Summer senior year research count?

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CyberShot
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 5:43 pm

Summer senior year research count?

Post by CyberShot » Thu May 20, 2010 4:56 am

Hi I'm a sophomore and I'm barely getting into research now. I plan to do an REU next summer , Junior year, and one after that, Senior year. Do grad schools even get to look at what you did Senior year summer? If so, that would mean we basically only have 3 summers to do research. freshman, soph, junior!

Thanks.

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Quantum Triviality
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 2:15 pm

Re: Summer senior year research count?

Post by Quantum Triviality » Thu May 20, 2010 9:16 am

Well, how many years do you plan on going to undergrad?

If we use the designation "senior" as someone is graduating (regardless of number of years), then the summer after senior year WILL NOT count towards graduate school. Your applications to graduate school will be due in Dec/Jan of your senior year and you will know around March what schools you got into. When I applied for REU's I didn't find out until March... so that information won't help you.

Also, when I did REU's I distinctly remember a rule that no students who had graduated undergrad could be in them.

quark314
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 6:53 pm

Re: Summer senior year research count?

Post by quark314 » Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:26 pm

Quantum Triviality wrote:Also, when I did REU's I distinctly remember a rule that no students who had graduated undergrad could be in them.
of course there are many other options for research besides REUs...

In any case, QT is right. Work you do the summer before you attend grad school (whether that happens to be the summer after your senior year or not) will do you no good on your grad school applications since you will already know where you're going to grad school before you start that summer's research.

Just make the best of the research opportunities you've got. Grad schools know you only have so much time. If you can do research this summer, do it. If not, just make the best of next summer. If you're at an undergraduate institution that offers research opportunities (or near another institution that offers research opportunities), do some research during the school year.

geshi
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 12:01 am

Re: Summer senior year research count?

Post by geshi » Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:53 pm

Of course if you take a year off, it will make a difference because it will appear on your resume. It depends on when you plan on going to graduate school. If you plan on going right after graduation (e.g. applying during senior year), then I'll just support what the previous posters have posted. If you plan on taking a year off, then getting some summer research after senior year could help your application.

mobytish
Posts: 102
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: Summer senior year research count?

Post by mobytish » Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:34 pm

Do you think you'll be accepted for your summer research before application deadlines? If so, I can't imagine it would hurt. Also keep in mind that summer research may be available at your grad school, so you could look into that and mention you'd be interested in it in your SoP.



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