<p>I know that some high schools actually have teachers and advisors who work with students to prepare them for these national competitions. Do you guys know if students can prepare for these outside of school?</p>
<p>Of course. Many students don't even have high school advisers for it... many have advisers at universities.</p>
<p>can u do a proj and enter it into both ISEF and siemens, or is that considered cheap or unfair?</p>
<p>Regarding Post #1: Your entries are not required to be based on school/
research lab based work. You will need a teacher/mentor to talk about your
work though.</p>
<p>Regarding Post #3: Happens all the time. Intel's ISEF is different from
Intel STS and there is also the Siemens. STS and Siemens are blind
refereed based on a 20 page paper and accompanying forms/reccs.
STS further uses SAT scores and headmaster's inputs on its form apart
from a series of short essays about your research motivation and style.</p>
<p>ISEF is based on your SF entry in the regional fair.</p>
<p>mit 012, did u do any of these?</p>
<p>any tips?
im prolly doing a project in bio (ill either put it in biochem or m+e) or with a partner with math and bio.</p>
<p>any suggestions which one i should do?</p>
<p>What grade are you in?</p>
<p>If you are only in 11th grade then you have to do a partner for Siemens, but if you are in 12th, you probably should do individual Siemens...atleast thats how i planned it, i was Team Regional Finalist in 11th and am doing individual in 12th...</p>
<p>but it should be whichever one you like more...or you are more confident in...</p>
<p>in 12th, ISEF is useless in college applications and Intel STS is only good for RD because they wont see it until then...</p>
<p>in my opinion just on the competitions</p>
<p>STS>Siemens>ISEF</p>
<p>Regarding Post #5:
Yes. You can see that on my stats here</p>
<p>None of these awards are greater or lesser. Very few students consistently
get all of these and that helps tremendously for an adcom to know it
is not a flash in the pan?</p>
<p>The evaluation process at Siemens Regional Finals vs. Intel STS is also VERY different. Siemens RFs have to give a 12-minute presentation of their project. At Intel, a finalist gets to talk to a couple of judges about his/her project, but not in a formal manner, nor is it to all the judges. The main part of Intel Finalist judging is a series of four interviews with different panels of judges. One of those sessions is on your specific academic interest. The rest is a series of Qs about science, problem solving, etc.</p>
<p>The big difference between the two is that Siemens is more focused on the project, and Intel is more interested in your potential as a scientist.</p>
<p>The biggest advantage to having teachers at one's school who work with students is that the students at my S's school learned to write resumes (which was a huge help in college apps). At S's school, students had to find mentors, contact them, and do all that work themselves. With a lot of students submitting to competitions, there is just not enough time for a teacher to offer more than a quick read-through. Other schools may have more resources.</p>
<p>Tip on competitions: Get your research and write-up done EARLY. Get started on your college essays EARLY. You don't want to be doing both at the same time. S1 found that he could use material from some of his college essasy for Intel; this was a big time-saver, as he had already polished the college essays for EA apps. Stay ahead of your classwork. </p>
<p>If you make Siemens RFs or STS, there is a lot of prep that goes on outside of school before you actually go. (There is a three week-period between the time RFs are announced and Regional Finals begin. In some geographic regions, there is even less time. RFs must prepare a 12-minute presentation w/Power Point and do a backboard.) Plan accordingly.</p>