Overview
HCSSiM is one of the most selective and respected mathematics programs for high school students in the country. Now in its 54th year, the program has produced 26 members of the US International Mathematical Olympiad team, 16 Putnam top-5 finishers, MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellows, and mathematics faculty at MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and beyond. What makes it work is what happens inside the six weeks: students don't study mathematics here. They do mathematics — alongside university faculty who treat them less like campers and more like junior colleagues.
The session runs six weeks on the Hampshire College campus in Amherst, Massachusetts. Students live in dorms, eat in the campus dining hall, and have continuous access to faculty in classrooms, at meals, and in the dorms after hours.
The academic structure is built in two phases. For the first three weeks, students are placed in workshops — small groups led by a college or university professor with one or two graduate or undergraduate assistants. Each workshop runs four hours every morning, Monday through Saturday, investigating problems across multiple areas of math with an emphasis on patterns, methods of inquiry, and proof. Topics are not predetermined — instructors choose them based on the interests and abilities of the students in the room.
At the midpoint, the program regroups into maxi-courses and mini-courses. Students choose their own focus from offerings that have included combinatorics, number theory, complex numbers, probability, four-dimensional geometry, fractals and chaos, graph theory, topology, and cellular automata.
Outside of class, the day continues. The Prime Time Theorem runs before dinner — a daily expository lecture given by faculty, staff, or visiting mathematicians on a topic of their choosing. Evenings are devoted to problem sessions. Afternoons are reserved for reading, rest, recreation, and informal study. Guest lecturers throughout the summer have included winners of the Siemens Competition and Intel Science Talent Search, contest problem authors, and mathematicians from across academia and industry.
Who It's For
The student who already does math for the joy of it — not for the grade, not for the transcript, not for the contest. The one who reads math books on weekends, who picks problems apart and turns them over for days, who lights up when someone shows them something genuinely new. HCSSiM is challenging on purpose, and students should expect to spend roughly eight hours a day on mathematics. Boredom is not part of the experience here — neither is hand-holding.
Faculty & Mentorship
The teaching model is one of the program's most distinctive features. Faculty are college and university mathematicians; graduate and undergraduate staff teach under faculty supervision and design their own mini-courses by the end of the summer. Students get continuous access — in class, at meals, in the dorms. The atmosphere is collaborative rather than competitive, with a deliberate emphasis on sharing insights and asking questions rather than performing for grades.
What Makes This Different
Most pre-college math programs teach students results. HCSSiM teaches them how mathematicians actually work — through discovery, proof, modeling, and a lot of getting stuck on hard problems. There are no grades, no rankings, and no course credit. Instead, students evaluate their own growth several times during the session, and faculty contribute written comments that form a report available to schools and colleges on request. The program has also long maintained that as many girls and non-binary students attend as boys, with a stated commitment to broadening participation in mathematics.
A note on Hampshire College: Hampshire College announced its permanent closure in December 2026. HCSSiM is a legally separate entity and will continue operating, relocating to a new campus in 2027.
Application & Eligibility
Admission is selective and rolling, with applications for full consideration typically due by late April. Applicants submit an application form, a friendly letter explaining their motivation for attending, and a letter of recommendation from a teacher or someone familiar with their math work. They then receive the Interesting Test — a set of math problems sent in mid-to-late March that students complete and return as part of their application. Admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis once the full application is submitted.
Cost & Information
- Rising high school students
- 6-week residential session
- $7,208 (2026 session) — includes tuition, housing, and meals
- Ample need-based financial aid is available