Math REUs 2015: Updates on Program Acceptances

[Greg Bernhardt]

Has anyone heard back from math REU Programs for 2015 yet?

 

[Alexi B. G.]

Has anyone heard back from math REU Programs for 2015 yet?

Have offers from Kent, UCSB and WADE reu. Any opinions on those?

 

[IDERIVE]

When did UCSB offer you admission? They only started reviewing 6 days ago. Also UCSB is a 3.3 on the AMS scale for their graduate program, so if you are interested in going there (3.3 is rather good) you should definitely go to that REU. Very few REUs have a graduate program in mathematics at their schools.

 

[Alexi B. G.]

When did UCSB offer you admission? They only started reviewing 6 days ago. Also UCSB is a 3.3 on the AMS scale for their graduate program, so if you are interested in going there (3.3 is rather good) you should definitely go to that REU. Very few REUs have a graduate program in mathematics at their schools.

The program director emailed me today, and said I would be working on her project specifically.

 

[Math]

The program director emailed me today, and said I would be working on her project specifically.

Do you know why you were accepted so early? It is my understanding that acceptances are generally given end of February or beginning of March. WADE's applications are not due until tomorrow and they even say on their apply page:

The application deadline is Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at midnight. Review of applications will begin immediately. We will identify a shortlist of approximately 15 applicants and attempt to talk with them over the phone or Skype in late February and make offers shortly thereafter. We intend for the first round of offers to be made during the first week of March.

 

[Alexi B. G.]

Do you know why you were accepted so early? It is my understanding that acceptances are generally given end of February or beginning of March. WADE's applications are not due until tomorrow and they even say on their apply page:

Well, WADE I emailed after I got my first offer telling them I had an offer I needed to accept or decline by Feb. 18th. They gave me an offer during an interview shortly thereafter. UCSB was totally out of the blue, though.

Does anyone know anything about peoples' opinions of those REUs?

 

[Math]

Well, WADE I emailed after I got my first offer telling them I had an offer I needed to accept or decline by Feb. 18th. They gave me an offer during an interview shortly thereafter. UCSB was totally out of the blue, though.

Does anyone know anything about peoples' opinions of those REUs?

I attended the Kent State REU last summer and have nothing negative to report. So far as I know, everybody had positive experiences.

There are two projects run this year, one by Jenya Soprunova on lattice point geometry and one by Misha Chebotar in algebra. Jenya directed the REU last year but I didn't interact with her too much. Chebotar's group was in the office next to my group's -- I was in the now defunct analytic number theory group. Chebotar can be a bit goofy and likes to joke around, but at the end of the day he means business and his group is going to make some serious progress in their research. His group last year had submitted their paper with more than a week left in the program and the group from two years ago had their paper published before the start of the Fall semester.

Kent state is located in a midsize college town, 20 minutes away from Akron, which you may choose to fly to with the travel budget if you are more than an hour or two away, and about an hour away from Cleveland. The town itself is quite nice. There is a lovely Mexican restaurant and Five Guys which were favorites last year, but there are maybe a dozen other decent food options as well in addition to cooking in the dorms. No meal plan or allowance is included, but this was never an issue with the available options.

There were plenty things to do provided by the REU: There are weekly activities which included going to the zoo, laser tag, canoeing, etc. Though some of these may sound boring, they were quite enjoyable with the group. There was also a weekly sports activity, which most often was volleyball or Frisbee. Each research group gives a 15-30min talks each week in addition to the usually quite interesting weekly colloquiums.

Regarding the living situation: We had incredibly nice dorms -- they house the REU students in the best dorms on campus. Specifically, we had air-conditioned doubles with private bathroom shared with next-door room. There was a janitor who came weekly to clean our bathrooms and the full kitchen which was shared across the floor.

Overall, I had a great experience and would strongly recommend Kent's REU. That being said, the most weighty consideration in making your decision should probably be your interest/ability in the research topic.

 

[IDERIVE]

I don't know what people think of the REUs but this is how I rank them: 1. Do they have a math graduate school there and how high is their math graduate school ranked? Even though they are separate entities (graduate and undergraduate) their faculty definitely discuss between the two. If the admissions committee sees that you went to an REU at the same school, then aren't they going to walk the few feet over to the person who ran it and ask them about you? 2. If they don't have a graduate program, how well known is their mathematics department? you can look this up here http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/mathematics and rankings aren't everything for this (like it is for grad school) but it gives you an idea. Is it in California (known for math and chemistry)? 3. Which has a topic that you personally find most interesting?

 

[REU2015Hopeful]

Well, WADE I emailed after I got my first offer telling them I had an offer I needed to accept or decline by Feb. 18th. They gave me an offer during an interview shortly thereafter. UCSB was totally out of the blue, though.

Does anyone know anything about peoples' opinions of those REUs?

Congrats! What did you end up deciding on?

Also, does anyone else have any updates? Especially from SMALL, when will they start contacting people? I haven't gotten word from any yet.

 

[Alexi B. G.]

Congrats! What did you end up deciding on?

Also, does anyone else have any updates? Especially from SMALL, when will they start contacting people? I haven't gotten word from any yet.

Wound up choosing WADE after having a conversation with the director. He really seems to have his finger on the pulse of what's trendy in Number Theory, and asks good research questions. Super excited to go there this summer!

 

[Niflheim]

Congratulations! Good luck!

 

[leviethai]

Has anyone got anything from SMALL yet? I literally check my email every 10 minute this week. I don't want to contact the director until next Monday.

 

[REU Person]

Has anyone got anything from SMALL yet? I literally check my email every 10 minute this week. I don't want to contact the director until next Monday.

I was accepted into another REU so I emailed SMALL regarding my status, their reply was:

We had over 500 applications for fewer than 30 positoins.

If you haven't heard from a group it means you didn't make the short list, and thus it is extremely unlikely we'll be able to make you an offer.

Which is so sad :(

 

[IDERIVE]

REU Person, which REU were you accepted to? I applied to UC Santa Barbara, SMALL (did not hear back :( guess that one is out ), Hawaii Hilo, UC Berkeley, Sam Huston State, Missouri State, SuMAR at Kansas, California state CI, U of Maryland. Has anyone heard back from any of these? especially California State CI, their deadline was 2/1 and that was a while ago?

 

[Caty24]

Has anyone heard back from any of these? especially California State CI, their deadline was 2/1 and that was a while ago?

I heard back from CSUCI on the 24th. Other than that and SMALL (which I guess I didn't get into since I haven't heard back), I didn't apply to any of the ones you listed.

 

[Hrothgar]

I have heard from UCSB (accepted) and Duluth (instantly denied). Not sure if I should accept UCSB since I have yet to hear back from the others that I applied to (Sam Houston, SMALL, Potsdam, WADE, Emory, Farifield, Connecticut). From previous posts it seems like I should not hold my breath about SMALL and also if you look at Ken Ono's page he has a list of students posted, though maybe those are just the ones who have accepted. Either way I won't hold my breath about that either. Has anyone heard from any of the others?

 

[IDERIVE]

Just checked out Ken Ono's page. I didn't apply to Emory, but to me it is sort of aggravating that he chose so many people from Harvard and Stanford, since those are already institutions with tons of research opportunities. I though funding from the government was supposed to go to REUs to support students from small schools without research opportunities. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I though funding from the government was supposed to go to REUs to support students from small schools without research opportunities. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

You could have checked this yourself. Google is a wonderful thing: His proposal states:

The participants will be chosen from a nationwide search. At least half will be chosen from underrepresented groups, and at least half will be chosen from institutions which do not offer many similar STEM research activities for undergraduates. The REU program will enable undergraduate students to enjoy an enhanced learning experience, including research projects and seminars. The overall goal of the Emory REU in Number Theory is to attract talented undergraduate students to careers in the mathematical sciences.

 

[Hrothgar]

Update: I accepted UCSB's offer. I did email Sam Houston and was informed that they have just begun making first round offers with over 180 applicants for 12 spots (I was not one of them lol).

 

[IDERIVE]

Hrothgar, I forgot to ask you, which project at UCSB did you pick? I applied for Sequential Dynamical Systems with Dr. Bartlett.

 

[Hrothgar]

I put that I was interested in "Hyperplane arrangements, Posets, and Geometry" with Prof. Dougherty. My acceptance email didn't say which project I was going to be working on but I figure it will be on that one. Even if not I don't care I'm just super excited that I got in! Any more news about yay/nay for you IDERIVE?

 

[IDERIVE]

Congratulations on your acceptance! All of the UCSB ones sounded really interesting so I am sure you'll enjoy whatever they give you.I think it is uncommon for people not to get the one they applied for. If by the small chance I get accepted there, I will go since it was actually my top choice, but I haven't heard back which probably means I didn't get it. I just emailed UCSB to ask if the spots are filled and I will post here when I get a response. I am assuming Sam Houston, Williams, and UCSB are all nays so far. I have yet to hear back from any REUs so far even though I applied to 10, which might be bad news. I am just hoping to get into 1 so I am crossing my fingers. I might start emailing more soon to ask if the spots were filled. I learned that was the trick last year, because I ended up finding out I didn't make it in 2 weeks earlier than most people which is much nicer than waiting.

 

[DMathmagician]

I attended the Kent State REU last summer and have nothing negative to report. So far as I know, everybody had positive experiences.

There are two projects run this year, one by Jenya Soprunova on lattice point geometry and one by Misha Chebotar in algebra. Jenya directed the REU last year but I didn't interact with her too much. Chebotar's group was in the office next to my group's -- I was in the now defunct analytic number theory group. Chebotar can be a bit goofy and likes to joke around, but at the end of the day he means business and his group is going to make some serious progress in their research. His group last year had submitted their paper with more than a week left in the program and the group from two years ago had their paper published before the start of the Fall semester.

Kent state is located in a midsize college town, 20 minutes away from Akron, which you may choose to fly to with the travel budget if you are more than an hour or two away, and about an hour away from Cleveland. The town itself is quite nice. There is a lovely Mexican restaurant and Five Guys which were favorites last year, but there are maybe a dozen other decent food options as well in addition to cooking in the dorms. No meal plan or allowance is included, but this was never an issue with the available options.

There were plenty things to do provided by the REU: There are weekly activities which included going to the zoo, laser tag, canoeing, etc. Though some of these may sound boring, they were quite enjoyable with the group. There was also a weekly sports activity, which most often was volleyball or Frisbee. Each research group gives a 15-30min talks each week in addition to the usually quite interesting weekly colloquiums.

Regarding the living situation: We had incredibly nice dorms -- they house the REU students in the best dorms on campus. Specifically, we had air-conditioned doubles with private bathroom shared with next-door room. There was a janitor who came weekly to clean our bathrooms and the full kitchen which was shared across the floor.

Overall, I had a great experience and would strongly recommend Kent's REU. That being said, the most weighty consideration in making your decision should probably be your interest/ability in the research topic.

*screeching chalk*

I know it's a bit late to help Alexi now, but I wanted to add my two cents on the REU:

I also participated in the Kent REU last year (in Chebotar's group) and wholeheartedly agree with everything Math said. Chebotar is funny, but also a serious researcher who knows good problems and will push you. His groups consistently get good papers for a reason. As for Jenya, I didn't have very much interaction with her last summer either; however, I am familiar with her work and the work of her REU groups. Her groups get good papers (a couple in Discrete and Computational Geometry; a quite nice journal), especially along the vein of this year's research topic (lattice geometry, codes, and algebraic geometry).

Besides that there's really not much to add to what Math said, though I might emphasize that the area is absolutely amazing in terms of restaurants and things to do. The local drive-in movie theater and a grilled cheese restaurant downtown are especially nice. Oh, and who can forget Taco Tontos. Overall, I too would very highly recommend Kent's REU.

 

[Math]

I know it's a bit late to help Alexi now, but I wanted to add my two cents on the REU:

I also participated in the Kent REU last year (in Chebotar's group) and wholeheartedly agree with everything Math said. Chebotar is funny, but also a serious researcher who knows good problems and will push you. His groups consistently get good papers for a reason. As for Jenya, I didn't have very much interaction with her last summer either; however, I am familiar with her work and the work of her REU groups. Her groups get good papers (a couple in Discrete and Computational Geometry; a quite nice journal), especially along the vein of this year's research topic (lattice geometry, codes, and algebraic geometry).

Besides that there's really not much to add to what Math said, though I might emphasize that the area is absolutely amazing in terms of restaurants and things to do. The local drive-in movie theater and a grilled cheese restaurant downtown are especially nice. Oh, and who can forget Taco Tontos. Overall, I too would very highly recommend Kent's REU.

Yes yes, I totally neglected to mention the screeching chalk in the afternoons! That was a ton of of fun. Anyway, I'm heading to Texas this summer to work on strongly regular Cayley graphs at Sam Houston's REU.

 

[DMathmagician]

Yes yes, I totally neglected to mention the screeching chalk in the afternoons! That was a ton of of fun. Anyway, I'm heading to Texas this summer to work on strongly regular Cayley graphs at Sam Houston's REU.

Hopefully it becomes a tradition! Nice job on landing SHSU. Sweet project, plus Smith seems like a boss. As for me, I haven't heard back from any of the ~13 I applied to, besides Duluth (insta-rejection) :/. Thankfully 7 or so started reviewing in the past week, so all hope might not be lost. Not that spending a summer with Hartshorne and Eisenbud(s) would be a bad thing.

 

[DMathmagician]

Anybody have experience with/know anything about the Oregon State REU?

 

[math2016]

Has anyone heard anything from MSRI or UMN Twin Cities?

 

[DMathmagician]

If it helps, MSRI got back to me last year (rejection) on March 18th.

 

[a5584266]

Does anyone know how rigorous the University of Hawaii, Hilo program is?

 

[Math2017]

Anybody know what the LSU REU is like (the directors, papers, housing, overall experience, etc.)?

 

[IDERIVE]

My friend went to the University of Hawaii Hilo REU last year. He seemed to really enjoy it. He never gave the impression that it was extremely rigorous, at least not so much that it got in the way of him enjoying the experience. Did those schools (LSU and Hawaii) respond to you guys yet? I haven't heard anything yet from either.

 

[Math2017]

Yup. I got what I would presume is a first-round offer yesterday. They got them out really quick.

 

[LambdaStyle]

Has anyone heard from Nebraska-Lincoln Applied Math or Missouri State?

 

[DMathmagician]

Has anyone heard from Nebraska-Lincoln Applied Math or Missouri State?

I applied to Missouri, but haven't heard from them. Can't be sure about individual review processes, but from my experience programs due ~3/1 will be getting offers out next week some time.

It's interesting that LSU got theirs out this week. Has anybody else heard back from a program due around March 1st?

 

[a5584266]

@Math2017
Are you going to be attending LSU's REU this summer? Maybe I'll see you there(:

 

[LaneyRhi]

I applied to SUMSRI, PURE, U Hawaii Hilo, CSU Channel Islands, Fairfield, and Maryland. I haven't heard back from any of them so far.

 

[Math2017]

@a5584266
I really want to. It looks absolutely amazing. We'll see what other offers I get by Monday, but I'll tentatively say hell yeah.

Did you already accept? Any preference between Morales, Hoffman, and Stoltzfus?

 

[Hrothgar]

UCONN has started sending out offers as well (accepted but I declined)

 

[ireallymetal]

Has anybody heard from MAPS, Fairfield, ICERM(Their apps were very long ago I'm sure I got rejected at this point), Berkeley, or University of Michigan?

 

[IDERIVE]

I have not heard back from MAPS, or Berkley yet...but then again I have not heard back from anyone yet. Here's to hoping the second round of offers tomorrow will be kinder. Good luck in the second round everyone!

 

[Caty24]

I heard back from CSU Channel Islands a couple weeks ago, and they had a deadline of yesterday, so on the 5th, I emailed the rest of my REU's asking for a status update.

-SUNY Potsdam, GVSU (both March 1st deadlines), ICERM, and Seattle U promptly rejected me.

-RIT said they'd get back to me by March 8th and then a couple hours later sent me an offer.

- Willamette didn't get back to me so I emailed the mentor I wanted to work with; he said he was reviewing applications over the weekend and would try to get back to me, so I asked CSUCI for an extension just in case, and ended up getting an offer for Willamette. So that's where I'll be this summer!

 

[LaneyRhi]

I still haven't heard back from anywhere. Is it normal for first round offers to come more than a week after the deadline has passed, or is there no hope for me?

 

[DMathmagician]

@Caty24 Good for you! Willamette was one of my top choices, but somebody else made an offer too good to pass up.

@LaneyRhi It is not too unusual. For example, Willamette is certainly still reviewing applications. Though some places (like LSU) get offers out within a couple days. Additionally, second round offers should be coming out today and tomorrow from everywhere adhering to the March 8th deadline. Good luck!

 

[IDERIVE]

@LaneyRhi , if it makes you feel any better, I still haven't heard back from anything either. It isn't too unusual to not hear anything for a long time. REUs are notorious for poor communication if you are not one of their top choices. If you are really starting to doubt whether or not they are filled, you should email their directors to find out if you are near the top of the list. I am about to do that myself. Otherwise they send out rejections 2 or 3 weeks later.

 

[Math2017]

@LaneyRhi
I agree with @IDERIVE: emailing is definitely a good move. It let me know where I was at, so I could look more into the REUs I actually had a shot with (or whether I needed to start making other summer plans). Also, I have heard from two REU directors that "first round offers are out, but the selection process is far from over." A lot of people end up with 3+ first round offers, so there are still a lot of second round ones (and some of the later first-round ones) left. The REU I went to last year (mid-tier) didn't get all the spots filled until mid-April.

 

[DMathmagician]

Just got an official rejection from SMALL. Looks like they've definitely filled all their spots.

 

[Call Me Ishmael]

I still haven't heard back from anywhere. Is it normal for first round offers to come more than a week after the deadline has passed, or is there no hope for me?

Still haven't heard anything from MAPS or Fairfield yet myself. I don't know whether that's a bad sign or a good sign. Leaning towards bad.

 

[IDERIVE]

@Call Me Ishmael , A girl from my college just got contacted and emailed by Fairfield, so if you haven't heard anything it is definitely a bad sign. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you. I'm going to email some of the REUs today and get back to everyone.

 

[Call Me Ishmael]

@Call Me Ishmael , A girl from my college just got contacted and emailed by Fairfield, so if you haven't heard anything it is definitely a bad sign. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you. I'm going to email some of the REUs today and get back to everyone.

How recently? I suppose I should send an email and inquire where I stand then.

 

[IDERIVE]

She was talking about the interview yesterday. couldn't have been too long ago that she got the email from them. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a second round pick after someone decided 3/8 that they didn't want the spot.