Math REUs 2012: When Can We Expect Decisions?

[jlombard314]

People who got rejected from SUNY Potsdam - did they email you saying you were rejected? Or did you have to contact them? I haven't heard from that place yet.. as a matter of fact I haven't heard from anywhere yet.

I e-mailed them. I got an early offer from NC state which I ended up accepting after they e-mailed. When I e-mailed them they said they just did not have a position to offer me. They did not say anything about filling up all their positions yet. I would e-mail all the places you are interested in right now and get your status. Some are still reviewing applications. My friend got into the LSU REU last semester after e-mailing them where as before he was unsure if they would have even contacted him. Definitely e-mail to check status and just let them know you are still interested.

 

[welsh18]

Has anyone heard from Cornell, UCSB, or San Diego?

 

[feuxfollets]

Nothing from Cornell here. Though there was a post earlier on this thread saying they have funding uncertainties and so weren't sending out decisions yet.I emailed SUNY Potsdam and was told that it doesn't look likely that there will be a position for me... :(

 

[zombie_rb]

Cornell should be sending things out shortly. One of the professors I'm working with said they just got funding confirmation this past Monday. They're reading through applications, but they're trying not to rush through them.

Got accepted to NAU, MAXIMA, and Missouri State thus far...not sure if I'm going to continue my research here or go to one of the other programs yet. Too many possibilities.

Still waiting to hear back from the Berkeley geometry program, too.

 

[Derivate]

Cornell should be sending things out shortly. One of the professors I'm working with said they just got funding confirmation this past Monday. They're reading through applications, but they're trying not to rush through them.

Got accepted to NAU, MAXIMA, and Missouri State thus far...not sure if I'm going to continue my research here or go to one of the other programs yet. Too many possibilities.

Still waiting to hear back from the Berkeley geometry program, too.

Congrats! Which project did you get in for Missouri State, and if you don't mind could you describe what type of math background you have in math?

I take it you must either go to Cornell or work with a professor there?

Also what does NAU and MAXIMA stand for?

 

[zombie_rb]

Congrats! Which project did you get in for Missouri State, and if you don't mind could you describe what type of math background you have in math?

I take it you must either go to Cornell or work with a professor there?

Also what does NAU and MAXIMA stand for?

It wasn't specified in the email, I believe, but based on who emailed me, I was accepted for the function theory project.

NAU = Northern Arizona University, they're doing some really neat stuff with PDEs. MAXIMA is a program run out of...uh, Minnesota, I think. It's more applied mathematics than anything else. Was accepted there for dynamics of systems of lasers. There's some other neat stuff there, too.

Yeah, I go to Cornell and am researching under a professor that's also running one of the REU topics there. As far as my background goes, I'll have completed all of the usual undergrad courses except for topology by the end of the semester. So, dynamics, PDEs, real/complex analysis, linear algebra, group theory, differential geometry, stuff like that.

 

[Derivate]

It wasn't specified in the email, I believe, but based on who emailed me, I was accepted for the function theory project.

NAU = Northern Arizona University, they're doing some really neat stuff with PDEs. MAXIMA is a program run out of...uh, Minnesota, I think. It's more applied mathematics than anything else. Was accepted there for dynamics of systems of lasers. There's some other neat stuff there, too.

Yeah, I go to Cornell and am researching under a professor that's also running one of the REU topics there. As far as my background goes, I'll have completed all of the usual undergrad courses except for topology by the end of the semester. So, dynamics, PDEs, real/complex analysis, linear algebra, group theory, differential geometry, stuff like that.

Awesome! I only ask because I think I'm part of the function theory project as well for Missouri, and I'm leaning towards going there, so if you do end up going there we'll see each other! I tried looking up more info about Missouri's REU but there aren't any reviews so I don't know how structured the program is, but based on the pictures and previous work it seems pretty good. Not sure if they have a record for getting things published though.

 

[Testify]

Cornell's fractals group is done. I got an email this morning at 7:30am saying that the first people to respond to the email would be an offered a spot on the project.

I did not see the email until 3pm today when the group was already filled, and as I have already accepted a position on UConn's fractals project, it doesn't really matter regardless. It would have been heart-breaking though for someone to not have a back-up plan as I do and not get to participate in Cornell's program because you do not check your email as your getting out of bed.

 

[R.P.F.]

I got an email this morning at 7:30am saying that the first people to respond to the email would be an offered a spot on the project.

Wow, I'd say that is pretty ridiculous. If you live on the west coast, you almost certainly wouldn't check your email at 4:30am.

 

[Derivate]

Wow, I'd say that is pretty ridiculous. If you live on the west coast, you almost certainly wouldn't check your email at 4:30am.

Sounds very silly and unprofessional as well. But then again they probably just emailed their short-list in order to ensure they fill up their spots since most people have committed to a place by now.

 

[feuxfollets]

What about the other projects? Are those decided as well?

 

[Caramon]

Has anyone heard back from UCLA Logic Summer School? I haven't received a rejection letter but I also haven't heard ANYTHING. Has anyone else been rejected or accepted to this program? Does this mean I'm on a wait list?

 

[jdesilva12]

So I've been following these posts for awhile and found them depressing/exciting all at the same time! just thought i'd throw my input as to where i stand right now:
applied to:DIMACS/Rutgers, Bard College, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, MTBI, MSRI-UP, SMALL, UCSB, AND UC San Diego STARS(similar to McNair Scholars Program)
I was rejected from SMALL(no surprise there) and got my first acceptance from MSRI about a week and a half ago. I then emailed everywhere else about my status and got a quick reply from UCSB saying they only had two spots left to fill and already sent out offers(so that one is most likely filled as of now) and acceptance to DIMACS, uc san diego, and was on the short list for combinatorics for bard college. decided to go with MSRI since I knew some people who directed the program. apparently DIMACS has an odd acceptance process, where it is determined professor by professor and tends to take very long. so if you haven't heard back from them don't lose hope! as for nebraska, i think they are all finished as well and i haven't heard from MTBI about anything(also a very good program) but i hope you all enjoyed this application process since its just a drop in the bucket for what grad applications will be like next year! ^_^

 

[zooxanthellae]

I applied to UMich, Fairfield, MSRI, MTBI, and UT Tyler haven't heard from any of them. However, I am a second year so I don't have incredibly high expectations for a paid REU. Hopefully I will be able to do something unpaid at my home university.

 

[pomegranatez]

Has anyone heard from UCSD (the REU), Ohio Wesleyan, SUMSRI, Ursinus, Wisconsin-Stout, PURE or Rose-Hulman?

 

[deadsupra]

Hey dudes,

I knew all you math geniuses would go for the MIT and UCLA schools so I applied to SDSU and channel islands. Small schools. Little competition. California. Lol!

I hope I get an internship. I have a fantastic GPA (4.0) but do have things holding me back. For one, I'm in my second year and STILL taking cal 3, so I petitioned to take differential equations on top of that. They are easy to me but I still haven't taken linear, number theory, statistics. A bunch of classes that can help me get an edge on you guys.

Also I am a community college student. Was a bad high school student back in the day but have improved drastically.

I really hope I can get an internship. I did say I want to be an EE. What do you think are my chances?

 

[deadsupra]

Bump and another question:

Are any of you minorities or females?
If yes and you did get accepted to an REU program, do you think that is what helped?

They say that is the purpose of REUs by NSF. Just wondering if all programs are making that the overall goal.

 

[Riem]

Hey guys, so I'm kind of at a loss here.. I completely forgot about REUs and so I practically missed every deadline. Does anyone know if there any other summer programs with spots/applications still open? I've been trying to find literally any program and would be happy to even apply at this point. I seriously don't know what to do at this point; I don't plan on having an unproductive summer, but it seems like I can't really do much anymore.

 

[deadsupra]

Go to the NSF website and search for some. I think there should be at least a few. But ur chances are very slim because you'll need to bug ur professors to submit the letters ASAP.

Hurry! Do it now!
Google reu or NSF and the NSF website will have a search of all participating programs.

 

[Riem]

Go to the NSF website and search for some. I think there should be at least a few. But ur chances are very slim because you'll need to bug ur professors to submit the letters ASAP.

Hurry! Do it now!
Google reu or NSF and the NSF website will have a search of all participating programs.

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'd want to pressure my professors because of my fault though, since I'm hoping to keep good relations for them for at least a couple more years until grad school apps. :]

I guess my only option at this point would be to
Plan A: Find any remaining programs that either have very very late deadlines, or open deadlines not requiring outside recommendations.
Plan B: Summer sessions with self-study/independent research courses.
Plan C: Summer sessions in general.
Plan D: Sit at home and do nothing.

Plan B seems like the most likely outcome, although I'll try to find any remaining programs; crossing my fingers!

 

[deadsupra]

Yeah when I was looking I hardly saw any deadlines on march. There is definitely none on April.

You can always offer write a simple letter for your professors. I didn't do that but I know people who did and the professors accepted that plan too. Just have them read over it, mail, email it. Whatever.

It is worth an hour of research. You never know what you might find. Don't expect a high stipend from NYC or UCLA either. But if you can get some research done for money in the middle of Alaska or a desert, hell why not.

 

[jlombard314]

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'd want to pressure my professors because of my fault though, since I'm hoping to keep good relations for them for at least a couple more years until grad school apps. :]

I guess my only option at this point would be to
Plan A: Find any remaining programs that either have very very late deadlines, or open deadlines not requiring outside recommendations.
Plan B: Summer sessions with self-study/independent research courses.
Plan C: Summer sessions in general.
Plan D: Sit at home and do nothing.

Plan B seems like the most likely outcome, although I'll try to find any remaining programs; crossing my fingers!

If you are interested in applied mathematics the SAMSI institute Raleigh, N.C. still has an open application for their week long program. It's a pretty good place and I've done two of their undergrad workshops. Here is their website: http://www.samsi.info/workshop/interdisciplinary-workshop-undergraduate-students-and-faculty-may-14-18-2012

with the application for the summer program. What's nice is they are willing to help pay for flights. People at the workshop have come from the west coast before and been re-imbursed. Sounds like you are not graduating anytime soon so there is always next year.

 

[zombie_rb]

Cornell's fractals group is done. I got an email this morning at 7:30am saying that the first people to respond to the email would be an offered a spot on the project.

I did not see the email until 3pm today when the group was already filled, and as I have already accepted a position on UConn's fractals project, it doesn't really matter regardless. It would have been heart-breaking though for someone to not have a back-up plan as I do and not get to participate in Cornell's program because you do not check your email as your getting out of bed.

Bahahahahahahaha. This is something Strichartz would do.

This shouldn't be funny, but knowing him...it kind of is. Sorry to anyone who didn't get in!

 

[kamikaze1]

The hardest and most well known math REUs are, surprisingly, in small schools. Two notable ones are REU University of Central Michigan and Dululth REU, they mostly have students from H, MIT (mostly Putnam kids). The REUs vary by research topics tho, so choose wisely for ones that trulyu interest u

 

[deadsupra]

The hardest and most well known math REUs are, surprisingly, in small schools. Two notable ones are REU University of Central Michigan and Dululth REU, they mostly have students from H, MIT (mostly Putnam kids). The REUs vary by research topics tho, so choose wisely for ones that trulyu interest u

oh cool. that's interesting. i actually picked CSUCI and SDSU because of their past research topics. I can't really understand the research topics though. I don't know if it is the research lingo or I'm just stupid but I never have done an REU or even done any research.

 

[kamikaze1]

In my opinion, math research is by far the hardest research and least accessible for undergrads. Some areas are almost inaccessible because they require advanced knowledge that most undergrads haven't reached yet (after all this isn't bio, phys, or chem). The more accessible areas are number theory/combinatorics alike, graph theory, and abstract algebra (although depends on wat specific areas). If u want to do math research, u should at least have taken proof based, upper division courses like real/complex analysis, groups/rings/fields (abstract algebra), combinatorics, graph theory, and maybe some sequence in ODE (although u likely won't research in this area). Doing well on the Putnam should put u in a very good position to do research

 

[R.P.F.]

Bahahahahahahaha. This is something Strichartz would do.

This shouldn't be funny, but knowing him...it kind of is. Sorry to anyone who didn't get in!

It's actually quite unprofessional...I was going to apply to Cornell for grad school but now I'm having second thoughts.

 

[Mozartean]

Yeah I agree. I certainly don't know anyone involved so maybe there's something going on behind the scenes, but on the surface that looks very questionable.

 

[gcfb]

Not strictly speaking an REU, but has anyone else got a place at the Park City Mathematics Institute summer school?

 

[zooxanthellae]

It's actually quite unprofessional...I was going to apply to Cornell for grad school but now I'm having second thoughts.

Yeah. I'm not even a person that applied for the program, but that's just a terrible way of allotting positions.

 

[RicciFlow]

Cornell's fractals group is done. I got an email this morning at 7:30am saying that the first people to respond to the email would be an offered a spot on the project.

I did not see the email until 3pm today when the group was already filled, and as I have already accepted a position on UConn's fractals project, it doesn't really matter regardless. It would have been heart-breaking though for someone to not have a back-up plan as I do and not get to participate in Cornell's program because you do not check your email as your getting out of bed.

How quickly did you hear back from UCONN after applying? I applied through the mathprograms.org site, and was therefore unaware of this REU until late, but it still said the application deadline was the 20. So do you think all the fractal-DiffEq positions are filled now? I applied on the 17th and have not heard back. Which makes me sad. :/ I imagine that if I didn't get in it would probably be from how much later applied. How awesome was your app.?

Also, has anyone on this forum applied to/heard back from UW-Stout? I was certain I would get into that one, but sadly I have not heard back from them either.

 

[jacksonwalter]

Has anyone heard back from UNCG? I applied there, Bard, and UCSB. At this point it seems like plently of people have heard back from Bard and UCSB so I doubt I'll be getting into either of those, but I think I was probably best suited for the one at UNCG anyways so fingers crossed.

 

[deadsupra]

So I got rejected from CSUCI. I suspected it once I heard that math REUs require a lot of upper division math courses.

Did most of you guys who applied to math REUs know this? I had no idea. And as a sophomore with a 4.0 in all math courses, I thought I had a for sure thing here.

Haven't heard from SDSU but I'm drop dead confident I'll get rejected as well.

Funny thing is that any other science, it is easy to get accepted. My sister did an REU last year at CSULA and another applicant wasn't even a biochem major. He was a business major with average grades and didn't even take general chem! *insert rage meme here*

 

[camilus]

How quickly did you hear back from UCONN after applying? I applied through the mathprograms.org site, and was therefore unaware of this REU until late, but it still said the application deadline was the 20. So do you think all the fractal-DiffEq positions are filled now? I applied on the 17th and have not heard back. Which makes me sad. :/ I imagine that if I didn't get in it would probably be from how much later applied. How awesome was your app.?

Also, has anyone on this forum applied to/heard back from UW-Stout? I was certain I would get into that one, but sadly I have not heard back from them either.

I got into UW stout, did anybody else?

I reallllly wanted to go to Emory, but I found the project way too late.

 

[jlombard314]

So I got rejected from CSUCI. I suspected it once I heard that math REUs require a lot of upper division math courses.

Did most of you guys who applied to math REUs know this? I had no idea. And as a sophomore with a 4.0 in all math courses, I thought I had a for sure thing here.

Haven't heard from SDSU but I'm drop dead confident I'll get rejected as well.

Funny thing is that any other science, it is easy to get accepted. My sister did an REU last year at CSULA and another applicant wasn't even a biochem major. He was a business major with average grades and didn't even take general chem! *insert rage meme here*

Well you have another year to apply so you should not worry. And yes, I figured that they would need upper division classes. A lot of them say that. It also makes sense since it is a bit easier to compare people if they have taken the standard upper division classes like analysis and algebra. Unless you come from a very good institution, then it will be difficult to compare the other courses you have taken unless you have taken upper division classes that are pretty standard across different curriculums at colleges.