Applying to Our Program

These are the steps necessary to apply to our program:

  • Read about this summer's projects to decide which interest you.
  • Find two faculty members who can write recommendation letters for you.
  • Write your CV and Personal statements and convert them to PDF (see below).
  • Obtain a PDF copy of your unofficial transcript, or have your Registrar send us your official transcript. If you're mailing your official transcript, it should be mailed to
    Joyce Greene, CS REU Administrator
    Computer Science Department
    Harvey Mudd College
    301 Platt Boulevard
    Claremont CA 91711-5901
  • Complete the web-based application form where you will be asked to submit your CV and Personal Statements as well as provide details about the projects you're interested in and your academic preparation.

Deadlines

Students should submit their application form before Thursday, February 28, 2013. All application materials (including the student application and letters of recommendation) must be received by Sunday, March 3, 2013.

A small portion of our applicant pool may be offered an “early decision” option, so we encourage applicants not to wait until the the last moment to apply — sooner is better!.

Also, when you submit your application, our system will send out email solicitations to your recommenders asking them to use our system to submit their recommendation letters, so you'll need to allocate enough time for them to do that.

Personal Statement

Your personal statement is an important part of your application. When you apply, you will need to submit your personal statement as a separate electronic document in PDF format (most Word Processors, including Google docs, can export PDF, and there are numerous free converters available on-line). In this document, you should write a few paragraphs covering each of the following:

  • Why our REU program appeals to you.
  • A particularly exciting experience that you had in computer science (a course, a project, etc.).
  • Where you grew up, your background, and your aspirations.
  • What you like to do in your free time.

Your personal statement will probably be read by multiple people with different goals. Some people may be quickly scanning it to look for particular information about your interests, whereas other people may read the whole thing slowly and carefully. With that in mind, you should pay attention to structure of your document. For example, you may wish to make use of headings to separate sections of your document that talk about different things.

Similarly, you should pay attention to other aspects of readability. For example, you should format your document to avoid avoid very long lines and/or tiny fonts.