Summer 2013 Math and Science REU Thread

[PhysicsGente]

I have my fingers crossed!

 

[mathskier]

Anyone know how to predict chances? For instance, I come from a mid-sized school, have one semester of research experience, and very high grades, but I'm a sophomore and not a girl/ minority.

 

[Stengah]

Anyone know how to predict chances? For instance, I come from a mid-sized school, have one semester of research experience, and very high grades, but I'm a sophomore and not a girl/ minority.

What I have heard from talking to REU directors and other people is that your personal statement and letters of recommendation carry a majority of the weight. Of course this will vary from program to program, but there are just too many applicants with good grades. So hopefully your semester of research transferred to a good recommendation letter. If you read the rest of this thread, you should have seen some acceptance statistics. The acceptance rates for these is incredibly low. Some put a ton of weight on minority status and the type of university you attend, and other programs seem to care more just about merit. So it's pretty difficult to predict chances.

 

[Null_]

I applied to several programs this year. One program said they will notify students by March 1st. I'm going backpacking on March 1st and will be away from email and phone for 11 days. Should I send them an email tomorrow explaining this? I'm worried that they might only give a week or so to make a decision. That is if I get in... Or should I set up an auto-response email? I'm hesitant to do this though because I get many emails that are sent to large groups of people, and the sender doesn't need to get a reply from me for every email..

 

[Stengah]

I applied to several programs this year. One program said they will notify students by March 1st. I'm going backpacking on March 1st and will be away from email and phone for 11 days. Should I send them an email tomorrow explaining this? I'm worried that they might only give a week or so to make a decision. That is if I get in... Or should I set up an auto-response email? I'm hesitant to do this though because I get many emails that are sent to large groups of people, and the sender doesn't need to get a reply from me for every email..

That's a terrible situation and I would definitely send them an email explaining it.

 

[mege]

I applied to several programs this year. One program said they will notify students by March 1st. I'm going backpacking on March 1st and will be away from email and phone for 11 days. Should I send them an email tomorrow explaining this? I'm worried that they might only give a week or so to make a decision. That is if I get in... Or should I set up an auto-response email? I'm hesitant to do this though because I get many emails that are sent to large groups of people, and the sender doesn't need to get a reply from me for every email..

Auto-response emails are generally sent only once per-person (presuming you have a 'normal' email provider/client). You could also ask someone to check your email for you.

Think about it this way: if you get an acceptance, and can't respond in 5 days, you're delaying the possible acceptance of someone else. So, why would you even want to delay the entire process because you're unavailable?

 

[notphysicsguy]

Does anyone have any experience at the William and Mary Matrix Analysis REU? Also, the SMALL program at Williams is done with applications. I was shortlisted for Ergodic theory but apparently most people took the offer =/

 

[ofb]

FYI I applied to [math REUs at Emory, Duluth, SMALL, SUNY Potsdam, Cornell, Iowa State, LSU, Mt. Holyoke, Penn State, Texas A&M], and [Vic Reiner's REU at Minnesota], and got responses from four: rejections from Emory, Duluth, and SMALL, acceptance from LSU. I accepted the offer from LSU since out of the REUs I hadn't been rejected from, the topics at the LSU REU interested me most (I want to do something related to Galois theory). Remaining applications have been retracted. I am a sophomore at a mid-sized research university.

Also, with regards to giving gifts to letter writers, after poking around some more I have come to the conclusion that gifts are frowned upon as a sort of bribe but a handwritten letter is much appreciated.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[mathskier]

If they say they will notify by March 1st I take that to mean you will hear today (the 28th) so I say just wait until this evening and email them asking if you hear nothing.

 

[dustbin]

Declined by U Minnesota this morning.

 

[usnavi13]

Rejected from SMALL (probability/number theory project) yesterday.

 

[mathstudent99]

Freshmen at a top 5 university. I'm majoring in math and had taken a bunch of math classes (2 semesters of analysis and algebra and 1 semester of differential geometry) in high school at a large research university.
Rejected from Emory 2/4.
Rejected (shortlisted) from Duluth 2/9.
Accepted at Berkeley Geometry, Topology, and Operator Algebras RTG Summer Research Program for the Symplectic Embeddings group 2/26.
Rejected (shortlisted) from SMALL Ergodic theory group 2/27.
Rejected from Minnesota Twin Cities 2/28.
Still waiting on Cornell, Cal State San Bernadino, U Michigan, and U Washington, and RIPS Hong Kong (not actually an REU but close enough).

 

[MechE2015]

Is anyone here applying for engineering (specifically materials/mechanical) REU programs? If so, any news thus far? I've applied to about 12 universities and haven't heard anything yet, getting anxious.

 

[Lavabug]

I was just notified that I am on the waitlist for National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Student Summer research program (not really an REU, as it's meant for graduating seniors/graduates). To any selected candidate that isn't going, please let them know within 2 weeks!

 

[burgandyduck]

Has anyone heard anything from Columbia/Nevis Labs? Heard they may be sending acceptance e-mails today.

 

[PhysicsGente]

Has anyone heard anything from Columbia/Nevis Labs? Heard they may be sending acceptance e-mails today.

I also heard they were looking at applications today. Seems like I didn't get in ;(.

 

[Rampant Lion]

I have heard back from Old Dominion and Rutgers physics thus far. Will be disappointed if Columbia/Nevis made offers today as they were a top choice for me.

 

[arubirurei]

I was accepted to both Oregon State and Willamette's WiVaM in the past week, but now I don't know which is better. They're about 20 minutes away from each other and the stipend's nearly exactly the same. Oregon State seems to have a decent reputation? Anyone know where Willamette's REU stands?

Also, got rejected from SMALL after royally messing up on the phone portion. Good to get that off my chest :/

 

[lenny56]

In the past couple of days I've gotten positive replies from NC State and UT Tyler for math. Does anyone know anything about either of these programs?

 

[MechE2015]

In the past couple of days I've gotten positive replies from NC State and UT Tyler for math. Does anyone know anything about either of these programs?

Were you accepted at NC State? Looked like a great program, I applied there but didn't expect to hear anything since my major is not math. I was just curious if they'd already made decisions.

 

[lenny56]

Were you accepted at NC State? Looked like a great program, I applied there but didn't expect to hear anything since my major is not math. I was just curious if they'd already made decisions.

Yeah, I received the email this afternoon.

 

[MechE2015]

@lenny56 Congrats!

If anyone has heard from the following, I would love to hear. I applied to these schools:

Vanderbilt Engineering (have not heard)
Northwestern Physics (have not heard)
Alabama Engineering (have not heard)
UCSB Engineering (have not heard)
NNIN Engineering (will hear March 11)
Florida Engineering (will hear March 15)
Georgetown Engineering (have not heard)
Wisconsin Engineering (have not heard)
Indiana Math (have not heard)
NC State Math (have not heard - first offers sent today?)

 

[Takuza]

I declined REMRSEC in the hope that either NNIN, COINS, E3S or CIAN would come through. The guy in charge of REMRSEC is super-duper nice and it sounds like a fantastic program, I really hope I didn't make an awful mistake.

 

[Stengah]

I got a positive reply from Rutgers physics as well as Wyoming astronomy.

As a reminder to everyone who has applied, please withdraw your other applications once you have committed to a program. That makes it so anyone on the wait lists can hear back before having to commit to a different, less desirable program. When you don't withdraw applications, it can potentially screw people over since most places only give you a week to decide.

 

[Hercuflea]

Just got a call from Idaho State for Physics, accepted. But I declined :/ . Wish I could be at two REU's at once!

 

[verdricity]

Has anyone here had experience/know anything about the Central Michigan REU for math?

 

[Astrotastic]

NRAO- on the wait list
Rutgers- "high" on the wait list
Did anyone else hear from Rutgers?

 

[usnavi13]

NRAO- on the wait list
Rutgers- "high" on the wait list
Did anyone else hear from Rutgers?

I applied to the DIMACS/DIMATIA REU at Rutgers... haven't heard anything.

 

[Astrotastic]

I applied to the DIMACS/DIMATIA REU at Rutgers... haven't heard anything.

Ah. I applied for physics.

 

[arubirurei]

Has anyone here had experience/know anything about the Central Michigan REU for math?

Yeah; my professor at Colorado Mesa is actually a guest sponsor there. I don't think they've started offers just yet.