Does an independent study count as research?
Or a thesis paper? Does that count as research, too.
What do you mean?
You are posting under “College Admissions”. If you mean that you did an independent study during high school with the help of a teacher, the nature of it would relate to whether it would be considered research (something new) or not (confirming something that is known). If you mean you worked by yourself, I doubt any college would consider that without a teacher or other mentor guiding you.
As for a “thesis paper”, the term “thesis” is usually reserved for college, not high school. You would need to give at least some details for anyone to help answer your question, it’s very unclear.
This was supposed to be aimed at graduate school admissions.
Okay, got it. In general, independent studies as an undergrad would count as research, and should end up with some sort of publication in a journal (no matter the level but the higher the better), or at least a poster presentation at meeting. A thesis paper would also count as research if you were pursuing a new idea or reworking someone else’s data.
Remember to list it as research, not as you would a class. You would want a summary that would include what was investigated, what method was used, what results you got, and how the results might be used (briefly!).
Go back to your independent study adviser and/or thesis adviser for help. You also should consider using one or both for a recommendation.
So if you are trying to fill in “Research Experience”, yes I would consider an independent study and/or a thesis project as research. That is, unless they explicitly say “Job Experience - Research” then you can’t use it.
Good luck!
OK, then take it to the graduate school forum:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/