Research "outside" school?--Can anyone elaborate on the optional essay requirement?

<p>1)Research "outside" school--Do they mean "not class assignment" or literally outside of the "geographic campus"?! </p>

<p>2)What does "independent study" mean?--does school olympiad team count?</p>

<p>3)I have couple of experiences in our school's newly built labs, and a thesis over a research I conducted independently which won a state-level prize. Does any of those count? </p>

<p>4)an abstract or summary of your work--does this have to be about a research paper only or a recall of an experience?</p>

<p>5)one more question: is this essay going to be read by a faculty or the admissions commitee? And what for?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>A better phrased version–I’m not sure if I expressed clearly :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>4)“an abstract or summary of your work”–does this have to be an impersonal summary of research paper only or a recall of experiences and the lessons learnt ?</p>

<p>5)What is this essay for? is it going to be evaluated by a faculty or just a means of knowing your story by the admissions commitee?</p>

<p>1) “not class assignment”
2) IS means a research/study you did on your own or mostly on your own under the supervision of someone. I wouldn’t call Olympiad “study”, let alone an independent one
3) yea, that counts
4) pretty much the kind of abstract you see in any journal article. summary of your research - the motive/issue, the approach, and the findings
5) adcom</p>