Timing of ISEF and Admissions

PaperChaserPop
Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:47:10 +0000

mantori - your son can always update his science fair status for RD apps. If he wins regionals, then he can say he’s invited to ISEF. Any applicant can submit an abstract, a part or an entire length of their research report to any college that’s willing to receive supplements. This policy is usually stated on college admissions websites.

There was a student at my son’s hs who, as a junior, won the regionals and was invited to ISEF. That student can certainly write about it in his app.

One word of caution. Simply participating in ISEF by itself is not an overly impressive EC to the tippy-tops, because it simply means that you’ve won either first or second place at an regional contest (I believe some regions actually allow the second place winner to go on to ISEF). I’ve seen some regional winners failed to win even honorable mentions at the states. Some regions are much weaker than others. It becomes impressive, however, if you win an award at ISEF.