Tens of thousands of hackers swarmed to sixty Major League Hacking Events throughout North America this Spring. Thousands participated in 18 events in our European League too. We were blown away by all the awesome hacks you built. Whether you were a beginner who went to your first hackathon this season, or an expert catching the eye of the writers of HBO’s Silicon Valley, we’re glad you came along and made this season special. While hacking away at hackathons, you’ve also been earning points for your school. So who came out on top?
We’re excited to announce the Major League Hacking Spring 2015 North America Season Winners: The University of Waterloo.
The University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo had the most participation points of the season. Waterloo sent hundreds of hackers to events all across North America. The hackers, as everyone knows are extraordinarily enthusiastic, as witnessed by their cheers of “Water, Water, Water…” Waterloo’s hackers are also very talented, when ranked by merit points, they had enough to place them safely within the top 10.
We can’t wait to head over to the University of Waterloo to present them with The Hacker Cup, and $5,000 of equipment for their hacker club, from Dell and Intel. We’ll also be headed to Hack the North on September 18-20, we’re very excited.
Make sure to congratulate the hackers from Waterloo if you see them at an event!
Top Ten Schools
Rutgers and The University of Maryland came in second and third respectively. Both sent hundreds of hackers to tens of events, and we’re always excited to see them. The top ten schools this season are as follows:
| Rank | School | Participation Points | Merit Points | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Waterloo | 517 | 97 | 614 |
| 2 | Rutgers University, New Brunswick | 513 | 27 | 540 |
| 3 | University of Maryland, College Park | 463 | 40 | 503 |
| 4 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 410 | 26 | 435 |
| 5 | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | 265 | 124 | 389 |
| 6 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | 248 | 128 | 376 |
| 7 | Rochester Institute of Technology | 243 | 127 | 370 |
| 8 | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | 319 | 45 | 364 |
| 9 | Carnegie Mellon University | 229 | 129 | 357 |
| 10 | University of Toronto | 280 | 55 | 235 |
You can find the rest of the season rankings by clicking here.
Top Mexican School: Tec de Monterrey
Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education was the top Mexican school this season! Tec de Monterrey hosted the fantastic HackMTY last season and attended every Mexican event, and a number of US ones too. We can’t wait for their next hackathon!
Top High School: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
It’s always great seeing up and coming high school hackers at events. In fact, high school students make up almost 7% of the league. However, while high school students are an important part of the league we do not rank them, but we want to recognize their achievements. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology earned the most points this season out of any high school.
Visitors’ Cup: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
This season we’ll be awarding a Visitors’ Cup to the top European school in the North American league and the top North American school in the European league. This season, the North American Visitors’ Cup goes to Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). UPC managed to get the highest merit points of all schools in the season thanks to their big win at PennApps.
How are points assigned?
First and foremost, we assign points for hackers doing what they do best – building hacks! By attending a Major League Hacking event, students help earn their school points. Points are weighted by the diversity of schools at the event. We further ensure that participation points from one event cannot affect any school’s score too heavily.
We further assign merit points to the winning hacks at each event. These too are weighted by the diversity of schools present at an event and the size of the event. We assign a small bonus if a school had a low chance of winning by luck alone.
Want to win this season?
Major League Hacking’s Fall 2015 season has already begun. We’ve already announced thirty-five events and we’re adding more daily. Find an event near you and bring all your friends!
Never been to a hackathon before? Don’t worry! Hackathons are for beginners too and we’ve seen first time hackers win some of the largest events.
Aiming to win can be fun but remember that hackathons are about learning, building and sharing above all.
Happy Hacking!