Tufts degree? Check. Resume full of internships? Check. Three-piece suit? Check. Life-long series of uninteresting jobs with a six-figure salary? Not so fast.
Instead of seeking prestigious, high-paying careers after graduation, many recent Tufts grads have explored public service ventures such as the Peace Corps and Teach for America. These graduates often find their experiences difficult but rewarding, and, in many cases, life-[changing.]
Tufts graduates can be found in a wide variety of service ventures throughout the globe, including those who followed in Tufts' tradition of sending graduates to the Peace Corps, like Leila Abu-Gheida and Rohit Reddy, who taught English in central Africa.
Tufts is consistently ranked as one of the schools having the largest number of Peace Corps volunteers in its size category, sending a total of 461 students since the program began in 1961.
The Peace Corps is a nonprofit organization that sends young people to rural areas in developing countries to teach languages or implement development projects.
Others, like Michael Poulshock (LA '99), worked with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a nonprofit organization that helped implement reconstruction efforts following American bombings in the Balkans.
"I provided transportation for isolated Roma [Gypsy] communities, who were being oppressed by Albanians and Serbs alike. This helped them to link up with each other and now they have their own province-wide NGO and political party," Poulshock said.
Many students found their service to be a personal turning point.
"Perhaps most importantly, [I learned] a heck of a lot about myself," Reddy said. It was where I became comfortable in my skin."
Abu-Gheida said that she learned to enjoy "the challenge of working outside my comfort zone," and decided on a career in international development. "I also met my husband," she said.
But undertaking service ventures to escape the routine of upper-middleclass success is not without its pitfalls. Missed job opportunities, low salaries, and unsupportive friends are just some of the risks.
Mike Wang (LA 99), who taught history to ninth graders in the Louisiana public school system through Teach for America, said many of his friends did not support his decision.
And for all of the benefits that can stem from such programs, full-time service is not easy. "It was the hardest thing I ever did," Wang said. "It's not for everyone."
Similarly, the financial and career outlooks for many participants are not particularly rosy.
"Two years in the Peace Corps means when you come back you basically start from scratch," Reddy said. "You are still broke and not many employers will give you a job because of it. You will start at the entry level like anyone else, while your peers have already advanced professionally by that time."
In Teach for America, Wang was paid the same salary as other starting teachers in the Louisiana school system, which at that time was $26,000.
But Wang said that service jobs can be a boon to indecisive grads. "I wanted to do something where I would have an impact on the community right away," Wang said. "Most people leaving college are wandering aimlessly in jobs they don't really like. I was ready to go out and get work done."
For Abu-Gheida, who worked in the Peace Corps, it was simply a matter of indecision over her future plans. "To be honest, I would have done just about anything after graduation, just to have a solution to the what-do-I-do-now problem," she said. "But my decision was based on a sneaking suspicion that the privileged atmosphere that many from Tufts come from is not real. I wanted to get to the basics."
On the other hand, such service experiences can provide a real boost in professional life, Wang said.
"Nothing prepares you better for what you want to do than teaching," he said. "That kind of creativity, perseverance, and critical thinking is what [employers] want to see in their employees and students."
Wang said he was accepted to a high-level policy job at the office of the governor of Louisiana without a comprehensive interview largely based on his Teach for America [credentials.]
He was also accepted to one of the country's top law schools after sending a personal statement describing an ongoing conflict with one of his students. The dean of admissions responded via a hand-written note saying that "he wanted to hear the rest of the story," Wang said.
His placement also left him well prepared for law school, Wang said. "Everyone is talking about how hard [law school] is - next to teaching it's a walk in the park."
Most importantly, graduates said that the experiences gave a valuable sense of context for their future personal and professional lives. Wang said teaching kindled in him an interest in educational policy.
While most of his friends are "moderately happy in their jobs, and some even find their work interesting," Wang said, "I'm passionate about [my work] and it doesn't feel like work," he said.
Alumni overwhelmingly described the programs as difficult but enlightening, providing lessons about international dynamics or socioeconomic realities that were never driven home in the theoretical context of the university classroom.
"It is absurd that I could graduate from one of the best schools in the country and still be so clueless about international affairs, geography, and the like," Poulshock said.
"Tufts helped me begin to learn to think critically about the world, but it did not do so enough," he said. "As Americans we are really embarrassingly ignorant about race, history, the legacy of imperialism, and the ways in which our country perpetuates its power and privilege by exploiting other peoples."
Some graduates said their Tufts education did not play a central role in preparing them for the more comprehensive view of the world.
"Tufts, in my opinion, needs to do better at forcing students to look at and question the double standards in the world around them," Poulshock said. "I have realized that, as a white person trained to be blind to those double standards, I have been at a real analytical disadvantage out here in the 'real world.'"
Tufts does provide options to students seeking full-time service ventures, however. According to Director of Career Services Jean Papalia, career counselors, workshops, and alumni connections through the Tufts career network can help students choose from a broad range of options.
Special programs around the University, including the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) and the University College, have encouraged students to expand their search for post-graduate plans. "We tell them to follow their passions," IGL Director Sherman Teichman said.
Papalia also said that Tufts' had a strong legacy of placing students in public service ventures. "Tufts has a long history of public service, from the Leonard Carmichael Society to [the University College] to alumni volunteering around the globe," she said.
