The main purpose of MOP, held since 1974, is to select and train the six members of the U.S. team for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
MOP also usually invites additional female students to the camp to prepare them for the process of selecting EGMO attendees.
[1] Approximately 15 to 20 international students, 1-2 each from a subset of top-performing countries at the previous years' International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), have been invited to MOP each year since 2016 (excluding 2020 through 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic) in an effort to provide a unique and diverse experience at MOP and build connections across borders.
The 1995 MOP was held at IMSA in Aurora, Illinois, where then-MOP director Titu Andreescu was a member of the math faculty.
An exception was made in the summer of 2001, as the United States would be hosting the IMO that year in Washington, D.C., and nearby Georgetown was selected as the location for MOP.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the three days of TSTST 2020 were administered remotely after MOP during the 2020-2021 school year on[11] November 12th, December 10th, and January 21st, respectively.
During the 2004–2005 school year, U.S. IMO team coach Zuming Feng directed the Winter Olympiad Training Program, utilizing the Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) site for discussion purposes.