<p>If you grab a random guy on the street and asked 'which is more prestigious', you will have your answer. Which would be MIT btw....</p>
<p>chanman, IIT is rated as equally prestigious to MIT to people who know it, but otherwise than that, you will find people holding MIT as a far more elite engineering institution. In that sense, IIT holds a place like UChicago; people that know it, give it serious respect, but to the average uninformed Joe, it's just another school.</p>
<p>excellent response, imran. hear hear.</p>
<p>This seems like a ridiculous thread. AND there was ONE EXACTLY LIKE THIS last term, I believe.</p>
<p>Why the fascination? Unless you're a probably USAMO qualifier or Bio Olympiad or owned the AMC tests or are a top finalist in Siemens/Westinghouse or YES, then why even worry about gaining admission? It's not just about getting in at IIT, it's about maintaining your pace. The competition is NOT cutthroat in the Harvard Med or JHU sense, but people WANT to succeed and work very, very hard. There is a brotherhood feeling in that students understand that they are among a very select few who earned admission, but beyond that people work to stay afloat. </p>
<p>The academic and professional payoffs though (at least within India-I'm not aware of outside of India, personally) are AMAZING.</p>
<p>Yeah, continuing off what dearsiryes said, if you're planning on working in India afterwards, going to IIT is one of the best things you can do for your career. My father went to IIT for both undergraduate and graduate, and after working for an aeronautical company in a senior position right after he got out of school, he moved to the US, where to be honest, it has not really given him that much of an edge, especially when he first came here (1994ish). He started out as a regular engineer in a company, and even though now he's VP of engineering where he works, it took a lot time, and it was his work that got him there, not his degree. However, people that work in the engineering sector here have slowly begun to hear/recognize IIT for what it is worth (not to mention that one CBS show that came a couple of years ago where like every IIT guy they interviewd there said Harvard was his backup lol) </p>
<p>Now I personally do not know any MIT graduates, but I would assume that the average MIT graduate would not start out just as an engineer, but probably in a higher starting position.</p>
<p>You know I heard an interesting statistic recently: a researcher compared the average salaries, twenty years later, of students who were accepted to Harvard and graduated to those of them who were accepted but didn't attend. The results were that the average salaries were nearly the same, which says that a person's success more often than not depends on his innate ability rather than the "prestige" of his university.</p>
<p>Maybe it doesn't apply to this situation, but I think that going to IIT won't give you any more talent than you already have. Granted you might be more inspired to succeed in a different environment (especially around brilliant students), but you could probably do that at any number of top engineering schools. So, in short, don't base your education on the prestige of an institution.</p>
<p>This Post Is So Frivolous.</p>
<p>I COMPLETELY AGREE! It is absolutely retarded, especially because the OP will NOT apply for admission.</p>
<p>it's not retarded. At least now I learn what IIT is... i'm sure a lot of kids wonder about its intense program...geez.</p>
<p>Ok, fine. I'm sorry for making such an extreme comment. You have all the rights in the world (or CC) to wonder about the intense program at IIT. However, this is the wrong forum for such a matter and is slightly annoying.</p>
<p>I'm not sure any of the applicants looking to transfer this year or who have recently transferred on this board have the credentials to immediately stand for IIT admission. I guess I'm just letting my frustration with this topic get the best of me.</p>
<p>Plus who in the hell would want to go to school there? Do you even speak Hindi? There isn't a student at IIT who wouldn't rather be at MIT or CalTech or even a lesser school in the us.</p>
<p>That is actually a lie, but 99.9 would. Believe me, I know a lot of Indians, hell I'm dating one. They want to get over here, man.</p>
<p>First off, you don't have to speak Hindi to attend IIT. There are campuses all over India, even Chennai, where they speak Tamil, primarily.</p>
<p>Secondly, most classes are conducted in English, the same language most top Indian students are taught in school.</p>
<p>I would think Wilderr's statement to be 'wildly' untrue. Should those students who apply to IIT also apply to MIT or Caltech or Carnegie Mellon or other top American science oriented schools, they would probably being among the accepted pile. They choose to attend IIT.</p>
<p>totally agreed wilderr. i think some people here have 'wildly' (bahaha) unrealistic views of india. think of engineers as being made in a factory assembly line. everyone has to become an engineer in order to come to the US or get that lucrative call center job. if you don't agree, well, ask your parents or someone who knows how india is today. </p>
<p>and imran, i also have personal experience with foreigners wanting to study at IIT. there is always a way to pay for your spot. believe me, cash is king.</p>
<p>IIT education quality is declining. and in order to even have a chance at MIT or Caltech for undergrad as an international, you would have to be a top student in INDIA in order to be one of the lucky five or ten students selected. i know of people from IITs who have been flat out rejected by such schools...coming to the US is not an easy task by any means. IIT is merely a last resort when MIT and Caltech become lost causes.</p>
<p>and you might not need to speak hindi, tamil, or whatever language to attend an IIT, but you almost definitely need to in order to survive in india.</p>
<p>Quite right, p reepa. IIT education is declining as a result of backward class preference in admissions. Nearly 2/3 of the seats are allocated for such students who in almost all cases have less merit in admission than other students. Thus, there are very few spots available for the merit deserving.</p>
<p>You're right on the language, I did not note that knowing such a language is key to living succesfully in India.</p>
<p>But, I don't believe that IIT is merely a last resort when MIT and Caltech become lost causes. You are probably right that those schools have a higher repute, but many students prefer to stay at home and attend a school with a pipeline to the top engineering and IT firms in India.</p>
<p>i guess that could be the case with students who want to stay in india, but i was referring to the students who want to come to the states. </p>
<p>regardless, this thread is still a joke. chanman, you recently made a thread about getting into wharton, and i'm assuming you are interested in business. then why suddenly look into engineering? are you interested in both? are you also considering applying to johns hopkins for pre-medical studies? doctors make a lot of money, too...</p>
<p>it's very easy to talk about applying to wharton or studying engineering at IIT...business and engineering are lucrative professions. but making money is hard work, so don't expect anything to come to you easily. find what you're interested in, and don't waste our time with these kinds of threads. to me, it's all talk...</p>
<p>Hmm p reepa I was not aware of money influencing admissions at MIT , tho I have heard it done at other schools. I will admit that the quality of the applicants that get in are decling, especially with affirmative action for the less qualified, but I dont how that correlates to the quality of the education declining. </p>
<p>And I second(or third) the importance of knowing at least one of the South Asian languages if you're going to study at IIT. They teach english there, but walking around Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderbad, Kharagpur, and the other IIT locales and speaking in English is the quickest way to get yourself swindled/misled/raped/kidnapped.</p>
<p>Nothing I said was wildly untrue, if you think so perhaps you should visit. The classes are OBVIOUSLY not in Hindi, but it is a requirement for any sort of enjoyment of the country whatsoever on a long term study basis.</p>
<p>"Should those students who apply to IIT also apply to MIT or Caltech or Carnegie Mellon or other top American science oriented schools, they would probably being among the accepted pile. They choose to attend IIT."</p>
<p>WRONG WRONG WRONG. Sure, if they were Americans who went through the proper channels they would be accepted by the pile. Seriously, when was the last time you went to India? The only student at IIT who wouldn't rather be at MIT is the Indian who plans on staying in India and not bringing his engineering degree to the US, for nationalistic reasons. Said individual is one in a billion, and I mean that almost literally.</p>
<p>Also, I'll just point out that education systems decline as a rule when a country becomes more affluent, or when the upper crust of a country does. And India is easily one of the most corrupt nations on earth, try running a business there, or just visiting.</p>
<p>Which is not to say that I don't <3 India :]</p>
<p>hahah Jai Hind!</p>
<p>Why do People on CC remind me of IIT exam(:mad:)</p>
<p>IIT is great, but people would choose Caltech/Cambridge City College/Harvard/Princeton/Penn/Stanford over IIT.</p>