<p>I'm starting a 5 week science research internship on Monday, and I'm a little bit freaked out about entering science fairs. I'm an incoming juinor, so I'm not eligible for STS or Siemens, but I was planning to try an ISEF-affiliated fair and JSHS. </p>
<p>I am so confused. The ISEF forms for preapproval have to be sent before we begin the project, but my mentor wanted to sit down with me on the first day and nail down the specifics. Since I won't be able to send the form until the first day, does that mean I can't enter? I emailed the contact on the website a few days ago but she hasn't replied, and I'm out of the country so I can't call. </p>
<p>Other than that, it doesn't look like JSHS has any preapproval forms since I'm not working with humans or animals.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any other suggestions? I feel like I should be entering 3-4 but I really procrastinated on this and it probably won't happen now meh.</p>
<p>Yo, nice to meet you. Assuming i’m understanding this correctly:</p>
<p>Most people tend to “disregard” that “rule” and complete all of their research in the summer. The winners from our area last year did just that. Don’t count yourself out. Just do the research and then fill out the forms as if you haven’t done the work yet. in fact, i think the only hardfast rule is that the research must have been done in the past year. Just make sure you aren’t breaking any of the research guidelines and you should be fine. </p>
<p>So give it your best shot. Good luck, and I hope the best for you!</p>
<p>Curious, what type of project are you conducting?</p>
<p>There’s no special requirements, you have it down correctly. And darksigma is also right - while I personally did all my research last year when school was in, most people do much of their work over the summer - it’s far more common since many projects are very time consuming, and they really don’t carefully scrutinize the forms anyhow. Oh, and in terms of general science competitions, JSHS and ISEF are the two big ones for non seniors, so you are not missing anything. There are a few field-specific ones (ISWEEP comes to mind), but those are not generally as well known, so unless your project really fits their particular niche you won’t qualify anyhow.</p>
<p>I placed in an ISEF category this past season and was a national finalist for JSHS (lots o’ free travel, lol) so if you have any other questions on either competition I can probably answer them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>The ISEF people finally got back to me and they’re going to review my preapproval application as soon as I send it. They already have a meeting set so it will be sithin a few hours of my first day. I’m glad that all worked out :)</p>
<p>@snipersas it’s a microbiology project. I’m working with mastitis causing staphyloccocus aureus. I’m not sure about the specifics yet but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow when I start! How competitive did you think it was to place? Like did most lab-based projects move on to ISEF or is it really competitive? I’m hoping I can pull this off working 50-60 hour weeks in the five weeks of this internship but I don’t know…</p>
<p>placing at either of the national competitions is very difficult, and the people that did well between the two overlapped to a significant extent - personally I did a psychology project so I am not terribly familiar with the biology category, but I do know that bio is consistently the single most competitive segment of the competition. There are huge numbers of biology projects relative to other types (with math/physics being the least common). Regarding qualifying for ISEF, it really depends upon your district. If you live in, say, Idaho, it should be trivial to qualify, but if you are from sillicon valley you better have a truly awesome project - difficulty varies at the regional qualifiers depending on location and strength of your local competition.</p>
<p>yeah im honestly not even thinking about placing nationally i would be happy with some kind of regional recognition. anndddd of course i live in silicon valley. cool.</p>