<p>Should I apply for STS?
I've never been to ISEF
BUT i've been to state for sci fair past 3 years
and was regionl finalist in YES
and do a lot of science olympiad stuff [captain and state awards and whatnot]
and got the bausch and lomb science thingy...
some good enviro related stufff
great sat, rank, gpa, lots of aps
plus a couple best student awards in science
but...i dont really have major major awards
and i know there's tons who have placed in isef and such.
also relatively poor subject tests
is it worht ALL the time it seems like it'd take?
also could i enter in my epi project?</p>
<p>): i never get any replies
-forever alone-</p>
<p>Hi there. I’m sorry I won’t exactly ‘chance’ you but I’ll tell you that I’m probably going to enter in the Intel STS and I’ve only won 2nd at my regional (although I qualified for state I never went), my SAT is OK, and my subjects kinda suck. You should still send in a project-there’s no harm done and compared to me you have a much better chance. The only way I will do well is if I get Siemens semi-finalist. Anyways, good luck!</p>
<p>lol i entered siemens toooo 
i think im going to enter sts.
it’s just it takes sooo much time.
and its one more application to worry about D:
and it means i’ll have to push up the deadline for my teacher’s rec letter
oh well, hopefully it’ll be worth it.</p>
<p>Wow I didn’t even know I needed a teachers rec for Intel haha. Even if you don’t win-your other science stuff is really good and impressive already. Too bad just ‘submitting a paper to Siemens/Intel’ (without winning anything) probably doesn’t do s— for college apps. :/</p>
<p>As a former STS finalist, I wish you all the very best of luck, but just something to keep in mind - especially @yulesh, I can’t say the same about Siemens since it comes out so early, but you really shouldn’t do Intel STS for college because what ends up happening is that even without finalist or top ten status, all the alums I know are incredible enough that they would have gotten into the the top colleges anyway. Finalist announcements come out so late anyway that it’s more of an extra honor thing. That being said, @fleurs12, from what it sounds like you’ve done plenty of science-related activities that would make you as qualified as any ISEF finalist/winner (honestly, being an ISEF finalist is a little overrated haha). Write a stellar paper and you should be fine - Intel tends to stress individual contribution and creativity/whatnot. Good luck!</p>
<p>iow03kjak, do you know of any semifinalists/finalists whose mentor was their parent? obviously it’s a bit of a detriment, but to be honest the main thing my parent did was teach me some of the math needed in my research (fourier analysis, wavelet transforms), not actually direct any of my research. if i express that well enough without sounding cocky, might that take away any stigma? XD</p>