<p>Just a few questions
How do these competitions work? I know siemans deadline is Sept 30 so i have no time to start because i just found out about its existence and im a senior :(
Are their any other competitions like this that gives me at least a couple months? I would love to participate in one of these science/math/tech research competitions. Preferably an individual one. Also, are most of these competitions available in every state? (I live in Florida)
Basically i just want to know general knowledge of what to do how to start and how tough of a ride.
If some one who has participated in the Intel Talent Search before i would love for some ones opinion on it</p>
<p>First Robotics. This is a team challenge. See if your high school has a team. It won’t get you a scholarship, but it may help you get in to a school.</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to the FIRST Robotics Competition | USFIRST.org](<a href=“http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc]Welcome”>http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc)</p>
<p>Honestly, if you haven’t yet started a project, chances are you are not going to do intel/siemens/isef. Depending on what you like, there are other competitions that are awesome that would give you a little more time (ISWEEEP, for example). Unless you happen to cure cancer in the few weeks you would have for the research, you aren’t going to win against the others (Heck, I worked at a national lab for 3 years and I still didn’t place in Intel, lol). However, there’s no harm in trying! Give it a shot, and remember: there’s nothing fair about a science fair.</p>
<p>My D did ISEF, Siemans, and STS.</p>
<p>While everyone has a different timeline and there are no rules of thumb on how long a project will take from inception until completion, she began preparation in the beginning of 10th grade. Preparation meant identifying potential areas of interest, reading lots and lots of papers (with a dictionary on her lap) to see the current state of science in the areas of interest. (Her mentor was the HS science teacher.) Several months of reading and several zigs and zags in preliminary concepts finally resulted in the emergence of an area of interest.</p>
<p>A few more months of concentrated reading in that area (and self-teaching the concepts in Chem and Biology) resulted in a developing hypothesis. More reading to confirm that the concept was novel was followed by the development of the experimental protocols. By the end of summer (now a rising junior), supplies were ordered and equipment constructed. </p>
<p>Three months of experiments was followed in early Spring of 11th grade by the local science fair - the gate keeper to the ISEF invite. Our local fair sends three projects to ISEF. (State fair followed but was not a gate keeper to ISEF.)</p>
<p>ISEF was held in spring. For Seimens (fall senior year), she changed the format of the submission. For STS (late fall senior year), she included some follow up experimentation. </p>
<p>ISEF entailed defending your project face-to-face to judges (upwards of a dozen) and lots of extemporaneous questions; the others were paper based decisions (though the semi final level for Seimans and the final for STS are face-to-face judging). </p>
<p>She was extremely successful at ISEF, did not make Seimans, made semi for STS.</p>
<p>For her, it was a long process. I don’t know how long it would take others.</p>