Lifelong Community of Global
Jewish Business Leaders

The Excel Fellowship begins with a summer business or tech internship in Tel Aviv. Each year's cohort is made up of highly accomplished Jewish college students who are pursuing careers across a wide spectrum of industries within business and/or technology. Excel Fellows are selected for their potential to become the generation of Jewish business and tech leaders. Each Excel Fellow embarks on an in-depth professional internship choosing among a wide selection of industries: biotech business development, consulting, computer science, cyber technology, engineering, environmental sustainability, finance, marketing, software development, startups, and venture capital. In addition, a curated speaker series takes place a couple of times each week, featuring leaders across Israeli society from business to tech to government, as well as diverse Israeli communities. Examples of business leaders include Managing Directors of: Goldman Sachs Israel, Blackstone Israel, and Meta Israel. The full cohort supported by staff join three weekend trips within Israel. Each Global Excel Fellow is paired 1:1 with an Israeli peer Excel Fellow when arriving in Israel. After the summer, the Global Excel Fellows become part of the lifelong Excel Community surrounded by professional development and personal development, cultivating Jewish leadership, and building further bridges to Israel.

The program is open to all Jewish young adults who are currently college sophomores (2nd year), juniors (3rd year) or seniors (4th year) and for those from the southern hemisphere or Germany, up to one year after completing an undergraduate degree. Those graduating must be committed to graduate programs or full-time employment in the fall after graduation. Students should be pursuing a well-rounded academic background with relevant coursework related to their desired internships. Candidates must demonstrate academic strength. U.S applicants are required to have a minimum 3.2 GPA (or equivalent for international students), strong standardized test scores (if applicable), demonstrated leadership skills, and a high energy level. To be eligible for Birthright Israel Excel, you must be considered Jewish by one of the recognized Jewish denominations. You must not be exclusively practicing another religion, and you also need to have at least one Jewish parent who identifies as such. You may also be eligible if you are a Jew by Choice through conversion to Judaism (documentation will be requested). Please note that final eligibility for Birthright Israel Excel is only determined after you complete the full application process and is subject to change. If your Jewish story feels complicated and you have questions about your Jewish eligibility, or if you practice another religion, or if you are adopted, we take these cases seriously and prefer to talk to you 1 on 1. Please reach out to us at: hello@birthrightexcel.com. *Birthright Israel recognizes the following denominations: Reform Reconstructionist Conservative Orthodox Sephardic

Interested students must complete the online Excel Fellowship application accessible through the APPLY button on top of the Excel site home page.

Early Application Submission

If submitting a fully completed application for summer 2026 by the early application date of September 29th (by 11:59pm ET), applicants will be notified of their admission status on December 11th. The majority of spots will be filled from the early admission pool. Applicants who initially submit without responses to the three short-answer questions, video, and most recent transcript will be notified within two weeks whether they should proceed to submit the short-answers, video, and most recent transcript, or if they will not be advancing in the admissions process. Applicants who submit a fully completed application with responses to the three short-answer questions and a video by September 29th will be notified within a few weeks of submission whether they are selected for a first-round interview. Applicants selected for a first-round interview should expect to hear back if they are selected for a second-round (final) interview within three weeks of their first interview. The email will indicate whether the applicant is invited to a second-round (final) interview or will not be continuing in the admission process.

Rolling Admission

After September 29th, the admissions process will move to rolling admission for the remaining spots. Interview consideration is only given following the submission of the three short-answer responses, video, and most recent transcript. Applicants who initially submit an application without responses to the three short-answer questions, video, and most recent transcript, will be notified within approximately two weeks whether they should proceed to submit the short-answer responses, video, and most recent transcript or if they will not be advancing in the admissions process. Students who submit their completed application after September 29th will receive admissions process updates. Decisions on applicants who are part of rolling admission will be released after decisions for early applicants (those who submit their full application by September 29th).

Admissions Offer and Questions

Candidates selected for the Excel Fellowship who submitted their full application by the early deadline of September 29th will be notified by email on December 11th; those students will need to accept the offer of admission within one week following the offer date. Please direct your questions via email to hello@birthrightexcel.com. Israelis based in Israel who are interested in applying to become an Israeli Excel Fellow should visit the Excel Israel site: https://taglitisrael.co.il/excel