Science Competition Options

[Hales3]

Hello!

I’m new to this area of ScienceBuddies, so I hope I’m posting in the correct place.

A little background before my question:

• I just graduated High School in August
• I have previously participated in science fairs for 5 years - going to the state level twice.

Ok, so:

I’ve decided to take a gap year after graduation, and I will be applying to university Fall 2018. I want to broaden my academic reach during my gap year , and in doing so, have come to the realization that I would like to participate and compete in more science fairs in 2018.

However, because of my gap year I will of course be turning 19 this coming April - and since I’m not enrolled in College, and I have graduated High School already, I realize that I’m in a awkward spot and my options are limited.


I was wondering if anyone was aware of any prestigious Science Competitions that are open to conditions such as mine. For example, I’ve looked at the Google Science fair and the Society for Science. I believe I may JUST meet the cutoff age for the Google one, but it still seems as though it’s hard to get into some competitions after high school.



*Sidenote - I’ve been working on an invention that has to do with the electric components and charging capabilities of phones - and why we need to change the way we charge them. Do you think if I went through with this invention entirely, I could possibly submit a proposal to phone/tech companies? I wouldn’t be necessarily competing against other students, but it would show my innovation and ability to compose a project of my own with no oversight.



I’m not sure what path to take. Any help would be sincerely appreciated!

[norman40]

Hello Hales3,

There is a listing of several science competitions here at the Science Buddies site:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... s-overview

This list includes a couple of competitions other than the ones you mentioned.

Regarding your invention, I'd say that you might want to continue working through it as a project. The experience could be useful to you regardless of whether you submit a proposal to a tech company. Some companies (tech or otherwise) do accept ideas from non-employees for evaluation. Companies that evaluate such “outside ideas” have their own protocols for how idea submissions are handled. So you might want to contact a few phone/tech companies to see if they do accept “outside ideas”.

I hope this helps and good luck. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

[Hales3]

Thank you. Being out of high school is going to be the difficult part but I’m open to looking. Thanks for the advice also.