ode to application reading

oh joy oh joy... tuesday is my day with no classes whatsoever; however, i was up just as early as my roommates and in the office reading applications for the past 5 hours straight...

remember how a month ago i got the job of DIMACS REU graduate coordinator? here's where the responsibilities start. there's a meeting of all the project mentors this thursday, and before then, i and two other people have to read each and every application commenting if they're average, above, or below, and which of the 14 dimacs and 5 math projects they'd be ideal for... it's a lot of reading...

and interesting to be on this side of the application process... i mean i've applied for REUs and for grad school and helped edit friends' applications, but never before have i been privy to seeing people's transcripts and reading their recommendations letters, or reading the personal statements of people i don't know...

there are kids who apply to this REU who have done more by their junior year of undergrad than i believe i'll have done by the time i'm outta grad school... it's an impressively competative application pool (then again it is one of the strongest and most unique REU programs in the country)

here are two *interesting* personal statement paraphrases for ya:
"i've heard it said that the prime of mathematical work is done in your twenties, and from your thirties on your work is less momentous... you should let me in the DIMACS REU to allow me the opporunity to research while i'm still in my prime period of efficacy"

"the wonderful thing about REUs is that they're based on the buddhist principle that...."

you can't say i'm not getting variety ;-) (quotes here remain nameless, and whether they're here or not have no bearing on the overall application... if for some weird reason you're a DIMACS REU applicant and somehow came across this page, two other people's commentary go into the application review process, plus the project mentors reviewing what we write, so contacting me is not a good idea :-P, if accepted you'll meet me this summer... if you're not such a person and wondering why i wrote such a disclaimer, this page gets more hits than you'd think :-P)

stretch break, then back to reading... woohoo! :-P