Registration Policy and Applications

Registration for both tournaments has now closed.

Overview

November February
Tournament Date Nov 8, 2025 Feb 14, 2026
Friday Night Events Location MIT Harvard
Testing Location Harvard MIT
Sunday Education Location Harvard MIT
Team Size 4–6 6–8
Registration Fee
$80 per team application
$10 per individual application

General Information

To participate in one of our tournaments, all teams and individuals must submit applications through our online registration workflow. Applications must be submitted for every tournament season. The window for accepting applications is typically around 3 weeks in September. Registrations must be submitted by the coach, any responsible adult, on behalf of teams and individuals in an organization. For more information about how the application process works, please read Registration Steps below. No applications will be accepted after the deadline has passed.
Due to space limitations, we will determine teams and individuals that are able to attend our tournament through a uniformly random lottery. A special case is if your team placed in the top 30 for the previous February tournament, your team is guaranteed acceptance for the current season’s February tournament if the team applies for the current season. Accepted teams/individuals will be asked to confirm or withdraw their attendance. If you are not accepted through the lottery, you may join the waitlist to be notified about open spots.
On tournament day, please have the coach of the organization check-in at the designated times indicated on the tournament schedule. During check-in, please pay the registration fee ($80 per team; $10 per individual competitor) and if applicable, additional fees for preorders, via cash or check only.

Rules and Eligibility

Organizations that send teams to HMMT should adhere to the eligibility rules detailed in this section.
Each organization:
  • Can be a school team, regional club, group of friends, or just an individual competitor.
  • Must be led by at least one coach. Coaches of an organization may be any responsible adult– this includes teachers, club coaches, parents, etc.
  • 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.
    • Can be but does not have to be a coach of the organization
All organizations (and associated coaches) who fail to meet the proctor requirement will face a 1 year suspension from HMMT. Organizations and associated coaches facing a 1 year suspension will be ineligible to submit teams for the following HMMT season, and any applications made will be automatically rejected.
Each competitor:
  • Must be under the age of 21 during the date of their participation in HMMT, as determined by the number of years since their date of birth.
  • Must have been enrolled in full-time primary or secondary education on or after the season’s registration start date (August 24, 2025) in the year of the November competition (equivalently, the year prior to the February competition).
    • Home-schooled students must not have received a high-school diploma (or equivalent) and must be working toward such a credential on the season’s registration start date.
  • 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.
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.
We typically do not make exceptions to these rules, and we reserve the right to disqualify at any time any teams or individuals who violate any rules without contacting us before the required or related date (i.e. before registering for geographic qualification confirmation; competition date for other general rules). If there is any ambiguity, assume that your situation is disqualifiable for the season unless we specify otherwise. We also reserve the right to disqualify any team or participant if any team member, including coaches and parents, conducts any offensive, threatening, or harassing behavior. If you are unsure about any rules or your particular case, please contact us at request@hmmt.org.
If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to join our mailing list here so you can stay informed on the latest tournament updates.

Registration Steps

Registration Opens

↓

Coaches
Students
Create a coach account if you do not already have one. Otherwise, log into your existing account.
Create a student account if you do not already have one. Otherwise, log into your existing account.
Submit an application for November, February, or both.
Submit a separate application for financial aid if needed.
Invite students to your organization.
Accept the invitation from your coach.

↓

Lottery Happens

↙

↘

Rejection
Acceptance

↓

↓

Rejection
Coaches
Students
Decide if you will accept a place on the waitlist.
If yes, add your team to the waitlist through our website.
Keep a close watch for any emails from us about waitlist acceptance.

→
Acceptance
→

Acceptance
Coaches
Students
Add students to your roster to confirm your team. (At least 4 for Nov, at least 6 for Feb).
If you applied for financial aid: we will contact you to let you know if your team has qualified. If not, you have the option to join the financial aid waitlist.

↙

Confirmation

↓

Coaches
Students
If approved for financial aid, submit proof of travel.
Submit pre-orders for pizza, t-shirts, and parking.
Keep an eye for emails from us with tournament updates and waiver releases.
Log into your account and fill out waivers once they are released.
Prepare your team’s registration fee. We accept cash or check ONLY— no credit cards, mailed checks, online payments, etc. Please hand us the payment when you check-in for the tournament.

↓

Tournament Weekend!

Deadlines and Important Dates

Please note if you are accepted for financial aid, you must confirm 1 week earlier than the confirmation deadline listed below to receive financial aid. For more information, please read Financial Aid.
November 2025 February 2026
Registration Deadline September 21, 2025 September 21, 2025
General Confirmation Deadline October 11, 2025 January 10, 2026
Waitlist Confirmation Deadline October 25, 2025 January 31, 2026
Tournament Day November 8, 2025 February 14, 2026
Please refer to our Deadlines for all important dates on financial aid and registration.