<p>I put this in the "summer programs" section, but I realized that is for pre-college. Oops. Question still stands: </p>
<p>Well? Are summer undergrad research programs generally competitive?</p>
<p>I ask because an advisor I knew my frosh year said "Just apply everywhere to research programs-not a lot of people apply". I guess the thinking is that not many students want to do research, let alone think about getting a PhD.</p>
<p>Is this true?</p>
<p>These are incredibly competitive programs. The Amgen Scholars programs get like 500-1000 applications for 25 spots (half of which are for the home institution’s students). Other programs are less competitive; REUs at midwestern state schools aren’t going to be that competitive, for instance. But if you’re applying to well-renowned programs at top schools, don’t expect admit rates of higher than 10-15%. I’d apply to many programs if you want to get into one. Fortunately there’re no application fees.</p>
<p>Coming from a middle of the pack student who applied to 9 REU’s last summer (summer before my senior year), I’d apply to many and try to do it over a range of competitive levels or at least don’t neglect “easier” opportunities. One of the programs I applied to ended up having less than 5% of the applicants selected. I had no idea it was so competitive, and ended up doing work at my school over the summer because I was rejected from all of my choices. (Admittedly, I aimed quite high for most of them)</p>
<p>I think it helps if you are: a woman, minority, come from a primarily undergraduate school (=less research opportunities), and have an obvious interest to pursue graduate school (through your statement, or previous work, etc). Even still, I think it comes down to some luck too.</p>
<p>If you look around, you’ll see many people mention how they didn’t get into a REU, but they got into grad school… I’d take that to mean that it can be competitive, but regardless, it’s not a requirement to get into graduate school. (Though research is, so do something at your school no matter what you do over the summer)</p>
<p>I got rejected by NIH and Pittsburgh CNUP last year. However, I was given an interview at Pitt this year (Pitt SURP said that they accepted 10 of 120 applicants and that those accepted were primarily from disadvantaged backgrounds or were from universities that lacked research opportunities). I was accepted and attended Univ. Nebraska Med Center’s Pharma SURP.</p>
<p>So yes, more competitive than grad school, especially if you are white, have $, and are afforded research experiences at home institute.</p>
<p>When I was applying to math REUs after my sophomore year, I was advised to apply to ~10 programs. I ended up attending a program with an admission rate of about 4%. </p>
<p>Later in the summer our adviser shared with us how he chose from so many qualified applicants. It became very clear that he was not just admitting qualified individuals, but building a group. Apparently I was accepted because I had some experience with computational mathematics - including computational linear and abstract algebra and numerical analysis. I did not stress that computational experience in my application because it was a program in <em>pure</em> math, but luckily one of my professors mentioned it in his letter of recommendation. Another group member was admitted because of his geometric intuition, and another for his amazing skills in making abstractions from concrete examples. </p>
<p>If you want to apply to these programs, I recommend you make a strong case for what you can contribute to the project - both as an individual and as a member of a group.</p>
<p>Thx for the replies- although, I’m in the social sciences.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I don’t know a single social science major who participated in a formal research program off campus (with the exception of archeology majors who went to excavations).</p>
<p>Most of the programs I applied to had 800-1200 applicants for 15-30 spots. These programs (at least the top ones: MIT, UCSF, Stanford, etc.) are incredibly competitive - in some ways more so than graduate school.</p>
<p>The experience is totally worth it. Apply far and wide.</p>
<p>edit: I see that you are in the social sciences. I have no idea how competitive those are (I’m in biomedical sciences).</p>
<p>[RISE</a> (Research Internships in Science and Engineering) | Willkommen](<a href=“http://www.daad.de/rise]RISE”>Willkommen bei RISE - DAAD)</p>
<p>This program, if you’re a science major, is VERY cool. I did it last Summer, had the time of my life, got to know one of most famous German PI’s in my field, and got a killer letter of rec from him… </p>
<p>And then there were the fringe benefits of bettering my German, riding a bicycle across Bayern from Brewery to Brewery and networking with other motivated American, Canadian, and British science students.</p>
<p>I think there were 300 spots for 3000 applicants… but do it. </p>
<p>I firmly believe this program was one of the reasons I was accepted to schools which I think are a bit out of my league (top 5’s in my field).</p>
<p>Back when I was a junior I applied to something like 10 REUs for a summer and only got into one (UC Irvine, which I had never heard of up to that point). I had over a a 3.5 GPA in engineering at a top 10 school, research experience, and wanted to go to grad school.</p>
<p>For grad school many of the places that rejected me for the REU accepted me.</p>
<p>How did you like it at UCI? </p>
<p>UCI is my undergrad institution, and while the nightlife kind of sucks, I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the education. Truly an underhyped school.</p>
<p>b@r!um-</p>
<p>Really? That’s surprising. </p>
<p>RacinReaver-Did you end up going to UCI? That was the one I was going to apply to.LOL.</p>
<p>I was there for the summer under the IM-SURE program and had a pretty good time. I got really lucky with my lab placement as my advisor gave me tons of freedom and there were a bunch of great people in the lab. We also had brand new lab space which was pretty sweet. I had spent the previous summer at my undergrad school doing research, so I figured driving 3000 miles would be a good change of pace. 
</p>
<p>Didn’t apply there for grad school, though, as none of the research topics lined up with what I was interested in</p>
<p>One more question- The program I’m applying to requires that we contact professors. I have looked at faculty webpages and determined who would be a good fit with my interests. But how the hell do I do that? (Mind you, I did use the search function to look up this topic).</p>
<p>Dear Professor X,</p>
<p>My name is X and I am interested in X. I am applying to do summer research at X and your interests match my interests… Do you need anyone to work on projects this summer…blah blah</p>
<p>Is that too forward?</p>
<p>I can’t answer the question above…although through my limited experience, that seems fine. It’s not too forward to make your situation and intentions obvious.</p>
<p>this is weird, since as a current undergrad I’ve been answering rather than asking questions on CC for so long, but I am wondering how important these REUs are. I have to admit that while I’ve stumbled upon their website before, I really didn’t know what they were. maybe I am not the target audience, coming from a school where there’s already huge amounts of researching already happening?</p>
<p>^^ I’m with you on that one. I went my freshman summer (now sophomore) and I felt a bit out of place. It seems most, if not all the other students were from tiny “unheard of” liberal art schools. (I’m a math student). I go to a top tier math school (~top 20) that is an extremely large research university and it was disappointing to realize how different and less-rigorous some of their math programs/courses were. </p>
<p>I personally went because I was ignorant at that time and thought that it was somewhat of a requirement for graduate school, not realizing that research at my home school is just as good. </p>
<p>I’m trying to figure out whether or not to go again this summer to another program (assuming I can get in somewhere).</p>
<p>So, #16, you got a 2-3k summer gig and you were worried about the other students in the program?</p>
<p>:$</p>
<p>You’re not the target audience if you’re not planning on going to graduate school.</p>
<p>Most of us come from large research universities… this is a great way to get to know another PI intimately, as well as become familiar with another branch of our discipline. Studying elsewhere gives you an edge on any application… especially if you receive stellar letters of rec from PIs across the country.</p>
<p>I always felt like it gave you an edge. Maybe it’s different for other fields, but as a math student I found that the students were going because they couldn’t really do this sort of research at their home school where there were only a handful of math professors. I got the same story from my classmate who went to one the previous summer.</p>
<p>Well, I mean the programs are nice, but my home school has the same type of programs where you get the same amount of money, if not more. I mean, what sticks out to me is that if I do research at my home school the work can be continued and you can truly get somewhere.</p>
<p>One of the other points of an REU is to expand your network and give you the opportunity to see the research being done from a different angle. Sure, you might get a little more done over the course of the extra semester you could spend on summer research at your home school, but the skills you develop working in new labs and new techniques you bring back to other labs you work in could easily be more valuable.</p>
<p>I worked in four labs as an undergrad and I’ve used skills and techniques I learned in each one of them as a grad student now.</p>