<p>Hey! I'm applying to Northwestern RD this year and my application is done, except for the optional research essay which I think I may qualify for.</p>
<p>I come from an interfaith family, and my parents allowed me to decide which one I want to pursue. I've recently made my decision to pursue Judaism in the past year and have been doing some private studies with my Rabbi (History, Hebrew, Philosophy, etc.) It takes up a good bulk of my time, so I think it's pretty significant.</p>
<p>It's on my resume, but what do you think? Is this "research"? Should I do the optional essay? Thanks!</p>
<p>Gut reaction – research is something that is more structured and academically focused.</p>
<p>Yours is more of a ‘search’ (and I don’t mean to trivialize the importance of this search in any way) – though you say you’re done with your applications, this would, IMO make a fantastic essay.</p>
<p>I may be wrong, though, so see what others think, or call NU’s admissions office and ask them what they mean by the question.</p>
<p>I also don’t mean to trivialize the importance of your search, but I believe Northwestern asks for a “research abstract”, meaning a formal research paper should have been created. (i.e. Intel, Siemens, etc.) I am also applying to Northwestern, and I have done some light research, but nothing with research abstracts or anything. So I just left it blank.</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to NU for undergrad, so this is pretty alien to me; but if they’re asking for abstracts, then that just tells me that they expect ‘academic’ research (i.e., research that could potentially be published in an academic journal).</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, everyone. I called the admissions office and they seemed pretty clueless as to what the statement on research was, so I tried e-mail and I will see what I get back.</p>
<p>I didn’t think it would pass as research, I was just wondering if there was a slight chance that it did. Thanks, though!</p>