Unfortunately, we do not have the staff capacity to update any applications after the submission deadline. (Sorry!) Please be assured that the work you've already done on the Qualifying Quiz and your Personal Essay are the important components of your application, and that's what's important to us. In particular, no contest results in March or April, even making USAMO, will have any impact on your admissions decision, so even if you hear very good news, you do not need to update us.

We begin reviewing applications immediately after the submission deadline, and make our offers of admission on April 13th. At that same time, we place a small number of candidates on the waitlist and notify students who have not qualified for this year's program.

If you need a decision earlier than April 13th, you may contact us. Please include your application ID number (automatically created when you begin your online application), the date by which you need an early decision, and the specific reason for the request.

(Please keep in mind that we are reviewing hundreds of applications, and "it would be helpful to know sooner" is not a compelling reason. On the other hand, "I have been accepted to Summer Program X and would need to place a non-refundable deposit on or before April 5th in order to secure my spot, but Mathcamp is my top choice. Receiving an admissions decision from Mathcamp by April 4th would take the gambling out of my summer planning." is a reasonable request, and one we would try to honor.)

When reviewing candidates for early decision, we will give you a 'yes' or 'no' answer only if it's clear what the decision will be; if your application is in the middle of the bell curve, we may be unable to give you a final answer until decision day, in which case we'll let you know that you're still in the running, but that we cannot offer you early admission (and you can proceed accordingly).

If, at any point during the application season, you have decided to accept another offer, you may withdraw your Mathcamp application from consideration – just email us to let us know.

All decisions are announced via email; please be sure that emails from mathcamp.org will be delivered to your inbox (and not to spam). (Need help? See our tutorial on how to whitelist emails.)

Due to the large number of candidates, we are not able to accept late applications, as we begin reviewing applications immediately following the deadline and have a very tight turnaround. Contact us if your circumstances are unusual and you wish to discuss.

The deadline is officially 11:59 pm Eastern Time (UTC -5). We strongly encourage you not to submit at the very last minute; if everybody does this, the server will slow down considerably.

No, we are unable to accept late applications; we will do the setup for review on the day immediately following the deadline, and do our first review of applications on the first weekend. (We're absolutely inundated with applications, so we have to keep to a tight schedule.) Except in extremely unusual circumstances, we cannot grant an extension.

We understand that sometimes things come up for recommenders, and that this may be outside of the applicants' control. As long as you submit your application on or before the day of the deadline, we will give your application full consideration. We can grant a short grace period for recommenders to submit their letters a few days late; the portal will remain open for them. Please gently remind your recommender to submit their letter ASAP, and tell them to contact us by email if they have any questions or technical issues with the recommendation system.

We are no longer accepting applications for Mathcamp 2023. Stay tuned for 2024!

The deadline to apply is March 9, 2023. We consider all applications received by the deadline on an equal basis. Learn more about dates and deadlines.

Candidates who would like to be considered for financial aid should please submit completed financial aid applications at the same time as the application for admission (even though we review those components independently). After we have admitted a student, we will immediately review their scholarship application. We will do our best to make financial aid offers contemporaneously with offers of admission (or shortly thereafter, if we need any additional information from your family to put together the aid package).

We invite students to attend Mathcamp off the waitlist one by one, as space becomes available. The waitlist is unordered, and we cannot tell you how high you are on the list: choosing the next student admitted depends on lots of factors, including overall composition of the camp. We will let everybody know no later than May 31st. Thank you for your patience!

Most students who are admitted have given at least partially correct solutions to at least half the problems on the quiz. This does not mean that once you're done with a few problems, you should stop working! Not only is there a danger that some of your solutions may be incorrect, but, more importantly, the Qualifying Quiz is your chance to show us that you are really serious in your desire to explore new mathematics, and are willing to think hard about challenging topics. What we're looking for in the Quiz is for you to demonstrate that you are passionate and curious about mathematics. The Quiz is our chance to get to know your thought process, communication style, and the approach you take when you meet a challenging math problem. The "how" is at least as important as the "how many."

Math competitions can be fun! And they can be an important part of your mathematical story, and the way you engage with math in your daily life. We will be happy to high-five you for your successes and take into account this evidence for your mathematical qualification. That said, competitions are not a substitute for the Qualifying Quiz. Furthermore, the students (and staff!) at Mathcamp run the gamut with respect to competitions: some are IMO gold medalists, and others have never taken an AMC in their lives. In the application process, success on the competition circuit doesn't guarantee your admission, and not getting very far in competition settings won't hold you back from getting into Mathcamp. It's not a strong correlation either way.

First, we're looking for evidence in the application that a student is mathematical prepared for our curriculum. (If you aren't ready for Mathcamp's classes, then you won't have a good time at the program.) We learn about your mathematical preparation via several avenues in the application: your writing about your (curricular and extracurricular) math background; your academic recommendation letter; and, primarily, the Qualifying Quiz. Once we've established that baseline and we're convinced that a student is mathematically prepared, we're looking for fit between applicants and the program. We'll use your essay and your personal recommendation letter to learn more about you as a person, and to understand what moves you to apply to Mathcamp. We're looking for students who will really benefit from Mathcamp, academically and personally.

Yes, you may! When you create a new application for this year with the same username/password that you used previously, the system will offer you the option to copy over letters over from your previous file. Keep in mind, though, that getting updated recommendations is one of the ways to demonstrate what's new for you since the last time you applied.

Yes, you do need to reapply. (And we would be excited to see another application from you!) We suggest that you mention your earlier admission in your personal statement, just to jog our memories, and use the essay as an opportunity to share what you've been up to (e.g. how you spent the summer instead of coming to Mathcamp) and why you're applying again this year.

We have made occasional exceptions to this policy, such as offering deferred admission for international students whose visa applications were impacted by Covid-related embassy closures. If you are in this situation, we will contact you in the spring to invite you to claim your spot if you wish.

Hi, alum! Except in unusual circumstances, if you have attended Mathcamp before, you are automatically welcome to return to camp in future years. Visit the alumni page for more information.