DARPA Funding+Putnam T100 = MIT? [Aerospace Engineering; 4.0 GPA, 760RW/800M SAT, Canadian resident, international for US universities]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • Gender: Male
  • Race/Ethnicity: Nigerian
  • Residence: Canada but moved from the UK
  • Income Bracket: <$40,000
  • Type of School: Public School
  • Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): Idk, maybe URM>

Intended Major(s): (Aerospace Engineering)

Academics

  • GPA (4.0)
  • Rank (or percentile): Top 10 out of 210

Standardized Testing

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

  • SAT: 1560
  • GCSE grades: All As and A*s, attained one of the highest scores in the UK at Maths and Further Maths GCSE

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

  1. Created methods in Spacecraft Trajectory optimisation which are more data efficient than current algorithms allowing me to become the Youngest DARPA Research Proposal Invitee in History. I’m also getting my research funded by DARPA as well.

  2. Chess

  3. Field Hockey

  4. Youtube and Tiktok accounts with over 100 subscribers/followers

  5. I’ve tutored and aided A-Level students in Maths and Further Maths (Year 12 and Year 13) since Year 10 I also aided in STEP (Sixth Term Examination Papers/Cambridge Mathematics Entrance Exam) Math clubs since Year 10 and tutored kids taking those tests when they were Year 12 to Year 13. On my channels I post International Math Olympiad (IMO) solutions, Orbital Mechanics and William Lowell Putnam Math Competition solutions.

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

  1. Youngest DARPA Research Proposal Invitee in History

  2. British Math Olympiad (Top 500 in the UK)

  3. UK National Field Hockey Champion

  4. UK Field Hockey Champion

Letters of Recommendation

Math Teacher: Spoke about me doing degree-level maths whilst studying for GCSEs and my GCSE Math+STEP (Sixth Term Examination Paper) lunchtime sessions : 9.5/10

Research Mentor (NASA JPL): Spoke about my methods of trajectoty optimisation
as well as using Putnam Math Competition Problems and applying them to aerospace engineering : 8/10

Physics: Spoke about my engineering mind : 8/10

In order to round this out, should I just aim to get t100 in the Putnam?

Do we or do we not get into MIT? (Aero/Astro)
Do we or do we not get into MIT? (Aero/Astro)
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OP’s last chance me for reference

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Just an fyi, this is what MIT says about letters of recommendation:

“We require letters of recommendation from two teachers. We recommend one letter from a math or science teacher, and one from a humanities, social science, or language teacher. If available, your school school counselor (or another school official) may also include a letter of recommendation alongside the Secondary School Report (SSR) with official transcript.”

You should consider asking for a letter from a humanities teacher instead of two from math and science teachers.

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Oops, meant to reply to thread and not you directly.

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It’s ok, I couldn’t really be bothered to do the other rec letters.

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That’s fine and your decision to make, but you’re trying to gain admission to MIT, which has a ridiculously low admit rate. Do you really want to not follow what they are very clearly recommending?

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There is no specific type of activity or competition, or some winning combination of test scores, GPA, & class rank that can guarantee you admission to MIT or any other ultracompetitive school.

You should indeed apply to as many of the top 23 schools for aerospace engineering as you can. Eliminate the ones that don’t offer any merit aid to OOS or international applicants. Remember some are need-blind but many others are need-aware. Keep in mind that many schools institute enrollment quotas of 10-15% for international.

Caltech, MIT, Georgia Tech, Embry-Riddle, Purdue, Stanford, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, University of Texas-Austin, Texas A&M, University of Colorado-Boulder, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Cornell, Ohio State, Penn State, Princeton, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UF, University of Maryland, University of Southern California, University of Washington

I recommend applying to at least 20 schools as an international applicant, including ones possibly outside of the U.S.

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I do have the other rec letters sent.

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I think you are unlikely because to get in at the US is tough. To get in internationally is likely tougher although they don’t break that out.

That you didn’t follow the recommendation which really means required, is another thing against you.

But apply and see.

Canada has great schools.

Good luck.

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  1. Why unlikely?

  2. I did follow the recommendation, I just didn’t put it in this post.

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  1. Unlikely - because they admitted 1,334 of 29,281 or 4.5%. Given they meet need and are need blind for international, it’s likely lower.

  2. You say you followed the rec but when @Momofthree24 showed you the guidance as your post included two STEM letters, you said: “It’s ok, I couldn’t really be bothered to do the other rec letters.”

So now you didn’t meet the recommendation.

I don’t get what you are saying now - you did send in a humanities/social science/language teacher?

If so, why did you write what you did?

I’m not sure your list but it will have to be small due to your budget - and you should included Canada.

No one here can grant you admission to MIT or deny you admission. So apply and see.

Good luck.

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I meant that I couldn’t be bothered to put the other rec letters in the post.

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Based on last year’s thread, you applied to colleges last year. Where did you apply and what were the decisions?

Is your budget still $19k (not sure that’s Canadian or US?)

What have you been doing since you graduated HS?

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  1. The budget has now gone to $0 as they are unwilling to pay at all.

  2. I haven’t graduated HS yet. I just applied to unis a year early

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What schools and what were the decisions?

Have you run NPCs at any of the US schools? Will your family qualify for need based aid? Make sure the NPC says it works for international students.

Do you have affordable options in Canada or the UK?

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The only cases where I qualify for need based aid are MIT, Stanford amd Caltech (that doesn’t even have aerospace as an undergrad)

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True, but there’s only one Caltech & you qualify for need-based aid, therefore you should indeed apply. You could pursue mathematics and/or physics & pick up the aerospace minor.

Why Study Aerospace at Caltech?

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There are way more schools than just these three that cover 100% of demonstrated financial need for international students. You need to expand your list.

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That doesn’t make sense, as other schools provide as much need based aid as those three. The important point is whether or not the school is affordable after what they calculate your need is…and it sounds like you need a full ride, correct?

I’m going to ask one more time…where did you apply last year and what were the decisions?

Posters can’t help you unless you are straight with us.

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This doesn’t jive with your December 2025 thread where you listed your Grade 12 grades. Please clarify.

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