Agreeing with everybody else here that GPA is not the sole factor. Also, international admits to harvard is VERY low you really need to STAND out prominently like have some international level research. Plus your academic achievements should not only be exclusive for getting into harvard only.

Do enough background research to form an iterative process to update improvements with the data you implement with. That’s true data collection. What others are talking about is more on acquiring the data for the engineering/experimental protocol.

Try contacting a lab and make connections rather than buying supplies as they can get really expensive. Further elaborate on your project for more personalized answers.

@Nate Julius Is this your first time doing research like this?

Research about it more. Is there like some 101 crash course on civil engineering? Civil engineering is the backbone to understand architecture.

The overall theme of having good ecs is that you contribute to the community with your skillset and enhance your skillset. You can make rocketry competition as a way for an initiative if you have a good position in a club or have your own.