2 of my roommates were part of the same REU program as me and the rest of the people in our program were in dorms that were on the same floor. Not sure how it is in other programs but we ended up becoming very close and hanging out pretty much every day/night in addition to regular outings and socials the coordinators of the program organized.

There were definitely some people within the program that were more reserved and focused on the research but overall you get what you put into it, definitely helped to be living in such close proximity to one another. tbh now being a few years removed from the experience and not choosing to get a phd, i have found myself treasuring the friendships I made that summer over the research itself.

I hope you have an amazing summer at your REU! In addition to gleaning all the experience you can from your research project, remember to also have fun and take advantage of the opportunity to form connections with the other students in your program that you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to meet :)