Geometry & Topology REU Programs - Williams, Cornell, Tennessee, Indiana?

[owlpride]

Seems like I won't be applying to REUs after all. I just got an offer to work with a professor at xxxxxxx =) I am so excited!

(Edited to maintain a minimum level of anonymity.)

 

[union68]

Damn, that's pretty impressive! What field are you going to be working in?

 

[bcomnes]

Are there any good resources available to help gauge how competitive different programs are? Some of the REU info sites report number of applicants versus available positions, but others don't. I unfortunately have not kept up to date with the reputations of many other schools.

Are there programs that are not considered as competitive? I would like to focus on a physics or astronomy related topic. I have some previous research experience (a paid week long trip to Arecibo to assist with the ALFALFA survey as well as some privately funded research with my professors on campus). I am seeking a less competitive program because attend a smaller state university in California and only have a 3.1 GPA overall (3.65 major classes), which to be honest, is quite discouraging.

 

[owlpride]

The Proceedings of the Conference on Promoting Undergraduate Research in Mathematics answers that question for math REUs. I am afraid I do not know how to find out for physics or astronomy though.

http://www.ams.org/employment/PURMproceedings.pdf
http://www.ams.org/employment/REUproceedings.pdf

 

[union68]

I've got a question that I hadn't really thought of before...

Who do I write my letters of intent to? I mean, I was just sort of thinking that I'm writing to "them," but I never really thought of who'd be reading the letter. Oops.

Who do I address the letter to? Do I address it to the professor that I'd like to work with? Like, "Dear Dr. Johnson., My name is ..." What if I don't know WHO I want to work with?

Do I use business letter format? How about the programs that want you to submit the letter online in a basic text editor box?

 

[Newtime]

I've got a question that I hadn't really thought of before...

Who do I write my letters of intent to? I mean, I was just sort of thinking that I'm writing to "them," but I never really thought of who'd be reading the letter. Oops.

Who do I address the letter to? Do I address it to the professor that I'd like to work with? Like, "Dear Dr. Johnson., My name is ..." What if I don't know WHO I want to work with?

Do I use business letter format? How about the programs that want you to submit the letter online in a basic text editor box?

aren't they more like short essays rather than letters?

 

[owlpride]

That's a good question. Last year I wrote my personal statements essay-style. It did not occur to me to write them letter-style, but it is an interesting idea. I am sure that could work as well!

That being said, if you do not know who will read your statement, it might be safer to go with the essay format.

 

[union68]

Thanks owlpride and Newtime. I had Googled "Letter of Intent" and it turned up a lot of templates and examples. Most of these emphasized business-letter format and knowing specifically who you were writing to. However, these were letters geared towards grad-school applications.

I think I'll stick with the essay form since that's how I originally wrote these things.

 

[Newtime]

another question: does anyone know about when we will be notified regarding selections? i could email each individual person in charge of each reu but even if i do get a response it will likely be wrong - how many times have we all heard "you'll know next week"? so: a ballpark figure? I'm thinking some of the smaller programs that only get about 100 applications should take no longer than a month or so?

 

[owlpride]

Most programs will start making offers within a week of the application deadline. Then they will go down the list of their preferred candidates as admits decline the offer. This entire process can take a while. Applicants typically get 7-10 days to respond to an offer, and they might ask for an extension if they are waiting for the reply from another program. If a program has to go through several cycles of offers before all spots are filled, it can easily take over a month before you hear back.

 

[Newtime]

Most programs will start making offers within a week of the application deadline. Then they will go down the list of their preferred candidates as admits decline the offer. This entire process can take a while. Applicants typically get 7-10 days to respond to an offer, and they might ask for an extension if they are waiting for the reply from another program. If a program has to go through several cycles of offers before all spots are filled, it can easily take over a month before you hear back.

thanks for the info.

and for what its worth, here's the final 6 I'm applying to:

cornell, james madison, UC santa barbara, north carolina greensboro, north caroline asheville, SUNY potsdam.

my advisor told me to cut the list from 12 to 6. where is everyone else applying?

 

[lilli]

Hey! I'm new here.
I hope to apply to SMALL Williams, Pennstate, Wisconsin, Duluth (way out of my league though) Cornell, North Carolina Asheville, Texas A&M, Michigan, Arizona, Mount Holyoke if I can! Might have to cut down too though.
Best of luck :)

 

[union68]

Anybody have any info on the "NSF renewal pending" that a lot of the REU sites have listed on their pages? What's this mean? Is this just a formality?

If the NSF decides to pull the plug on the REUs with this listed, I'm going to lose like half my applications.

thanks for the info.

and for what its worth, here's the final 6 I'm applying to:

cornell, james madison, UC santa barbara, north carolina greensboro, north caroline asheville, SUNY potsdam.

my advisor told me to cut the list from 12 to 6. where is everyone else applying?

Santa Barbara is absolutely BEAUTIFUL -- right on the coast and perfect weather. If I went to that REU I wouldn't get anything done.

 

[Newtime]

Anybody have any info on the "NSF renewal pending" that a lot of the REU sites have listed on their pages? What's this mean? Is this just a formality?

If the NSF decides to pull the plug on the REUs with this listed, I'm going to lose like half my applications.
Santa Barbara is absolutely BEAUTIFUL -- right on the coast and perfect weather. If I went to that REU I wouldn't get anything done.

I think most sites by now either say they are running one or not. I noticed the "pending renewal" thing a lot a month or two ago but since I've checked back I haven't seen much of it, although your best bet is to email the head of each program and just ask them.

I used google maps to see just how close to the coast it is: one of the dorms can't be more than 50 yards from the sand. That would be a fun place to work for the summer, not to mention I've heard it's an exceptional program.

 

[sutupidmath]

Hi,

This year i am planning on applying to: BYU, SMALL Williams ( i don't really keep my hopes high for this program since i have heard it is hard to get in), Mount Holyoke, and Penn State REU not MASS. I would have applied to a few more, but unfortunately, these were the only ones i found that do accept international students.

 

[zpconn]

I have a quick question.

I'm at one school and my letter writers are at another (quite far away). The plan was that I would send my application materials and they would send their letters separately, and I would just email the programs saying that the letters and my materials would arrive separately.

I just wanted to check if people here thought this was okay. Recently one of my letter writers expressed slight concern about this procedure.

 

[owlpride]

The plan was that I would send my application materials and they would send their letters separately ... Recently one of my letter writers expressed slight concern about this procedure.

Are the programs explicitly asking for all material to arrive in a single envelope? Last year all of my recommendations were sent separately from the main application (except for a single program, which asked for everything to be mailed in a single envelope) and my professors are at the same institution. I don't think it was a problem. I was accepted to ~75% of the programs I was applying to.

 

[union68]

Whew! All my applications are done and mailed. What a nightmare. I'm fairly certain that I sent the wrong letter of intent to the wrong place or mentioned the wrong professor's name in a letter. Ha! Keeping all of THAT stuff strait was the hard part.

I tell you, Nebraska and Cornell have this process nailed. Nice streamlined, user-friendly application systems. Big thumbs up from me to those two programs.

Now I'll just twiddle my thumbs till I hear something. Oh, and for whatever it's worth, my letters of recommendation will arrive in separate envelopes (sent by the prof) from my applications.

 

[lilli]

Oh lucky you, all done!
I've got piles of papers all over my bedroom floor, indeed not easy keeping everything organized. I should be done by the end of the week.
And then the waiting begins...

 

[eri]

The REU program my university offers is still pending NSF renewal - we might not be officially announcing our program for a few months yet. So while I won't say which one it is, keep in mind there might be a few just starting to ask for applications while others are already sending out rejection notices.

 

[owlpride]

So while I won't say which one it is, keep in mind there might be a few just starting to ask for applications while others are already sending out rejection notices.

I hated that. There were one or two programs last year which I might have chosen over the REU I eventually attended, but I did not even apply because they announced their program so late. At that point I was glad that I was done with applications, and I did not want to go bug my letter writers again.

I am curious though why some programs choose to announce their program late. Is there some concern that the "good" applicants have already committed to attend another program? A couple of my REU acceptances last summer were accompanied by a short note asking me to respond asap for exactly that reason.

 

[eri]

We wouldn't be waiting if it wasn't for the delay in NSF funding. We don't want to advertise an REU program and then not be able to fund it (and I'm sure none of the students want that either).

 

[union68]

I'm really hoping the NSF doesn't yank too many of the programs. The program that I think I have the best shot with still has to get funding confirmed.

What's up with all this funding talk anyways? Were there big budget cuts in the NSF or was everybody's grant up for renewal at the same time? I guess I'm sort of ignorant in this respect.

 

[zpconn]

Does anyone know the specific topics that the Cornell Summer Institute in Math is planning on covering? It says it's an advanced course in analysis, but does this mean measure theory, analysis on manifolds, functional analysis, all three, or what?

 

[kuahji]

Whew! All my applications are done and mailed. What a nightmare. I'm fairly certain that I sent the wrong letter of intent to the wrong place or mentioned the wrong professor's name in a letter. Ha! Keeping all of THAT stuff strait was the hard part.

I tell you, Nebraska and Cornell have this process nailed. Nice streamlined, user-friendly application systems. Big thumbs up from me to those two programs.

Now I'll just twiddle my thumbs till I hear something. Oh, and for whatever it's worth, my letters of recommendation will arrive in separate envelopes (sent by the prof) from my applications.

It happens, I did the same thing this year. I applied to ten schools & someone of them had online applications. For whatever, I filled one of the online ones out twice... so hopefully I don't get disqualified for that, but we'll see. I'm just hoping to get accepted into one, as I applied for astrophysics not mathematics.

 

[zpconn]

Am I missing something, or does SMALL really just want their application form, a statement of interest, and letters of recommendation (i.e., no transcript or anything)? If I am not missing anything, should I send a transcript anyway? It just seems somewhat bizarre that they would consider applicants without even knowing their grades or having any verification they've actually taken the classes they claim to take.

 

[owlpride]

The application form asks you to list your math courses and the grades you got. I have heard from several alumni of the program that the SMALL selection process is a bit more involved than for most REUs. At least one of the advisers conducts phone interviews and another professor asks students for a sample of their mathematical work, on a problem that he provides.

 

[zpconn]

Interesting! Thanks for the info.

 

[lilli]

Hello!
I was just wondering, do they send you a rejection email if you are definitely not going to get onto the program? (and so "no news is good news" applies) or do you just come to the conclusion yourself once its end of March or April or something?
Thanks guys

 

[sutupidmath]

My understanding is that the selection commeettee first sends the offers to their first/top candidates, and give them a few days/weeks to respond back (i.e. accept the offer or reject it), so if you are not amongst the top candidates you should not expect to hear back from them soon after the deadline has passed. What i would do(have done in the past) is once a week or so has passed after the deadline send them an email and inquire about your application status.