<p>My program at my high school required students to submit to ISEF at least twice. Research competitions were something we did well…so well that ISEF made the school its own region, because nobody from any other school in the old region had gone to Internationals in so long.</p>
<p>My projects (one in health/medicine, and one in comp sci) were award-winning at the regional level, and neither of them were done in a university lab or with a supervisor. Of course, the nice thing about working in a university lab, whether you enter competitions or not, is that if your supervisor knows professors at your future university, your supervisor may be able to get you a research job with one of those professors starting in your first semester.</p>