<p>Does anyone know how the academic repuation at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) compares to that of MIT? Any opinions or actual rankings?</p>
<p>MIT is a safety for those who go to IIT.</p>
<p>I believe they are equal for undergrad and MIT is much better for grad. IIT has the best students in the world. They aren't well rounded like American students because admissions are decided only by tests, but their technical skills are amazing. However, IIT doesn't have the money to have the latest facilities for the best research like MIT does. IIT students often come to America for graduate studies because of this.</p>
<p>GShine_1989 speaks the truth</p>
<p>IIT has never been really oriented towards research (although that is changing now with all the new money pouring into the schools), but has always been arguably the best engineering school in the world. It is the ridiculous competition at these schools that has made them outstanding, and the amazingly low acceptance rate at these schools make harvard and princeton look like state universities.</p>
<p>I doubt many of the students in IITs will get into MIT though. So by calling MIT a safety is almost comical. </p>
<p>MIT caters to the smartest from all over the world whereas IIT caters almost exclusively to indians.So IITians are not necessarily the best students . But they are probably the most academically focussed. </p>
<p>btw how many of the above posters are indians?</p>
<p>and actually for rankings check some of the previous posts. IIT is ranked 41 in the world, waaay lower than it should be. ( probably in the top 15). But those rankings are bs anyway. Apply to both you cant go wrong either way.</p>
<p>I'm not indian, but their facility from what I have heard isn't near as good as MIT's. But it is pretty competative to get in there though, since india does hold 1/6th of the worlds people, hehe. But yeah I agree, 41 seems to low, i have seen IIT a few times on American television, so they do hold some prestige</p>
<p>Let's give it the acid test. Suppose everyone gets a full ride to study at MIT. How many of the top IIT students do you think will prefer to transfer? Just curious.</p>
<p>You can't really compare IIT and MIT. IIT's admissions is soley based on a standardized test created by IIT. MIT on the other hand, looks at GPA, standardized tests (which aren't created by MIT), ECs, recs, essays, etc. It's difficult to compare the two.</p>
<p>IIT is tougher to gain admissions to than MIT - face it, it has an acceptance rate at around 2% - in a country of 1,000,000,000 people. Clearly, IIT people are more qualified.</p>
<p>Nomad: Just because IIT is ranked lower than MIT doesn't mean the STUDENTS are lesser, when compared to MIT students. IIT students are arguably better than MIT students academically speaking, but IIT doesn't have even close to a small portion of MIT's funding.</p>
<p>"Let's give it the acid test. Suppose everyone gets a full ride to study at MIT. How many of the top IIT students do you think will prefer to transfer? Just curious."</p>
<p>people are obviously going to choose MIT cause it has the better facilities and research and its an american university (that comes with an american lifestyle and job opportunities) and it has a worldwide prestige. IIT doesnt have all that, but that doesnt take away how competitive it is to get in, how bright the students are, and the top-notch academic quality of the school. anyone who puts down IIT is just ignorant. </p>
<p>but the hypothetical situation would never happen anyway.</p>
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IIT is tougher to gain admissions to than MIT - face it, it has an acceptance rate at around 2% - in a country of 1,000,000,000 people. Clearly, IIT people are more qualified
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</p>
<p>I think we all have already discussed how acceptance rate isn't a good indicator. U Chicago is one example. But oh well, IIT is a very good school. IIT and MIT attract different pools of students and the comparison is....</p>
<p>Huh i dont think you got my point there. I never said students in IIT are lesser. I just said to say IIT students are better than students in MIT is stupid. On a level field they are both the same. Indians just have more knowledge frm 11 and 12 in high school whereas americans tnd to focus more on the "allround" knowledge. Maybe thats why americans more practical with life than a majority of indians at 12 are. </p>
<p>For people's information the IITs have xcellent funding and have the potential to become a mojor research university but they are not now. ( I have been to IIT as a visitor and my uncles have studied there too. ) </p>
<p>Thirdly IIT is "more selctive" becuase there are a lot more people to choose from but only a certain number of seats.</p>
<p>Top colleges in Asia are ridiculously hard to get into, since they are mostly based on the Standarized tests and class ranking. For example, most kids who go to Seoul University in Korea sleep 3~4 hours and study more than 15 hours everyday!!! (They do this for 3 years, sometimes much longer). I wish i was joking, but that is the sad truth. I can only imagine that it will be much worse to gain admission at IIT.</p>
<p>bowtoserenity: Presenting UChicago as a counterexample to the low admissions statistic isn't valid. I don't understand how you can even say that a low admissions rate isn't a good indicator of how good the accepted students are. UChicago has a high acceptance rate and the type of student there is different than IIT or MIT - it's not possibe to compare IIT to Chicago and/or Chicago to MIT.</p>
<p>Of course, I'm not saying that IIT students are better than MIT students in being well-rounded students, but academically, IIT students rank in the top percent 0.00005% of India's population.</p>
<p>nomad: A close friend of mine has had relatives and both of his parents attend IIT. They knew the directors of IIT on a personal level, and in private, admitted that IIT needs more funding when compared to MIT. When it comes from the actual directors of the institution, I don't think that either of us can dispute that as a fact and not as an "opinion."</p>
<p>Like I said before, it is difficult to compare the two Universities due to the different standards for admission.</p>
<p>Well friends i think that looking at the opportunities available to graduates of both the universities will give a better picture. Like are there more opportunities for IIT graduates or MIT graduates? And who are more in demand?</p>
<p>The one downside to IIT is that people will likely confuse it with the local technical institute featured in 3am TV ad spots preceding a 1 hour infomercial on Suzanne Summer's thighmaster.</p>
<p>example. Bowtoserenity, was saying that a low admissions rate doesn't necessarily tell us anything about the quality of the accepted students.</p>
<p>Example: You can have a school for mentally retarded children or for juvenile delinquents that has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard. Does this mean that the students at these schools have better students than Harvard?</p>
<p>The fact is, MIT attracts the best applicants in the world (not just Americans) whereas IIT attracts the best students from one country. The arguments that have been voiced here (by mostly Indian students I presume), work if Indian students are the best in the world, which I don't think is true. In fact, even if it were true that Indian students are the best in the world, it might be that the very best Indian students apply to schools in the U.S.</p>