WPI AFROTC is on campus. See https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/air-force-aerospace-studies. It also has aerospace engineering and is “collaborative rather than competitive.”
I think I understand now what you guys meant by lots of reaches. I’m aware I’m not the ideal candidate on paper for any school I desire. Was just trying to throw our names to see what I “might” have a chance at and consider applying to.
Because I have acceptances at schools I know I like (particularly u of u), I have a little more confidence to apply to more reachy schools. I just want to make sure I have options come April. So yes, cmu, Duke, and Cornell are definitely crap shoots and it would not surprise me at all to be rejected from all 3 of them. But hey, sometimes crap shoots work, right?
But when they don’t, I’ll have others such as schools mentioned here and my state schools to back me up.
Sorry if I came across as arrogant or rude, that was never the intention. Just trying to learn about the process. 
Thank you everyone!
You are working hard and doing great. You seem like a nice person. You are qualified to attend any of the schools you mention. It’s really a supply/demand matter. The MITs etc. receive applications from outstanding students, like yourself, all over the country, more than the school can accommodate.
I like this example: several years ago we visited a really tip-top LAC. They said 70% of all applicants were fully qualified to attend, and the school was confident they would succeed academically and otherwise. At the time, it accepted 14% of applicants. So 4 in 5 applicants that the school itself deemed fully capable of succeeding in its rigorous program were denied admission. Supply/demand.
If you assume that 70% number is true generally, then you can see how long the odds can become for a fully qualified student if RD acceptance rate is 6% or 4%.
So, sure, take a shot at some schools with low acceptance rates, especially the ones that seem like a good fit for YOU. You’ve worked hard and succeeded, so you will be a very reasonable applicant. Maybe it will work out at one or more of them.
If not, the great news is that there are truly many, many schools with outstanding students, faculty, and staff. We visited many excellent schools over the years. We were most impressed by the WPI students. It does not match MIT in reputation, but the vast majority of students are very high-stat students who were at or near the top of their high school classes. Or take a solid state flagship, like Nebraska. I’m not saying go there, just using it as an example. A high % of the top high school students in the state will go there, by choice or financial realities. It’s a major research university in an urban setting. Students who go and work hard and take advantages of opportunities, and make opportunities, will go on to med school or be successful in business.
Anyway, good luck!
As engineering physics is your expressed interest, you might also want to check on the focus areas of the WPI physics department at https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/physics/research. The latest entering class has an average, unweighted GPA of 3.87.
WPI '67