Gustavus Adolphus College is once again ranked in the top 20 for the number of recent graduates who will serve for two years in the Teach For America program among schools with 2,999 or fewer undergraduates.

Gustavus ranked in a tie for 12th among smaller schools with 10 members of the graduating class of 2009 who will serve in the 2009 corps.

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. The program’s mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort.

A record 35,000 individuals applied for the program this year including 7 percent of Gustavus seniors. The 4,100 applicants who were accepted into the 2009 corps earned an average GPA of 3.6. Eighty-nine percent held leadership positions as undergraduates and one-quarter received Pell Grants.

The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor led all schools with 80 corps members this year. The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities tied for 11th place in the large schools category (10,000 undergraduates or more) with 37 corps members. Carleton College tied for ninth place in the small schools category with 11 corps members.