Math is the one subject where an admissions officer in Cambridge, Massachusetts can read a line on an activities list from Almaty or Cairo and know exactly what it means. An IMO medal is an IMO medal. A summer at PROMYS is a summer at PROMYS. There is no local grading scale to decode.
That is why math is also the subject where international students have the most to gain from choosing the right programs. Aruzhan from Kazakhstan went to the International Mathematical Olympiad three years running, came home with bronze and silver, and wrote that it "played a significant role" in her acceptance to MIT. İrem from Turkey got to MIT on a full scholarship from a public high school with an IMO bronze and three EGMO golds. Mohamed from Egypt represented his country at the IMO and spent a summer at PROMYS before his full ride to MIT.
The ten programs below are the ones those admissions offices recognise, because each one selects by mathematics: a national team, a problem set, or a proof-based exam. Every one is open to students outside the United States, and every date, fee and aid figure was checked on the organiser's own site in September 2026. They run from the two olympiads at the top, through the tournaments that Harvard, MIT and Princeton students host, to the summer programs that come closest to what a math degree feels like.
The olympiads
International Mathematical Olympiad
The world championship of high-school mathematics: two days, three problems a day, four and a half hours each, scored out of 42. IMO 2026 in Shanghai drew 117 countries and 666 contestants, and medals go to about half the field in a gold, silver, bronze ratio of one to two to three. You cannot apply. Each country sends up to six students chosen through its national olympiad, so the route in is your national round, then the selection camps. Contestants must be under 20 and not yet at university. The host covers accommodation, food and local travel, and teams pay their own flights. IMO 2027 is in Budapest, July 16 to 26, 2027.
European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad
The same two-day, six-problem format as the IMO, for female students, with teams of up to four per country. Despite the name, EGMO 2026 in Bordeaux had 67 teams and 260 contestants, and 26 of those teams came from outside Europe as guests, including the USA, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, China, Brazil and Mexico. Medals again go to about half the students. Selection runs through your national olympiad body, which nominates the team; non-European countries pay a participation fee of €1,200 per contestant. EGMO 2027 is in Šibenik, Croatia, April 11 to 17, 2027. Both Aruzhan and İrem above medalled here before the IMO.
The university tournaments
American universities host student-run tournaments that international teams enter on the same terms as American ones. The problems sit between the AMC and olympiad level, the results are public, and the organisers are the same undergraduates who will read your application in a few years' time.
HMMT February
The harder of the two Harvard-MIT tournaments, held at MIT, with individual rounds in algebra, geometry and combinatorics, a fully proof-based team round and a guts round. HMMT says the February problems run "from mid-AIME to olympiad" and that the tournament attracts "dozens of IMO medalists". Teams are six to eight students. Each tournament draws close to 1,000 students, and places are allocated by lottery, with the previous February's top 30 teams guaranteed a spot if they reapply. Registration is $80 per team or $10 per individual, and financial aid covers hotel rooms and the fee, though HMMT usually cannot cover travel. Individuals without a team can apply and are grouped on the day. The February 2027 tournament is on February 13, 2027, and applications for the season close on September 20, 2026.
HMMT November
The gentler entry point, held at Harvard, with problems from "mid-AMC to upper-AIME", teams of four to six, general and theme individual rounds, a short-answer team round and a guts round. Same fees, same aid, same international rules as February. The next one is on November 7, 2026, with the same September 20 application deadline.
Princeton University Mathematics Competition
PUMaC is run by the Princeton math club and admits about 70 teams of eight to campus each November, in an experienced A division and a newer B division. Individuals take two of four hour-long subject tests, teams sit a short team test on site and a proof-based power round released online a week earlier. International teams are explicitly welcome, and if travel is too far you can compete in the power round only. The main competition costs $12.50 per student, and the power-round-only option $5. PUMaC 2026 is on November 21, 2026; full teams should register by October 11 and individuals by October 28.
The summer programs
These are the programs admissions officers mean when they say "serious math". Each is six weeks or so of number theory or proof-based mathematics, each admits by problem set rather than by payment, and each takes international students. A place at any of them says more than most competition results, because it says that mathematicians chose you.
PROMYS
Six weeks at Boston University working through number theory from first principles, in a cohort of about 80 high-school students, 60 of them first-years, with 25 undergraduate counsellors. PROMYS says it turns away many qualified applicants each year, and students have come from nearly 50 countries. The fee is up to $8,000 depending on aid. For international students aid is decided case by case and some travel support may be available, and every applicant is in the running for the Breakout Fellowship, one full scholarship a year. PROMYS 2027 runs June 27 to August 7, 2027; the application opens in January with a deadline at the end of February. There is a sister program, PROMYS Europe at Oxford, for students resident in Europe, with full need-based aid, and PROMYS hopes to run PROMYS India again in 2027. Aditya from India wrote a guide to the PROMYS India application, and Mohamed's story above covers the Boston program.
Ross Mathematics Program
The oldest of the American number theory programs, founded in 1957, and the one PROMYS was modelled on. Six weeks at Otterbein University in Ohio or Rose-Hulman in Indiana, one subject, daily problem sets, and a heavy emphasis on writing proofs. Ross accepted about 15 percent of complete applications in 2023, and takes about 60 first-years per site, aged 15 to 18. The fee is $7,500 for tuition, housing and meals. Ross says it aims to give every accepted student enough aid to attend, and that some aid is available for international students, though rarely for travel. The 2026 program ran June 14 to July 24 with a March 8 deadline; 2027 dates are not yet published.
Canada/USA Mathcamp
Five weeks, 120 students aged 13 to 18, and instead of one subject a daily menu of courses in combinatorics, topology, algebra, number theory and beyond that students build their own schedule from. Roughly 10 to 15 percent of campers come from outside the US and Canada. Admission is need-blind for everyone and the base fee is $7,500; it is free for American and Canadian families earning under $100,000, and all international students are eligible for aid, up to full tuition scholarships with travel assistance. There is no application fee. Mathcamp 2026 ran June 28 to August 2 at Champlain College in Vermont with a February 23 deadline, and 2027 dates and location are announced in December.
Stanford University Mathematics Camp
SUMaC is Stanford's proof-based camp for students in grade 10 or 11 at the time of application, with 40 residential places over four weeks and 64 online places over two three-week sessions. Lectures cover current research and the history of mathematical ideas, and students work through guided research projects. Residential costs $8,950 and online $3,750, and need-based aid is awarded to both domestic and international participants without affecting admission. International applicants attend on a visitor visa and need English fluency but no TOEFL. The 2026 deadline was February 2, with decisions in mid-April; 2027 dates are not yet published.
MathILy
Five weeks at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia for about 45 students, built around inquiry: participants make and prove their own conjectures in discrete mathematics with instructors scaffolding rather than lecturing. The application includes a four-hour Exam Assessing Readiness. The fee is $6,175, aid is entirely need-based and the whole fee can be waived, though MathILy says priority for aid goes to US students over international ones. International students are accepted and arrange their own visas. The 2026 program ran June 28 to August 1, with full consideration for applications before April 28.
Start your own journey
Every program on this list has a deadline in the next six months, and HMMT closes on September 20. Aruzhan, İrem and Mohamed all started with their national olympiad in a school year that looked a lot like the one you are in now.
Kai, the Borderless AI college counselor, keeps track of which of these you qualify for, turns every deadline above into a task, and helps you fit the results into an application that MIT or Princeton can read at a glance. It is free to use.
Start with Kai, and read the stories from students who did it.
