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

[lilli]

Cornell rejection
It's not looking that good for me...

 

[dahommster]

Hi everyone,

I've been following this thread over the course of this past week and found the information to be really helpful. Have any of you participated in Penn State's MASS program? I have a week to accept their REU/MASS offer, and I'd appreciate any advice I can get.

 

[union68]

Cornell rejection
It's not looking that good for me...

Yup. I got the Cornell rejection also.

 

[Newtime]

Hi everyone,

I've been following this thread over the course of this past week and found the information to be really helpful. Have any of you participated in Penn State's MASS program? I have a week to accept their REU/MASS offer, and I'd appreciate any advice I can get.

I want to say someone in this thread has done it before but I don't remember, try searching it. Otherwise, for what it's worth, my professor here at school told me it was a really solid program. I don't have any details for you though...

 

[hommington]

Hi everyone,

I've been following this thread over the course of this past week and found the information to be really helpful. Have any of you participated in Penn State's MASS program? I have a week to accept their REU/MASS offer, and I'd appreciate any advice I can get.

I was involved. The MASS program is different from the REU. During the REU you take short summer courses and work with an adviser on a project. The Mathematics Advanced Study Semesters is an intensive 16 week program where you take honors undergraduate courses that are taught at a graduate level, and taught at a graduate pace. The courses are in MASS Analysis, MASS Algebra and MASS Geometry (least when I was there). Every year the courses are different. There is a Seminar and a Colloquium course as well. The Seminar is treated as a special topics course where the professor lectures about whatever he wants and assigns weekly homework. Our Seminar course covered topics in: Billiards, Hyperbolic Geometry, Contact Geometry etc. The Colloquium course is designed for lectures from various mathematicians and different topics each week. It isn't an easy program but it was an incredible experience. If you have any further questions feel free to ask.

 

[sycarton1]

ive been accepted to potsdam for analysis and central michigan (presumably for graph theory) and based on emails am probably going to be accepted to oregon state(partitions) and james madison (grobner basis)
has anyone been to these programs and could tell me about their impressions?
i am mainly interested in algebra but i don't know how strong the jmu program is...im leaning to osu if i get accepted

 

[algebraicgeom]

Got into A&M algebra today

 

[sutupidmath]

ive been accepted to potsdam for analysis and central michigan (presumably for graph theory) and based on emails am probably going to be accepted to oregon state(partitions) and james madison (grobner basis)
has anyone been to these programs and could tell me about their impressions?
i am mainly interested in algebra but i don't know how strong the jmu program is...im leaning to osu if i get accepted

This question has been asked multiple times by various participants in this thread, but i don't think it hurts to be asked again.

Could you write a brief description of your mathematical background, and what do you think got you into those places?

 

[kuahji]

Anyone hear from any of these physics programs Uni. of Minnesota, Cornell, Lehigh, North Carolina, Indiana University, Maria Mitchell, Arkansas, Wooster, Idaho, & Michigan State? I realize I'm in a math REU thread, but I didn't think it was right to start a new thread for physics REU.

 

[sutupidmath]

It looks like i will be getting an offer from BYU!

They have not officially offered me the position yet, fingers crossed, but they sent me an email asking whether i would still be interested in their REU despite the fact that i will be offered neither a stipend nor an airfare. (This is because i am an international student).

I will defenitely accept the offer (if and when they make it) although i have an opportunity to work with a physics professor at my current university and get >$3000!

 

[kate1729]

ive been accepted to potsdam for analysis and central michigan (presumably for graph theory) and based on emails am probably going to be accepted to oregon state(partitions) and james madison (grobner basis)

How did you hear from JMU? I applied there but for Computational Stats. Do you know if they're making decisions project by project?

 

[woms14]

How did you hear from JMU? I applied there but for Computational Stats. Do you know if they're making decisions project by project?

They are. I got an email about grobner basis

 

[kate1729]

Alright, thanks.

 

[algebraicgeom]

Got into LSU...this is becoming hard now...

Does anyone have any comments regarding A&M, LSU, MHC or JMU?

 

[bluskies]

EbolaPox had something to say about A&M on this thread a little while ago:

I was in the Matrix and Wavelets analysis group at A&M in Summer 2009. It was a lot of fun, but be prepared to do a good amount of work. It can be quite independent also, so you can be free to work on whatever you want. It's a great experience, and if you work hard enough, you can get a paper out of it. I highly recommend getting the book Frames for Undergraduates and start reading that as soon as possible. That will help give you some ideas for projects also.

 

[algebraicgeom]

EbolaPox had something to say about A&M on this thread a little while ago:

Right...I'm in the algebra group though.

 

[kate1729]

I just got into UCLA RIPS - Beijing. They want me to decide by Friday, or Monday morning at the latest though, which is going to be difficult, as I haven't heard from anyone else. Hopefully I can get replies out of JMU, WPI, and Claremont before then.

Oh, and I know someone from my school who got into LSU more than a week ago. So fyi, they've already sent out offers.

 

[belle]

I just looked at the RIPS program, that looks spectacular! I applied to Claremont, but haven't heard from them yet. Their deadline was about a week ago though, so I imagine they've already contacted their top choices. What I would do is if you are really set on a program, send them a quick e-mail expressing your interest and letting them know that you need to decide on another offer. I think that's pretty common.

 

[algebraicgeom]

I think my top 2 are A&M and LSU. I'm trying to make a decision...it's tough! It looks like LSU is more topology than algebra, and I'm interested in algebraic geometry, which is more of what A&M is, but the program at LSU looks a bit more intense..

 

[kungfumaster1]

Has anyone heard back from the Hope College REU program?

 

[union68]

Got a GVSU and a Northern Arizona offer. I know there were others on the thread who applied to GVSU, so I thought I'd give a heads-up.

 

[Jon0]

Has anyone heard from Lafayette or UNC Asheville yet?
Also, does anyone know anything about the University of Washington REU? Their deadline is April 1st. Is this a joke?

 

[skimnc]

If you facebook search Patrick Bahls, the guy in charge of the UNCA REU, you can see some of his status updates. They seem to imply he made offers :)

 

[belle]

I had been accepted to another program, but I was also interested in Lafayette so I e-mailed them to check on my application's status. They said they could not offer me a position, but I don't know if that means they've sent out offers, or just that I was not being considered.

 

[sutupidmath]

I got an offer from BYU today, and accepted it rightaway! I am very excited about it!

 

[eNew]

Congratulations on BYU! That's where I am going too!

I got accepted into a bunch a schools with very little time to decide, so I chose based off of research topics. Are you doing the Commutative Algebra program?

 

[eNew]

I got an offer from BYU today, and accepted it rightaway! I am very excited about it!

Oh and to add to my above statement, I just realized that we talked earlier about how I applied to 18 schools and you applied to much fewer. Weird we're ending up in the same place.

 

[sutupidmath]

Congratulations on BYU! That's where I am going too!

I got accepted into a bunch a schools with very little time to decide, so I chose based off of research topics. Are you doing the Commutative Algebra program?

When i applied for BYU i mentioned that i would strongly prefer to work on Commutative Algebra, but i also made sure to let them know that i would be happy with any other research topic.

So, in the email that they send me they did not mention specifically whether i was assigned a group, yet, or not, it simply stated that they wanted me to be a participant in their program.

However, i emailed Dr. Dorff, two days ago, accepting the offer rightaway, and i asked him about this, but i haven't gotten a reply yet.

How did you figure out that you are in C. Alg. group?

 

[eNew]

I was told in my email. Any luck finding out in the last two days?

 

[kungfumaster1]

Has anyone heard back from the UIUC math REU? Their deadline was just this Monday, but I was wondering if offers had already been made simply because the deadline was so late.

 

[jgm340]

I applied to the UIUC REU, but I have not heard back yet.

I anticipate a rejection, but I would think it would take at least a week for decisions to be made.

 

[zpconn]

I got an offer to participate in MASS at Penn State yesterday and I'm having a rough time figuring out whether I should do it or not.

I have no doubt it would be an extremely rewarding and worthwhile experience. It seems like a great and one-of-a-kind program.

But going would basically mess up my plans here at my home institution. I'm currently planning on finishing the graduate sequences in algebra, topology, and real analysis (measure theory) next year. If I go to MASS, all of that--and that is a lot of really significant material--will have to be delayed an entire year and I don't think there would really be any math classes for me to take next spring semester (the ones I would take have as prerequisites classes I would need to take next semester).

Deep down, I think I should stay here and finish the standard graduate sequences next year, but it's super hard to turn down MASS. Any thoughts on what I should do?

 

[jgm340]

zpconn, I think that graduate schools care most about:
1) Solid coursework demonstrating your preparadness and ability
2) Good recommendations to speak to your character

You need to look at whether MASS will help or hurt you with regard to those two factors.

There is a third factor, which has an indirect effect on the other two: a program like that may provide a lot more support in terms of your academic development than your home university. However, this is an uncertainty. You should try to separate this factor from the definite factors as you make your decision.

 

[zpconn]

Thank you for the advice.

MASS certainly appears to have solid coursework. The graduate coursework here is also very solid, though. I have three years left as an undergraduate, so there's something really appealing about maybe finishing the standard graduate sequences next year and then having two remaining years to focus on more specialized topics and maybe study abroad in Moscow (which I was planning on applying for next year, in fact, but have recently decided against it in favor of taking the graduate courses here first).

 

[sutupidmath]

Thank you for the advice.

MASS certainly appears to have solid coursework. The graduate coursework here is also very solid, though. I have three years left as an undergraduate, so there's something really appealing about maybe finishing the standard graduate sequences next year and then having two remaining years to focus on more specialized topics and maybe study abroad in Moscow (which I was planning on applying for next year, in fact, but have recently decided against it in favor of taking the graduate courses here first).

If i were you i would defenitely stay at your home institution and finish up the standard graduate sequence. You could then, like you said, go either to Moscow or Budapest. From what I've heard, they are both equally challenging if not more than MASS.