How Does Your High Schooler Win When Everyone Has AI?

Parents: this one is written for your student, and you're welcome to share it.

The math hasn't changed

The number of winning spots hasn't changed. If a competition had five winning spots before AI, it has five now. What has changed is how easy it is to show up with a polished-looking submission. Say there were 100 serious entrants before. If AI helps 500 people produce something that looks good, the same five spots now go to a much bigger pool. Those numbers are illustrative, but the direction isn't: the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search drew 2,612 entrants, its largest pool since 1967, for 300 Scholar spots. We can't say AI caused that growth, but we can say it's no easier to stand out.

That's not a reason to worry. It's a reason to know what separates people. When everyone's baseline rises, the baseline stops being what sets you apart. In our experience, what does is the things AI can't produce, and we've seen how students win when everyone has AI. Here's how it's done.

1. They know their stuff down cold

It starts with a question you care about, because interest is what makes the details stick. From there, the students we've seen win can answer the unexpected question calmly, because they've already faced a hundred of them. They can explain their method to a smart stranger in two minutes, without notes, and say what they'd do differently.

How we build it: each student works one-on-one with a Mentor in Residence, who runs rehearsals and mock Q&A, including the unscripted questions judges ask at fairs. By the time they present, they've faced many of them. Mentors gude students on how to leverage AI for best benefit to the student.

You win when: you get the question you didn't see coming and answer it clearly.

2. Their letters can say how they compare to other students

A recommendation letter is most useful when it answers a question the reader can't answer from the application: how does this student compare with others? Some recommendation forms even have these as explicit questions - how many students have you mentored, and where does this student rank within them? For our Mentors in Residence, who have worked with hundreds of students, this question is easy to answer.

How we build it: our Mentors in Residence have worked with hundreds of students, so they have a real basis for comparison, and they can say directly where a student stands. Some colleges, such as Caltech, ask for an additional letter from someone who can speak to the research. No tool can write that letter, and nobody can fake it, because it depends on someone who has seen your work and many others like it.

That's also why we never guarantee a letter. A letter that compares honestly is possible only when the writer is free to say what they actually saw. Your job is to give them something worth saying: real work, done well, over time.

You win when: the person writing for you can say, with specifics, where you stand.

3. Their work has a record

Occasionally, a conference program chair writes to ask: the author is a high schooler; did they really do the work? We find those letters easy to answer. The Mentor in Residence who worked with the student replies, affirms that the student did the work, and attaches a detailed record of it: "Yes. The student did all the work, and here's the record to prove it." That answer is possible only if the record exists.

How we build it: Instructors guide students on how to keep detailed research records, so the record builds itself over the life of the project.

You win when: the question comes, and the answer is easy because the evidence is already there.

4. Their work compounds

The strongest students don't stop at one result. A research paper can become an app that people use, and an app can become a venture. Each one builds on the last, and each shows a different strength: depth in a paper, usefulness in an app, initiative in a venture.

In our experience, the most successful students have two or three of these, not just one. Our data points the same way: 43% of the students we can identify in our records have two or more wins, and a quarter have wins in more than one of research, competitions, and building.

How we build it: our Mentors in Residence help students see where a project could go next, and in what order, while following every rule of every venue. One idea, done well, can open several doors. We explore this in our post on student entrepreneurship and our post on pathways to high school student success.

You win when: your paper, your app, and your venture tell one story, and each makes the others more convincing.

5. Their work shows a history

Here's a question every reader of an application is quietly asking: is this paper a checkmark, or a passion?

A single standalone paper can look like a box that was ticked. A history of work in one field looks different: a first project, then a deeper one, then a competition or a publication that builds on both, alongside the coursework to match. That history says the student didn't just do research. They chose a field and kept going.

How we build it: many students continue with us over several years, so their projects can build on each other. Mentors help each new project go deeper rather than start from scratch, so that by senior year, the student's work in their chosen field has a clear arc. Our college outcomes post details the potential benefits. More than four in five of our students went on to a top-tier university or a #1-ranked program for their major.

You win when: someone reads your application and sees not a project, but a path.

What you get

- A student who can explain and defend the work, without notes

- A mentor who can say how the student compares with hundreds of others

- A record that proves the work is theirs

- Work that compounds, from paper to app to venture

- A history of developed mastery in a chosen field, not a single standalone project

Together, they're what lifts a submission out of a bigger pool.

How to stand out - even when AI makes everyone look better

• Our Mentors in Residence guide students through research, presentations, and mock Q&A, and many of our mentors have judged science fairs from local events to ISEF.

• Our instructors teach students the hard AI topics that they use in their research - so that they know the mechanisms in depth and achieve real mastery.

• Students work with Mentors in Residence to visualize and execute a broader strategy for their passion, not a one-off project

  to add to a checklist.

• Our annual student symposia expose students to experts in different domains (such as a Stanford professor talking about the future of code, a Harvard professor discussing medical research, or a Chief Architect of NVIDIA explaining how companies use AI - these are just a few examples). Students become part of the communities they will join as adults.

• Successful students demonstrate mastery in their field, standing out for who they are. That mastery and commitment let them shine in real life, whether in interviews with science fair judges, college admissions, or an informal chat with a Ph.D. at a conference.

Our students have earned more than 400 wins since 2019. In our program, the thinking and the writing stay with the student, and we use AI to sharpen both. If you'd like to talk, we'd be glad to.

Book a free consultation here.