Is doing an REU helpful for grad school admissions in my case?

[chemen]

I did not do an REU because I'd prefer to spend my last summer during undergrad in my current lab (at my home institution) since this would most likely lead to another publication. If I have a good amount of LORs from my current PI and course instructors, would not doing an REU hurt my chances of grad school admission?

Edited January 21, 2020 by chemen

[cheekylittleduck]

Hi there. Unfortunately I'm replying a bit late since the REU cycle is way over, but for anyone else I can share ancedotal experience about this if they find this post. I was basically in a similar position, if not worse because I wasn't really close to a publication with either project I was doing in my home institution. Things weren't going so well with my research and I was getting burned out and I was seriously considering not applying for grad school. I applied to a ton of REUs and got into one and it was a totally life changing experience with the amount of doors opening up. If you land in a good group that is excited to house a student for the summer I would highly highly highly recommend taking it. 

The real power of an REU at a large research insitution is having that extra letter of recommendation from someone likely well known in the field that can support you for your graduate school. Its powerful because the letter of rec will likely be very easy for them to write since there is concrete material to talk about.

From talking to more senior professors, the reality of the situation is that most letters that come from professors you've taken a class with get tossed to the side during an admissions process. They might help get you through the graduate admisisons group, but when the professors start reading the application, they won't care for those letters. Those types of letters all tend to read the same and don't speak too much about the students ability to do research. This was one of the most motivating factors for me to even apply for REUs. 

I'm graduating soon and I don't have any publications, but still got into every grad school I applied (most of them top 10) and won NSF. My lack of publications was a serious insecurity that was crushing my morale to even APPLY but I did anyways. On my visits, if any part of my application was brought up it would be more in the context of who I worked for and what I did. I don't want this to sound like I'm bragging at all. This is just my personal experience and one aspect of my application. If you have a publication, that is GREAT, especially if it is of relatively high authorship, but it is hardly the soul of your application.

[isk20]

I never did an REU as an undergrad because I was too focused on my thesis work, which I started in sophomore year. However, I did take two gap years after graduation to work for a big name at a top STEM school, so having that letter was undoubtedly helpful. I applied to multiple top-ten programs this cycle and was admitted, so the REU thing definitely didn’t make or break my application.