I currently have a 3.2 GPA with 1290 on my SAT, and am planning to become a high school history teacher. I have a well written college essay finished, and multiple in the works. I am trying to find a school out of New England in which I can study. Any help would be great!
What is your financial situation? Home state? Where do you want to teach when you are done?
What is your budget?
What is your home state? Is your GPA weighted or unweighted? Where are you hoping to teach after you graduate university? Do you want a large school or a small school? City or small town or rural?
If you are from Massachusetts, then U.Mass Amherst would be a reach. However, my best guess is that U.Mass Lowell should be either a low match or a safety.
When you say “out of New England”, how far away do you want to go and why? Do you have a preference for north versus south or east versus west? You would need to find out the extent to which teaching credentials transfer between states.
If you want to teach, consider staying in your home state.
For starters, you’ll graduate already certified to teach, with no additional coursework or testing.
In addition, though all the rounds of observations and student teaching, you’ll build valuable contacts. Secondary History can be a very crowded job market. It would be a huge help in the job search to already have connections in some of the schools to which you’ll be applying.
The budget is not much of an issue. I am from Massachusetts, but want to go to school far away.
I am not sure where I want to teach after, but I am originally from Massachusetts.The budget is not an issue.
Seriously, where do you want to go? Outside the NE is a wide area and there are literally hundreds or thousands of schools that could work for a history major wanting to teach with your stats - esp if budget doesn’t matter.
Are you looking for midwest, south, west - any particular region or state?
Around here Gettysburg College is popular for history buffs, but your stats are a little low for them. They’d be a reach, though worth trying if they interest you.
Teachers in k12 do not get enough credit, or salary. Today’s kids are challenging to educate, with parents feeling their kids are all special and teachers arent doing enough.
So i strongly advise against an education degree.
There’s an entire array of jobs and careers beyond classroom teaching, in the world of education. If education is your dream pursue it and you will find some sort of path that’s right for you. For example, there’s rising through the ranks and becoming an in-school administrator; you could become part of the government department of educaiton local or federal, you could teach awhile and go into law later and work in education-related law; you could become an education policy advisor; you could go into academics researching about pedagogy. There’s a whole world out there.
Where do you want to work after finishing your degree? Start with that. You should study in that state, and preferably within that same city/part of the state. Getting your first job will depend on the contacts you have developed during your classroom observations and student teaching experiences.
Consider dual-certification in special education and/or ESOL and/or reading (if headed to Middle School). That can make a difference in your employability.
@Kadel1023 I’m gathering you don’t share the sentiment, but most of those I work with in my high school wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. Whether the salary is adequate enough or not definitely depends upon where one lives. Here it’s just fine. Elsewhere I’ve seen “Wow, how can they live off of that???” figures. The OP really should pay attention to that, but not diss the field overall if that’s their niche in life.
Gettysburg is a possible reach if your 3.2 is unweighted and includes AP Lang, APUSH, and a couple more AP/DE classes in Humanities and social science.
Run the NPC and look into American U, Clark, Wooster, Brandeis, Trinity TX, Denison, Fordham, st Lawrence.
A good way to start the college search is to:
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Think about what you want in a college – do you have any preferences in terms of size of school, geographic location, setting (urban, rural,suburban). So you want (or not want) Greek Life, big time sports, religious affiliation or anything else?
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You say budget is “not much of an issue.” Have you had the money talk with your parents. Are they able/willing to spend $70,000 or so a year for a private college without any aid? Just be sure.
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Get your hands on some good college guide books and start reading (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review). This will help to give you a sense of what schools are out there, the academics needed for admission etc. You can buy these books or they can probably be found in a local library or you guidance office. If your school has Naviance that is a useful tool.
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A few suggestions offhand not knowing what type of school you are really interested in might be Quinnippiac (CT), Siena (NY), UScranton (PA), Marist (NY) and maybe some SUNY schools including (but not limited to) SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Buffalo. (I don’t think Fordham and Brandeis which are suggested above are viable options with your GPA - not sure of the rest).
@Kadel1023 … sorry, but I had to reply. I gather from your other posts that you’re also a high school senior, not a teacher who has any experience with the profession.
I’ve been teaching high school math for over 30 years, and I hate to see people trying to talk kids out of being teachers!
There’s not another profession in the world that would have given me the satisfaction that I’ve gotten from teaching.
I deal with the most amazing people every single day. I get to see them grow and learn and become the people who will change the world. Every single period is different from the one before and the one after.
Please, OP, if you want to teach, don’t let anyone dissuade you from following that dream!
@bjkmom
Yes, I agree, purely on speculation. Just because i wouldn’t do it, doesn’t mean it is not meant for others.
The pay is awful, its a thankless job, and it is mentally stressful dealing with kids.
But if you love it then it offsets everything.
I don’t find it mentally stressful dealing with kids at all (high school kids). I find it genuinely rewarding. I get thanked often by both kids and parents - even at the grocery store or Walmart where I happen to meet both at the same time outside of school.
The pay is good in NYS, MN, or Massachusetts. It’s awful in Arizona, West Virginia, Oklahoma, North Carolina…
Pick your state wisely.
@Kadel1023 I don’t know-- my husband and I both teach in Catholic schools-- known to pay less than publics-- and we’re approaching the $200K mark in the next few years combined. I’m not sure that it’s “awful.”
And who says it’s “thankless”?? I have a stack of cards and notes from kids-- not to mention those hugs at graduation, and a bazillion verbal thanks-- that would indicate otherwise.
“Mentally stressing”?? I’m not sure that teaching is any more mentally stressing than any other job. My sister is an accountant-- you don’t really want to ask her about work during tax season. And if you’re concerned about mental stress, then of course you’ll want to stay away from any sort of medicine, from criminal justice or firefighting-- heck, you’ll want to avoid a summer job as a lifeguard. My daughter has faced stress dealing with customers at her part time job for the past 4 years. The best way to avoid stress is to wrap yourself in bubble wrap and hunker down. Dealing with normal amounts of stress is part of living and growing, and should not be something we seek to avoid.
My point is that broad “I strongly advise against” types of remarks are far better made from someone who has some experience if the field he’s advising on.
Having graduated from a Massachusetts high school myself, I completely understand your urge to explore other parts of the country.
I’ve lived all over the U.S., and from what I’ve seen, the best way to leverage your grades and test scores would be to attend one of the major state universities in the South or the central part of the country. All of these have a pretty campus, solid academics, a lively town for nightlife, bigtime sports, & you’d likely be accepted: U of Mississippi, Oklahoma State U., U of Oklahoma, U of Kansas, U of Nebraska, Colorado State U., Louisiana State U., U of Kentucky.
@bjkmom You are absolutely right.
I listed reasons why I would not do it, and it may or may not be true to him.
The 3 reasons I listed why I would not do it are commonly teaching reactions, they are not my sentiments, they are other people’s, I just listed them as reasons why I would not.
At the same time, just because you enjoy teaching, doesnt mean macbear would either.
Is teaching an awful paying job? It is definitely undervalued.
Is teaching thankless? Maybe it is a misconception, and maybe not to you, but there are enough people who think so.
Is teaching mentally stressful? I see a lot of sad teacher faces dealing with high school jerks like myself. I think enough people feel teaching is stressful. Perhaps not to you.
Should I advice against teaching? I listed reasons why I would not do it, and they are mostly facts.
I apologize if you are offended. I am not dissing teachers by any means. In fact I said all along it is way undervalued as one reason why I would not do it.
We are getting way off track and we are not helping Macbear at all. If you need to vent and get it off your chest please message me.