Events for aspiring STEM majors PART 1: local, regional, and national
This grouping of fields is for the students who are naturals in math and science and want to better understand how their knowledge connects to real world applications, such as discovering new compounds, new building methods, or even entirely new industries. Building experience for science, engineering or technology means having access to physical facilities, such as labs, that most students and families won’t have access to.
However, with the continued importance of STEM at the global level, there are numerous, very large, prestigious competitions and programs that integrate several different disciplines as well as federally-backed programs and contests. While there are countless events that incorporate business and the humanities, as well as science, in this post, we’re going to stick to the events that are much more science-heavy.
Local level
Local science events are things that you can do on your own or in your club. It’s difficult to jump right into national competitions without a little bit of build up in terms of experience. So this is a great avenue to explore if you’re just starting to build science-related activities for your college application.
Science club
This is one of the best ways to start small in a way that allows you to scale as you grow: talk with members (even if it’s just you and your best friend), make a plan of action, and work with a faculty adviser that will help your team achieve its goals. Are you going to just meet together and do relaxed science activities, do a free online science contest, or submit scientific writings for writing competitions with science categories? There are many student science sites that offer ideas on activities you can do with simple materials you find around the home. This can first be done in your group, and then you can decide with your club members if you want to enter a contest or competition with ideas discovered during the process. Create a club schedule of the contests that you think are doable, and make submitting strong showings at those events one of your big goals for the year.
Tutoring
No simpler way exists to show that you are strong in STEM than by tutoring those who are having a hard time with it. This is a great activity because it adds a business and social aspect to your application that might have been absent. Much of what happens as you tutor can be used in supplemental essays later. But, if you were to turn this into an actual program that grows to have different chapters at local schools by the time you graduate, that would be considered a pretty big demonstration of your commitment to STEM and your ability to create a plan to share the subject with others. Something this big would probably end up on your main college essay.
Internships
There will be summer programs run by many universities that offer lab experience for students. Intensive internships are the ones that will be the most beneficial for science packages. This makes sense since intensive internships are often 9-5, five days a week, for 7-8 weeks, and there really is no substitute for that much time spent as part of a university research project. Some universities will even give students a chance to have their work published. There will be an application process that usually involves explaining your own science experience and some other information about yourself. Keep in mind that there will be internships that are clearly offered to beginners, to “advanced” science students, and to everyone in between. Though there are camps and programs that you can pay for during the summer that will often involve similar topics, the facilities at university or government labs will often be far superior and the fees will be much lower than going to a private company.
Regional level
These events fall right in the middle of the scope of science events and activities out there for students in that they have a clear regional component that allows you to approach serious competitions without the pressure of competing globally. Depending on the event, placing as a finalist in any of the regional events would belong on even the most competitive applications. It’s important to understand these are not small, except when compared to the workload and scale of the largest events out there. We’ve chosen New York City for our region just as an example, but you will see variations of these events in every major city across the states.
New York State Science and Engineering Fair (NYSSEF)
This is the regional component of the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for New York, with 17,982 participants and 382 finalists. Top placement here moves teams to compete against 175,000 of the brightest minds on the planet with the top 2,000 chosen as Regeneron ISEF Finalists with awards given in 21 categories. This is the same Regeneron that runs STS (Science Talent Search). As with all of the biggest competitions, students have access to past winner materials to gauge the level of research expected for recognition.
Application open: Early January, Deadline Feb.
Columbia Science Honors Program
Saturday morning classes at Columbia University, studying things like quantum theory or genetics is a good experience to have on an application to demonstrate your interest in this field. The fee is a bit higher than those at programs offered by schools in areas with lower living costs, however, the $600 comes with need-based financial aid and is more economically approachable than many programs offered by private companies in New York.
Application Open : Late March
American Museum of Natural History Science Research Mentoring Program
This program, offered to high school students in New York City, gives students a chance to do things like work with DNA, analyze data from space-based telescopes, and, new for this year, work in machine learning and artificial intelligence. The work is a long-term commitment that begins in August, has a research period between September and June, and has groups present their findings at the annual SRMP Symposium in June.
National level
National science event wins are difficult to achieve. They tend to combine integrated, intense combinations of research and follow-up that result in the creation of unique improvements or entirely novel outcomes. At the biggest events, top prizes are meant to help fund the research and get the team started on building its dream. As can be expected, they draw the brightest minds. But, if you know you want a very science-heavy application package pointed at one of the best schools, there is nothing better – other than actually creating a patent and changing the world (which, you probably will do anyway, if you win one of these). Believe in yourself. These are tough, but keep in mind they still are for students.
Regeneron Science Talent Search
We’ve mentioned Regeneron in our scholarship post, too. This is the biggest and oldest science competition in America. The entrance fee is $2,000, so even just fundraising the tickets for your club to enter would be worthy of mention in your main Common App essay. Finalists will often successfully apply to several Ivy League or similar schools. A win here would unlock additional grants and scholarships, which the team would have to apply for, but it goes without saying that Regeneron is one of the biggest opportunities for young scientists to supercharge the start of their careers.
Application: Open on June 1, 2023
Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
This event, sponsored by the Department of Defense and the U.S. military and running for over 60 years, offers a platform for students to present their STEM research in a series of competitions that are divided by individual state and regional events that finish with the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. This national event is at the end of individual events for each state. The work for this will be intensive, resulting in a maximum 40-page research report that would be much more intensive and larger in scale than what is conducted in high school.
Deadline: Vary by state
And, that’s not all. We have another short (but exciting) post on STEM activities for you coming up soon. So stay tuned!
