Benefit of REU when applying

[markovchn123]

For those who have done/are in MD PhD programs and have done REUs, did any of you go to the same program you did your REU at? I'm asking because I don't know if doing an REU at a university gives you a big boost when applying there.

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[tubeofbread]

FWIW, I applied to a bunch of REU programs going into my junior year (approximately 10, no top schools) and was rejected by literally all of them. When it came time to actually applying, I was lucky enough to actually be able to turn down interviews at 2 of these programs and acceptances at 3 others. While I think making connections is really important and the research experiences you gain are really good, I think REU applications measure very different things than do MD/PhD applications and thus seeing direct correlations can be more difficult.

 

[markovchn123]

FWIW, I applied to a bunch of REU programs going into my junior year (approximately 10, no top schools) and was rejected by literally all of them. When it came time to actually applying, I was lucky enough to actually be able to turn down interviews at 2 of these programs and acceptances at 3 others. While I think making connections is really important and the research experiences you gain are really good, I think REU applications measure very different things than do MD/PhD applications and thus seeing direct correlations can be more difficult.

Thanks for the response. I just wanted to know because I really

FWIW, I applied to a bunch of REU programs going into my junior year (approximately 10, no top schools) and was rejected by literally all of them. When it came time to actually applying, I was lucky enough to actually be able to turn down interviews at 2 of these programs and acceptances at 3 others. While I think making connections is really important and the research experiences you gain are really good, I think REU applications measure very different things than do MD/PhD applications and thus seeing direct correlations can be more difficult.

Did those schools that rejected you for the REU but accepted you for their schools ever mention that they rejected you? A lot of the REU programs I applied to are also my top choices for MSTP and I got rejected from a lot of them so I hope that didn't hurt my chances.

 

[tubeofbread]

Nope. Never came up, and it's unlikely that it ever would. These applications are often through separate offices and happened several years past. It's unlikely they would make the effort to look it up and they definitely wouldn't remember one app of hundreds. I wouldn't worry about where you got into/didn't for REU much at all. Congrats though on getting into any of them.