<p>So the Columbia website says "you are welcome to provide a 1-2 page scientific abstract or a letter of recommendation from your research mentor for our review as a supplement to your application." This kind of implies that they want one or the other (just the abstract or just the letter of rec). Does anybody who's been accepted or knows about the admission process at Columbia know whether submitting both and abstract AND a letter of rec from my research mentor would be acceptable?</p>
<p>The abstract was neither presented at a conference nor published. In a sense, the scientific findings weren’t groundbreaking or anything since it was based on a 5 week research program. It is a scientifically sound abstract (part of a 9 page research paper about the project as a whole). There was a poster and oral presentation that went along with the paper. Essentially, it’s a good paper but not published or anything.</p>
<p>I’m also in a similar situation, where I wrote a research paper with an abstract as part of a summer program, and the following summer I did the same again independently (both unpublished). However, I am also a second-author on a publication in a peer reviewed journal. I plan on having my professor write a rec letter, in which he will incorporate all of these points, so do you think an abstract submission is still necessary? And if yes, which of them do you think is most proper?</p>