(please let me know if this question is not suitable here)

Hello! I'm an undergraduate rising senior majoring in mathematics and it seems that I got rejected by REU that is held in my university over the summer. I was late in the game and I haven't had any research before. The only research I can apply right now is "mathematical modeling," which is also from a home institution and it's also quite competitive. This one, I might not be able to publish the paper as opposed to the other one that I got rejected but it will provide me with some seminar lectures regarding selected topics in dynamical systems, networks, stochastic modeling, operations research, and data analysis, and I'd be able to have a chance to research and present the result with other 3 people with faculty/grad student mentor. I'm very new to these things, and I'd wonder if these would be relevant to my future research in math and worth delve into over the summer. I'm not looking into prestigious grad school per se but wonder if it's worth my time. Or, would I be better served by doing a reading course with a professor? I'm still very neophyte in math but at least I know the big picture and took quite a few proof-based courses. I'd appreciate any advice or insight! Thanks.