Congratulations. Seriously.
You just competed at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, one of the most competitive high school research competitions in the world.
Out of millions of students, you made it here. That alone is something most people will never fully understand unless they’ve experienced it themselves.
Now that the judging is over, the poster boards are packed up, and your sleep schedule is probably destroyed, you may be wondering:
What now?
The week after ISEF is weird. Some people are celebrating medals. Some people are replaying every judging session in their head. Some people are already thinking about next year’s project.
No matter where you fall, this article is for you.
Reminiscing on ISEF (One More Time)
Before jumping into “next steps,” give yourself a second to appreciate what just happened.
You met students from around the world who somehow made advanced cancer therapeutics, quantum computing models, climate engineering solutions, or microbiology experiments feel like casual conversation topics.
You probably traded Instagram handles with people you’ll run into again at competitions, conferences, labs, or even college years from now.
ISEF is more than a competition. It’s one of the few places where being deeply interested in something is completely normal, which is very rare.
Awards, Results, and the Emotional Aftermath
If You Won an ISEF Award
Your hard work paid off in a very visible way, and you deserve to celebrate it!
Whether you earned 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, 4th place, or a special award, that recognition reflects something important: your effort, creativity, and ability to communicate your passion to judges at an incredibly high level.
But here’s something almost everyone feels after winning:
“What if I had answered that one question better?”
“What if I had added one more experiment?”
“Could I have placed higher?”
That feeling is normal. Competitive people always imagine an alternate universe where everything went perfectly.
But at some point, you have to let yourself enjoy the accomplishment instead of negotiating with hypotheticals.
ISEF is already an unbelievably difficult level to reach. Placing at ISEF is even harder. You did something extraordinary. Don’t let “what could have been” distract you from what actually happened.
Celebrate it. Take pictures. Frame the medal if you want to. You earned that moment.
If You Didn’t Win At ISEF
This part can hurt. A lot.
You spent months, maybe years, working on your project. So walking away without hearing your name called can feel crushing.
But not winning at ISEF does not mean your project wasn’t good enough. Nor does it mean you’re not intelligent, and it definitely doesn’t erase the fact that you made it to one of the highest levels of high school research in the world.
At ISEF, the difference between projects can come down to tiny details:
The judges assigned to your category,
How well your project fits current trends,
How clearly you explained one concept,
Whether a judge connected strongly with your approach,
Or factors completely outside your control.
That’s what makes high-level competitions difficult. The margins are incredibly small. And you are allowed to feel disappointed. But don’t let one week define your confidence in your abilities.
Some of the most successful researchers, physicians, engineers, and entrepreneurs at ISEF did not win major awards during their competitions. What mattered was that they kept building, learning, and improving afterward.
And if you care enough to feel disappointed, that probably means you care deeply about your work, which is a good thing.
Build Connections With Other Researchers
One of the most underrated parts of ISEF is the people.
The high school STEM community is much smaller than it seems. The students you met at ISEF are going to show up everywhere later on:
research labs,
startups,
medical schools,
graduate programs,
internships,
conferences,
and probably your LinkedIn feed at 2 AM someday.
Stay connected with them.
The friendships you make at science fairs are different because they’re built around shared passion. You all understand what it’s like to spend months obsessing over one problem, troubleshooting failed experiments, and trying to explain your project to relatives who still think you “made a volcano.”
ISEF is one of the few environments where everyone around you is deeply excited about learning, building, researching, and improving the world in some way. Being around people like that changes you.
Your Project Isn’t Over Yet
Decide Your Goal Going Forward
Finishing ISEF does not mean your project is over.
In many ways, this is where your project becomes more useful.
Now you have feedback from judges, exposure to other projects, and a much clearer understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a researcher.
Ask yourself:
What questions did judges repeatedly ask?
Which parts impressed people most?
What weaknesses kept coming up?
What would you improve with more time?
Did this project make you more or less interested in the field?
These questions are incredibly valuable if you plan to compete again or continue doing research.
Sometimes your next project comes directly from fixing a limitation in your current one. Other times, ISEF exposes you to completely new fields that inspire a shift in direction.
Either way, your experience gave you something important: perspective.
Keep Competing (If You Want To)
Even after ISEF, there are still many opportunities to present your work.
Competitions, conferences, and research showcases can continue giving your project life beyond one week in May.
Students often go on to compete/present at programs such as:
National STEM Festival
You can also present at local university symposiums, regional science fairs, or discipline-specific conferences.
And yes, sometimes there’s prize money involved too, which never hurts.
Publishing Your Research
A lot of students think publishing research is impossible in high school.
It’s actually more accessible than people think.
There are generally three main paths students take:
Journal Publications
Traditional scientific journals are the most formal route, but they are also the hardest. These are usually peer-reviewed and highly respected.
Publishing in professional medical or scientific journals can be difficult without a research mentor or university lab affiliation, especially because many journals do not accept submissions directly from high school students.
That said, high school-focused journals absolutely exist, and they can still be meaningful experiences.
Conference Abstracts
Another great option is presenting at conferences.
If your abstract is accepted at a scientific conference, your work is often included in the conference proceedings or an abstract journal. These events may include undergraduate students, graduate students, PhD researchers, physicians, and industry professionals.
This is also an amazing way to gain presentation experience and meet people in your field.
Preprints
Preprints are full research papers shared publicly before formal peer review.
Platforms like ResearchGate allow researchers to share work openly with the scientific community.
Preprints are not peer-reviewed, so they don’t carry the same level of validation as formal journals. But they still serve an important purpose: sharing knowledge and documenting your work.
And at the end of the day, one of the main goals of research is to contribute something useful to the broader scientific community.
College Applications and Your Future
Your Science Fair Experience Matters
Research experience stands out on college applications because it shows initiative, curiosity, persistence, and independence.
But the biggest advantage usually isn’t the award itself. It’s the story.
Your experiences at science fairs give you something meaningful to talk about:
Why you became interested in a topic,
How you handled failure,
What motivated your project,
How you solved problems,
And what you learned from the process.
Colleges remember students who sound genuinely passionate about what they do.
And after ISEF, you probably have more stories than you realize.
Your Research Experience Will Open Doors
Doing research in high school changes the kinds of opportunities available to you later. You learn how to:
Communicate technical ideas,
Manage long-term projects,
Work through uncertainty,
And present yourself professionally.
Those skills matter in labs, internships, startups, and future jobs.
Personally, my high school research experience helped me secure many lab placements at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and eventually led to a role in a high-level neurosurgical oncology research environment, where I work on my own projects, perform surgeries on animals, and deepen my interest in the field. Having prior research experience made mentors more willing to trust me with responsibility and independent work.
And that’s true whether you won an award at ISEF or not.
The fact that you pursued serious research at your age already says a lot about your work ethic and interests.
Be proud of that.
A Few Post ISEF Questions Worth Sitting With
As things quiet down after ISEF, here are a few questions worth thinking about:
What part of this experience made you happiest?
Did you enjoy the competition, the science, or the people most?
What kind of problems do you actually want to spend years working on?
Are you chasing awards, impact, curiosity, or maybe all three?
What would your ideal next project look like if nobody else’s opinion mattered?
You don’t need perfect answers right now.
But ISEF tends to change people a little. It shows you what’s possible, introduces you to incredibly driven students, and gives you a glimpse into what your future could look like.
That’s a pretty special thing to walk away with.
And finally:
Get some sleep.
You probably need it.
Get-Post ISEF Support
Even though ISEF is over, ScienceFair can support you with your next steps. We partner with Indigo Research to guide you through writing and publishing a research paper. And we also coach for other high school STEM competitios, including STS.
Schedule a call with our team, and we'll help you build a plan that works for your specific project, timeline, and goals.
