<p>I am currently a freshman at Purdue majoring in engineering, but I am thinking about double majoring in physics because I love physics. I would really like to find a summer REU for physics but I have a few questions. The main one is who to get teacher recommendations from. My STEM classes all are massive lectures so I do not know my professors personally. I have read that I shouldn't try to get TA recommendations. I need two to apply to most REUs so what should I do? Is my adviser a good place to go to? My other question is general and goes to the people who have participated in REUs. Simply put, how was it? Helpful? Worth it? I know its hard to get into an REU as a freshman but I'd like to try. Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>Your faculty advisor is a good place to start but even the profs of the big lecture classes should have office hours.</p>
<p>Go to your professors’ office hours. Even if you don’t have questions on the homework or lecture material, go and talk to them. Ask them about things that caught your attention and you want to know more about. Make yourself familiar to them in this smaller setting and show that you are interested in the material and research.</p>