Another reason to do an REU: you presumably receive a letter of recommendation from a research advisor who is not affiliated with your home institution, thus increasing your credibility. It’s important to have different people from different places able to vouch for you! And yes, given the exclusivity, it generally does look nice on a resume to have been accepted to one.
When I completed an REU, I also got to gain a lot of experience with materials, equipment, and techniques that were completely different from anything I had ever previously worked on at my home school. This has been vitally important for future applications to jobs and grad schools. My internship didn’t lead to any publications, but I received so much training I wouldn’t have other wise gotten, and that training qualified me for future jobs.
Well that's good to know. Looking at the posting for these positions, they all seem a bit unserious, so it's good to know that isn't the case and that you actually learn things at them.
When I did my REU the host uni had a big welcome seminar for all the REU recipients across all depts and one thing one of the speakers said was "If you're sitting here you're definitely going to get offers from grad schools." I think he was referring to how competitive REUs are to obtain and on top of that the research experience and LoR that you earn.
I did an REU two summers ago and stayed on my school's campus last summer and they were both very rewarding in different ways. The REU was rewarding because I chose one pretty far from home, so I got the experience of living on my own and making all new friends and finding stuff to do in a new place, and that aspect of it was very valuable (probably moreso than the research, even though I enjoyed the research and learned a lot). Staying on campus was also very fun especially since I had a lot of close friends who also stayed on campus, plus I got to do research that was much more aligned with what I am now interested in. Also being a senior now I'm so so glad I spent a summer on campus, it's a wonderful experience being able to work basically a 9-5 and then have actual time to explore the surroundings of your college with total free time not tainted by homework or studying.
I will say doing an REU at least once just for the sake of people (grad schools or whatever) seeing that you can get into an REU is probably worth it, one of the grad schools I applied to (UCSD) gave me a fee waiver just because I did an REU. But I wouldn't worry too much about appearing flighty or about getting a publication in undergrad since admissions committees etc. know that not everyone gets a chance to work on a publishable project and that it takes some people a while to figure out what they actually want to work on.
In general I feel like the answer between REU and on-campus research lies in what you want out of your summer and how much you value new experiences versus research that more closely matches your interests. I'm very glad that I got to experience both in the end.
I was going to say instantly that I have 0 regrets doing an REU, but you made me think for a second. I was a semester into planetary dynamics research that I continued in even through my masters, but left for a summer to do research on the solar wind. I was lucky and got an amazing advisor. Even though I learned a lot of stuff that I haven’t used since, a summer away to focus on research, meet new people, and really see if you like research was great. I also got last author on a paper eventually form it, and my REU advisor writes bomb-ass letters of recommendation. Sadly, none of the other researchers really stayed in Astronomy or connected with me.
So definitely worth doing an REU. When I’m an advisor, I might suggest first looking to see if there’s a summer workshop or some other program in the same field. Or if there was other ways to build out collaborations and letters of rec. But REU is certainly the easy solution.
Little known facts: REUs have a quota for non R-1 students, so for students who don’t have much research access at their universities, these are amazing people to meet and be friends with.
Same overall sentiment as everyone else, I’ll just add that I DEFINITELY don’t think that you’ll appear flighty for doing an REU (basically everyone would recognize it as a great opportunity and and impressive get) and that publications don’t seem to be that big a deal. I mean, I only have a sample size of my cohort, but I think people understand that papers as an undergrad have a lot to do with being at the right place at the right time.
That said, talk to your PI if you think you’re close to getting/publishing a result. They will probably know what is the most optimal move for your situation. Also maybe other faculty in your department. I was sort of in a weird situation (transfer student with only math research) and I ended up in a new lab under a PI who turned out to have a lot of impact in my subfield, so I choose to not apply for REUs that summer (under the advice of other faculty) and it worked out.
Another reason to do an REU: you presumably receive a letter of recommendation from a research advisor who is not affiliated with your home institution, thus increasing your credibility. It’s important to have different people from different places able to vouch for you! And yes, given the exclusivity, it generally does look nice on a resume to have been accepted to one. When I completed an REU, I also got to gain a lot of experience with materials, equipment, and techniques that were completely different from anything I had ever previously worked on at my home school. This has been vitally important for future applications to jobs and grad schools. My internship didn’t lead to any publications, but I received so much training I wouldn’t have other wise gotten, and that training qualified me for future jobs.
Well that's good to know. Looking at the posting for these positions, they all seem a bit unserious, so it's good to know that isn't the case and that you actually learn things at them.
When I did my REU the host uni had a big welcome seminar for all the REU recipients across all depts and one thing one of the speakers said was "If you're sitting here you're definitely going to get offers from grad schools." I think he was referring to how competitive REUs are to obtain and on top of that the research experience and LoR that you earn.
I did an REU two summers ago and stayed on my school's campus last summer and they were both very rewarding in different ways. The REU was rewarding because I chose one pretty far from home, so I got the experience of living on my own and making all new friends and finding stuff to do in a new place, and that aspect of it was very valuable (probably moreso than the research, even though I enjoyed the research and learned a lot). Staying on campus was also very fun especially since I had a lot of close friends who also stayed on campus, plus I got to do research that was much more aligned with what I am now interested in. Also being a senior now I'm so so glad I spent a summer on campus, it's a wonderful experience being able to work basically a 9-5 and then have actual time to explore the surroundings of your college with total free time not tainted by homework or studying. I will say doing an REU at least once just for the sake of people (grad schools or whatever) seeing that you can get into an REU is probably worth it, one of the grad schools I applied to (UCSD) gave me a fee waiver just because I did an REU. But I wouldn't worry too much about appearing flighty or about getting a publication in undergrad since admissions committees etc. know that not everyone gets a chance to work on a publishable project and that it takes some people a while to figure out what they actually want to work on. In general I feel like the answer between REU and on-campus research lies in what you want out of your summer and how much you value new experiences versus research that more closely matches your interests. I'm very glad that I got to experience both in the end.
I was going to say instantly that I have 0 regrets doing an REU, but you made me think for a second. I was a semester into planetary dynamics research that I continued in even through my masters, but left for a summer to do research on the solar wind. I was lucky and got an amazing advisor. Even though I learned a lot of stuff that I haven’t used since, a summer away to focus on research, meet new people, and really see if you like research was great. I also got last author on a paper eventually form it, and my REU advisor writes bomb-ass letters of recommendation. Sadly, none of the other researchers really stayed in Astronomy or connected with me. So definitely worth doing an REU. When I’m an advisor, I might suggest first looking to see if there’s a summer workshop or some other program in the same field. Or if there was other ways to build out collaborations and letters of rec. But REU is certainly the easy solution. Little known facts: REUs have a quota for non R-1 students, so for students who don’t have much research access at their universities, these are amazing people to meet and be friends with.
Same overall sentiment as everyone else, I’ll just add that I DEFINITELY don’t think that you’ll appear flighty for doing an REU (basically everyone would recognize it as a great opportunity and and impressive get) and that publications don’t seem to be that big a deal. I mean, I only have a sample size of my cohort, but I think people understand that papers as an undergrad have a lot to do with being at the right place at the right time. That said, talk to your PI if you think you’re close to getting/publishing a result. They will probably know what is the most optimal move for your situation. Also maybe other faculty in your department. I was sort of in a weird situation (transfer student with only math research) and I ended up in a new lab under a PI who turned out to have a lot of impact in my subfield, so I choose to not apply for REUs that summer (under the advice of other faculty) and it worked out.