5/4/2023 0 Comments Sidplay reu![]() You can note down when parts of the application are completed and submitted and which you still have to finish.Īnother piece of advice that was emphasized is that fit is very important. A past eMentoring Network Blog contains advice on asking for letters of recommendation, which you can find here. Likely you will need a personal statement, two letters of recommendation, and a CV/resume. You can use a spreadsheet to keep track of your applications, with columns for due dates and each individual piece of the application. When we asked our fellow recent REU participants about application advice to share with you, one recommendation was repeated multiple times: Start as early as possible and be organized. What’s perhaps most important is that you choose a topic you find interesting, so that if progress is especially slow or difficult you are still fueled by your interest in the topic of investigation. We encourage you to be willing to work in areas of mathematics that you may not have much background in. When you visit an REU program’s website you’ll likely find descriptions of the individual project topics they are planning for the upcoming summer. Past eMentoring Network blogs also provide a list of REUs aimed at first and second year undergraduates. Here is a presentation from our conference, OURFA2M2, that includes information on how to find REU’s and other research programs. ![]() If you have considered not applying to REU programs for one of these reasons, we want you to know that there have been many successful applicants in your shoes before (including us) so you can and should apply! You believe you will be rejected (for any reason above or others).You don’t feel confident in your mathematical abilities.Your school is not nationally recognized for their math department.You don’t know anybody from your school who has gone to an REU program.You have never done research before or don’t know what the research process in mathematics entails.You have only completed a few math classes or have not taken many (or any) upper-division mathematics classes.You never participated or succeeded in a math competition.There are a myriad of reasons that we or people we know considered not applying to REU programs. We truly believe that the only failure is the failure to try. ![]() Given our experiences along with the information we learned from our conference participants, we now share some advice with those applying to an REU.įirst piece of advice: You should NOT rule yourself out from applying to REUs. In fact, we recently organized the Online Undergraduate Resource Fair for the Advancement in Academia of Marginalized Mathematicians ( OURFA2M2) to bring together faculty representatives of undergraduate career-advancement opportunities, students who have recently participated in such programs, mathematicians whose career trajectories were impacted by such programs, and others within the mathematics community to discuss and share resources related to these opportunities. The authors of this blog post have successfully applied to REU programs in the recent past and some of us have been involved in multiple REU’s or other similar summer programs. If an REU would be your first research experience, not to worry, that’s what they’re designed to be and your REU advisor will know how to support and mentor you! ![]() The faculty members will have carefully selected and curated problems that they believe are accessible to undergraduates and they provide the necessary background. REU’s invite undergraduate students to apply to their program to spend the summer at their college or university (although the pandemic has changed this) and work on an individual or group research project advised by mathematicians with research and mentoring experience Undergraduates are paid to participate in these programs, and are typically housed on campus or nearby (with the costs often covered by the program directly). To be officially considered an REU, the program generally has funding from the National Science Foundation or the National Security Agency, but there are other research programs that are very similar which are supported through other funding sources. What is an REU? REU stands for “Research Experience for Undergraduates.” REU’s are typically 6-10 week long summer programs hosted at colleges or universities. By Alvaro Carbonero, Brittany Gelb, Amaury Miniño, Vanessa Sun, and Lee Trent
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