<p>
To my mind, those are things that do match well with MIT, a school unusually interested in people who apply what they know in a real-world context. EIther or both of these may qualify for a MIT maker portfolio, which is evaluated by the relevant engineering faculty. To my mind you are asking if you are wasting your time in applying, and while you are not a traditional applicant, I do not think that you are. Getting into MIT is not easy for anyone, and you need to be able to articulate the answer to “why MIT?”, but I think that assuming that the other parts of the application are strong (for example you do do well on your SATs), then you should go for it. </p>
<p>The only question to reasonably ask at this point in the year is would I be interested in going to school at MIT. If the answer is yes, then you should apply. Last year MIT admitted 0% of those who did not apply. Also, if you are interested in becoming a military aviation officer, then it might also be of interest to contact the relevant MIT ROTC program (army-rotc.mit.edu, nrotc.mit.edu, afrotc.mit.edu). </p>
<p>^I agree. The OP’s skill set fits in very well with the second part of the MIT motto, “mens et manus” or “mind and hand” very well. If he takes a class or two in core math or science and does well, I think he would be an extremely strong candidate for admission.</p>
<p>To answer a couple of your questions: All three services have ROTC units on-site at MIT (or, rather, did many years ago, and for many years). ROTC students from neighboring schools like Harvard or BU came to MIT to attend drills. So, yes, MIT is military friendly. You may be the only one like you in your freshman class, but many, many freshman classes have had older enlisted like yourself. I knew one, and I recall that he was singled out to help a faculty member with a start-up endeavor, leveraging his life skills and focused eagerness towards his goal. If you do go, be prepared to go in directions you never thought possible and to be exposed to opportunities that will be exciting.</p>
<p>Just so you know, I don’t think any engineering student would try to correct machine runout of 1/10 mil with a software correction. They would change tolerance stickup of the design to make it manufacturable. The place is perhaps a bit more hands-on/practical than you envision, though don’t underestimate the depth of theory underpinning the “practical.”</p>