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REU

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:23 am
by Veltri200755
I have some questions:
1. Am I better off doing an REU at school like University of California Berkley (if I get accepted of course) or an REU at my home university ?
2. I have done an REU last summer and the paper my professor, peers, and I have written was recently accepted for a journal. Should I do another REU or just focus on the GRE exams ?

Re: REU

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:02 am
by bannanagamma
For your first question, it depends on the professor you’d work with at your home university. If you think that they would be able to write you an amazing letter or you would get to do a great research project with them, then the home university might be better. That being said, if you have the time you should still apply to REUs outside of your university. Having a research advisor not from your university is really good because you’ll have someone outside of your department being able to vouch for you as a researcher. That makes your application stronger. Moreover, at an REU you’ll meet way more new people than at a home university REU (both students but also faculty) and that can expand your horizons more. So if you don’t have a reason as to why a certain professor at your university is somehow levels above everyone else, then I would go for the REU.

For your second question, I would personally vote for doing an REU over spending the summer studying for the GRE. The extra research experience will be way more important imo.

Anyways that’s my two cents.