Didn’t get semis as expected lol
I’m wondering the same thing as @bioenglishnerd. I only got a Entrant Badge and a Semifinalist badge. From what I’ve seen from last year’s finalists, most of them had either the Initiative or Report badge, but there were a couple that didn’t have either.
Also, does anyone know how I should go about updating colleges about this award? Do I send them an email, or what?
Wow - Bay Area and NY CLEANED up. Powerhouses performed like powerhouses. Also interesting that there were 1800+ entrants this year. Source: https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-sts
not a semifinalist 
I was really quite taken aback when I found out I hadn’t been chosen—I was a two-time Siemens regional finalist, won third place at ISEF, AAN neuroscience prize finalist, and was a Google Science fair regional finalist.
I seriously considered writing to intel sts to ask what they didn’t like about my application but at this point, they’re not going to change anything anyway…
wait…so should we send an update to colleges about being a semifinalist? Also, if you get all three badges (initiative, report, semi), does that mean you are more likely to be a finalist?
@needivy perhaps. i got the report and semi badge, but what were the criteria for the initiative badge?
The initiative badge was in my impression, about impact on society and ability to do so. However the STS letter sent home with the T-shirt indicates that it was for extensive efforts taken in student’s research. So i’d say its a combo of both. Report is for the writing and presentation of research while initiative is more for the actual research.
"The following badges are earned through the evaluation and judging by professionals in the many scientific disciplines of the research being presented.
Intel STS Research Report Badge is awarded to an entrant who has submitted a well-written, college-level, journal-style research report based upon his or her own independent science research.
Intel STS Student Initiative Badge is awarded to an entrant who has exhibited extraordinary effort and dedication in her or her pursuit of scientific research and has made great accomplishments relative to the resources available to him or her."
http://badging.societyforscience.org/sts2014
As of right now, it is interesting to note that ~135 students display Student Initiative Badges and 371 students display Research Report Badges, out of a total of 767 displayed Entrant Badges earners (135/767=17.6%, 371/767=48.3% - only a fifth earn Init, about half earn Research Report).
218 Semifinalists claimed their Semifinalist badges so far.
300 semifinalists out of 1,800+ total applicants represents the top ~16.7%.
What if you got neither, but you still got semifinalist? How does that work? Does that mean I have no chance of making it to finalist? (In case you are wondering, I didn’t get either badge) 
Wait…if I got both that means I have good shot then right? Does it matter if I’m not from Bay Area/NY? It doesn’t look like many people make it from my state to the finals…
Traits like a ‘college-level, journal style’ research report and making ‘great accomplishments relative to…resources available’ meet judging criteria favorably.
Here’s what last year’s data says. Infer away.
36 Intel STS 2014 Finalists claimed their badges, leaving just four unaccounted.
3 of those 36 earned neither the Student Initiative or Research Report badge (8.3%). 1 of those 36 earned the Initiative badge alone (2.8%). 14 of those 36 earned the Research Report alone (38.9%). 18 of those 36 earned both the Initiative and Research Report badges (50%).
97 of 233 semifinalists claiming badges received both badges (41.6%). 18 finalists with both badges out of a total of 97 applicants awarded both badges is 18.6%.
Relax, there’s less than two weeks until the official finalist announcement - and congratulations on reaching semis.
Congrats to everyone! How about we talk about our research. I’ll start off. I worked on capacitive sensing and touch-less technology to detect breathing in patients.
I can’t wait until the finalists come out! Probably not going to get it, as there is only a 13.33% chance of me making it on. Oh, well.
Last year, they apparently notified the finalists by phone the day before. Does anyone know if they are going to do the same this year?
Less than one day until phone notifications! So nervous, and crossing my fingers!
What time do they call us at ? (if we get it, that is!)
@needivy I think it is around 5:00 PM local time. Probably not gonna get it though
that means some should have gotten a call by now. Anyone from NY/MA/MD, etc a finalist?
Calls are out… daughter a Finalist!!! (she had both report & initiative badges)
I just got my semifinalist packet in the mail, and it says that phone calls will be made (although nothing more specific than that).
I know that sometimes, when decisions are made over phone calls, they ask people to not announce it or anything. So if that’s the case, if somebody gets a phone call, could they just say they got the call and not say anything more specific than that? That way, we would not know whether that person was a finalist (although they probably are) and we don’t know who/where the finalist is.
EDIT: Nevermind, I guess this is unnecessary