mpb

I'm not really sure about top programs. Here are some stats about Harvard's master's programs: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/masters/life/who-studies Looks like master's students have work experience, but that includes programs other than MAT and may not be education-specific experience. I'd say read the profiles of admitted students that are listed on websites like STEP, see if you can find admissions statistics, and look through the threads of the schools you're interested in and pm people who applied to your programs. My guess would be that you'd need enough experience to explain/justify your interest in a MAT program in a statement/interview but not much more than that. Just another thought: if you ultimately want to study policy or do administration, you may be want to consider doing an alternative certification program like Teach For America, Match Corps, or something similar. Plenty of people from these programs move on to policy and administration. That way you would only pay tuition for one program, so it would also be much more affordable. Tuition at top MAT programs isn't cheap, and as I understand it, you likely won't get much of a scholarship. I think having tens of thousands of debt may cause you to hesitate to get another expensive degree (e.g. ed policy) for the career you really want. You wouldn't teach German, but unless German relates to your interest in policy or administration that probably won't harm your long term goals. I did TFA, and it's certainly an intense experience, but it was great for me. It definitely offered insights that would be very relevant to policy and perhaps higher ed if you teach in a high school--particularly if you are interested in issues of access to higher ed. Perhaps apply to those types of programs in addition to MAT ones to give yourself more options? You know your goals best, but I just thought it is something to consider!

Are you looking only for teaching experience? I'm not sure if it's required to be successful in gaining admission into MAT programs. Your stats will put you above the medians for most MAT programs (maybe all). I would think that experience would only be required for higher education or education policy programs. Someone else may be able to confirm this, but I think your stats alone should get you into a MAT program. The deadlines have passed for the summer experiences I know of (e.g. http://www.uncommonschools.org/careers/stf and http://www.breakthroughcollaborative.org/teach/apply ). Maybe you could get lucky through doing Google searches with combinations of summer teaching program. Another option could be to look into teaching fellowships. Boarding and private schools have these. Several things came up when I searched boarding school teaching fellowship (e.g. http://www.nobles.edu/about-nobles/teaching-fellowships.cfm You could try to find one of these, but I think the deadlines may have also passed. I know that many districts have low requirements to become a sub, so that's something you could look into by contacting school districts rather than individual schools. Not sure if that would pay the bills though. Your test scores may be high enough to get you a job at a test prep center as a tutor, which may be as close as you can get to teaching experience given your qualifications. Some charter schools hire people without certification, but you'd likely have to enroll in an alternative certification program, which probably doesn't make sense if you're planning to get a MAT. Best of luck!

I did TFA and would agree that you don't necessarily need teaching experience to go into policy. Many people who have done TFA are doing ed policy work though, so joining TFA would connect you with a large network of people in that area, which could be helpful for your long term goals. I also think that getting teaching experience would offer insights that would be helpful with policy work--teachers would appreciate there being more policymakers who have actually taught. I definitely wouldn't get a master's degree though if you don't want to teach long term. Unless someone is paying your tuition, you will be taking on a lot of debt for something you may only do briefly, and you're taking an extra year that could be spent teaching or gaining other experience. I think that a master's degree only makes sense for career teachers, or if you want to work in schools that may care about their teachers having ivy-league pedigree (elite private schools perhaps?).