By Hanan Esaili

As graduation gets closer and closer, college students are starting to look for jobs– but they’re not looking at Teach for America.

According to a recent article by The Dallas Morning News, Teach for America has seen applications drop 10 percent for the second year in a row.

“The national trend is telling us that a lot of service organizations in general are just recruiting fewer people. The reason is because the economy has increased and students are receiving better paying jobs right out of college,” TFA Recruitment Associate Amy Alderman said.

Teach for America said that just eight percent of children who grow up in low-income communities graduate college by age 24. But future teachers think that although Teach for America’s mission is good, some feel they aren’t prepared for the tough jobs.

“I think that while it is a good intention, it’s not extremely effective because you’re taking teachers who have no expereince, who have never worked in a classroom, and may not have studied the education process and how to teach kids,” Melissa Levinsohn, future teacher, said.

But it seems that Dallas universities, like SMU, are not following the trend. More applicants from SMU are applying and recruiters believe it is because of the school’s strong service background.

“We are actually up about 20 percent in our applications at SMU this year. So, we’re recruiting phenomenal students, and we’re doing really well [in that area],” Alderman said.

Although the number of applicants has gone down, Teach for America is still positive they can recruit enough students to make a difference.