<p>I did a lot of research out of school and i was wondering whether it would count as a research activity outside of school for my Duke common app.</p>
<p>It depends on your topic. I wrote my EE in biology and did independent research that was eventually presented at a conference, so I included it in my Duke application. One of my friends did a psych experiment about memory reconstruction and submitted that as research. Some of my other friends just did cursory book research for their EE's, and I'm not sure that would count.</p>
<p>In general, I would say that it counts. Only send the abstract!</p>