Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that places recent college graduates and professionals in public schools for two years at a time, is expecting a 65 to 70 percent increase in Brown applicants this year, according to Lisa Krauthamer, who is in charge of recruitment for Brown.
So far, 130 Brown students have applied to the program, which offers four rounds of applications, Krauthamer said, and the organization is expecting more applications before the last deadline Friday. Ninety-nine Brown students applied to the program last year, an increase from 75 in 2007.
The increase in Brown applications this year is higher than the estimated 40 percent increase nationwide, according to Krauthamer, who attributed the overall increase to several factors, including the election of President Obama and a "momentum" built by Teach for America.
"First of all, there's just a general change in our country inspired by the new administration," she said. "Instead of going abroad to make an impact, now is a great time to change things here."
She also cited increased recruitment efforts on Brown's campus as a major contributor to the increase in applications.
"Teach for America is growing every year, so we've obviously got to accommodate that," Krauthamer said, adding that increased recruitment at Brown is part of a nationwide effort to solicit more applications.
Students accepted to the program this year offered several reasons why the program is attracting more Brown students.
Like Krauthamer, Fiona Heckscher '09, who was accepted this year, said the momentum on campus has contributed to a rise in applicants.
"Teach for America has a really obscenely effective recruiting machine," she said, adding that Brown graduates who have participated in the program in past years send positive reports back, influencing more Brown students to apply.
Heckscher and Adam Siegel '09, who was also accepted, agreed that the economic crisis could have affected some students' decision to apply to the program, but added that it was not a criterion for them.
"People who might not have been quite ready to take the leap" and apply to the program could have found that the economic downturn provided "just that little push," Siegel said.
As for the difference in applicant increase between Brown and the nationwide average, Heckscher cited an environment at Brown that particularly encourages public service. In contrast, she said, her friends at other schools "fight a lot of preprofessional pressure from peers and professors."
So far the program has selected 25 Brown seniors to begin working this fall. Fifty-five Brown applicants are going through their last round of interviews this week.
