<p>I see a lot of applicants sending "research" in their admissions. What does this actually mean?</p>
<p>double that, i want to know about that too. :)</p>
<p>You know, science. [Research</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Research - Wikipedia”>Research - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>For example, if you have a published research paper.</p>
<p>Even other scientific papers that you wrote (e.g. for a research project) but haven’t published, you can probably submit those too. Just don’t upload a random paper on Newton’s forces that you had to write for your physics class.</p>
<p>I admit it’s a question I often had too. Because while of course it is clear that you are doing some kind of inquiry as to a question that hasn’t been answered (or are looking for a different approach), the question is what does this often entail?</p>
<p>My impression is that it’s a bit of a head start into what some people do in college, which is they contact a professor who has something tractable then can work on while getting exposure to a lot of things they’re not ready to do but can still benefit a lot from seeing. They may be able to get their name on something, and/or their contribution gets noted.</p>
<p>Some applicants have participated in various science competitions in high school (Siemens, Intel), and submit abstracts or if not too long, their research paper, not necessarily published. In these cases, students likely have worked with mentors or professors during summer research.</p>