The Regeneron Science Talent Search (Regeneron STS) 2027 application closes on November 5, 2026, at 8 PM Eastern Time (5 PM Pacific Time), and recommendations, the transcript and the 20-page research report must all arrive by that moment. Among the 300 scholars named in 2026, 8 attended Orange County high schools, including 4 from Northwood High School, Woodbridge High School and Arnold O. Beckman High School in Irvine.

Regeneron STS 2027 Application: What Happened

Society for Science, the organizer, lists the full schedule on the competition website and in the 2027 rules book. The application opened on June 1, and the deadline is November 5 at 8 PM Eastern Time. The organizer states that no portion of the application is accepted after the deadline for any reason. A customer support deadline falls one day earlier, on November 4 at 8 PM Eastern Time; technical problems reported by then are guaranteed to be resolved before the deadline.

Date Item
June 1, 2026 Application opens
November 4, 2026, 8 PM ET Customer support deadline
November 5, 2026, 8 PM ET Application and all recommendations due
January 7, 2027 Top 300 scholars announced
January 21, 2027 Top 40 finalists announced
March 11–17, 2027 Finals Week in Washington, DC; public exhibition on March 14
March 16, 2027 Top 10 winners announced

The website states that about 2,600 high school seniors enter each year, and that the 2026 competition drew more than 2,600 applicants, the largest pool since 1967. The site also lists an online session on October 21 at 8 PM Eastern Time in which past winners share application advice.

What Regeneron STS Means for Irvine Families

The Regeneron STS deadline falls only days from most early college application deadlines, so Irvine seniors prepare two sets of materials in October. The 2026 results show that Orange County students compete well: the 300 scholars came from 203 high schools in 34 states, Washington, DC, and China, and 8 of them attended Orange County schools.

School 2026 scholars
Northwood High School (Irvine) 2
Woodbridge High School (Irvine) 1
Arnold O. Beckman High School (Irvine) 1
Sage Hill School (Newport Coast) 1
Laguna Beach High School 1
Trabuco Hills High School 1
Yorba Linda High School 1

One of the 40 finalists in 2026 was an Irvine resident attending Sage Hill School, whose project examined the metabolic features of metastatic cancer cells. Course offerings and research clubs at the two Irvine public high schools are described in the EDUBUS Northwood High School guide and Woodbridge High School guide.

Regeneron STS Eligibility: Who May Apply

Regeneron STS accepts only students in their final year of secondary school, and only individual research. The rules book sets the following conditions.

Condition Rule
Grade Final year of secondary school (public, private, parochial, charter or home school); not graduated before the deadline; no previous STS entry
Residence and citizenship Any citizenship, provided the student lives full time in the United States or its territories and attends school there; United States citizens abroad qualify if they attend a Department of Defense school, an accredited overseas American or international school, a foreign school as an exchange student, or a foreign school because a parent is temporarily working abroad
Age Over 13 with parental consent, or 18 to under 21, or an emancipated minor over 13
Type of research Individual research only; team projects are not eligible and may not be split into individual entries; research alongside adult researchers in an institution is permitted, but the student’s own role must be clearly delineated from the laboratory’s collective work
Research period Research completed in any year of high school, including continuation projects, is eligible
Paid programs Research completed in fee-based programs is permitted, but students and mentors must disclose the payment structure; no program may guarantee placement, or all of its entries are disqualified

Students uncertain of their graduation year must notify the organizer by December 15, 2026.

Regeneron STS Application Materials: The 20-Page Paper and Three Recommendation Types

The rules book divides the application into tasks, centered on the research report, the essays and the recommendations.

Component Requirement
Research report 20 pages or less, with no minimum; the title page, abstract and bibliography do not count, appendices do; font at least as large as Times New Roman 11 point, 1.5 line spacing, 1-inch margins; PDF of 4 MB or smaller; must be written without generative AI, and every image or chart must be cited
Educator Recommendation Up to 2, completed by the teacher who knows the student best in an academic setting; any year and any subject is allowed
Project Recommendation Up to 2, completed by the person closest to the student’s research; a laboratory head should complete it only if they worked closely with the student
High School Report The counselor or another administrator uploads the official transcript as a PDF through the system; mailed copies are not accepted, and current-semester grades are not required
Essays and questions Essay questions about the student, their goals and the project; previous research history; up to seven activities
Test scores Optional

Research proposals, unfinished investigations, literature reviews and essays do not qualify. The rules book states that reference lists may not be generated with AI, and that a fabricated reference results in disqualification. Recommendations must be completed by the recommender alone, with no outside editing.

Regeneron STS Judging and Awards

Each eligible entry is evaluated by three or more doctoral scientists, mathematicians or engineers in four areas: research report and scientific merit, the student’s contribution to the research, academic aptitude and achievement, and overall potential as a future leader of the scientific community. Materials sent after the deadline, outside letters of recommendation and quotas of any kind by region or category play no part; evaluators do consider a student’s access to laboratories and similar circumstances.

Level Award
300 scholars $2,000 each, plus $2,000 to the scholar’s school
40 finalists All-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, and a minimum of $25,000
First to third place $250,000, $175,000 and $150,000
Fourth to tenth place $100,000, $90,000, $80,000, $70,000, $60,000, $50,000 and $40,000

Total awards come to $3.1 million each year. Awards of $20,000 or more are paid annually for educational purposes, and the recipient must remain an enrolled student in good standing.

EDUBUS Advice on Regeneron STS

Confirm independence before deciding to apply. The rules define team research strictly: a project divided among classmates at school or in an outside program cannot be entered, and research completed in a university laboratory must specify, in both the report and the Project Recommendation, which parts the student designed and carried out. This differs from the team rules of ISEF; the EDUBUS Regeneron ISEF overview compares the two.

Send recommendation requests by mid-October. All three recommendation types must be submitted by the recommenders before 8 PM Eastern Time on November 5, and the transcript is uploaded by the counselor. Counselors at Irvine high schools handle early application materials during the same weeks, so a request one or two weeks earlier is safer.

Format the research report by the rules, without AI. The 20-page limit excludes the title page, abstract and bibliography but includes appendices, and the font size and line spacing have minimums. The rules prohibit using generative AI to write the report or to generate references, and the essay questions must be answered by the student.

Plan alongside early applications. Regeneron STS essays and college essays can draw on the same material, but neither should be copied from the other. Students in 11th grade or earlier can work backward from the EDUBUS Regeneron STS competition guide; planning for the application season as a whole is available through the EDUBUS College Admissions Planning service.

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