<p>are they competitive? What about the top engineeing colleges vs lower ranked?</p>
<p>opinions would be appreciated</p>
<p>Of course they are. And more prestigious schools do have higher admissions standards. But don’t get hung up on that. Go talk to your advisor and bring your CV – he/she should be able to let you know if you’ll be a competitive applicant.</p>
<p>FYI, their greatest utility is the resulting letters of recommendation. But a one summer REU letter can easily be beaten by an “ordinary” undergrad research letter if you devote 1+ semesters to a professor. I got into top EE grad schools on fellowship without any REUs.</p>