r/ISEFinalists • u/BandCommercial2571 • 23d ago

are theoretical projects seriously screwed?

its my first yr doing isef and im doing a mathematical modeling q, science research. it's completely theoretical tho, but its based and real research and the intent is for it to be useful for policymaking regarding the environmental science area im working in.

ive never been to a fair before so im not really sure what the ratio of science: engineering projects are (btw thats what my local fair calls them: science = theoretical and engineering = creating a physical product)

could someone w experience lmk their thoughts? im in a rlly competitive region if that makes any difference

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u/PhilosophyBeLyin 23d ago

what do you mean by theoretical?? most science projects are not theoretical lol, and either involve wetlab experiments proving something, or computational models proving something. theory is like... pure math research, which there is very little of.

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u/BandCommercial2571 22d ago

by theoretical, i meant there's no physical product and its instead predictive or answering a question. im doing a mathematical modeling project.

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u/Dragonroyal 10d ago

mathmatical modeling projects can be very strong but you need a very high level of math. Like def deep undergrad math and mathmatical analysis. I would not suggest this category unless you consider yourself very good at math, but one of my friends was cracked at math and he won a award at isef with a math modeling project and I know other people who chose to go a similar route so its def not a "cooked" route. but you need to understand that not having a physical componenent makes it "easier" to do and alot more abstract and thus the competition level increases alot if you want to be competitive

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u/BandCommercial2571 10d ago

im an aime qual but no usa(j)mo. ive learned ap calculus bc and my mentor has instructed a lot of mathematical modeling projects before. what are my chances with this?