in southern India-take care of every patient that came through his clinic. For my uncle, health is a right that should be provided to all. During college, I spent a year in India and volunteered at one of Mother Teresa's homes for the dying and destitute, and became intimately aware of social inequity. I made many friends with similar interests, and one introduced me to Teach For America.
In college, I had tutored and served as a study group leader, and loved to teach. I saw Teach For America as an opportunity to teach, while working to address inequalities in our society. Before entering the classroom, I didn't understand the magnitude of the achievement gap. I assumed there was no way students could pass eighth grade without being able to read a complex sentence or do fractions, but there were individuals in my classes who had not mastered those skills. Experiencing that firsthand was very profound.
I had some concerns about being an effective teacher, but I learned how to create a positive environment in my classroom. I tried to make my classroom interactive and hands-on, and set up breakout sessions for those students who were having difficulty. I worked with other Teach For America teachers at my school, and used this network as a source of support. We tried together to be positive agents of change at our school.
Very early in my Teach For America experience, I realized that poor health, nutrition, and a lack of access to adequate medical services negatively impacted my students' ability to achieve in school. This reality played a large part in my decision to pursue medicine as another way to serve my students.
I've always been drawn to groups that align around a common purpose-people accomplish so much more when they work together with a shared vision. My Teach For America experience confirmed that. To this day, I have a sense of being part of a larger movement of incredible individuals. Many of my friends in medical school were former Teach For America alumni. Of six residents in my current residency, which focuses on training physicians to care for the underserved, two of us are former alumni.
I don't believe there's a single "right" path to becoming a physician. The right path really is what is important to you, what makes you excited, and what inspires you to make a difference. At Harvard Medical School, I served on the admissions committee, and I saw how highly the members valued the Teach For America experience. They recognized that corps members develop a strong sense of self and bring a unique perspective to the field. My corps experience sharpened my resolve to become a physician, so that when I got to medical school, I really knew why I was there.
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I've wanted to be a physician since I was a teenager when I first volunteered for the Red Cross. As my college graduation approached, however, I wondered if I was bypassing a lot of other opportunities by going straight to medical school. How would I know if medicine was what I really wanted to do? I wanted to challenge myself and continue the community work I'd done, so I decided to join Teach For America.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that my two-year experience with Teach For America changed my life. As a teacher in an underserved school, I was continuously frustrated by the realization that I had many bright and eager students who were not realizing their full potential - both for want of adequate resources and because of the incredible challenges they faced outside of school. There were many opportunities, however, to make my students excited about science. For example, some fellow teachers and I started a science club that eventually collaborated with an environmental conservation organization on a study of the Hudson River.
The disparities I saw went beyond education to health care and nutrition. I had students with asthma who were absent due to inadequate medical treatment and others who missed school to accompany their parents on doctors appointments to function as interpreters. Once again, I was struck by the idea of all of this lost potential; I decided the best way I could work to restore it was in the medical realm.
I went on to earn an M.P.H., focusing on epidemiology and childhood immunizations. I am now in my last year of pediatric residency. I want to work towards ensuring that children and families from lower-income communities have the same level of access to decent health care as their peers in more affluent communities.
My teaching experience also helped me in medical school because it forced me to think very seriously about what I wanted to do with my life-because I loved teaching. So when I made the decision to go to medical school, I was even more committed. That made it easier for me to spend the endless hours that one must spend studying and reading in order to do well. I knew I had fully processed my decision, and I was committed to it.
Click here to hear from alumni in medicine about how Teach For America has impacted their decisions and perspectives.
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