The Regeneron Science Talent Search is designed for students in their final year of secondary school who have already completed original, individual STEM research and have results to report. For the 2027 competition, the application and all recommendations are due November 5, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Before starting the Regeneron Science Talent Search application, however, confirm that both you and your project satisfy the current rules.
Before anything else, ask yourself whether the investigation is complete, independent, and explainable in your own words. The 2027 Research Report Guidelines exclude proposals, unfinished investigations, literature reviews, and essays. They allow research completed during any year of high school, so an earlier project may qualify if it meets the current rules.
A truly ready applicant should be able to state the research question, explain the method, defend the analysis, identify limitations, and separate personal contributions from a mentor's or laboratory's work. If a paper has been completed with several authors, Society for Science advises the student to submit an individual version that highlights the work the student personally performed.
If substantial data collection, analysis, or safety approval is still missing, rushing can create scientific and eligibility problems. A later competition or another way of presenting the work may be the more credible choice.
Regeneron STS eligibility is narrower than general eligibility for high school science competitions. Under the 2027 rules, applicants must be in their final year of secondary school on the deadline and must not have graduated before it. Students of any citizenship may apply if they are enrolled in secondary school and maintain full-time residence in the United States or specified U.S. territories. Certain U.S. citizens attending qualifying schools abroad may also be eligible. Applicants with unusual school, residency, or graduation circumstances should read the exact rules and contact Society for Science rather than relying on a summary.
The project must be individual, and pre-collegiate team research cannot be split into separate STS entries. Work performed alongside adults in a university, hospital, company, or other research setting can qualify, but the application must distinguish the student's contribution from the laboratory's broader project. The student will also need the project mentor's permission in order to enter.
Paid research programs and mentorship are permitted when the work remains genuinely student-owned. Both entrants and mentors must disclose paid support and relevant relationships. No research program can guarantee placement in STS, and compensation tied to a student's placement is prohibited.
The Regeneron STS requirements extend beyond uploading a paper. The official application requirements include a research report, recommendations, application sections about the applicant and project, short essays, disclosures, and optional test scores. The online system also asks students to complete a Rules Wizard, describe prior research, report activities and interests, and provide school information.
Three adult submissions will support the final application: an educator recommendation, a project recommendation, and a high school report that includes the transcript. The educator should normally be a high school teacher who knows the student from a classroom, with preference given to a science, engineering, or mathematics educator. The project recommender should be the person most familiar with the student's daily research work. In a laboratory, that may be a graduate student rather than the laboratory director.
Open the STS application portal early and invite recommenders immediately. Adults will receive their own automated invitation and complete forms inside the system rather than uploading conventional PDF letters.
The STS research report is evidence of the applicant's research ability, originality, planning, and scientific judgment. It may be no longer than 20 pages of content, with no minimum. The title page, abstract, and bibliography do not count toward that limit, while appendices do.
Society for Science recommends a short introduction, methods and results, and a concluding discussion, but it does not require one universal section order. Use the conventions of the relevant discipline. The report must use a legible font at least as large as 11-point Times New Roman, 1.5-line spacing, one-inch margins, and a single-column layout. Make sure to watch for sizing limitations as well so your file can be properly read.
Every image, graph, table, and chart must be cited, including material created by the student. Links are not allowed in the report except within bibliographic references or where the application specifically requests them. After upload, download the application PDF and check that equations, symbols, figures, and formatting survived correctly.
Most importantly, the student must write the report. The 2027 rules absolutely prohibit using generative AI to draft the research report, answer application questions, or generate citations. AI tools may be part of the research itself when appropriately disclosed and cited, but that does not permit AI-written application materials. Mentors and other adults may identify weaknesses and suggest areas for improvement, but they should not supply any replacement prose.
A strong project recommendation explains what the student did, how independently the student worked, and how the recommender observed that work. Ask the person with the clearest firsthand knowledge, not automatically the person with the most senior title. Society for Science requires one project recommendation and permits a second when another mentor has meaningful and distinct knowledge of the work.
You should treat compliance as part of the research, rather than as secondary value-add paperwork. Projects involving human participants, surveys, human data, vertebrate animals, tissue, cell lines, potentially hazardous biological agents, or hazardous materials may require approvals and documentation. STS rules can be stricter than a laboratory's procedures or another competition's rules. The Rules Wizard helps identify the documents an applicant must provide, but it does not replace reading the official rules.
Disclose mentorship, paid programs, editing support, AI used in the research, prior relationships, and potential conflicts accurately. Clear disclosure does not make legitimate support improper. It lets evaluators understand the student's work and protects the credibility of the entry.
The Regeneron STS deadline 2027 is Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The customer-support deadline is one day earlier, November 4 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Society for Science says all application components, including recommendations, must arrive by the final deadline and that late materials will not be accepted.
A practical submission plan is:
The 2027 schedule lists the Top 300 Scholars announcement for January 7, 2027, the Top 40 Finalists announcement for January 21, and Finals Week for March 11 through 17. These are cycle-specific dates, so recheck the official page before acting on them.
Regeneron STS and Regeneron ISEF are both administered by Society for Science, but are not interchangeable. STS is an individual application for eligible students in their final year of secondary school. ISEF serves students in grades 9 through 12 who earn the right to attend through a Society-affiliated fair, and team projects can be eligible under ISEF rules.
A student does not need to qualify through an affiliated fair before applying to STS. Similarly, submitting an STS application does not qualify a student for ISEF. The research, age, timing, and team rules also differ. Use the official rules for the specific competition rather than assuming approval for one transfers to the other. Our overview of prestigious high school awards can help you compare STS with other opportunities without replacing those rules.
Identify what remains: approvals, data, analysis, a defensible conclusion, or a clear account of your contribution. Save it, and wait for net time. Students who are early enough in high school can use the gap analysis to plan a stronger future project and begin by choosing a feasible research topic.
At Echelon Scholars, we help students build original, student-owned research through individualized mentorship. For any competition, the student must understand the project, follow the organizer's rules, and prepare the required application personally. If you are planning ahead and want sustained support developing a rigorous project, you can explore our research mentorship and admissions process.
Who can apply to Regeneron STS 2027?
Applicants generally must be in their final year of secondary school, meet the current age, residence, citizenship, and school-status rules, and submit individual research. Because overseas schooling and unusual graduation situations have additional conditions, confirm them in the 2027 rules or with Society for Science.
Does an STS project need to be published?
No. Regeneron STS evaluates completed original research and a full application; publication is not required. Students may submit work connected to a publication, but the report must make the applicant's individual contribution clear and follow STS formatting and authorship rules.
Can a student enter team research in Regeneron STS?
No. The 2027 rules require an individual project and prohibit splitting a pre-collegiate team project into individual entries. Research conducted within an adult laboratory can be eligible when the student's own contribution is substantial, clearly described, and properly acknowledged.
What is the STS research report page limit?
The report may contain up to 20 pages of content, with no minimum. The title page, abstract, and bibliography are excluded from the limit, but appendices count. Students must also follow the current font, spacing, margin, file-size, and citation rules.
When is the Regeneron STS 2027 deadline?
The application and all recommendations are due November 5, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The customer-support deadline is November 4 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Submit early and verify that the system shows a completed submission.
About Echelon Scholars: Echelon Scholars is a research mentorship program that pairs high school students with graduate-level mentors from Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. Our editorial team covers academic enrichment, research opportunities, and college preparation.
