Getting into an REU or summer research program can be a bit of a mystery if you don’t know anyone who’s been to one or had success with applying. Today, I’m going to be giving my own experience writing the essays along with a general overview of what I wrote about. I’ll also go over tips & strategies and what these programs look for when reading your essays. Check it out!
If you’ve decided that you want to attend an REU or summer research program, I applaud you! These are easily one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I learned many new skills, gained mentors, received letters of recommendation, and got published twice thanks to the experiences I had. You even get paid to do all this!
Now, all of this sounds great, but you’re probably saying “yes, but how do you write the essay to get into an REU/summer research program?”. Well, it’s not as hard as you think it will be and I’ll explain what I mean.
The first step of writing this essay is to find out what the program’s goal is and what kind of applicant they are looking for. On a given program’s website, they sometimes give insight into what they want. For example, I applied to some kidney research programs and I saw that they said applicants with a kidney research background or desire to do kidney research one day will be favored. Now, if you are wanting to do neuroscience research, this program may not be the best match for you. But, if you insist on applying, I would definitely find some way to connect neuroscience and kidneys.
Another interpretation I got from their statement was that 1. They want a student who either has done, is currently doing, or will do kidney research one day and 2. They want someone who wants to do a research career long or as a part of their practice. The essay for this program was just a personal statement. For this statement, my goal was to explain that I currently do kidney research now and how it had inspired me to do kidney research during graduate school and maybe in my career. So, I spent the essay talking about my kidney research, the things about it that I loved, and then how I would like to continue research within that field in the future.
You can use this to screen programs on and off your interest list and you can most definitely use it to help guide you in fitting the program’s “ideal candidate” description.
A general thing NOT to do is to focus on clinical practice or how much you love to be doing hands-on patient care. This is a research program, not a clinical program. Now, there is an exception if you are applying for a program that is specifically for pre-medical students or is a clinical trial program. In these cases, it is important you read their website for their ideal applicant and mission and it’s most likely going to be more patient focused.
For the actual essay itself, I think a good thing to do is focus on what you want the reader to come away with. Do you want them to think a certain way about you? Do you want them to know you love research and want to spend your summer doing it? Think about these things before you craft your essay.
For me, I wanted them to come away from my essay and know that I had already had an interest in the type of research I was applying for and wanted to do it long term. I also made it my goal for the reader to come away from the essay and know exactly what I hoped to get out of the program.
This brings us to a new part of how to construct your essay. You can also point out why this program is going to benefit you over just staying at your own home institution. When I looked at my home university, it was an R2 (High research activity on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education scale) that had no PHD or MD/PHD program. Therefore, we had very few large labs and our lab equipment wasn’t always super high tech. In my essay, I addressed this. I pretty much said that I wanted to be able to work and immerse myself in an R1 (very high research activity) institution’s research atmosphere where I’d get to meet MD/PHD’s and PHDs running large, very high tech labs. I then pointed out that I do NOT get these chances at my current institution and that long term, I would like to attend an R1 for graduate school.
For a lot of these summer programs, schools use them as a recruitment tool and as a way to give research opportunities to students who don’t get them at their own institution. This is a common mission of NSF funded REU’s who’s goal is to provide research experiences for undergraduates at non-research based universities. Keep this in mind and make sure to hit on these aspects if it applies to you!
As for the actual essay, you can do it story based or more focused on explaining the facts. I did a little bit of both! I started out telling about how I didn’t know what undergraduate research was and was introduced to it in my first year of college. I followed that with how it inspired me to speak to professors about their research and how I ended up doing summer research at my home institution. I explained what I loved about the program ( the nature of undergraduate research, it taught me critical thinking skills and experimental design) which left me even more interested in research long term. I spent about half a page after that explaining that I wanted to attain an MD/PHD degree at the time and how the MD and PHD were each necessary and how they’d help afford the career I foresaw. I ended up finishing by naming two professors who’s research labs matched my current and future research interests, how their labs would benefit my career, and then how my university has little to no MD/PHD exposure and lacks lab techniques and instrumentation which I could get at their institution.
For me, it walked the reader through how I had little research experience except what I had learned at my university and it was very clear that the university’s REU offered me the opportunity to learn more about research careers, instrumentation, assays, and much more that I wouldn’t get otherwise. It also clearly pointed out my desired degree program and long term goals, which matched what they were looking for (a student interested in research and needing more experiences with it). You get the idea a little more now, but I think that if you can lay out 1. Why you’re interested in research and their program/what inspired you to apply to the program, 2. State what your goals are degree wise and research wise, 3. What you hope to gain from the program (new techniques, mentorship from people with the degree you want which you can’t get at your university, a technique not used at your school due to lack of funding, etc.), and 4. How without attending this program, you likely won’t see this at your own university
If you follow these guidelines, I think your reader will better be able to understand why you are applying and also be able to tell exactly what their program offers you. I didn’t hit on how to make it interesting or “entertaining” or make it sound good, because mine was very straightforward and fact based. I’m sure telling stories and making it entertaining can be just as effective, but this is just my experience and what I found the REU’s tend to look for when you apply!