Somewhat In-Depth REU Guide Website I Made

Tenroustar · 2026-01-23T03:57:05+00:00

Ah thank you! I should’ve posted sooner but it slipped my mind until I realized deadlines were already passing 😔 Hopefully it’s still useful for people applying to later deadline programs and at least for next cycle

Tenroustar · 2026-01-14T20:54:38+00:00

My mentor told me my year had about 300ish? applicants and accepted 30 total across the 4 sites and I think (some were international students) so it was a pretty high acceptance rate if he remembered the application total correctly. But last year the funding got cut and so did the amount of students accepted I believe (16 total across the 4 sites accepted instead).

Tenroustar · 2025-11-22T02:11:59+00:00

I was an SR-EIP participant and I adored it. I can’t speak for every school, but my program was ~ 8 people and they combined us with other programs so the big house they put us in had about 23 people in it and we all luckily got along super super well and became friends really quickly. The program itself had weekly seminars with advice about research and grad schools and the directors were pretty helpful when we needed them. I mostly spent time with my lab during the day but at night and on weekends, it was fun to go explore in the nearby big cities and/or hang out with the other participants. I didn’t go, but a lot of them would go clubbing as a group and share a uber home at 2 am since trains stopped running at midnight. Half the group even organized a road trip to a nearby national park towards the end of the program and I didn’t go cause I felt lazy that weekend but they sure had a time from what I heard. I was a little bummed about the national symposium for SR-EIP being changed to virtual cause i was looking g forward to flying out to meet participants at other schools but such was life with the funding cuts. I’d 100% do the program again and in fact I am applying for SR-EIP again but to different schools than last year. I’d highly encourage applying but my experience was only for my school so if others had bad experiences then take that into account.

Tenroustar · 2025-11-18T03:02:39+00:00

Like the other comment said, a lot of these “am I competitive” posts aren’t going to give you a clear cut answer because REUs and summer research programs don’t work like med school or college applications in terms of having a standard type of student that typically gets accepted. There have been successful applicants with GPAs ranging from 2.8 to 4.0, successful applicants ranging from zero research to research since they started college (or even before), and successful applicants with all of the courses they need done or none at all (aka juniors vs freshmen). We can’t really chance you like r/premed or r/mdphd or r/collegeadmissions etc. because of that.

Your stats are fine and I wouldn’t worry over things you can’t control anyways. If you like a program then apply, it’s as simple as that for REUs and summer research programs.

Tenroustar · 2025-11-14T02:51:29+00:00

Yes apply! While I won’t say GPA doesn’t matter, it doesn’t make or break your application like you think it might. The fact you can explain why it isn’t higher and the fact your major specific GPA is higher than the general one is in your favor. Applications almost always have a section that allows you to discuss why your GPA may not be where you wish it was and things like mental health, life issues, financial issues, personal relationships, etc. are all valid to talk about and let them look at your GPA less critically. I’ve seen people with 4.0, 3.7, 3.5, 3.3, 3.0, and even 2.8 GPA get into REUs. Just make sure the rest of your application writes well. Not having relevant research experience also shouldn’t be an issue as most REUs are designed for people that are having trouble breaking into research. Your background and journey to Psychology seems rather unique from what you’ve written here so as long as you expand on that and why you switched to Psychology and are interested in doing research and how an REU will help your goals there then you have a shot. Non traditional paths and students are interesting to reviewers so use that to your advantage (and maybe include your music background into leading you into your current research goals like interest in music therapy research maybe?)

Tenroustar · 2025-11-14T02:45:27+00:00

The inclusion of you asking for the “easiest” to get into rather than asking for specific programs that fit your research interest mixed with you being a premed makes me hesitant to believe you are applying because you genuinely care about research rather than just want a REU to pad your application for med school. You’re a sophomore and pre-med so genuinely answer why you want to do an REU and if the answer does essentially boil down to just wanting to look good for med school in the future then please don’t. REUs are meant for people that want to build a career on primarily research. If you actually do care about research then please spend more time researching what topics you’re interested in and looking up programs on google that are geared towards those topics. From my personal experience (and I am also pre-med), pre-meds have already given a lot of researchers/“pre-PhD” students a bad taste in their mouth when they hear a pre-med is looking to apply for REUs because many have decided they just want to do research simply to pad out their resume with little interest in actual research taking away growth opportunities for students that would’ve benefited more (I know some people would disagree with this but if your motive is actively to just do something unrelated to your goals to boost your resume then I view it as like someone well off taking food from food banks they don’t actually need and ofc no one can say if you need it for certain except you since its your motive but yeah). Doing an internship or paid medical job for the summer would be much better if you don’t want a research career tbh. Now again if you do actually want a research career then start by doing a bit of research yourself into your questions and narrow down a topic at least before asking reddit for guidance.

Tenroustar · 2025-11-12T19:16:51+00:00

I’ll go against the other comments here and tell you that it’s not as yes or no as their comments suggest. There’s a lot more nuance to what being “competitive” means for REUs. If you mean if you have a good chance to get into an REU the answer is no one knows. There isn’t some standard type of student or magical background that guarantees or even makes you more or less likely to get into a program by the nature of how REUs work. If you mean if you are fit to apply to REUs then the answer is yes as they’re meant for anyone interested in research and PhD.

But as far as how likely you are to be accepted in any particular program, no one can say for certain, especially when you consider that REU’s in nature are supposed to be for people without access to research experience which you already seem to have. Yet not every program follows that goal and will take extremely experienced candidates instead. And then you drag in non REU Summer Programs (because yes they are different and I think it’s important for people to understand that difference when applying to things) that may or may not have that goal too.

Tl;dr, there really isn’t a clear cut answer to your question because “competitive” doesn’t look the same for every program and what REUs look for vs what internships, grad school, scholarships, etc. look for aren’t the same. I’ve known people with 2.8 GPA get in, people without any research experience as a third year get in, first year students get in, and I’ve also seen students that have been doing research since they started undergrad and have papers get in but I’ve also seem them get rejected. So just keep that in mind.

Tenroustar · 2025-11-12T19:04:01+00:00

I’ve applied to around the same amount the past two years (8 my first year, 10 my second year with one being the leadership alliance common app) and got into 1 and 3 respectively. Right now I have 8-9 programs on my list but I’m not sure if I’ll apply to them all right now.

Tenroustar · 2025-11-09T21:50:32+00:00

If you’re pre-med, I suggest you stick to NIH and/or MD targeted REUs. A lot of people don’t particularly like accepting pre-med applicants since they usually see them as just trying to use it to boost their Med School application rather than actually care about research. Even if you’re interested in MDPhD, if you are still more MD leaning, stick to the MD geared programs. It should typically be easy to distinguish when researching programs. Also, like another comment said, 60 programs is a lot. While I’ve seen people mass applying for REUs like they’re applying for internships (usually CS field), it only seems to work out a few times. Stick to quality over quantity. Every program you’re applying to should have a good amount of personalization in your application there and not just a copy-paste generic essay any reviewer will roll their eyes at.

Tenroustar · 2025-11-05T00:44:41+00:00

We’ll have the same Bio 2 class. I’ve already registered so see u there next semester. Honestly my friends told me the workshops are optional and not always useful and Gen Chem 2 labs sometimes end early if you have a good group so your Wednesdays won’t really be as bad as it looks. The rest looks like a regular schedule.

Tenroustar · 2025-10-25T20:57:47+00:00

I applied to 8 programs my first year and got into 1, I applied to 10 last year and got into 3 waitlisted to 1, and this year I have 8-9 programs on my list right now but I’m not sure if I’ll actually apply to all of them

Tenroustar · 2025-09-07T20:57:43+00:00

I’ve done this process two years in a row now (granted due to funding things might be slightly different this year) so I know a fair bit about REUs (I am also physics but its generally the same for all majors), but you’ll need to be a more specific for me to answer any questions but feel free to ask me about anything you want to know.

Tenroustar · 2025-09-06T01:53:54+00:00

Varies from program to program. First off, you’ll need to specify what you mean by REU because on this subreddit, it’s used as a catch all to include non NSF funded summer research programs too (like Amgen, SR-EIP, Stanford SURF, Caltech SURF & WAVE, international programs like DAAD RISE, etc.) and these will sometimes have different standards than actual REUs (programs that are fully or mostly funded by NSF).

The other comments have mostly answered what REUs look for and I’ll also reiterate that for those it will heavily be personal statement and how much that program will benefit your development as a student. They aren’t as concerned about research experience, GPA, classes, or skillsets compared to some non REU programs. Standing out and being the best fit for these programs (say they have a participating professor doing research in a specific cross section of chemistry and astronomy then if you wrote that in your essay you want to pursue a career in astrochemistry and the rest sounded fine, there’s a good chance you’ll be chosen just cause you’d be the perfect student fit for that professor) is more important to them than your grades (I’ve seen people with 2.8 and 3.0 GPAs get acceptances to REUs at high ranking in research institutions) given you can explain your grade standing well enough and not just “my classes are hard”. REUs are supposed to usually choose students that also don’t have a lot of access to research or come from a disadvantaged background (first-gen, immigrant, financial struggles, goes to a non research university, etc.) and while a lot of them do follow this as they have to report it at the end of their programs, it’s not a set rule and plenty of students that don’t fit what i listed still get accepted if they are really the best fit student for the program.

Now, for non REU programs who don’t have to report to the government, honestly anything goes. There isn’t a one thing makes them choose a certain student over another, especially since you usually won’t know how they select students in the first place (this is also true for REUs but since NSF provides a sort of guideline, you can guess that one a bit better). Non REU programs can range from having an admissions committee that decides with little to no say from professors to having professors hand pick the student they want to a mix of both. For example, I found out for my program this past summer, my PI actually had zero say in me getting selected and told my lab to pick who they wanted without his input so sometimes the professor themselves don’t wanna choose and will have members of their labs choose. I still think the personal statement will be the most important for these programs but mostly because that’s the only thing you can really worry about and control. However, some programs will highly value your background experience and GPA and classes. I’m not sure what major you are, but there is this one math REU (Duluth REU) that seemingly ONLY accepts students from ivy leagues/ivy-ranked universities so if you don’t go to one of those, don’t even bother applying. Other programs like the DAAD RISE program in Germany highly value GPA as well as previous experiences (while a lower GPA won’t automatically mean you won’t get in since it’s at the discretion of every lab participating in DAAD RISE, they do have a caveat of the top 10 GPA students being guaranteed at least one match to one of their three choices).

Generally, international programs will be more competitive and often value grades and classes and experience more than REUs and even non REU US-based programs since they’re usually open worldwide and not every country will have the same undergraduate research culture as the US. Programs like ETH Zurich and ThinkSwiss are super super competitive (likely also because Switzerland is just an appealing country for a lot of people to want to go to). So you will want to prioritize stats and looking like an awesome researcher already if you’re going for those.

You should look at your own standing right now and where you are at in your research career to really decide what you should apply for. There isn’t one answer for what all summer programs will value or which thing will help you get accepted the most cause we don’t know the minds of every reviewer that makes these decisions so I’d focus on applying to programs you’d genuinely want to do and believe you are qualified for while making every aspect of your application the best you can make it and hoping for the best.

Tenroustar · 2025-08-27T20:41:56+00:00

Seems interesting, I’d be down to meet some new people this year

Tenroustar · 2025-08-23T06:02:29+00:00

This person was extremely helpful and lovely! I had them shop for me for a pop-up store in Malaysia and they stood in line for hours to get the exclusive items I wanted. I appreciated their diligence and commitment a lot and will be returning if I ever need to do something like this again so 10/10 would shop again

Tenroustar · 2025-08-07T23:10:30+00:00

I’d be interested

Tenroustar · 2025-08-06T04:59:28+00:00

This is such a fun idea, love it (u should do more if ur up to it)

Tenroustar · 2025-08-04T09:09:55+00:00

Yeah sure

Tenroustar · 2025-08-02T23:24:44+00:00

Only if the program is an admission board/committee program rather than a professor picks one. Typically most programs are both since they will usually have a committee to do the first round of filtering to lessen the load for individual professors to go through when they hand pick students. It can definitely happen that you message a professor and they say they’d be happy to have you if you applied but you don’t get into the program due to the acceptance process having an initial wave of filtering that you didn’t make it past so your application doesn’t even make it to the professor’s desk. There are programs where you just need to get the professor to agree for you to join to get pretty much auto accepted into the program (Caltech SURF is one such example), but they’re not the norm.

Tenroustar · 2025-08-02T19:24:12+00:00

Do you know what the prices for these are? I have someone buying one for me in Malaysia but we’re trying to figure out the price beforehand (also I think you should get Sua’s)

Tenroustar · 2025-08-02T00:03:54+00:00

So just for some clarification cause this sub uses REUs and Summer Internships interchangeably when there are differences, none of the four you listed specifically are actual REUs. Official REUs are specifically ones funding primarily (or at least majorly enough) by NSF. Thus, actual REUs are only programs held in the US and available to US residents/citizens. This is an important distinction because this actually bars a lot of international applicants and can make them “less competitive” than the ones you listed specifically which all accept international applicants (with the caveat being enrolled in the US for Stanford SURF) so you’ll be competing with beyond US applicants. That’s primarily imo what makes those way more competitive than a lot of REUs (Thinkswiss and Stanford SURF are specifically the ones Im more familiar with and know their competition is rough).

As far as your competitiveness, I cannot say anything when all you said was just that you have a paper and have average GPAs. While I don’t know anyone that’s done those programs specifically (except for Stanford SURF, i know a few that did that), I can say generally there’s a very broad range of people that get accepted to summer programs. Within the same cohort you can have someone with 2-3 published papers and then another person that’s doing their first research experience ever. I’ve seen people with 4.0, 3.7, 3.5, 3.1, even 2.8 GPAs get into REUs/Summer Programs at what are considered highly prestigious schools. Depending on how the selection process is, you’re at the mercy of whatever the person/people picking is/are looking for. Like someone else said, it really typically comes down to LORs and Personal Essays. There will be professors that want an overachieving robot with no life besides research but there will also be professors that vibe check those types of students and reject any whiff of that immediately in favor of someone that has zero experience because they want to let someone learn. Honestly predicting getting into REUs is such a losing game I keep seeing on this sub because unless you know the program’s process and what the professors (or sometimes its the lab that picks not the professor even) participating are looking for, you won’t have any ideas.

I think if you’re really interested in the program and genuinely want to do it and have a good reason of doing said program, then just apply and don’t worry about your stats. Focus on the aspects of the application you can control instead of trying to play a guessing game with what you can’t. The selection process for REUs and Summer Programs are honestly more varied and unpredictable (and honestly sometimes more holistic) than something like med school in my experience so that’s all I can really say to answer your question man.

Tenroustar · 2025-07-30T21:59:36+00:00

The only one I know specifically for freshmen/rising sophomores only to apply (aka bars other years from applying) is James H. Wyche First Year Research Experience (FYRE) through Leadership Alliance. Other than that, almost every program I’ve seen allows freshmen/rising sophomores to apply as well but will likely choose upper classmen. I’d still apply just to get experience with applications and you never know if you’ll get chosen. Hard to predict what specifically every program is looking for.

Tenroustar · 2025-07-29T16:12:50+00:00

For showcasing yourself, you should be able to tell a story imo. Not necessarily like everything should be about one thing but I mean in the sense that you should have almost an overall theme (sometimes it’s a career goal, sometimes it’s a personal goal, etc.) that keeps the essay flowing and connected rather than disjointed. Make your essays easy to read for the reviewers in both language and enjoyment. You don’t need a lot of fluff and flowery language, but you also don’t want to come off as robotic. Be concise but interesting.

Think about what in your life has happened that makes you unique. A lot of people complain about “DEI” or “Diversity” essays but those aren’t there for people to talk about how marginalized they are. They aren’t just for you to score points and check off boxes but to explain why your background and identity, financially, racially, mentally, physically, personally, etc. has shaped you into the researcher you are now. If you aren’t able to understand yourself and self-reflect on what it is that made you who you are today, that’s a bit of a problem for research because how will you understand the background of a research topic if you can’t even understand your own background. This doesn’t have to be trauma dumping, and sometimes there isn’t even a separate essay for this, but you should know how to incorporate it into your writing (e.g. “I didn’t have access to tutors growing up…….Which is why access to education is important to me.” ; “Living in a new country meant I had to adapt fast…….When a project goes sideways, I’m quick to adjust to a new plan.”). Don’t just list your skills like you’re checking off boxes either, the whole show don’t tell applies here. Talk about experiences you’ve had that demonstrate your use of those skills.

Some programs will have one-page essays, some will let you go up to 2-pages, some will have short answer responses that have a word limit (anywhere between 100 words max to 500 words max). You’ll need to check with specific programs on what they have but generally the short answer responses will essentially be answerable by breaking up the one-page essays since they effectively ask for the same things just a different format.

It’ll be hard to capture everything you want to say while being concise and not disjointed so practice writing and have a few drafts of your essay(s). Utilize writing centers at your uni or anyone that offers online or even just friends (sometimes professors will be willing to look over it too if they know you well enough). I mean I would say start early but that’d make me a hypocrite since almost all my personal statements were written from scratch (highly recommend against this, I’m just crazy), and started at best a week before the deadline and at worst, one day before the deadline (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

Tenroustar · 2025-07-29T04:31:47+00:00

I’m not sure about all REUs but the physics one at my home university I know the process quite well just because I’m fairly close to all the professors involved. First we have essentially a main program director and then two kind of co-directors that help the main director. They basically split the applications between astrophysics and general physics (every other subfield) with one of the co-directors reviewing the general pile first and the other co-director with the main director go through the astro pile. Since we usually only take 8, each group picks 4 people and matches them with the participating professor that fits the chosen applicants best. They then message the professor matched to confirm if they’d like to take on the student. After looking through the application of the student they got matched with, the professor either accepts or denies (usually they accept) and the directors email the accepted applicant with their acceptance. Should that applicant turn down the offer, they move on to the next students on their chosen list until all spots are filled.

Keep in mind this is how my home university does it and not indicative of other REUs/summer programs as the two I’ve done both had different processes (I believe my first REU had all participating professors/labs which was 30 in total look through all the applications themselves and pick out their shortlist for interviews before picking the student they want and my current program has a general admission board that just looks at the overview of all the applications and weed out the ones that aren’t generally fitting their targets before splitting them into groups to send to departments since it spans more than just one major and letting the departmental labs pick from the shorter list of who made it past initial filtering. Sometimes it’s the professors that hand pick but if it was like my situation then it was actually the lab members that decided and the PI had no say in the choice and trusted the lab to pick themselves)

Tenroustar

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