http://m3challenge.siam.org/participate/
Moody’s Mega Math Challenge (M3 Challenge) is an applied mathematics competition for high school students. Winners receive scholarships totaling $115,000 for continuing education.
Register to Participate
Registration Deadline:
Friday, February 22, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. EST
Registration is only available online. No other method will be accepted.
Each team must have a teacher-coach from its school complete and submit the online registration form. The teacher-coach is responsible for registering the team correctly and for ensuring that all parts of the registration process are accurate and complete.
The team ID # and password that is assigned to you at registration is required to download the Challenge problem and upload your team’s solution paper. The teacher-coach and team members are responsible for safeguarding this information. Do NOT share your team ID # or password with anyone, as it allows access to all the information provided for your team.
If you need to update your submitted information, please use your team ID # and password to login and make the changes. An email confirming your registration or any changes will be sent to you within 24 hours. No changes will be allowed after 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February 22, 2013.
M3 Challenge will not accept late registrations under any circumstances. No exceptions will be made. To guard against the possibility of interruptions in Internet service, school closings due to weather or any other extraneous situation, we recommend that teams complete the registration process well in advance of the deadline.
Teams submitting viable solution papers will receive certificates of participation. The certificates display the information provided at the time of registration, or revised by the deadline, and are mailed to the teacher-coach. Certificates will not be re-issued for mistakes made in registration.
2012 third Place Team from Nashoba Regional High School prepares for their presentation.
Each teacher-coach will need the following to complete the online registration:
- High school name, full address, phone number
- Teacher-coach’s email address and a back-up email address
- Minimum of three students, maximum of five, all from the same school
- Full names of all students on the team
- Each student’s individual email address, gender, and grade
- The team’s chosen Challenge day (Saturday, March 2, 2013 or Sunday, March 3, 2013)
Part of the registration form is certification that the coach and all student team members have read and understand the Official Rules & Guidelines.
Other required certification: (Teams can complete all certifications electronically online after login with team ID # and password.)
- Parental/Guardian Consent Form [31K PDF]
Each student team member’s parent or guardian must login with the team credentials and electronically sign their consent. Alternatively, the form may be completed in hard copy form and submitted via fax, mail, or email scanned document. All consents must be completed no later than 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February 22, 2013. - Authenticity Certification Form
The teacher-coach for each team will be prompted via email on March 4 and is required to electronically sign this form after the team submits their final solution paper. Certification is due at M3 Challenge headquarters on or before 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday, March 8, 2013.
Failure to complete these forms will result in disqualification.
Important disclaimer for teams from M3 Challenge HQ:
Moody’s Mega Math Challenge, SIAM, and The Moody’s Foundation are not responsible for local weather conditions, power or Internet outages, or any other situation or circumstance that would prevent a potential team from registering, or a registered team from fully participating in the Challenge, including, for example, by preventing the submission of a paper on their selected Challenge Day. No accommodations can be made for teams if such unfortunate circumstances were to occur during registration or at any time during the Challenge.
Tips for Team Building
It is important that teams include members with complementary skills. Obviously knowledge of mathematical modeling is a requirement for solving the real-world problems posed in the Challenge. Teams can get ideas and useful background information by looking in the M3 Archives. Special attention should be paid to previous M3 problems, winning solutions, and judge perspectives.
In addition, at least one of the members should have excellent writing skills, i.e. clear and concise exposition, as a detailed account and summary of the solution is a stated requirement. It is also helpful if one of the team members is adept at writing (and debugging) computer programs if computation should be needed or desired for a solution during the course of the Challenge.
Finally, it is recommended that team members have compatible personalities since they will be under pressure to meet a deadline for up to 14 hours, and the potential for frustration is likely. For more suggestions, watch some of the current and archived videos in the video gallery on the M3 home page or in the M3archives.
Prizes
Teams that are judged to have submitted the best solution papers receive special recognition in the form of tuition scholarships for college education. Each scholarship is shared equally among the members of a team and is paid directly to the college or university at which winning students enroll. Scholarship awards may be used for tuition, fees, or placed in school-sanctioned (flexible) spending accounts that are administered by the institution and used for educational materials. Scholarship prizes are as follows:
| •M3 Challenge Champions (Summa Cum Laude Team Prize) | $20,000 |
| •M3 Challenge Runner Up (Magna Cum Laude Team Prize) | $15,000 |
| •M3 Challenge Third Place (Cum Laude Team Prize) | $10,000 |
| •M3 Challenge Fourth Place (Meritorious Team Prize) | $7,500 |
| •M3 Challenge Fifth Place (Exemplary Team Prize) | $5,000 |
| •M3 Challenge Sixth Place (First Honorable Mention Team Prize) | $2,500 |
Judges have the option of awarding up to $55,000 in additional semi-finalist and honorable mention team awards in amounts of $1,500 and $1,000 per team, respectively. The semi-finalist prize is awarded to teams whose papers were among the top-ranked and that underwent in-depth, specific discussions by judges, but missed making it into the top six. The honorable mention prize is awarded to the teams whose papers are judged to be worthy of recognition for their superior efforts. Schools of the top-six teams will also be awarded prizes to support their mathematics or related programs.
Recognition
All students who submit a viable solution paper receive certificates of participation, which are mailed to their teacher-coach. Coaches also received certificates. The certificates display the information provided at the time of registration, or revised by the deadline, and are mailed to the teacher-coach. Teams may login to the M3 website to make changes to their registration information prior to Challenge weekend.
Schools whose teams receive semi-finalist or honorable mention prizes are each awarded a plaque. The top six teams’ schools are awarded trophies.
Press releases are prepared on a regular basis and are distributed to appropriate media during and after the contest. Publications and participating schools may use these releases or portions thereof to promote their students’ hard work and achievement. All releases can be found in the M3 Challenge Media Center. Collateral materials for the current Challenge are located in the media center, while all documentation of previous challenges can be found in the M3 Archives.
Moody’s Summer Internship Program
Winners of Moody’s Mega Math Challenge will be invited by SIAM to submit applications for summer internships at Moody’s Corporation. M3 Challenge winners currently enrolled as college students and for whom SIAM has a valid email address are eligible. Several 10-week internship opportunities in New York City, San Francisco and Pennsylvania are offered. Information on the summer internship program will be emailed to eligible students during the spring semester.
The college admission process can be overwhelming for many families considering the competitive nature of admission as well as the many variables high school students must take into account: challenging curriculum, strong essays, excellent standardized test scores (in most cases), and remarkable recommendation letters, to name a few. In addition to presenting these factors, it is essential for students to distinguish themselves and stress their additional activities. It is not the quantity of activities presented but the depth and continuity of a few activities demonstrating focus and sincere interests.