The twelfth annual MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament will be held on Saturday, January 24th, 2026 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a tournament, we pride ourselves on being as accessible to teams competing for the first time as teams competing for the hundredth time while delivering an experience you can only get at MIT. A few features of our tournament that we think you’ll like:
A full competition experience. We will run all 23 Division C national events, including lab and engineering events! Each school will have its own homeroom for the day, and our tournament will conclude with an award ceremony, complete with medals and trophies for top individuals and teams.
Freedom for coaches. The MIT Invitational is fully staffed by students! This means that coaches will not be required to write tests or otherwise volunteer at the invitational, leaving them free to focus solely on coaching their own teams.
Unparalleled quality. All events will be written, reviewed, and run by Science Olympiad alumni currently at MIT, national tournament event supervisors, and/or former Science Olympiad competitors from the highest level of competition. In addition, each test is vetted extensively by members of our Planning Committee to ensure that students only receive the best.
Worry-free tournament. With ten years of the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational already in the books and years of collective national-level experience under our belts, we know how invitationals work. Sit back, relax, and be treated to a tournament that neither wind, rain, nor snow can stop.
Nationals rules and schedule. Tired of navigating the changes in event conflicts from tournament to tournament? Our tournament will mirror the event conflicts of the national tournament as closely as possible, allowing teams to put their best foot forward on competition day. All events will also use national rules, allowing teams to experience each event at a difficulty similar to those given at the national tournament.