<p>As for qualifying for REUs and such…</p>
<p>each school sets their own req’ts as to what year a student has to be. Some require that a student have junior standing by the end of the school year, but will count AP credits. </p>
<p>Also, some schools offer more than one REU that you might want to participate in, and it’s ok to apply to each one. </p>
<p>And, schools are often flexible about your “start date” because they know that some regions end their spring semester/quarter late.</p>