Registration Policy and Applications

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 open for at least a month. Registrations must be submitted by the coach, any responsible adult, on behalf of teams and individuals in an organization. No applications will be accepted after the deadline has passed.
Registration for both tournaments has now closed.

Overview

November February
Tournament Date Nov 7, 2026 Feb 13, 2027
Friday Night Events Location MIT Harvard
Testing Location Harvard MIT
Sunday Education Location Harvard MIT
Team Size 4–6 6–8
Per organization at most 5 teams and 3 individuals at most 3 teams and 5 individuals
Registration Fee
$80 per team application
$10 per individual application

Eligibility and rules

Organizations that send teams and individuals to HMMT should adhere to the eligibility rules below.
Competitor eligibility
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 2, 2026) 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.
Organizations and coaches
  • An organization can be a school team, regional club, group of friends, or just an individual competitor.
  • Must be led by at least one coach. A coach may be any responsible adult, including teachers, club coaches, parents, etc.
  • Can apply for November, February, or both.
  • Please do not name your organization after a school it is not affiliated with.
  • Any organization claiming to sell seats at our tournaments should be reported to us at request@hmmt.org.
Students
  • Each student may participate in only one of the November or February tournaments per season.
  • Each student may not belong to more than one organization in a given season.
  • A student who attends a school that submits an official school team application for either tournament cannot compete with another organization.
  • Students join an organization by invitation from that organization.
  • Students cannot choose their organization on the basis of lottery results. Students who circumvent this principle will be penalized. Any organizations who willfully contributed to this violation will also be penalized.
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.
Individual competitors
  • You can apply as an individual competitor.
  • An individual competitor may not join a team in another organization.
  • Teams of individuals or incomplete teams are ineligible for team prizes.
  • Individual applications cannot be transferred.
Proctors
Each organization must provide one adult chaperone per team and individual competitor present at the tournament to help proctor. For example, if your organization brings two teams and one individual competitor, you will need three proctors. 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.
  • May serve as the provided proctor for only one organization per tournament.
Organizations (and their coaches) that fail to meet the proctor requirement will face a one-year suspension from HMMT. A suspended organization or coach is ineligible to submit teams for the following HMMT season, and any applications made will be automatically rejected.
We typically do not make exceptions to these rules, and we reserve the right to disqualify at any time any competitors for rule violations. 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 chaperones, 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.

How to register

Applying
Coaches
  • Create a coach 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. Inviting students to the organization is separate from adding them to the team roster.
Students
  • Create a student account if you do not already have one. Otherwise, log into your existing account.
  • Accept the invitation from your coach. Your coach enters your HMMT username, not your email.
The lottery and results
Due to space limitations, we determine which teams and individuals are able to attend through a uniformly random lottery. Each individual application is entered into the lottery separately, so it is possible for only some of them to be accepted.
Organizations with teams who placed in the top 30 for the previous February tournament, receive guaranteed acceptance for the current season’s February tournament, provided the organization submits team applications for the current season. The team that receives the acceptance this season might be different from the team that won it last season.
We email the coaches of all organizations that submitted an application with their lottery results, so please monitor your inbox. You can also check the status of your registration on your team’s application page (or individual registration page). Lottery results are typically released 1–2 weeks after the deadline.
Accepted teams and 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 if your team can attend on less than a month's notice.
If you are accepted
Coaches
  • Add students to your roster to confirm your team (at least 4 for November, at least 6 for February). Teams who do not reach the minimum by the confirmation deadline will have their acceptances rescinded.
  • If an individual applicant in your organization is not accepted but your organization has an accepted team, that student may join the team. Email request@hmmt.org to withdraw the individual application and add them to your roster.
  • If you applied for financial aid, we will contact you about whether your team qualified. If not, you may join the financial aid waitlist. If approved, submit proof of travel, and confirm one week earlier than the confirmation deadline to receive aid.
  • Submit pre-orders for pizza, t-shirts, and parking, and enter your proctor information, by the confirmation deadline. Pre-orders are free up to your team’s allotment (additional items cost extra). Nothing can be added after the deadline.
  • Prepare your team’s registration fee to pay by cash or check at check-in.
  • Watch for emails from us with tournament updates and waiver releases.
  • Roster management is available only until two weeks before the tournament. To request a change after this date, email request@hmmt.org. We cannot guarantee that all changes will be permitted.
Students
  • For individual applications, confirm your acceptance through the same page where you applied.
  • Log into your account and fill out waivers once they are released.
Teams requiring accommodations should contact us at request@hmmt.org as soon as possible after being accepted. Requests are considered case by case, and those submitted close to the tournament date may not be possible to accommodate.
If you are not accepted
Coaches
  • If your team can attend on less than a month's notice, you can consider putting your teams on the waitlist through the website.
  • We will inform you if you receive a waitlist acceptance, no later than seven days before the tournament.

    Deadlines

    There is one registration period each year: applications for both the November and February tournaments are due by the same deadline. Below are the relevant registration and financial aid dates for the Season 30 tournaments.
    November 2026 February 2027
    Registration Deadline
    (submit Financial Aid application)     		September 20, 2026 September 20, 2026
    General Confirmation Deadline October 10, 2026 January 9, 2027
    Waitlist Confirmation Deadline October 24, 2026 January 30, 2027
    Tournament Day November 7, 2026 February 13, 2027
    If you are accepted for financial aid, you must confirm one week earlier than the confirmation deadline above to receive it. For more information, please read Financial Aid.
    Please refer to our Deadlines page for all important dates on financial aid and registration.

    At the tournament

    Check-in and payment
    On tournament day, the coach of the organization should check in at the designated times indicated on the tournament schedule. During check-in, pay the registration fee ($80 per team; $10 per individual competitor), plus any pre-order fees, via cash or check only. We do not accept debit or credit cards, online payments, or mailed checks. For teams paying by check, we recommend bringing a blank check, and our staff will explain the process at check-in.
    Events
    • Friday Night Events require no registration beyond tournament registration, and are open to all competitors of the tournament.
    • Sunday Education events are open to all students who wish to attend, not just competitors.
    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.