<p>I am a sophomore CS/ECE with a ~3.6 GPA at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and I am wondering which would be better for my career, an REU or an Internship.</p>
<p>I had a software internship at a large and well known company in Boston over this summer and my boss is happy with my performance and encourages me to return. I enjoyed my experience there very much. </p>
<p>But I love learning and research intrigues me; I have always wanted to some hands-on work on the forefront of science. I have tried doing research over the school year and have spoken to 4 professors (one called me for interview but it fell through. I am in the process of contacting more professors. I thought of thinking of doing "research" on my own but I don't have the appropriate background. An REU would strengthen my grad school chances as well as expose me to what grad school is like. Would it help more than a job (paywise, it is less). For some reason, it seems that not to many people go to grad school outside of WPI (not sure why - they have too much UG debt, not interested, or school's reputation is not that strong). I want to go to a top-30 grad school with funding for the Ph.D.</p>
<p>REU. Internships are nearly irrelevant in grad school admissions, especially relative to research experience and the letters of recommendation that you get out of research. If the above is really your goal, then I would not recommend taking an industry internship unless you’ve already locked down 3 good letters from professors (not bosses) and have more than a year of research experience.</p>
<p>Yes, I realize these three letters of recommendation are very important and I certainly plan to do research this year once I find a professor who is interested in working with me.</p>
<p>Secondly, am I qualified for an REU in Computer Science? How competitive are they? Will not having prior research experience weaken my application? I would prefer to be near home and commute to save costs. There are REU’s at WPI called SURF (Summer UG research fellowship), one at UM-Amherst, one at Rutgers (DIMACS). There are others in Texas and other far-away states but I do not know whether it is worth going so far away.</p>
<p>Some REUs are more competitive than others; the only way to know if you are qualified is to apply. (I’d recommend applying to more than one.) My son’s REUs both included room and board, in addition to a stipend, so staying close to home may not necessarily save costs. Here is a list of engineering REU sites- [US</a> NSF - REU - List Result](<a href=“Search Results for REU Sites | NSF - National Science Foundation”>REU Sites | NSF - National Science Foundation)</p>
<p>We’ve hired three Phds from WPI in the last four years in my local group. We also have
a lot of WPI grads (my guess is a mix of BS, MS) that we’ve hired in the past. WPI is
a well regarded school for CS.</p>
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<p>REUs typically have half of the students from their own school and the rest from other schools. My son did the REU at UMass Amherst this past summer and had a great time. He had previous research experience, a 3.9+ GPA and was waitlisted.</p>
<p>You might also check schools like Harvard, Boston University, and MIT. MIT holds one in Westford or around there in one of their remote labs. It’s a bit more geared for EE majors. The thing about doing a lot of applications is that REU apps typically require recommendation letters and you generally shouldn’t ask a professor to do more than two recommendations as it does take some time for them to do them. A good professor will tailor the recommendation to you and the projects listed on the site.</p>
<p>Look over the list of projects carefully at the REU site to really find something that you are interested in as that should come through in the written part of your application. </p>
<p>You might also check the schools in Eastern Upstate NY as these may be close enough for you. They typically provide housing unless you’re local to the area.</p>
<p>My S did a local REU after his freshman year and was still provided on campus housing and meals. (We live a few blocks from campus.) The following year he applied to three and I believe used the same recs for each; he tailored the apps to each program in his section of the application. His last undergrad summer he participated in Harvard’s PRISE program.</p>
<p>He is in grad school now and I’m sure his REU his experiences contributed greatly those applications.</p>