<p>They are competitive as hell. I applied to 10, and got accepted to one. If you are a white male, you have a very little chance. If you are going to a good graduate school, you have an even smaller chance. Apply to as many as you can, (10 and above). I applied to Dartmouth and UC Berkeley, they each received 400 applications for 10 seats. I didn’t get in, although I have a 3.8 GPA, excellent letters of rec. and good research experience.</p>
<p>Re: The importance of REUs - in my field (social sciences) they are a nice perk but not a requirement, especially since so many of them are geared towards STEM fields. That’s not to say that there are tons in my social science field - there are. But if you are doing research at your home university, you should be fine if you don’t get an REU.</p>
<p>How hard are REU’s once you are accepted? I understand that you must come up with a project and write a paper at some of them. Also, do PI’s usually write the letter for you upon completion, or do you have to ask for one during grad applications?</p>
<p>For science/math majors, I would recommend applying to international REUs. Like many of you, I applied to a bunch of REUs the summer after my sophomore year (like 10 or so). The only one that I got accepted to was the REU through the University of Florida to do research in Argentina at the University of Buenos Aires. I know that program wasn’t super competitive because not a lot of people knew about it. It was also a great experience… and it’s a definite perk to have an international experience on your application to grad school.
You can find all of the international REUs by searching through the NSF’s webpage.</p>
<p>That’s pretty cool with the international one, I hadn’t even heard of it when I was doing all my research on them.</p>
<p>I should also mention that if you don’t get into many/any REUs you shouldn’t be too horribly concerned when applications for grad schools roll around. The only REU I did was at a school that I had never heard of before, yet I still managed to get accepted to a bunch of top-10 universities for grad.</p>
<p>Wamp wamp wamp @ crying for being rejected for being white. You were more likely rejected because of the schools you applied to. Just because you have a 3.8 from a top uni doesn’t mean anything. </p>
<p>As far and REUs go, I got into one last summer. It was okay, the work wasn’t too bad. overall, its is a great experience but things in my personal life clouded what I got from it.</p>
<p>Also, thank you rainreciever! I contacted you last year and it helped me a lot with the application process!</p>
<p>:D </p>
<p>What school do you go to now btw?</p>
<p>Haha, glad I helped you out back then. 
I’m still here working on my PhD at Caltech. Maybe one day I’ll actually finish it…</p>
<p>Yeah these programs are super competitive. A lot are definitely more competitive than grad school. I applied to 14 this year. So far have been WL at 2 (eventually rejected), rejected to 2 more, accepted to 3. Still waiting to hear from a number. Applied to all the “top” programs, although they are all great opportunities. The one I’m going to said there was something around 1000 applicants and only 25 spots (half of which are from the host institution). So only 13 spots for outside applicants. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Louis XIII, I am not white, by the way. But in my experience many REU’s are lenient towards minorities which are underrepresented, particularly in the sciences. You can check that out at any of the programs on the REU site. I got rejected because with so many applicants there are countless others with great letters, research experience and perhaps superior GPA’s. However, I got into a really prestigious REU in california either way, I am not complaining.</p>
<p>I guess it’s just one datum, but I’m considered an REU and was accepted to 4 (attended 2 in 2 years) REUs out of the 15 or so I applied to. Going into my first REU, I only had a term’s worth of research experience, and it was bare at that; going into the second, I was preparing for my honors theses, so I was a lot more successful by then (accepted into 3/6 applied).</p>
<p>However, I applied to extremely competitive doctoral programs this year and was rejected by 0 (withdrew from 5/10 schools I applied to), and got accepted by the other 5, including 2 of the “top 5” schools according to USNEWS (though of course, I applied under faculty I had a strong fit with; they just happened to be at these schools).</p>
<p>I feel that admissions into REUs are generally crapshoots because you’re applying to something that you’re hoping to use AS experience for doctoral studies in the future, which typically assumes that your profile isn’t that great yet. With my experience, I kept getting more success at getting into REUs, smaller (more selective) research labs at my undergrad, and eventually doctoral programs the more quality experiences I got. Not getting into an REU doesn’t indicate anything about your chances for admission to a Ph.D. program later – if you get into one, great! That means you’re already off to a good start, going to be getting more solid research experience, and building a network of professors to work with in the future; however, many people (I would posit an overwhelming MAJORITY) get into great Ph.D. programs without ever having done an REU before applications.</p>
<p>But yeah, towards msu123’s post, being an URM may help, but it didn’t really seem to make much of a difference in my case. In the 2 REUs I attended, affluent whites still tended to be the majority,</p>