Can I Land an REU at a Top 40 School?

[ktb]

I am currently a sophomore at a top 50 big state school who is interested in attending an REU this summer. I've heard getting into REUs is very very hard as a sophomore as they favor juniors. I am also a domestic white male. I've been working in a HEP lab at my home university since April 2011 and put in about 20 hours a week during the summer. I've gotten all A's in my physics and math classes except a B+ in physics 1 my first semester of college. I've taken calc 1-3, linear algebra, and DEQ1 and am wait listed for Complex variables this spring. I'm also taking Into to Thermodynamics and Techniques in Theoretical Physics this spring. I know C and C++ from working in the lab and python from a class I took this fall. I'm getting LOR from the professor I work under and a postdoc in the lab who I do all my work with.

With my kind of resume, do I have a realistic chance of landing an REU at a top 40 school? or should I try and look for some safeties? Here are the schools I have or will apply to.

Michigan (REU at CERN)
UCDavis
UCLA
Colorado
Michigan State
Duke
Columbia
Stony Brook
Rice
Texas A&M
Washington

 

[flemmyd]

Your credentials are fine. The big issue is what the REU program is looking for. Some programs taking minority outreach very seriously and go after people who wouldn't consider science careers. Other programs view their REU as a pre-grad school so they can recruit the best students to their school.

FYI: i got into an REU as a soph. It was an international one. The biggest criteria for my program was "who can survive in a foreign country with almost no support network". Just this filter was enough to get the right number of applicants.

 

[ktb]

Thanks. Do you know of any good websites with listings for international REUs? I'd really like to work in another country, but the only one I could find was for U of Michigan at CERN.