In-Person Registration Info

Overview

BrUMO 2026 will take place from February 27–28, 2026 on Brown University campus, and we will be inviting 350 students (~60-75 teams) to compete. There is no registration fee for this tournament, but each participant is responsible for their own travel, housing, and related expenses.

To participate, teams must meet the following requirements:

  1. Students must be in grade 12 or below at the time of participation (February 2026).

  2. Teams must consist of 4-6 students. Applications for teams of 3 or fewer students will not be accepted.

  3. Students on eligible teams must come from the same school or organization, but there are no geographical restrictions.

  4. Each team must register under one division, either Division A or B (i.e. all participants on one team will compete in the same division).

  5. One school/organization may apply to send multiple eligible teams to compete, and these teams can be in different divisions. However, we cannot guarantee that all will be accepted, and we require each team to have their own accompanying chaperone throughout the event.

Students who are not able to form an eligible team are also able to apply to compete as an individual. Before the tournament weekend, BrUMO Organizers will randomly assign individual competitors to teams. Please note that each individual must have their own accompanying chaperone.

Since we have a limited number of spots, we will undergo an application process to select teams and individuals. The form must be filled out by a coach (any responsible adult).

Applications for BrUMO 2026 have closed.

Divisions

All participants will be asked to choose a division when filling out the application form. As noted above, teams must register under one division. Below, we provide some guidance on how to select a division:

  • Division A is designed for students who have previous competition math experience, having participated in contests such as AMC 10/12, AIME, or HMMT. To gauge the difficulty of this test, please visit our Archive page and view our 2025 Individual exam.

  • Division B is designed to be both welcoming and challenging for those new to math contests: no concepts outside of standard high school math curriculum will be tested, with problems requiring a bit of extra critical thinking, logic, or casework. Our Division B sample test is linked here.

Students who have previous competition math experience are strongly encouraged to register for Div A. To encourage fairness, we will ask students to accurately provide their past experience on the application form, and the BrUMO team may choose to change a team’s division as we see fit.

Registration Timeline

  • November 12, 2025, 5:00 PM EST: Registration opens

  • January 10, 2026, 11:59 PM EST: Registration closes

  • January 13, 2026: Accepted teams notified

  • February 27–28, 2026: BrUMO 2026 takes place at Brown University!

Tournament Details

Event Schedule

BrUMO 2026 is a two-day event with optional Friday night events, followed by a full-day tournament on Saturday. The Friday mini-events will be hosted by the BrUMO team. All testing will take place on Saturday, with the tournament expected to run from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. In between the end of testing and the beginning of the awards ceremony, we will have sponsor events and professor talks.

Below is our schedule, subject to minor adjustments:

Weekend-Of Logistics

  • Arrival & Check-in: Early check-in begins at 3:30 pm on February 27th in Friedman Hall, and regular check-in starts at 8:00 am on February 28th, also in Friedman Hall.

  • Parking: Parking will be available at the Power Street Parking Garage (111 Power Street). You can find more information about parking here. 

  • Friday Dinner: Dinner will be provided for all attendees who indicated they would be present for Friday night events.

    Saturday Lunch: Participants are responsible for their own lunch on February 28th. There are many restaurant options on Thayer Street, and we will provide recommendations in the tournament guide, which all students and chaperones will receive.

  • Accommodations: If you are staying overnight around Brown campus, you can find recommended hotel information here.

  • Awards: The award ceremony will take place at 5:30 pm on February 28th in Salomon DECI and will end at around 6:00 pm.

Campus Map

Contest Format

The tournament will consist of four rounds: individual, team, mystery, and guts, spanning the following topics: algebra, geometry, combinatorics, and number theory.

  • Individual Round (75 min): The Individual Round consists of 15 questions and is a general test of all topics.

  • Team Round (45 min): The Team Round consists of 10 questions and is another general test; however, students may work with their teams on this round.

  • Mystery Round (45 min): The Mystery Round is a new competition round that will be run for the first time at BrUMO 2026. The only information we’ll release about it right now is that it’s a team-based round!

  • Guts Round (75 min): The Guts Round consists of 36 questions distributed across 12 sets of 3.

Mini-Events

Friday Schedule

  • Unofficial Campus Tours (4:00–5:00 pm): Join our student-led tours to navigate Brown’s campus, locate important venues, and get a feel for the spaces where events will take place.

  • Scavenger Hunt (4:00–5:00 pm): Embark on a fast-paced journey throughout Brown’s campus while solving problems to move from one checkpoint to the next! It is a perfect way to get familiar with the testing locations as well.

  • Forecasting Event (5:00–6:15 pm, 7:15–7:45 pm): Predict the future through a fast-paced Lightning Round. Winners will be announced after dinner!

  • Estimathon (7:45–8:45 pm): Come participate in a Jane Street-style Estimathon, with Brown-themed questions! Winners (and prizes!) will be announced at the end of the event.

  • Trivia/Game Night (7:45–8:45 pm): Join us for a Jeopardy-style trivia night featuring categories ranging from Disney characters, to physics facts, to all things Brunonia. Test your knowledge, compete with friends, and win some Brown swag!

Saturday Schedule

  • NMC Parent Talk (10:00–11:00 am)(for coaches/chaperones/parents): The Most Overlooked Skill: Asking Good Questions. As anyone who’s read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy knows, asking the right question can matter more than having the perfect answer. Many mathematically talented students grow up being rewarded for correctly answering the problems they’re given, but beyond school, problems are rarely so well defined. This shift shows up clearly when students move from math classes and competitions to mathematical research (or even to writing math competition problems!)—and it’s just as true in nearly any high-level career. In this talk, we’ll explore what it means for students to move from answering questions to asking their own, and how parents can support that transition in ways that foster curiosity, confidence, and long-term growth.

  • Q&A with Problem Writers (11:15 am–12:00 pm)(for coaches/chaperones/parents): Join our problem writers to learn about their journey in mathematics and the exciting process of brainstorming, writing, and workshopping BrUMO questions! We will also be accepting questions from the audience.

  • HRT Puzzlehunt (3:45 pm–5:20 pm): Step into the HRT Puzzlehunt, where an extraordinary mystery is unfolding: the color orange has vanished from the world. City streets, bustling marketplaces, gourmet kitchens, and dazzling gem shops have all lost a key part of their vibrancy. Everyday objects and lively scenes now appear incomplete, prompting questions from artists, scientists, and the public alike. As an investigator, you’ll explore affected businesses, uncover clues hidden in ordinary details, and help restore the world’s full spectrum. Your sharp observation and creativity are needed, so join us to bring back what has been lost and experience a puzzlehunt unlike any other, proudly hosted by HRT.

  • Professor Talk (3:45 pm–5:00 pm): Come enjoy a talk by Professor Bena Tshishiku from Brown’s Department of Mathematics!

  • Bio: Bena Tshishiku is an associate professor in the math department at Brown. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2015. His primary research area is geometry and topology.

  • Talk Title: RepTiles

  • Abstract: A rep-tile (not to be confused with a reptile) is a shape that perfectly tiles a larger copy of itself. For example, a square is a rep-tile because you can take 4 copies of a square and build a larger square. In this short talk, we will touch on some of the interesting mathematics related to rep-tiles.