Apply to be a Mentor

The application consists of a personal statement, course proposals, CV, and one or two letters of recommendation.

The Personal Statement and Class Proposals

Personal Statement: Please write us a page or two about yourself, why you want to join Mathcamp and how you think you could contribute. Describe your qualifications, experience (construe that broadly), and ideas about this summer at Mathcamp.

Class Proposal: A mentor typically teaches 3-5 different classes over the course of the summer, though it's common to propose many more class ideas than end up making into the final schedule. For this application, we'd like to learn about one potential class idea in detail (for depth), and get a sense of some other topics you'd be interested in (for breadth).

Describe a one-week class that you would like to teach at Mathcamp. To choose your topic: you can see examples of past Mathcamp classes here (as we've advertised them to students), but topics change from year to year, so feel free to design your dream class! We are looking for a coherent, interesting curriculum that demonstrates your creativity as a teacher.

• Who is the audience?
  A typical class meets for five days, one hour each day (though some variation is possible). Keep in mind that these are bright high school students who can accomplish a lot, but have varying mathematical backgrounds. Some of them may meet proofs by induction for the very first time at camp; a few will have already taken classes at college and will happily follow a development of Stokes' Theorem on manifolds; most fall somewhere in between.
• What should this proposal look like?
  Proposals are typically 1–5 pages (but feel free to express your ideas at their natural length). Among the topics addressed in your proposal, you could include: the overall trajectory of the class; the topics covered on specific days; potential homework problems; which prerequisites you would like to assume; what a typical day in class will look like; a discussion of why you chose your particular topic and why you designed the class the way you did.

Additional Class Ideas: We would like to see your breadth as a teacher and your range as a mathematician, so in addition to your detailed class proposal above, please give several brief descriptions (a sentence or two is fine) for 2–3 other classes or projects that you might like to run at Mathcamp. Please include enough details for us to understand the content of the class and the main ideas that students should take away.

Outside the Classroom: One of the best things about Mathcamp is that each staff member and student shares their own interests with the community. We want to know what you're excited about, so tell us your ideas for interesting and fun activities, math-related or otherwise! You can get a sense of typical events from previous summers here, but feel free to be creative.

We want to get an overall feeling for who you are, and how you would fit into our community, but your application needn't be longer than a few pages in total.

Recommendation Letters

We ask for one letter of recommendation on your behalf. We are interested in both your mathematical strength and in your teaching experience and expertise. (It is worth emphasizing that some of our best mentors have had little formal teaching experience before their first summer at Mathcamp.) Though it is by no means a requirement, you may submit two recommendation letters: one from someone who knows you well mathematically, and one from someone who is familiar with your teaching ability. In any case, please show our description of the mentor position to your recommender, and ask your recommender to comment on your suitability for such a job.

In addition, if you know someone who has been involved in Mathcamp in the past, and you would like us to keep them in mind as a reference, please include their name and email address.

How to Apply

Applications for summer 2024 are now closed. Stay tuned for next year.

Thanks for your interest in working at Mathcamp!