<p>Alright, this question has been bothering me...I mean I really doubt all the finalists did the work all by themselves. I'm sure they had parental support, teacher advices and support, materials support, etc. </p>
<p>I tried looking around for topics to do in physics, but a lot proved complicated for a simple high schooler to attempt (I wanted to research proton decay). I didn't want to do simple projects like analyze beer foam color or something boring like that.</p>
<p>I was wondering whether the school is an important factor into ISEF topics...I tried asking my school's chair of department head for help and suggestions, but he was a biology major. So I thought of doing biology (I was pretty much interested in any field of science so I didn't mind).</p>
<p>But it didn't work out right. I didn't like the dept head; he seemed potentially verbally abusive and i felt as thought I wasn't doing anything constructive. He instructed me on how to do my project, which I didn't want--and he disregarded any question I have about the project. I wanted to theoretically understand my goal and do things myself.</p>
<p>All the other teachers I asked around for help weren't interested because they weren't quite sure what to do...no one from our school's ever been to a science fair.</p>
<p>My parents were clueless because they didn't have the solid education.
So I gave up trying to find a topic...</p>
<p>Looking back, the whole process seemed like an endless headache...how did the ISEF winners do it? I'm really curious as to what these ISEF semifinalists and finalists did to place so well in science fairs...</p>
<p>You said you wanted to research proton decay. Did you ever start researching it?</p>
<p>Most of them got mentors…but be surprised that some kids did it on their own. I got to state in my area and I had a mentor. ALMOST everybody has mentors but there are the few outliers that don’t. It’s not that hard either…contact your local universities and check out their biology departments or chemistry departments and ask professors if they’re interested in your project or if they’re doing anything and ask them if you can join along. If what you said is true then there’s so much more you’re not doing.</p>
<p>^Well, why would a local university professor take his time for you? I did try contacting some professors, but no one got to me lol.</p>
<p>I have this friend who got pretty far in the Intel invention thingy. His dad is a doctor/professor while his mom is a chemist. Both phd’s. And his sister got into Harvard and discovered a way to detect colon cancer during her Junior year of HS. I’m not ■■■■■■■■. I’m serious.</p>
<p>But he got through about halfway. So, I guess the answer is that you need genious parents/friends with enormous resources. Like college resources.</p>
<p>Yeah, you basically need to have resources. They come from a variety of sources and can be found if you seek them out. I had more than one mentor and they were amazing. I came up with the ideas by myself but there’s no way that I could have done any of my projects without collegiate resources and money.</p>
<p>^I know…it really sucks, especially since I wanted to a physics project. I needed to be taught some concepts to analyze proton decay, but it was just too difficult to do on my own.</p>
<p>And I ended up with a potentially verbally abusive high school teacher…■■■.</p>
<p>I want to do this next year but I have no idea what to do.</p>
<p>You also need good SAT scores and grades in science classes. It’s something like 30% “what you look like on paper.” I guess this is some sort of method to check that you actually did your work (because 2400 = good at science, right?) but if you have SAT scores below 2000 (or maybe even a little higher than that) you stand pretty much no shot no matter how amazing your paper is and even if you actually did do it all yourself.</p>
<p>This year my school had one finalist and one semifinalist. The semifinalist had a 2320 SAT and the finalist had a 2400 SAT. I spoke to my research director about it and he said it is a pretty big factor. If you go through the bios of the Intel finalists many of them will, in fact, say “So and so has a 2400 SAT” or “Blah blah has perfect ACTs.”</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say university resources are an ABSOLUTE must (look up the movie Whiz Kids, the girl who made the water purifier was a finalist) but definitely a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR advantage. Honestly, I think the whole contest is (at least partially) a bunch of BS and I don’t really feel very motivated to enter next year.</p>
<p>EDIT: MEH I read that wrong I thought you were talking about STS.</p>
<p>I have a pretty nice NYSSEF/ISEF story though. There were these girls who did research on how DEET affects the ability of mussels to open and close. It was pretty neat and they made it to ISEF, even though it seemed like a reasonable simple project. ISEF relies AS MUCH IF NOT MORE on how well you present as how good the project actually is (some STS finalists don’t make ISEF simply because they aren’t good speakers)</p>
<p>Land yourself an internship and get a mentor.</p>
<p>Or you could be like me and land your internship at first, and then screw yourself over by not actively pursuing it.</p>
<p>Go to ScienceDaily or Nature to find your inspiration. That’s what I did :)</p>