I am applying RD, and right now I am grappling with whether or not I should submit a research project through the optional supplement section. Over the summer I participated in an internship with a power utilities company, and I did a research project analyzing data to determine which factors (e.g. wood type, location, age) influence woodpecker nesting in wooden utility poles (which as it turns out is a pretty big issue). It was not a required part of the internship, it was more of just an issue that I started investigating independently that ended up turning into a research project. I have a poster and an abstract for it that I could submit, and I have started the whole Slideroom process, but I am not sure if it would be best if I submitted it. For one, it doesn’t really fall into any subject area or department (it was industry-specific research). It also seems like the general “vibe” online is to steer clear of submitting research to MIT through the supplement. Would it be beneficial to submit the abstract/poster? Is there a different way that I can talk about the project in some depth on the application?
Quick edit: my mentor from the internship has already submitted a letter of rec through SlideRoom; however, I know that there is a way to submit extra letters of rec in the main application, so getting it resubmitted through that would not be too big of an issue.
You can discuss the project elsewhere on the application, but if you want to submit it as a supplement, you certainly should. Supplements can only help, and never hurt. Chris Peterson has posted that sentiment here before.
Why do you get the vibe that you shouldn’t submit research through the supplement?
Should I submit a research portfolio if I can’t get a supplemental rec letter from my mentor or would that look bad?
yeah anyone know the answer to @compSciLover