Aspiring Aerospace Engineer Aiming for MIT + T20's [VA resident, 3.92 GPA]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hi Everyone, I’m a sophomore, and I’d really like to get into MIT or an Ivy League School. I’m applying as an Aerospace Engineering Major. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

IMPORTANT
I’m a sophomore, so some of these things are planned, and not yet completed

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • Virginia (Loudoun County)
  • Public Highschool
  • Other special factors: None
  • Budget: (Not a concern)

Intended Major(s)

Aerospace Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.92 As a sophomore, should be a 3.96 when applying
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.32 as a sophomore, should be a 4.5 when applying
  • Class Rank: My school doesn’t do class rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: I haven’t taken it yet

List your HS coursework

7th:
Algebra 1: A-
Spanish 1: B+

8th:
Geometry: A+
Spanish 2: A+

9th:
Advanced Guitar Honors: A+
PE 9: A+
Algebra 2 + Trig Honors: A
Intro to AP World History Honors: A-
Research Biology Honors: A
English 9 Honors: A
Spanish 3: A

Summer Course:
PE 10: A+

10th:
Artist Guitar Honors: A+
AP Precalc BC: A
AP World History: A
Research Chemistry Honors: A
English 10 Honors: A
Intro to Engineering Design Honors: A+
Band Honors: A+

11th: (Every grade from here is planned)
Artist Guitar Honors: A+
AP Calc BC: A
APUSH: A
Physics DE: A
AP Lang: A
Principles of Engineering Honors: A+
Band Honors: A+

12th:
Artist Guitar Honors: A+
Multivariable Calc DE: A
AP Gov: A
AP Physics C Mechanics: A
AP Lit: A
Civil Engineering + Architecture Honors: A+
Band Honors: A+

Awards (Definitely my weakest section)

Trinity Grade 8 Certification w/ Distinction from Trinity College in London for Pop and Rock Guitar

All Virginia Guitar 3x

Trying to get National Merit

Trying to get FBLA state or national level award

Extracurriculars (Some EC’s don’t have descriptions yet because I haven’t fully completed the activity to its max yet)
For Common App:

Guitar Performance & Leadership:

Led 30-member ensemble as Concertmaster; lead guitarist of Blackfire (Battle of the Bands winner); 10 years of study (Rock, Classical, Pop, Jazz).

CAD/Assistive Design:

Designed 5 assistive tools for the elderly (Fusion 360); applied Von Mises Yield Criterion to calculate stress levels; documented reports via Medium.

J.A.R.V.I.S:

Developed a JARVIS-inspired HUD via Apple Shortcuts; integrated live sensor fusion to automate tasks for workflow optimization; published on Medium.

Research with a professor at GMU on autonomous systems for UAV’s and Drones:

NASA Scholars:

Robotics:

Sterling Leo Club:

Founded local Leo Club Chapter; scaled membership from 2 to 30. Led X+ service projects, managing logistics & distribution of 750+ items to families.

Percussion (Marching Band, Indoor Drumline, Concert Band):

Advanced from novice to marimbaist in one marching season; mastered Drum Corps style repertoire; mentored 15+ members to increase overall musicality.

For MIT:

Music Performance/Leadership (Guitar + Percussion):

Concertmaster of a 30-member guitar ensemble and lead guitarist for Blackfire (Battle of the Bands winner); 10 years of multigenre study (Rock, Classical, Pop, Jazz). Led drumline front ensemble as Center Marimba; mentored 15+ members and increased overall ensemble musicality.

CAD/Assistive Design:

Engineered five assistive tools using Fusion 360; applied Von Mises Yield Criterion and Finite Element Analysis to optimize structural integrity; decreased cost by 44% on average. Documented technical methodology and stress reports on Medium; published all designs open-source on Thingiverse.

J.A.R.V.I.S.

Developed a JARVIS-inspired iOS HUD using Apple Shortcuts to automate tasks such as scheduling and geolocation. Engineered a modular framework for workflow optimization; published a technical guide on Medium to share my approach to personalized mobile productivity automations.

Research with a professor at GMU on autonomous systems for UAV’s and Drones:

Essays/LORs/Other
I haven’t started my essays yet

Schools
Reach Schools

MIT - Early

Stanford - Regular

Cornell - Regular

Princeton - Regular

UPenn - Regular

UC Berkeley - Regular

Harvard - Regular

Georgia Tech - Early

—----------------------------------------------------

Match Schools

UIUC - Early

Purdue - Early

UMD - Early

UVA - Early

VTech - Early

—----------------------------------------------------

Safety Schools

Embry-Riddle - Regular

GMU - Early

2

So you have a dream list and that’s fine. But it’s early as you know. Keep up with the grades, your rigor is beyond outstanding, and the future will figure itself out. But you’re off to a fine start - congrats.

But check your schools. There only 80 or so accredited aero schools in the U.S.

Stanford isn’t but has a major.

UPenn doesn’t have at all but you can get to aero from any major. My son was MechE but if you want to be an aero major, it won’t be at Penn but Penn State works.

GMU on your list - no aero.

I think it’s too early to declare reach, target and safety. But you’re in 10th grade…it doesn’t matter.

But MIT is different than UCB and Va Tech and the Illinois. Schools come in different sizes and environments - so I suggest you start visiting schools - and seeing what you like. Va Tech in the mountains, a large school but the action is on one place. An ERAU, on your list, at the Daytona Airport assuming a Florida campus, described to my son as - when a plane takes off, everyone looks up. If you have ERAU, why not similar Florida Tech, which does well with NASA as it’s close. Or UAH as a safety, in Rocket City, and now Huntsville is getting the U.S. Space Command and is loaded with defense/space companies. It’s one of the epicenters.

Short of a few schools, rank etc as you perceive it matters little in engineering. My son was surprised (I wasn’t) to find out at trivia night that he, as an Alabama recent grad, made more than a Columbia grad at a neighboring aero company.

So I think your list is fine but appears built on perceived rank and/or close to home when not. And that’s ok - and you’ve worked hard and in due time your assessments may be correct.

If you truly want to study aero, take a look at the few that offer it and for now, learn about what type of environment you want to be in - weather, size, urban, sports, religion, etc. ERAU is a GREAT school for someone who lives and breathes aero, etc.

At the same time, without a test score, no one can tell you UIUC or UVA are matches. You also only have 3 semester of grades although your high rigor at such an early stage is admirable.

So you’ve done fantastically well - keep it up but use the time for exploration than worrying about reach, match and safety - which you can better define in a year, with two more semesters of classes and a test score under your belt.

Good luck.

Ps - awards don’t matter. If you win Olympic gold, sure. But if you work at the grocery store or walk pets at the shelter, there’s no awards for that. What matters is what you do, not what recognition you get. Most don’t have impactful awards.

1 Like
3

Your list and plans look great! I think you’ve got a balanced list and will have lots of great choices after decisions land.

I’d add RPI as a safety. It is a top 20 aerospace school by USNWR. It will give you lots of merit and you could be a RPI medalist if nominated by your school next year.

Since you are a sophomore, I’d go ahead and get on the mailing list for 30-50 schools. Your current list has a wide variety of locations, sizes and public/private. This is great as a sophomore and you can focus on your desired fit factors as you progress in your academic career and do some in person visits.

4

You can’t really do better than reading this if you are interested in MIT, or really most highly selective holistic review colleges:

Since you are a sophomore, I would suggest at this point you can do the most good exploring different colleges that suit your current academic plans, but are otherwise pretty different. Different sizes, locations, general academic focuses, and so on. If you really like, say, the size and focus of an MIT, another poster’s suggestion of RPI is an excellent one to check out. That sort of thing.

4 Likes
5

Why?

Your selection of school’s isn’t bad. But as stated you have time on your side to discover other school’s also. Fit is super important to really study and be a college participant to its fullest. That’s when you really enjoy college and learning.

Also DO NOT start your essays yet. Lots will change in your life experiences between now and Junior year. You sound like an amazing student and human that any school would love to have. But. There are lots of you out there. Really be happy with anything that is on your list. It’s not a problem to really like a school. But it shouldn’t be Ivy or bust. I think you get that from your selection of schools but as stated they are drastically different from one another also. Take that into consideration. Ask questions.

4 Likes
6

Thanks for the advice, I’ve added those schools to my list. But I have a few questions. First, is it fine if I still apply to non accredited universities? What will happen if I, for example, get into Stanford, and choose to go there? That also leads me to my other question, what does going to an accredited university give me that others won’t? Will I have a better chance at landing a job, or will I get a higher salary?

7

Thanks for the advice and kind words, but I have a quick question. What would the mailing list of a school provide me with? What will they send in those emails?

8

Thanks for the advice, the blog really helped. But I have one more question, I’ve watched tons of videos and seen posts of people getting into MIT and top schools with insane activities. Research and winning ISEF, or winning national level awards in math and science. I’m personally not somebody who likes competing in that way. I’d say I like pure engineering, designing and building stuff that helps people. I’ve gotten really into CAD these last few years, and I’ve been using that to make more complicated builds. I know MIT admits a lot of competition winners, but pure engineering isn’t really something that lends itself to awards. Would my lack of awards be fine when applying?

9

Thank you for the advice, but I had some questions and clarifications. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really research most of my reaches. Most of them are there for prestige. But I’ve known for a while that I’ve wanted to go to MIT, and I think I would truly fit in at that school. I researched most of my matches, but some of them are there because they are good local schools. My question is, I’ve heard that institutional fit is usually the deciding factor when deciding if a student will get accepted. Do you think my application will make it to that point, or will I get rejected before they even check for that?

10

MIT is a hard admit, so do keep a lot of other schools on your list.

What do you like about MIT? The profs, visiting lecturers, maker space? Try to find other schools that have what you like. Schools on the Space Coast will have a lot of internship opportunities, conferences in the area you could attend, rocket launches to view or even participate in. You may fall in love with another school too, with astronauts teaching classes or walking around campus, with the maker space, with the weather, with co-ops or internships or summer activities. Another school may have great merit aid for you.

Keep an open mind when visiting schools and try to see yourself there.

3 Likes
11

In my opinion, prestige should not be the acid test for choosing a college. You could have a prestige college on your list that you absolutely hate. You need to make sure that whatever colleges you apply to are places where you can see yourself being a happy student, doing well, for four years.

I’m not sure what you mean here..but right now, there is no way to predict your chances of getting accepted to MIT. You are a sophomore…plus MIT requires the SAT or ACT. You haven’t taken either yet.

12

So - I was only suggesting subs for what you labeled. You’re clearly a high powered student. I can see that by the rigor. But I also know you don’t have a test yet (I’m guessing you’ll score well) and you put grades for the next 2.5 years - but you don’t really know.

I’m just trying to get you to open your thought process.

As for accreditation, there are a couple schools, in my opinion, that precede that. CalTech is only ABET accredited for MechE but no one is going to look down on it. Well, someone might. Many jobs state ABET accreditation required. But those graduates likely won’t pursue the same sort of roles a UMD or ERAU student will.

What accreditation does for you - well, many jobs say something like this (I just pulled it off a listing on indeed) :

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical or Civil Engineering or related degree from an ABET accredited program required.

So yes, your odds of landing a job are better.

Companies typically pay by the location, not where you went to school. So my kid turned down a few on your list for Alabama (because he got his own dorm room and shared bath with one and that was important to him). Yet, he works with kids from the school he turned down and others - both on the high end, like some you list and then others like Akron, W Michigan, SUNY Buff and more. They all make the same - coming in. And I told you the story about the Columbia kid he met.

As for your question on mailing list - set up a generic email just for college - such as aweeya@gmail.com.

If you find a college of interest, go on their admissions page. Most have a data sheet for you to raise your hand - fill out. Some schools track interest - how often engage with him. Most yours don’t….but they’ll email you interesting stories, articles, blogs. They’ll invite you to attend sessions - admissions or academic. You’re a bit early for it - but it’s ok to go far and wide. My daughter - we had 110 schools and as she eliminated some, we’d unsubscribe. It can get crazy. But it’s good to have an email dedicated to college stuff and nothing else. It may be early - but maybe sign up for a few and see what they send.

As for getting in MIT, there’s are a ton that get into lots of schools with insane stuff - and there are tons of kids at the same schools that had a job at the grocery store or were in the band or helped clean the beach every weekend.

The point is - you do you. You don’t do things to get into MIT because the odds are you won’t. But you enjoy HS, being the best you that you can be.

You’re an incredible guitarist - that’s an awesome achievement - and music and engineering often tied together.

As for will your application make it to a certain level, you’re in 10th grade. That’s a very premature question. Best the best you that you can.

So you want to chase national merit?

So if I told you - that you could go to Tulsa for free tuition and room or Alabama for 5 years tuition, 4 years room and $4K a year (they have the most I believe…they or Florida)…or NJIT on a great deal.

You said budget isn’t an issue - but would spending $60K+ at UIUC be worth it over $5K a year at Bama (and they’ll pay for your Masters tuition too)?

You’re premature - but if you get Natl Merit, that’s where it helps.

I’m glad you recognized the prestige part and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But I think people are saying - start to explore - you might find out MIT is too urban or Purdue too large. You might find you want a tiny school and Rose Hulman makes sense. Or you love the Mountains and U Colorado makes sense. Or the desert and Arizona makes sense. Or big time sports.

Engineering is hard. Don’t conflate admission selectivity with rank or rigor or outcomes.

So go visit some schools in your area to get a sense of size, geography, and more - you have lots of time.

It’s far too early to debate where will you get it or will your app even be reviewed (yes it will). You want to go to MIT so there’s only one way - you apply. If you don’t get in, and statistically you won’t, that’s for them to decide, not you. You only decide by not applying.

Top kids applying to top schools get rejections. That’s a fact. Both mine got rejections and I’m glad. Both chose safeties over reaches and targets they got into nonetheless, but the fact both got rejected shows they stretched.

In the end, you’ll be somewhere four years, day after day. While many go to a school and struggle or don’t like where they picked, you want to give yourself the best chance to like it up front. A rank, in and of itself, doesn’t pay happiness day to day.

So slow down, and explore settings - it’ll put you in better position in a year. If mom/dad take you on a weekend away, add a school visit into it. Walk the campus, walk the surrounding areas, eat in a dining hall, etc. Stop kids in the engineering building and chat with them, etc.

No need to rush this.

You’ve done great so far - continue to be the best you that you can be - because this is your life and you need to enjoy it. Best I can tell - you’re doing great so far.

1 Like
13

So what your trying to say is schools pick each year on what that school “needs “for that specific year. That I agree with.

No one here can tell you what MIT is looking for. You were given the best article about applying above. Do that and hope for the best. It’s not about you if you get accepted or denied. This is a hard concept for most applying to college. You’re an excellent student. If you could afford it I would push Michigan Aerospace on you (great leading program. So many great programs but I will just come out and say it. No you won’t get accepted to MIT or Stanford. I say this tongue in check response due to their low acceptance rate. But if you don’t apply, you will never know.

As long as you have safeties like you do that you would love to go to you will be fine. Just because your GPA and stats score match doesn’t mean you’re accepted to that school. That just means you “might “be in the running. I would doubt few students actually apply to MIT or Stanford that don’t have excellent GPA and Stats etc. They only have so many actually seats. Their acceptance rate is extremely low. They have to offer scholarships to athletes, students from different countries (taking out politics here), different merit student’s. Now there are even less seats that they started with….. It’s pretty much luck at this point.

So, once again pick schools that you would love to go to whether it’s MIT or RIT for engineering. Also lots of Mechanical engineers end up in Aerospace.

You’re doing the right things here and learning. Keep asking questions now and later.

14

Yes, lots of different sorts of people get admitted to MIT, and the people who appear in videos and such are not actually a representative sample of who gets admitted, so you shouldn’t worry about that (I personally would advise not even bothering with such things).

MIT in particular basically takes quite a bit of pride in being transparent about what they actually think about when doing admissions. That blog entry is one good example. Here is another:

There is really nothing in any of these sorts of sources about having to win a lot of competitions. Sure, if competitions are your thing, then by all means try to win them. But if your passions take you in other directions, MIT really tries to make it as clear as possible that is fine with them.

I will say there are basically three things about MIT that are consistent and worth knowing, though.

One is they are typically looking for what I would call math outliers, people with a lot of demonstrated aptitude for math. Again, not necessarily demonstrated through competitions, but course work, standardized tests, recommendations, all that stuff.

Another is they take a lot of pride in being part of the liberal arts tradition, and specifically teach what they call their HASS classes at a high level. I think this is something a lot of MIT aspirants fail to realize, that they really want applicants who seem prepared to do well in challenging HASS classes.

Finally, in basically all the materials I have seen from MIT admissions, they keep emphasizing the importance of being nice, of being collaborative, of working well with others, supporting others, having fun with others . . . . These are basic social skills and virtues that many highly selective colleges value, but I sense MIT is really trying to warn kids that being a good fit for them requires taking your development in these areas just as seriously as your development in academic areas.

Again a big part of their messaging on all this is that if you do all this–develop your math abilities, develop your HASS abilities, develop socially and ethically–then you are in good shape for college, and life in general, wherever you end up. In that sense it is a very humane message.

But even if you are solely concerned with getting admitted to MIT, or again most other highly selective holistic review colleges, I think it is a very good idea to take each part of this advice very seriously.

3 Likes
15

In order to work in aerospace, it is not necessary to have an aerospace engineering degree. In fact none of the engineers I personally know in this industry have an aerospace engineering degree! It is very common for engineers in this field to simply have a background in mechanical or electrical engineering (depending on what they are doing in aerospace), but honestly there is a place in aerospace for nearly any engineering specialty. My son (an electrical engineer) will be interning at a prominent aerospace company this summer, and the three people who interviewed him had backgrounds in materials science, industrial engineering, and systems engineering respectively.

As far as whether the program must be ABET accredited: Unless you are attending a university at the level of MIT / Stanford / Berkeley, you will want your engineering degree to be accredited. Only the very tippy top schools can get away with having non-accredited engineering degrees that are still respected. (And even for those schools, it’s really preferable to have an accredited degree, because some jobs will have this as a requirement.)

But it is okay if the school doesn’t offer an accredited aerospace degree, because you will be perfectly able to work in this field with an accredited mechanical, electrical, or other engineering degree, whatever fits your interests best.

2 Likes
16

I note this is another example of something that is both good life advice and also good application advice.

Like, if you apply to a lot of highly selective colleges, you will probably hit a good number of “Why us?” sort of supplemental essays. If you have followed a thoughtful process when choosing colleges for your list, these are not hard essays to write. You can explain what you ended up looking for in a four-year college experience, academically and non-academically, and why each college asking you this question stood out to you as a strong candidate.

Kids who basically are picking their colleges off some generic ranking list often struggle, though. They correctly assume that isn’t a good answer (Why you? US News had you in their T20), but they don’t actually have another honest answer to offer.

So, they try to fake it. Sometimes they talk about all the things they think that a degree from that college could do for them in the future, but that is reportedly not a very convincing answer. Sometimes they google up some stuff and try to make it sound like that was actually driving their interest, and maybe they will get away with it, but it is risky because admissions officers obviously know that happens and can probably spot it pretty often.

Of course it takes time, energy, care, reflection . . . lots of personal resources . . . to do this well. And to be honest, sometimes you don’t need it, like maybe your state flagship is obviously right for you, and they may not even have such an essay because they don’t think it is important to ask.

But since the OP is just a sophomore, and thinking about the sorts of colleges that sometimes do care, I think going through the process necessary to end up with honest, compelling answers to this question, for each college, is a good idea.

17

First, I’d make a dedicated email for college stuff becuase most colleges send A LOT of emails. They all want you to know about study abroad, housing, internships, research, and great professor who wrote a book etc.

These emails can

  1. help you get to know the college

  2. demonstrate interest in the college. Not all colleges track demonstrated interest, but some do and you never know who decides this year to add it as a factor.

  3. occasionally the emails can help inform the “college specific” questions on the application for admissions.

1 Like
18

Excellent post.

OP- there are dozens of ways that an applicant can demonstrate that they’d benefit from an MIT education AND contribute. Winning competitions and prizes is one way- but only one way. It’s great that you are taking your education seriously, but the more time you spend focused on becoming the best version of YOU that you can be, the easier it’s going to be for you to narrow down a college list, apply, make a decision.

The range of kids at MIT is both broad and narrow. Broad, because the students doing ROTC or on a team are athletic; the music kids spend time composing, practicing, performing; many students work as EMT’s or get internships/jobs at the State House (easily accessible to campus) if they’re into politics; etc. Like most colleges. A common denominator is math– in fact, my kid’s MIT interviewer said that a passion for math was more important than how many AP’s you took, how advanced you were in programming, how many awards you won. He said that math was the language of the institute– and if you didn’t love the language, you were going to either hate or barely tolerate a lot of the required courses AND barely tolerate the culture of the place.

And my kid found that to be true. What his friends did after college demonstrated that a lot of the skills were fungible- bio majors getting jobs that usually went to stats majors; chemical engineers working in health care; poli sci major applying to and getting in to medical school. And lots of start ups.

So that’s why I think becoming the best version of YOU is the answer for now. You don’t need to specialize in HS; the world isn’t running out of engineering or coding. And as you figure out if you want to be in a very technical/scientific environment vs. a big university which has EVERYTHING– you’ll also clarify what your intellectual passions are. Go study the history of the aerospace industry and see how many mathematicians were involved in flight, space, etc.

Good luck and you sound like a terrific person who will do wonderful things in your life!

3 Likes
19

Thanks for the advice and warm comments. I’ll be honest, and I’m not saying this because you mentioned it, but right now, math is one of my favorite subjects. I’m only in precalc so its a little early, but I genuinely enjoy the class, and I have a really unlikable teacher, so that’s saying something. I’m starting physics next year, and I have a feeling I’ll enjoy it more than chemistry or bio because I’ve heard its more math heavy and formula based than memorization. Now that I think about it, since 7th grade, I haven’t had a math class where I’ve had a likable teacher, but I still enjoy the class because of the content.

1 Like
20

Thanks for the advice, would you recommend I make it now, or when I get to my senior year?