Ross Mathematics Program

The Ross Mathematics Program is a six-week summer program in number theory for pre-college students who love mathematics. Arnold Ross started it in 1957 as a math program for high school students, and since 2018 the nonprofit Ross Mathematics Foundation has managed its finances. Rather than relying mainly on lectures, Ross is built around daily sets of challenging problems that push students to explore abstract ideas, write proofs and explain their reasoning. Undergraduate and graduate math students serve as counselors. Each site has about 60 first-year students.

According to the program, nearly all first-year students are high school students ages 15 to 18, usually averaging 16 or 17, and it occasionally admits an exceptionally mature 14-year-old or a recent high school graduate. International students who are fluent in English are accepted every year. Applicants submit short essays, a video, a teacher recommendation, a school transcript and their solutions to a set of challenging math problems.