<p>I think you are really overestimating your chances at places like MIT or Caltech. Having “a scholarly background” is not in any way remarkable by comparison with everyone else who applies there.</p>
<p>Further, you seem to be much more interested in the practical side of engineering, which would seem to rule out Caltech, as it cares a whole lot more about the hard science behind engineering and not as much about producing patentable products. MIT is better about that but still probably isn’t what you are looking for.</p>
<p>Stop basing your decisions on the US News rankings. The fact that you say things about Michigan like “they don’t necessarily pair up in equal terms with MIT or Caltech but top ten nationally isn’t an understatement either” leads me to believe you place way too much emphasis on just a few places in the rankings, and to be honest, the rankings aren’t useful for that sort of thing. Michigan is an excellent engineering school, and given what you have said so far, likely a better fit for you than those other two schools.</p>
<p>Try browsing the mechanical engineering departments at a variety of schools and find departments with professors doing research in the area of hydrogen power for automobiles. That’s your best bet for finding a program that will set you up well for that sort of thing. Alternatively, find out what the top academic journals in that field are and then browse through the research that gets published there and take not of recurring names. Then go look into those schools.</p>