How do Regeneron badges work this year?

I was wondering if they sent out all the badges at once for Regeneron this year, or if they were sort of staggering them and giving them out over a period of time (I’ve heard that’s happened in the past)? Also just as a curiosity question, does anyone know someone who made finalist with only one of the badges, or with none of the badges?

Great questions!! My son is a semi & seems to have 1 badge at this point. No idea how it works but you are asking good questions - perhaps you are a semi-finalist? If so huge congrats!!

Could someone explain what the badges are for? Are they a big deal or just a consolation prize? Is is worth reporting to schools? My daughter got 2 badges but not semi-finalist and seems to think the badges don’t mean anything. Thanks for answers.

@CA1543 I am! Thank you so much for the congrats. Congrats to your son as well. The theme for me for this year and also my whole life is that I do not know how things work, so I guess we will have to see!

@18yrcollegemin Like I said, I am 100% always confused, but from what my science research teachers have been saying, just being a Regeneron STS entrant already is a pretty big deal- it means you have done advanced research. From your daughter’s standard maybe they don’t mean all that much, but I don’t think it can really hurt to report them to schools; it can only help, as it shows that your work is of high quality.

I’m fairly sure all badges have been sent out. I got semifinalist and received both the report and initiative badge.

@AznDude525 – huge congrats – just wonder did both badges get listed in the same email or how did you receive the news that you got both badges?

thanks!

@CA1543 They are sent out in separate emails.

Also, for all competitors, if you use gmail, I first saw one of my badges in a different tab of my gmail inbox (Primary, Social, Promotions). I found 1 in Primary and 1 in Promotions.

Congrats on making Semifinalist! :-bd My son didn’t make semi but received two badges (announced in separate emails), Student Initiative and Research Report.

Descriptions of the badges from the Regeneron Website:

"Regeneron STS Research Report Badge is awarded to an entrant who has submitted a well-written, college-level, journal-style research report based upon his or her own independent science research.

Regeneron STS Student Initiative Badge is awarded to an entrant who has exhibited extraordinary effort and dedication in her or her pursuit of scientific research and has made great accomplishments relative to the resources available to him or her."

I’m curious how many of each badge were awarded - anyone know?

Credits to Artemis1561 for this 2015 data:
32 people with finalist badge, of those:

  • 27 got the Research Report badge (84%)
  • 14 got the Student Initiative Badge (44%)
  • 4 didn’t list either badge (13%)

That year, a total of 369 people received the research report badge (7% finalists) and 137 received the student initial badge (10% finalists)

@AznDude525 – no idea how you guys figured all this out --but are there many semifinalists in 2015 who got both badges and did not make finalist - hard to tell what the correlation is here. Not sure that your % in parens – 7% finalists) & (10% finalists) mean either really. Can you elaborate a bit? thanks!

The percent represents the percent of badge earners who were finalists.