Official 2006 Intel Science Talent Search STS thread!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
41

<p>I don't think one is necessarily "harder" than the other--they really look for totally different things.</p>

<p>Siemens is trying to find the "best" project (which is basically impossible, since judging is so subjective and not even between regions).</p>

<p>Intel is much more holistic and tries to find the best high school scientist, so it takes into account much more than just the research (i.e. grades, essays, recs, past accomplishments). For this reason, Intel is more prestigious (also, since its older...) </p>

<p>Last year, only two of the national finalists in Siemens made top 40 at Intel. Also, people made Intel finalist without even making Siemens semis.</p>

42

<p>Just handed my paper and materials in today, about an hour before Fedex is scheduled to pick it up.</p>

<p>One more thing off the list...</p>

<p>Siemens semi is harder and easier than Intel semi depending on where you live. For two of the six regions on the Siemens list, Intel is easier. For the other 4, Siemens is a lot easier.</p>

43

<p>Sealed and done. It feels so good after working on it for 2.5 years.</p>

44

<p>"Last year, only two of the national finalists in Siemens made top 40 at Intel. Also, people made Intel finalist without even making Siemens semis."</p>

<p>Wow- have many of the nat'l Siemens finalists applied?</p>

<p>With the second statement, people have made it as an STS finalist and have been rejected by Westinghouse?</p>

<p>Didn't know that.</p>

45

<p>Hey I'm also doing Intel STS too. Was recently a Westinghouse semifinalist :) so making Intel Finalist would be a dream come true. Check out a blog from one of last year's finalists, Amber Hess. It's really interesting, and u getta live vicariously through her amazing success at being a Finalist.
<a href="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/blog_amber_hess_sts.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/blog_amber_hess_sts.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

46

<p>I don't think regional finalist/finalist is a ticket into Harvard. You also must have good grades, test scores, etc.</p>

47

<p>"With the second statement, people have made it as an STS finalist and have been rejected by Westinghouse?"</p>

<p>Yeah, but Westnghouse is based on papers and STS involves more presentation and whatnot...So things like Computer Science and stuff may get the shaft in Siemens.</p>

48

<p>how much do grades and test score factor in to Semifinalist and Finalist at Intel? I know last year 25% of all the Finalists had 1600s</p>

49

<p>"Siemens semi is harder and easier than Intel semi depending on where you live. For two of the six regions on the Siemens list, Intel is easier. For the other 4, Siemens is a lot easier."
Duality, which regions are these, with respect to both competitions?</p>

50

<p>The two Siemens regions where it should be harder to make Siemens semi are Middle States and West. The four others are Midwest, New England, South, and Southwest. These are CEEB regions that Siemens follows when choosing Semis. Intel STS does not divide competitors into regions.</p>

51

<p>ah that's good for me i guess.</p>

52

<p>less than 2 months to go...</p>

<p>haha jk- I'm not actually starting a countdown...</p>

<p>In all seriousness, I'm interested as to what CC kids who have submitted a project to STS got on the SAT/ACT.</p>

<p>I got 2220/32.</p>

53

<p>I submitted one and I got a 1310</p>

54

<p>2300/34... umm... how much of a role is that supposed to play?</p>

55

<p>Why are we turning the STS thread into a scores thread?</p>

56

<p>b/c this is CC and b/c scores are sent to STS.....</p>

57

<p>To reiterate my earlier quesiton, does anyone know how much of a role it plays relative to one's project, and one's transcript?
Thanks</p>

58

<p>I heard from a finalist (he met the judges in Washington), and he says that it's based almost entirely on the report. The transcripts, SATs, and even the essays are not counted very much.</p>

<p>I got 2350 on the SAT I. My project was about laser-based fusion.</p>

59

<p>Thank god, since my SATs are poor. :D</p>

60

<p>I got a postcard in the mail today notifying me that my project was received by STS. No word on the judging, of course.</p>