Competitions · Season calendar

Robotics & Engineering Competitions:
Format, Dates & Prep for Irvine Students

3 robotics & engineering competitions in school-year order; 2 have official dates for this season.

Photo: Vanessa Loring / Pexels

Robotics & Engineering (3)

Sep122026FIRST Robotics Programs (FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition)FRC and FTC are highly legible to U.S. engineering admissions readers - many of whom were team members or mentors themselves - and FIRST maintains a scholarship catalogue with hundreds of partner institutions. For Irvine families the real value is that FIRST does not only judge the robot: its highest honours, the Impact Award and the Inspire Award, assess how a team does outreach, fundraising and mentoring. Those are exactly the leadership and impact dimensions that are hardest to evidence in an application. A student who moves from FLL in elementary school to FRC in high school also ends up with a coherent eight-year narrative.ElemMiddleHighFIRST LEGO League (FLL) serves ages 5-16 / grades K-8: Explore for ages 6-10, Challenge for ages 9-14, and the Future Edition split into K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 bands. FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) serves ages 12-18 / grades 7-12. FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) serves ages 14-18 / grades 9-12. Teams register through the FIRST Dashboard as schools, out-of-school programs or community groups and receive an official team number.Register by Nov 17
Feb62027Science Olympiad (Division B & Division C)Science Olympiad is one of the most recognised team academic competitions in the United States and is read by STEM admissions officers as reliable evidence of both breadth and depth: placing consistently across 23 events requires self-directed study, real lab skill and disciplined teamwork at once. For Irvine families it also has a practical advantage - the path is clear and close to home. The Orange County regional is held at UC Irvine, the state tournament runs in April, and the 2027 National Tournament is at The Ohio State University on 14-15 May 2027, so a student can follow one continuous six-year track from middle school through high school.MiddleHighTeams are school-based with a maximum of 15 students. Division B is the middle school division covering grades 6-9, with at most five 9th graders per team; Division C is the high school division covering grades 9-12, with at most seven 12th graders per team. A Division A elementary division (grades 4-6) exists but does not feed the state series. In Southern California every team must register with Southern California Science Olympiad and pay membership dues, and for 2026-27 each school is limited to three teams at the regional tournament.Register by Dec 2

Dates to be announced

TBAVEX Robotics Competition (VEX IQ & VEX V5)VEX is one of the largest pre-college robotics ecosystems in the world, and its VEX IQ to VEX V5 ladder lets an Irvine family plan a six-to-eight-year activity arc. Admissions readers care less about the trophy than about what the engineering notebook shows: iteration, failure analysis, and a clear role such as team captain, drive coach or programming lead. Because VEX combines mechanical design, autonomous coding, data-driven scouting and teamwork in one project, it produces unusually concrete material for engineering and computer science essays. Orange County hosts many local events across a fall-to-spring season, so students can build a deep, sustained record in grades 9-11.ElemMiddleHighThe VEX IQ Robotics Competition (VIQRC) is for elementary and middle school students, split into Elementary and Middle School divisions. The VEX V5 Robotics Competition (V5RC) is for middle and high school students. Teams register on events.vex.com as schools, after-school programs, homeschool groups, community clubs or independent teams, and must pay the annual team registration fee before entering events. University students compete separately in VEX U.

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