Reu Definition and 200 Threads

My family plans to go on vacation for one week starting the same day as an REU for which I very much would like to apply. I understand REUs typically have deadlines during the program, and the dates are usually planned out for everything. Is it common to take a week off of one? Also importantly...

Just finished freshmen year of university, and I would really like to have some research experience at one point before graduation. Well, I should not have much problem getting into my school's research lab since professors here are always asking us to consider joining their lab. And I would...

Is it possible to do an REU without being currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program? Some REU descriptions do state this is a requirement. Others seem to expect it, but don't explicitly rule out other possibilities. Does anyone have experience with this? I have a bachelor's degree...

Hello, all! I am a junior at a small-ish school, and I have just decided to change my major from a B.S. in physics education to a B.A. in physics. I have a strong physics background (All A's and one B+ in my physics classes, all A's in math), and I've taken all of the lower-level physics...

What should I do if I haven't been accepted into any REUs I applied to, and my school doesn't offer any research for my major (mathematics)? Is there any other alternative to than just keep applying to tons of REUs?

Hello, I applied to REUs for the summer, and was happy when I got accepted to one. Now I feel like the school has ambushed me and lied to me. When I applied, I was told that if accepted, I might have to send in my transcripts, which seems true for any college. Now I am being told that I have...

I am a sophomore physics major attending a top 20 research university in America. I have one year (including one summer) of research done with one professor at my own university (which led to a poster publication but nothing major as of yet), and am now in my first semester of work with a...

Hi everyone, I will be graduating this spring with a bachelors in physics. I love research and I do have research experience and I have applied for graduate school in physics. Now I am just waiting around. However, I am trying to find work during the summer and I was wondering if anyone...

I am thinking about applying for a summer REU, please leave advice and/or experience comments. I am an undergrad math student from a small public liberal arts school in WI. I have gone through the calculus series, and am starting Elementary Number Theory. I have a 3.94 gpa and am finishing my...

Hello all, I am currently applying for math REUs and I was wondering if anyone would help me proof read my essay and criticize it (as much as you'd like please). I know most of them accept mostly juniors and seniors, but I really want to get into at least one of the programs so that's why I...

Hello, I need advice on how to write a personal statement letter for an REU application. I wrote one below. This one is for a specific school (the one I want the most), but I know that as I apply to more, my essay will have to become more general. Please, any advice will help (just not mean...

Hey, I am a physics major who just found out he needs to stay another year before graduating. Have people done more than one REU?

Hello all, I'm a Mathematics and Physics major, currently in my junior year. Being an international student, it is extremely hard for me to find summer REU, so I could only find around 9 places. Even so, they only say that they MIGHT accommodate around 1-2 internationals. As such, I want to...

Hi everybody, I thought I'd give this a shot and see if anyone would like to be a sort of "mentor" for me this summer? I have not taken Quantum mechanics and I am actually working on a QFT-esque REU project for the next 8 weeks (!). Anyone interested in maybe answering (I will definitely...

Hi I applied to a lot of REU's for this summer and actually got accepted into one which I am so glad for. The problem is that I don't know if I should accept this one right away or wait to hear from some more and make a decision then. They are giving me 03/08/13 to make a final decision (which...

Hi all, I'm a math/physics double major at a decent public university. I simply don't have time to do an REU this summer but I have really good credentials otherwise (I think :/). So I am wondering...is the whole lack of REU experience going to kill my chances of getting into an...

I was just wondering which people generally prefer to do and which is usually more productive if one has both options. I'm guessing that research at one's home institution is more productive because you can work on the project for a longer period of time, but REUs seem to be good for networking...

Hey all, I was accepted to an REU (actually not REU, but a similar program sponsored by the school) at a top 5 school for this summer and I was wondering if anyone has done one. I was considering taking an online Abstract Algebra class in order to knock 3 credits out. Does anyone know if...

I was wondering if you guys could provide some input on my personal statement. The prompt is, in 400 words, to explain your interest in the program, how it fits in with your goals, the science questions that intrigue you, the areas in which you would like to conduct research, relevant academic...

Hello, so over the next few days I will be applying to REUs, and as most of you know, this requires a statement of purpose/essay. Heres what I have so far.. keep in mid it's only a draft. Please be critical, I need all the suggestions I can get. Let me know what I can add, or take away from this...

I am trying to apply to chemical engineering REU's for the summer, and I have one physics professor that said he would write a letter for me, but none of my chemistry professors have responded to my e-mails asking if they would write one. Is math a close enough field to get a letter of...

Hey Everyone, Just like in years past we should have a thread where we post what REU programs we are applying for and when we get accepted so we know when to expect decisions and stuff. Also feel free to discuss projects and ask questions so we can all help each other out. I thought we...

How many applications should I put out there? This is my 1st time doing an REU, so I'm not sure how everything works exactly. I know they want transcripts, but it cost money to get my official transcripts from my school, so do I just go until I have a few, or do you apply to atleast a dozen REU's?

I'm a high school student who will be graduating this spring and I'm applying to the various Math REU's that accept pre-freshman undergrads. I'm confused about the essays and statements of intent. What exactly are they looking for in this component of the application? What constitutes a good...

I don't think anyone really likes these threads, but I could use some assistance. Could anyone offer me some criticism on my statement of purpose below, for an REU? This one is really an amalgamation of a couple of ones that I wrote for specifically for different programs, which all more of less...

School writing center is closed during the break, so I need a help from PF. I have to submit my application ASAP, so my references can get the email with instructions to submit their letters. This is for Mathematics REU for small college. I am physics and math double major and I have not...

Please only constructive criticism... if you simply flame my essay it really won't do much for me although it may pad your ego. I tried to keep the word count under 500 words but it ended up being a bit longer so I do plan on cutting some parts to it. I have censored a lot of the...

Hello all, I am not sure if I am posting in the correct place. I am currently in community college, for now I think I am doing physics. Regarding the courses for physics, am currently taking mechanics and calculus 2. Spring I will take physics 2 which I believe is electricity and magnetism as...

For this summer I have a chance to do a REU at my university that deals with Rubidium vapor. This is a experimental project but I want to go into theoretical physics. However I wouldn't mind doing this because I would learn about atomic physics and it would look good for grad school I believe to...

Hi Everyone, I am participating in a REU program this summer 2012. This will be the very first time I will be doing research - ever! I would greatly appreciate your advice of how to perform well at REU and achieve some conclusive results. Can you share with me/us your previous REU...

REU/summer program meet-ups; Post where you are going and meet your peers! I just wanted to make a place where all of us lucky devils who've been accepted to REU's (any subject) can post where we are going and possibly meet some other students going to the same program. I also wanted to make...

I am a junior mathematics major at a relatively unknown liberal arts college planning to apply to Ph.D. programs in pure math next year. I have a near-perfect math GPA and a pretty solid background in terms of my coursework, including every intermediate and advanced-level pure math course...

This summer I am going to participate in a REU program at a top school for my field. I'm not a super spectacular student but get decent grades and do some quality research (but no publications yet). Honestly, I'm not quite sure why they picked me, as several of my peers with better grades (but...

Hi all, I've applied to quite a few REU's for this summer, but I'm not too confident I'm actually going to get into one because my professor keeps telling me they are quite competitive, and that it's not unusual for people to get rejected from all of them. I've applied to: UChicago...

Hello, I am a sophomore physics and mathematics double major, and I plan to attend graduate school for physics with a concentration in biophysics, or just biophysics. However, this is subject to change, as I find a lot of areas of physics interesting. I was recently accepted to two REU...

I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on writing personal statements. Is there anything I should absolutely say or anything I should absolutely not say? What should the focus be? Should it go something like: why I like math, what kind of math I like, any relevant experiences with math I...

Most of the REUs are for US citizens only. However, some of them do admit international students who are willing to fund themselves or find some external funding. Is it popular among international students to participate in such way? Is it much easier to be admitted because you are funding...

I have to write a statement of interest for a math reu application. I was going to just write a formal essay. Then I thought, maybe I can write this essay in the form of a proof with lemmas and a theorem which will say that I will be a good fit for your program. Do you think this is stupid? It's...

I'd like to make a thread for those who are applying to REU programs in physics and the like this summer. Please post where you have applied, what your research interests are, and post when you hear from specific programs to help others make their decisions. Also feel free to discuss any...

I graduated high school one year late because I cut class like a fool. I went to a small public university in NYC thinking I was going to major in business or finance but as it turns out I was bored out of my mind. I took pre-calculus and was fascinated. I got hooked and never looked back. I...

I'm applying for an REU this summer and I'm doing research this semester in QCD. My adviser does top quark research and at the home university of the REU applying to, there are two professors who do research in topics I'm particularly interested in, namely Lattice QCD. Neither of these two...

Alright, so I've done some significant research these past few weeks on the various REU opportunities I have in Physics and Math and I feel like I'm qualified for at least 75% of them, but I also am aware that they take very, very few people at each. I come from a small school, so despite my...

Is it common for international students to get to do summer physics REU's in the US? I am a 3rd year undergrad in Spain, although I am a legal resident of the US if that helps (no need for a visa or anything to that avail). I can get letters of recommendation from 2-3 professors one of which is...

I have a few questions about applying to REU programs. I've heard that some schools are a lot more selective than others...but how would you know which ones are the hardest/easiest to get into? I mean...I want to apply a some safeties (even getting into these will probably be difficult for me)...

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...

Hey everyone I would appreciate any sort of criticism for my personal statement. I am currently applying to 9 REUs and I hope to get into at least one. Right now I wrote a very general statement and for each school I will personalize them. I hope this is at least a good start. Other than any...

I'm a junior undergrad who is applying for a REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program at FSU's High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and in my application it requires a resume. I've never made a resume before, not even for my job, so I'm unsure of what to do. I've looked at resumes for...

I am a new transfer student to my university and this is my first semester currently i am a sophomore. I am trying to apply to an REU program this summer and every application requires at least letters of recommendation. I am inexperienced with this particular scenario and need some help so i...

Dear all: I am an international student in SUNY-University at buffalo. I browsed many websites, and tried my best to get info. about Summer REU available for international students in the field of Computer Science. But most the efforts are in vain. Almost all the programs are funded by NSF, and...

Hey everyone, I'm a sophomore math and ME major (long story), and as the title suggests, want to take part in a math REU program this summer. I have taken calculus I-III, am currently taking a first course in proofs (Set Theory and Logic), applied linear algebra, and introductory ODEs. Next...