<p>Recently I have been looking around the "What are my chances?" tab, and am finding that a large number of people participate in ISEF. My school is small, and I have no way of finding out about what it actually is through my guidance counselor / important people at my school. The website for ISEF is not very informative, and seems to be for people with lots of knowledge about it already. Can someone tell me what it is or how to become a participant? </p>
<p>Also, people seem to have a lot of "Medical research" and "App development" that I basically have no way of doing in my small town..what should I do? Maybe I could do something online with app development and programming to boost my resume along with the many events I participate in. Please help :(</p>
<p>ISEF is the International Science and Engineering Fair. You need to qualify for it, you cannot go directly to it. First there may be a regional science fair that you need to win. Then regional, and state. You can qualify to ISEF from either regional, state, or both depending on where you are from. To have a good project you need to start now. Regional and state competitions happen in February-April, and ISEF is in May during AP week. Just first come up with a good idea, it isn’t easy by any means getting to ISEF. Hope that helps. </p>
<p>You have to participate in a regional fair first. It depends on your region, but usually you will have to place first out of all projects that were entered.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of paperwork involved. So you need to get on top of that once school starts. </p>
<p>I would make sure you get the approval of the science department if your school doesn’t do science fair. Then, contact the regional fair director to obtain necessary paperwork. <a href=“https://apps2.societyforscience.org/ssp-affiliate-fair/”>https://apps2.societyforscience.org/ssp-affiliate-fair/</a></p>
<p>Also, (personal experience) it really depends what kind of project you’re undertaking to determine how much work is involved. I did a ton of bioinformatics with my project and I found that I could easily start in December (I procrastinated lol) and finish in Feburary because 50% of my project was done in silico. Generally, if you have some programming skills it helps expedite your project. </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me with any questions! Science Fair participant since 2009 lol. </p>
<p>Thanks! I don’t think I’m cut out for isef to be honest… I don’t have a “qualified scientist” or lab to work with and I wouldn’t know what I am doing. Thanks anyway</p>
<p>@SciolyGuy you don’t need a qualified scientist! The guy who won Intel this year didn’t work in a research lab. Just have a vision and go forth with it :)</p>
<p>Good luck, whether you decide to do an ISEF project or not.</p>