Breakthrough Summer Teaching Fellowship

Spend a Summer teaching, spend a lifetime leading. Breakthrough offers one of the greatest opportunities in the country for you to assume leadership and to practice creativity, adaptability, and problem-solving.

The Summer 2016 teaching fellow application is now open!

Learn More

Teaching fellow applicants may apply to three affiliates across the country. Check out our 2016 Site Directoryfor detailed information about each site.
Look through our 2016 Viewbook!
Review application instructions below before you begin your application.
Visit our FAQs page for answers to frequently asked application and selection questions.
Click here to contact a campus recruiter, one of our undergraduate teaching fellow alums.

Important Dates

The 2016 teaching fellow application is currently open. Our early action deadline is January 12, 2016. The regular decision deadline is February 23, 2016.

Application Instructions

We are thrilled you have decided to apply to be a teaching fellow at Breakthrough. Please refer to the following application instructions as you complete your application and participate in the selection process.

Before You Start

Step 1: Choose a Recommender
Selecting a recommender as early as possible in the selection process allows you to give him or her as much notice as possible. Recommenders complete an online recommendation form and are not asked to submit a formal letter of recommendation. You will be asked to provide your recommender’s information at the end of the application. Upon submission of your application, we will contact him/her via email. For advice on selecting and communicating with a recommender, and specific information about the online recommendation form check out our Frequently Asked Questions page. As long as your application is submitted by one of the deadlines, your application will be considered on-time. Recommenders will have two weeks to complete the online form (even if it falls after the deadline).

On the Application

Step 2: Complete Your Profile Information
Provide basic information about your demographics, skills and educational background.

Step 3: Share Relevant Experiences
Upload a current copy of your resume. It should include school and community activities, paid and unpaid work experience, volunteer and leadership opportunities, etc. To best represent yourself to the selection committee, please be thorough but concise. If you are currently in college, focus on your experiences in college (and in late high school if you are a college freshman). See our resume advice on the Frequently Asked Questions page. We encourage applicants to keep their resumes to one page (and not more than two).

Step 4: Submit Your Transcript
Please submit an electronic version of your academic transcripts. This document must indicate your current status as a student, your major, your current year or anticipated graduation year, all the courses you have taken as an undergraduate and the grades you received, your current course roster and your current cumulative GPA.

Please note that we do not require an official copy of your transcript and we do not accept paper copies; a screen shot of your online grade interface will suffice, as long as it contains the necessary information. You can paste multiple screen shots into a Word document and then save or print it as a PDF to upload multiple pages in one document.

Step 5: Write Three Essays
Your essays help the selection committee deepen their understanding of your experiences and perspective and assess your communication skills. Content is very important, but your presentation sends a strong message as well. Please show us your attention to detail and commitment to excellence by presenting error-free work. In your writing, strive to be as specific and original as possible. Overly broad, generic-sounding essays don’t add to your application. The selection committee wants to hear your unique story.

Step 6: Select Site and Subject Preferences
Indicate at least one specific site where you would most like to teach. To maximize chances of receiving a position at Breakthrough, we recommend that you select three sites and indicate you are willing to teach anywhere. Breakthrough has over 30 sites in exciting cities across the country, and all of them are seeking hard-working, talented teaching fellows.

You must also indicate which subject areas you are interested in teaching. As with site preferences, flexibility is helpful. As directors build their faculties, they like to have candidates whom they can move between departments. On the other hand, you must be qualified to teach each subject you select.

For each of these selections, we encourage you to be open-minded but honest about your willingness and ability to accept a position with all of the locations and subjects you indicate.

Step 7: Submit Your Application
Once you submit a completed application, your recommender will receive an email with recommendation information and instructions. You will not be able to make changes to the application once you submit your application.

After you submit your application, your application will be considered by your preferred sites in order of preference. If you advance in the selection process, you will be asked to complete or submit additional selection materials. Below is information about these additional materials. Please keep in mind that materials and timelines may vary slightly from site to site.

Step 8: Submit a Video
If you are selected to continue the process, you will be asked to submit a sample teaching video. Guidelines, expectations and a deadline will be provided to you via email.

Step 9: Interview
The final step of the selection process is an interview. Interview processes differ from site to site. Directors will contact you directly via email and/or phone to schedule and complete interviews.

Step 10: Receive a Decision
You will be updated about your application status throughout the process. If you apply to our early action deadline, you may be offered a position or passed to your second-ranked site. If you apply to the regular decision deadline, you may be accepted or denied by each of your selected sites, in order of your preference.

Applicants are only offered a position by one site. If you turn down an offer to teach with one site, you are turning down the opportunity to teach with Breakthrough for Summer 2016. If you are denied a position by all three sites and you have indicated a willingness to teach anywhere, you may become part of the national waitlist and may be offered a position at any site. If you are placed on the national waitlist, we will notify you.