I’m currently a junior and am hoping to submit a paper to the Regeneron STS this fall and at least make semifinalist, but I honestly don’t know where to begin. Up until last month, I haven’t done any research. I just started working with a comp sci professor at my local university and we’re planning a project involving reducing computational complexity in data science and will probably get a good paper done on this by the end of the summer. However, he hasn’t helped high school students before and i assume that the competition has very specific expectations.
I was thinking about applying to some summer research programs like SIMR and HSHSP, but I might get rejected from those, plus there’s a small conflict with my schedule. I’m also applying to MIT Launch and it would be the entire month of July. Fitting in two programs would be very hard. The thing is these programs have a great track record of producing semifinalists and finalists and I personally feel that they’re the best way. If I can’t attend one of these programs, how would I go about doing it with a professor individually? Is there anything in particular they look for in a the research paper? The thing is I’ve never written a scientific paper before and wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Also, it seems that most of the winning projects are bio-related? Do they actually prefer these? My main interests are math and comp sci and I was thinking about doing a cancer genomics project. Any ideas of what topics I should look into?
I’d really appreciate some input on this as well. I’m interested in computer science.
i hate to do this, but bump… lol
Honestly, I’m a bit nervous about how I’ll get this done. We only have 9 months to do our projects and that’s not really a lot of time in the world of science. I personally know one of the finalists and she spent over three years working on her project.
Also, please comment on how much how much the factors besides the research matter. Stats? Ec’s? Awards?
@“Prestigious Nerd”, I don’t think I have the answers you’re looking for, but I didn’t want to read without replying. My D19 has started a research project and plans to submit to Regeneron. However, she’s doing this to get experience and work on a project that fascinates her, not to win. She doesn’t want to spend her whole summer in a lab–she wants to work, participate in her summer sport, and have fun with her friends in their last full summer together.
Out of approximately 1,800 entries, there are 300 semi-finalists and 40 finalists. Regeneron selects based on: “Exceptional research skills, commitment to academics, innovative thinking and promise as scientists.” Not sure how they judge that.
If you want to enter to learn how to write a research paper and to have a mentorship experience with your comp sci professor, that sounds great. I would definitely go with a project you have already started. I don’t know anything about SIMR or HSHSP, but my philosophy is that what’s important is the journey, not the destination (the experience, not the award).
@3SailAway I’m definitely passionate about the research and have other plans for the summer outside the lab as well. Learning is one of my favorite things and I’ll definitely enjoy the process. But I feel that an award of this caliber will be necessary in my case since my current profile is fairly borderline (perfect scores, an okay but meh gpa (~3.65/4.4 mainly due to one bad semester but at least almost straight A’s the subsequent), essentially zero extracurriculars the first 2.25 years of high school (albeit I’ve recently picked up some pretty impressive ones and taken some entrepreneurial initiative. Currently doing some pretty cool projects and might get a research publication soon. Plus a community initiative that will probably have a huge impact on my high school), and no major awards). I feel like STS finalist, or semifinalist at the very least, is probably the best way to dramatically my chances at MIT or Stanford as an Asian male. Don’t see how else I’ll pull it off. Yes I want to enjoy myself as well, but from a realistic standpoint, I’ll need to dedicate most of my time to building a standout profile for college apps. Plus, we can enjoy ourselves the last quarter of senior year and the summer afterwards.
300/1800=17%, which doesn’t sound impossible so being a semifinalist is definitely within reach. Even 40/1800=2%, so definitely better than lottery odds and I want to find the best way to actually achieve it.
Thing is that criteria is extremely vague and I assume all 1800 applicants are competitive. Is there any randomness involved? I’d doubt it because this award is so highly respected, but I still don’t see how they can pick only 300 projects out of 1800 identically amazing ones, let alone 40.
Now, I have absolutely no idea for what my project will entail or even the exact field I’ll do it in. Specifically, my interests are AI/machine learning, algorithms, robotics discrete math (e.g. combinatorics, graph theory), bioinformatics, and bioengineering. My initial idea was to create machine learning software that diagnosis certain cancers at the genome level, but there are probably many other applicants doing the same thing and they could very well pull off the exact same project in a much better way. I’m pretty much open to anything that has a decent shot. If you could suggest a great project in astronomy, hey I’d be open to it. I might also learn a lot along the way. I just need a good idea of where to start. I already have dozens of internship offers with professors after cold calling many and still haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. Probably not doing research at a summer program since I barely applied to any and I think there’s a good chance I’ll get accepted to MIT Launch and I’d rather do that. But I don’t know how much a professor will be able to help with writing a paper specifically oriented for this competition. If I tried to write a research paper on my own, it would probably be beyond horrible so mentorship is important.
Also, there were like 20 pages of supplemental questions in the application. Do you know how much those matter and can they make or break an application?
All advice is appreciated.
If there’s anyone on this site who’s been a finalist or a semifinalist or closely worked with one or maybe parents, I’d appreciate if you could provide advice and what you did to achieve this award.
From your post:
“I personally know one of the finalists and she spent over three years working on her project.”
That’s the answer you are looking for. STS finalists are out of the world talents, and have dedication to their craft.
In reality, STS may not be that useful at all to admissions, as results are announced quite late in the cycle. The finalists have already made name in 9th grade, 10 grade, 11th and such. STS is just final validation to their talent.