Latest Updates on Mathematics REU Applications

[Cyrus]

What exactly is an REU, and how is it different from an internship or doing research with a professor?

 

[HungryChemist]

What exactly is an REU, and how is it different from an internship or doing research with a professor?

You can find a lot about what exactly REU is by visiting NSF website. REU is research opportunity given to undergraduate students during summer. It is no different than doing research with a professor, in fact, that is precisely what you do through REU program. However, it has some advantage over doing research with a professor at your own institution. First, it can get you out of your school and let you experience how other schools are like. In fact, most university does not encourage their own students to apply REU offered through their own institution. Secondly, financial support is available that includes travel,housing, and meal(but I know this slightly varies school to school). Lastly, REU is well established program and therefore competitive to join and this will later help build one's resume.

I guess above is general belief(at list that's what NSF want you to think!) but some professors(I know a few personally) think REU is a joke and not very much impressed with it. Having done one such REU myself, I must agree with them to some extent. Duration of REU is just about 10 weeks and unless you're an expert of project you're given this time is too short to meaningfully contribute. But if you work with a professor at your institution, and stick to it, you could do it until you graduate. The rare occasions of which I hear my friends(undergraduate) putting there name on paper most frequently occurred from those who worked in one lab more than an year or two.

 

[HungryChemist]

By the way, here's my update...
Havard-MIT-Waitlist...(e-mail)
Jena(Germany)..Accepted

 

[alex caps]

I got into the only one I applied to:

UNM REU: University of New Mexico's Center for Micro-Engineered Materials.


Anyone else here doing this one?

 

[tdh]

I just got accepted in graph theory to Rochester Institute of Technology!

 

[Moonbear]

I guess above is general belief(at list that's what NSF want you to think!) but some professors(I know a few personally) think REU is a joke and not very much impressed with it. Having done one such REU myself, I must agree with them to some extent. Duration of REU is just about 10 weeks and unless you're an expert of project you're given this time is too short to meaningfully contribute.

I disagree about the time being too short to meaningfully contribute to a project, but I do agree it probably doesn't happen often enough. It really depends on who you work with. Some people treat these programs as just a source of free labor for grunt work, or have someone just follow them around to do stuff, and then, no, you don't get a very good experience. Some of us do put careful thought into the projects we will have a student do, and ensure there is something they can make substantial progress on and that they will learn enough about in a 10 week period of time to make a meaningful contribution. The project may not be totally completed, but it's possible to do quite a lot in that time, and for the student to see enough to get the idea of how the project progresses from beginning to end.

Of course, what gets accomplished also depends on the motivation of the student, and their level of competence. Some can be shown how to do things once and can then keep doing it and get a lot done, and others need to have someone stand over their shoulder all day, in which case, they get a lot less done. Some just want to show up and work for 8 hours then go home and have fun, and that will limit how much they can learn. Others are willing to take home journal articles and read them in the evenings and discuss them and really learn the concepts behind what they are doing, and they really get a lot out of it.

 

[InbredDummy]

got rejected from Arizona State Math REU

 

[leright]

or have someone just follow them around to do stuff

that's basically what I am doing at my REU. I just follow my advisor around and watch him do stuff and he explains stuff to me, or I read the literature or textbooks in my office.

However, right now I am only part-time (10 hrs a week). When the summer starts I will work full-time (through the entire 13 week summer break) and I will also continue to work part-time in the Fall. So, this is a longer term REU and I have more time to thoroughly learn the background information. I am sure that when I start full-time in the summer I will have some sort of research project.

However, I am going to give a presentation on a topic that I have been studying to the department, but it's not going to be on original research.

 

[InbredDummy]

ASU - Rejected
Calstate Chico - Haven't heard from
Calstate San Bernardino - Haven't heard from
Cornell - (no way I am getting in) - REJECTED
Grand Valley State - didn't get my transcript on time
Penn State University Park - haven't heard from
University of Wisconsin - Accepted
Pitzer - haven't heard from
Williams College - rejected (i really wanted this one, it had so many cool projects!)


i already accepted the Wisconsin offer even though I haven't heard back from other schools, really because they wanted a decision by today. Either way, I'm happy that I got into one of them. I will be researching on non-standard analysis, I'm very satisfied.

 

[sjvinay]

I am a senior graduate student. Trust me, if you are serious about grad school, REU is a must. You may not do some mind boggling research, but just getting a taste of research is important to understand what you want to do in the future.

 

[Brad Barker]

i only applied to one REU, the one at UF. and i got in.

 

[G01]

Well, here's my update:

Lehigh University(PA)-Rejected
MIT-Rejected
Univ. of Rochester-Rejected

Waiting on the rest. I have a pretty good GPA and, as far as I know good references, but the fact that I'm only a sophomore is working against me I think.

 

[mattmns]

I have been officially rejected from the other three I applied to:

Cal State SB - Accepted
ETSU - Rejected
Clarkson/Potsdam - Rejected
Trinity - Rejected

 

[mrjeffy321]

I was getting worried that I had not heard back from the one REU I applied to so I sent them an email inquiring about the status of my acceptance….and it is a good thing I did.
I found out that one of my letters of recommendation which was sent in (by the professor who wrote it) never arrived and my application was still marked as ‘incomplete’ and could therefore not be considered.
The problem has now been corrected, but with less than 2 weeks left before the decision deadline, it does not fill me with confidence that I am just now officially applying.