Harvard MIT Mathematics Tournament (HMMT)

Founded in 1998, HMMT is one of the largest and most prestigious high school competitions in the world. Each tournament draws close to 1000 students from around the globe, including top scorers at national and international olympiads. HMMT is entirely student-organized, by students at Harvard, MIT, and nearby schools, many of whom are HMMT alumni themselves.

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The November tournament includes two individual rounds, both of which feature challenging and non-standard problems from all areas of high school mathematics. The February tournament requires deeper and more specialized knowledge on the individual rounds, with subject tests in Algebra, Geometry, and Combinatorics. In addition, the November contest’s team round features short answer problems, whereas February’s is entirely proof based. As such, all students attending our February tournament should be comfortable crafting and writing rigorous proofs, while students with less proof experience may feel more comfortable competing in November.

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HMMT’s values lead us to bring forth the best competition experience, for both our organizers and participants.

• Community. We believe in bringing together competitors with a wide range of experiences. For participants, we aim to foster a community that can grow as they delve deeper into math. As a student organization, we also hope that our shared love of bringing mathematics to a community at large will bring our members together.
• Inclusion. We believe that it is vital to cultivate an environment that is open and welcoming to anyone interested in math--both for participants and organizers. Our goal is to shape events that are not only competitive and enjoyable, but also accessible. We are committed to ensuring that people from any background feel comfortable contributing to and gaining from the HMMT experience.
• Enrichment. We believe in providing a valuable and fun learning experience. We hope to challenge, engage, and excite students with math problems that explore concepts beyond the typical school curriculum. We also aim to equip our community with opportunities to further explore math and provide our members with a space for personal growth.

All competitors must be students below the age of 21 who have not completed secondary education in local jurisdiction. Coaches of an organization may be any responsible adult—this includes teachers, club coaches, parents, etc.

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Each organization:

• Can be a school team, regional club, group of friends, or just an individual competitor.
• Can send at most 5 teams and 3 individuals to the November tournament and 3 teams and 5 individuals to the February tournament.
• Must have an adult chaperone per team and individual present at the tournament to help proctor. For example, if your organization brings two teams, you will need two proctors, and so forth. This adult chaperone:
  • Must be able to read, write, speak, and comprehend English proficiently.
  • Must be at least 21 years of age (contact us if this is infeasible).
  • Cannot be a current undergraduate student at Harvard or MIT.

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Each competitor:

• Cannot belong to more than one organization in a given season.
• Must participate in their school team if the school submits an application for any tournament in that season.
• Can only participate in one out of the November or February tournament for a given season.

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For teams:

Teams must be composed of 4-6 students in November and 6-8 students in February. In addition:

• School teams must be verifiably affiliated with the school, and the school itself must be a recognized educational institution, online or physical. All members of a school team must be enrolled in this same school.
• All teams must consist of students who all attend the same in-person school or who all live within 150 miles of each other at the time of applying for registration.
• Teams who do not satisfy these requirements may still be eligible to compete if all students live within a well-defined contiguous geographic region.
  • If your team is only eligible through this qualification, you must email us before registering to confirm your team’s eligibility.
  • Teams who participated in the past should email us in advance of each registration season.

• September

• To participate in one of the tournaments, all teams and individuals must submit applications through the online registration workflow when it becomes available (typically a 3-week period in September).
• After the application deadline, HMMT will run an acceptance lottery. Not all applicants who register will receive a spot at a tournament. Students who do not receive a spot can join a waitlist.
• Only adults can register on behalf of students, either as the coach of an organization’s team or the parent/guardian of an individual competitor.

• Typically, lottery results are released 1-2 weeks after the deadline.
• Occasionally, lottery results may take up 3 weeks to be released.

• Thanks to the support of our generous sponsors, HMMT is pleased to offer financial aid for competitors of need. Financial aid entails lodging (hotel rooms covered for Friday and Saturday nights) as well as a waived registration fee. Unfortunately, HMMT usually is unable to cover travel fees as part of financial aid.
• To be considered for financial aid, you must submit an application for financial aid in the registration portal. Note that you must apply and be accepted in the registration lottery to participate before receiving financial aid details.
• Please email finance@hmmt.org with questions.