Applied for the SMART scholarship

[xcrunner2414]

So, I've applied for the SMART scholarship (DoD), the SULI program (DoE), Johns Hopkins APL, and now I want to apply to a few REUs (NSF). But, I have a couple questions:

1. Are there any REU's that do not require letters of recommendation?
2. Is it inadvisable to ask a professor to write a letter of recommendation for me as a candidate for the REU's in general, rather than to a specific REU program? Because I'm kinda running out of professors... lol

Thanks a bunch.

 

[xcrunner2414]

I am mostly interested in knowing which REU's don't require letters of recommendation... if any.
Thanks.

 

[cristo]

So, I've applied for the SMART scholarship (DoD), the SULI program (DoE), Johns Hopkins APL, and now I want to apply to a few REUs (NSF). But, I have a couple questions:

1. Are there any REU's that do not require letters of recommendation?
2. Is it inadvisable to ask a professor to write a letter of recommendation for me as a candidate for the REU's in general, rather than to a specific REU program? Because I'm kinda running out of professors... lol

Thanks a bunch.

I'm not from the US so have no experience with REU's. However, from what I've seen here (and common sense) I would say the answer to your 1 is no: that would be like appointing someone for a job with no references. For 2 I would approach two or three people and ask if they will write you a letter. Then, if they say yes, you can give them the details of all the positions you're applying to. Most professors will write the same letter for all, but some might adapt it for a specific position.

 

[jtbell]

There shouldn't be any problem in getting multiple letters of recommendation from the same professor (for different applications, of course). The real work for him is in writing the first one. He can then just send off copies for the others, possibly with a bit of minor tweaking as necessary.

This assumes a "reasonable" number of applications, of course. A hundred would probably be pushing things too far.

 

[xcrunner2414]

k. thanks for the replies :-) I'll probably apply to about 3 REUs

 

[zpconn]

REUs are very selective, in some cases more so than many graduate schools, so they all require letters of recommendation, usually at least two.

 

[Spriteling]

I haven't seen any REUs that don't require recommendations. A few only require one, but most require two, and a few even require 3.

 

[Nabeshin]

2. Is it inadvisable to ask a professor to write a letter of recommendation for me as a candidate for the REU's in general, rather than to a specific REU program? Because I'm kinda running out of professors... lol

I was under the impression this is how letters of recommendation for this kind of thing are normally written (unless you're only applying to one program or something).