Are you considered a Canadian for OSAPS and UTAPS purposes? Please investigate the affordability of UofT and University of Waterloo. These are two world class institutions.
For
For aerospace, nahhhhh.
Are these faculty not in your exact area of interest? There are not many universities with a developed aerospace research ecosystem as UofT’s UTIAS. It’s entirely possible you end up shut out of the US T20s. You should also apply to UBC if it’s affordable.
Are you a Canadian permanent resident? If not, then it might not be worth applying to them because they would be out of your budget
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I am applying to both but they aren’t my main target and would be pissed if I only got into either or both of them.
What will you do with your degree in the US without a security clearance or ability to get a work permit?
Many people end up in schools that aren’t their top choice. In the end, you make your career, not the school.
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Where you get in is out of your control. Being pissed is the one thing YOU control in the entire process!
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Welp, I am in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.
I did not go this far with respect to awards and ECs to not get into at least one of HYPSM and would obviously be vexed if ot didn’t work out
Have you thought about whether you would want to apply to engineering for a position in industry after graduation or math for a stronger background in the advanced math behind control theory (lie algebra, differential geometry) for a PhD to do research (either in academia or industry)? If unsure, consider applying to UofT engineering science and UWaterloo applied math so you have an option for either.
But are you sure you can afford either?
Yes, I have. I said I was applying to Waterloo SWE and the aforementioned EngSci.
While I hope it works out for you, please know full rides for international students are very rare. Please do not let your self worth be definined by a decision that is now out of your control.
If you land at a school in Canada know that you will still get an excellent education and you may be able to stand out even more.
Word of advice if any of the schools offer interviews- make sure your passion shows through and not that you did these competitions for admissions purposes.
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Please let us know how things go!
Compared to MIT, Stanford or Caltech, such Canadian schools are second-rate at best.
How exactly is it out of my control? I could smash t25 in the Putnam to more or less guarantee MIT.
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You do that, then
But do remember that there are fellow participants that could also smash it!
Here is the current Course 16 undergraduate enrollment. What is the likelihood of you graduating from MIT as a world-class aerospace engineer? Remember that there are competing educational institutions that also produce world-class aerospace engineers.
Did you apply to MIT last cycle? If yes, what was the decision? Did you get any affordable acceptances last year?
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Therefore?
You can choose to be vexed. But it would be irrational- and for someone as “quant wired” as you, that seems like an unlikely reaction.
People get rejected for all sorts of reasons. A teacher recommendation alludes (even inadvertently) to a certain anti-social profile along with the intellectual gifts. Your essays- as polished as they are- come off as arrogant and condescending. Or one of your readers decides “we’ve seen a bunch of talented Aero kids from Canada in the pile. Let’s focus on the talented Linguistics and Poli Sci wanabees from South America for now”.
I hope it works out for you. But at the end of the day, I hope you did the things you did because you wanted to-- and not because you thought there would be a payday at the end of it. That’s a sure fire way to trudge through college feeling burnt out.
If that happens, may the other reader state, “How many Aero kids from Canada have research with DARPA AND NASA JPL?”
Well, if you focus on these 100 students, a lot will depend on what their future plans might be. Obviously, not all of these students will end up applying to MIT & not all are planning for a career in aero/astro. Just focusing on students solely interested in aerospace, let’s hypothetically assume 10. MIT is unlikely to accept all 10 of them. Some of the students will be better fits for other schools and a few may prefer a different college or simply not have any interest in MIT.
What is definitely true is the MIT and its peers do consider Academic Distinctions, like Olympiad Team, winning gold/silver medals, & Regeneron Science finalists & winners. I would think that Putnam T100 would qualify as such a distinction.