Teach for America is a nonprofit that hires college seniors to teach at high-poverty public schools for a two-year period upon graduation. You’d think the organization would be clamoring to find enough qualified candidates to fill the spots, but, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. The elite program is considered to be as hard to get into as an Ivy League grad school. This year, a record 46,359 (mostly Ivy League educated) seniors applied. Only 4,500 were accepted.

Granted, those 4,500 new hires makes Teach for America one of the top 10 companies hiring new graduates. And the recession can likely be blamed for the huge increase in applicants. In 2007, only 18,172 people applied. For those who want to teach, and some who just want a job, the two-year teaching program at Teach for America offers job security and a good salary, if you can get in. Salary depends on where each new hire is placed, but some will make a solid $45,000 a year teaching in places like New Mexico and Texas.

Teach for America does have it’s critics though. Some say the attention the program gets isn’t warranted because its teachers only account for about 0.2 of teachers nationwide. And there is a high turnover rate, with about 50 percent of Teach for America teachers leaving after their two years are up.

Nonetheless, there are still 40,000 Ivy League graduates out there clamoring for another job and wondering why they weren’t accepted.