IBM says I should reapply next year

Dear Bella,

Thank you for your email below. How soon would you need to hear from us regarding a decision? If we may ask, in what area is the REU which you have been offered? Does it have anything to do with UI or HCI? The reason we ask is because in your essay you say that although you have been doing research in quandles and finite algebras (and in fact are slated to continue to this research this spring), your actual interest is not in this area, but in UI and HCI. However, you do not have much background in this area, and your application would be much stronger with some further research experience or classes in this area. If the REU which you have been offered would give you some of this experience, then we would strongly encourage you to accept the REU offer, and come back to us next year, when you would have a much better chance of working in a HCI group here at IBM Almaden. The 10 weeks of the summer are a very short amount of time to learn a topic from scratch, and normally we place students in areas in which they already have coursework or research experience.

Regards,

Dr. Barbara A. Jones