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Contestants must be at least half-time undergraduates. Some first/second year graduate students are also eligible. Students in coop programs such as 6A can participate as well. For more details, see the ICPC Regional Rules (the "eligibility tree" in the document is a helpful diagram).
If you have any questions or concerns, e-mail us at .
Registration is due October 1 11:59pm EDT and the link is sent to the mailing list. If you wish to participate but did not receive the email, you must let us know.
If you like programming and solving problems, we invite you to participate in the MIT Programming Contest. If you're one of the best out there, this is your chance to shine, and join a team consisting of the top programmers at MIT. Even if you don't think you're good enough to compete in the World Programming Finals, you can see how you compare to the best at MIT, and possibly surprise yourself.
We're particularly interested in people who have experience in algorithm contests (competitive programming), math contests, or took classes like 6.1220, 6.5210.
The top performers of the MIT Programming Contest will not only earn glory within MIT, they will also be invited to participate in the 2026 ICPC Programming Contest. We will use the results of the team contest to choose several top teams to represent MIT in the ICPC programming contest.
For the first contest, teams are not required to compete at a designated site, and not all team members are required to attend. Team members may arrive late or leave early. These do not apply to the second contest.
After the first contest, we will announce the cutoff for the second contest via the mailing list. The cutoff is intended to be attainable for all participating teams, provided that all team members participate prudently for the full five hours. The cutoff will be based solely on the number of fully solved problems. Teams that violate the above rules during the first contest may be disqualified.
The top three teams in the second contest will advance to the Northeast North America Regional Contest (NENA).
The top teams at the NENA (at most one per university) will advance to the next round of competition, the North America Championship (NAC).
The top teams at the NAC will represent MIT in the prestigious ICPC World Finals.
All travel expenses for team members will be covered by MIT and the ICPC.
This year the MIT Programming Contest is organized by professor Martin Rinard and student Jaehyun Koo. All organization and coaching work is done on a volunteer basis in a limited amount of time. We will do our best to run the contest as smoothly as possible, but be prepared for some glitches.
