About the ICPC Mid-Central USA Regional

The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is the oldest and largest programming contest in the world. Each year, the ICPC attracts more than 10,000 teams around the world which compete in various regional contests in the Fall to earn one of the coveted roughly 120 spots at the World Finals.

Make sure to check the rules for the complete, official description of the contest requirements. The contest is a multi-tiered competition among teams of students representing institutions of higher education. Teams first compete in the Regional Contests, held around the world from September to November each year. From there, the top-placing teams from each school advance to the North American Championshiop, and then to World Finals.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Contest lasts for five hours. Each team of three students tries to solve as many problems as possible, programming the solutions in C++, Java, Python 3, or Kotlin. The team that solves the most problems correctly wins, with ties broken by the least total time (the sum of the times consumed for each problem solved, from the beginning of the contest to the time the correct solution is submitted). A penalty of 20 minutes for each incorrect submission is added to the total time. The penalty only applies if the problem was eventually solved correctly.

Regional contests mirror the atmosphere of the international contest. There is a balloon color for each problem, and a T-shirt color for each group of people (contestant, staff, coach). Only contestants and staff are allowed in the contest area.

Interested in participating?

If you are a student interested in participating, read our Information for Contestants page. In a nutshell, you will need to form a team of three students and find a faculty sponsor. Your faculty sponsor must also serve or designate a team coach.

If you are a faculty member interested in getting your students to participate in ICPC, read our Information for Coaches