Let’s be blunt: I’m not good at giving feedback. I tend to lay things out with little (read: zero) padding. My former linear algebra* students will understand what I mean immediately. Did you include a meaningless sentence? Did you try to prove linear independence and instead show me that 0 = 0? Here’s what I think of that:
I’m lucky to have an REU group that takes my criticism in stride.
I’ve had a few people ask me what I was looking for when I read through REU applications. Â I thought I’d describe my process and my reasons, which you can take to be my rubric for putting together an excellent application. Â As with all advice on this blog, these are my opinions. Â You should gather a few other ideas for a complete picture, especially since this is my first time as an REU mentor. Â Now, disclaimers aside, follow the jump to my advice.