IIT vs. MIT

<p>when people hear of IIT, they think of the local technical institute that airs at 3am in between a Suzanne Summers Thighmaster infomercial and the one for the George Foreman Grill.</p>

<p>I thought this was talking about the Illinois Institute of Technology, lol.</p>

<p>i ve prepared for IIT m currently an undergrad n i think der is no way tht ppl here luv the subject or even have a love for engineering all they want is to get into IIT !! i took sciences because of one reason tht i wanted to b an engineer coz i simply luvd it! but it really made me sad by seeing ppl gettin thru in IIT JEE and sayin tht they have only heard the name IIT and dont no wats its all about i mean thts pathetic </p>

<p>my prob is tht i wanna go into research! i hv jus given my 12th boards i m confused where to go IIT or bits or prepare for SAT(which i think i can get thru)!
der r a lot of things like insecurities of going to US! i want the best engineering education wat should i do?</p>

<p>Interesting discussion here. I have just passed out of IIT Bombay, and will soon be joining Columbia University.</p>

<p>I agree that in many ways IIT is way below MIT. Some of these parameters are global recognition/recall, all round ability of students, etc. I would like to address two of these criticisms.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Recognition: Yes, a layman in eastern europe will know MIT and not IIT. But I can assure you, the professor in University of Warsaw or an oil company in the middle east will be aware of IIT, and thats what matters.</p></li>
<li><p>Students: Why do people think that IIT students are robots who study 15 hours a day? In some cases this might be true, but in general its not so. JEE does require rigorous preparation, but its not that time consuming and doesnot have to be at the cost of your social life or extra curriculars. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>And believe me, after the JEE i.e after admission, IITians seriously unwind for 4 years. The 4 years are spent largely in ‘making up’ for the 2/3 years of preparation. We do all the things that we couldnt do earlier, like sports, music, drama, etc. And we do it seriously with our inherent competitive nature. Of course, in general we lack talent in these other areas as compared to non IIT students, but we do it in a determined way.</p>

<p>MIT is highly respected by IITians. No doubt that to achieve that standard of education, research and all round development is the long term goal of IIT. But, we have to consider India’s large and poor population and the low funding (compared to US universities) received by IITs.</p>

<p>I agree that JEE is flawed, with a high percentage of students just ‘making up the numbers’ and not competing seriously. So, acceptance rate is not a good parameter for comparison. </p>

<p>But, one area where I think IIT is superior is in providing opportunity to low income class people. There is a perception (correct me if I am wrong) that MIT and other top universities in the US are unaffordable for the low income group in the US. If you dont have top notch, expensive pre university schooling, it is tough for the average American to get into such colleges. In India, I have seen very poor people getting into IITs. Its good to see, because IITs lift a family from below the poverty line to upper middle class in a single generation. I doubt if MIT can do that.</p>

<p>Sorry if I sound biased, I tried not to be. MIT is awesome and for sure it is the goal of IITs to reach that level of quality.</p>

<p>DONT COMPARE MIT WITH IIT. Its like comparing Brazilian Soccer Team with Indian Soccer Team. Its like comparing BMW with Maruti 800, Its like comparing Michael Jackson with me. IIT IS NOTHING, ALTHOUGH I DON’T DENY THAT TOP 100 CANDIDATES IN JEE ARE REALLY GOOD. IIT itself is nothing, why its name is there because of its top students.</p>

<p>hehe, funny you chose Brazil and not USA :P</p>

<p>I think its more like comparing the American Baseball team to the Indian cricket team.</p>

<p>Oh and you mentioned Maruti 800, seems ur Indian. Let me guess, you couldnt get through JEE? Why such a passionate reponse? :)</p>

<p>Oh my friend, I have a total of about 320 in JEE 2010. I am INMO finalist for my class 9th, 10th and 12th.</p>

<p>Infact I have been rejected by MIT. So, its vice versa.</p>

<p>My real brother is studying at IIT Kanpur. DO YOU STILL THINK THAT I AM BIASED?</p>

<p>lol I thought you guys were talking about the Illinois Institute of Technology</p>

<p>I’m an Indian and a girl.
I’m focussing on my gender(specifically) because in India,to my dismal,gender is considered to be a primary thing. If u r a girl,then u are not considered to be competent enough to qualify for the toughest exam “IIT-JEE” and thus like many girls,even my dream to study engineering in an IIT crashed.
Though now i’m studying engineering but not from a very prestigious university in India.</p>

<p>On the other hand,its not the case while getting admission in top colleges of U.S. including MIT. No gender bias and thus no severe pressure.</p>

<p>I’m not speaking this out of frustration but i have experienced this.
In India,there is a whole flood of tutorials and the student getting the best tuitions and support from teachers is likely to sail through IIT-JEE exam,and even in tutorials,i’ve observed during doubt clearing sessions,more concentration is given to boys as compared to girls.</p>

<p>I used to be an above average child who scored excellantly in 11th and 12th classes but my disqualification from IIT shattered me a lot.</p>

<p>Thus,i believe MIT is any day the best and offcourse a better college than IIT because it lays more stress on over-all development and not just the bookish knowledge.</p>

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<p>Can you explain how being a girl crushed your dream to study at IIT? were your prevented from getting into the best tuitions? I’m just trying to understand.</p>

<p>Girls are actually welcomed at IIT and there are plenty of girls there, from what I here. In terms of academic quality, I think they are around equal and it’s hard to choose between the two. If I got acceptances from both places, I would be at a loss as to where I would go. I might just choose IIT but that’s because of the cost.</p>

<p>

This perception is incorrect. MIT provides need-based financial aid, and meets 100% of a student’s financial need. A low-income student, either domestic or international, would go to MIT for free.</p>

<p>MIT is also composed of more middle- and low-income students than most other top US colleges. About 70% of MIT students come from public schools, and a relatively high percentage of domestic students receive Pell Grants, which are awarded by the US government to low-income college students. The vast majority of MIT students were not the recipients of top-notch, expensive pre-college schooling. Most come from average public high schools around the country.</p>

<p>About girls and boys: Its clear that girls at IITs are really less, but the reason is not that girls are getting poor coaching, etc. etc… Comment (in general not in particular)- What I found out is that girls are sincere, hard working and this is the reason they score so nicely in Boards, AIEEE or medical exams, but IIT is a little conceptual. I think the IQ level of boys is plus. I have often seen that girls are good in english, social studies, bio, chem but not as good in Math and Physics. I have also noticed that in tutorials where good students go the no. of girls are almost equal to boys, but the ratio is 1/5 th where brilliant students go. And the extra ordinary tutorials are not much in no. So, its upto IQ, not …</p>

<p>^ are you implying that girls are dumber than boys?</p>

<p>I would say that IIT JEE Physics and Math are little above the calibre of a general intelligent girl preparing for the exam. Suppose girls can jump 6.5 m long, then a boy may jump 7.5 m, so at that instance its pretty hard for a girl to make that jump 7m. Now most of the exams are of difficulty 6.1 m, so girls and boys jump across, but IIT is like 6.6 m, here boys go, but extra ordinary girls also go.</p>

<p>Another example- I am bad in SAT English (Reading), I scored 440 on my 1st attempt and 570 in second. But I scored 28/30 in TOEFL. Its because the difficulty of TOEFL exam was in my reach, but SAT Reading was a little more difficult. Hope u understand. Everyone has a maximal limit.</p>

<p>Right, so you’re basically saying that girls are not as smart as boys in maths and engineering. But you have to consider that boys are encouraged to study engineering more than girls are and that boys’ education is invested in more in India. If girls are constantly being pushed to the socials, then obviously there will be less of them in IIT.</p>

<p>@confidentialcall-yea,offcourse,i was not given the opportunity 2 study in best tutorials bcoz of many reasons
1.the best coachings are considered 2 b offered in Kota,Rajasthan and thus the girls living far away from kota are not send 2 such distances 2 study coz of insecurity problems but boys r obviously sent
2.a gr8 amt of money is spent in sending these coachings and sometimes the parents hesitate 2 spend so much money on their girl child
Recently even d director of IIT,Madras said the reason girls r less in no. in IITs is tht girls r not given tht adequate things tht dey require 2 crack the IIT-JEE exam,and thus he emphasised tht such coaching centres shuld b put 2 a stop
I truly beleive girls r not at all lacking as compared 2 boys but dey shuld b given equal opportunities vich is not so d case</p>

<p>How can anybody compare IIT to MIT? I have known so many IIT grads and all of them idolize MIT, its faculty, its facilities, its resources, its research productivity, its corporate connections etc… </p>

<p>IIT is very good and extremely selective, but it does not come close to MIT. And comparing IIT’s students to MIT’s is ridiculous. MIT looks for more than just academic accomplishment. The two students who were admitted to MIT from the UAE this year were by the means the strongest students (still 4.0 stuents with 2300 SAT schools and 800 SAT II scores in Math II , Chem and Physics though), but one of them has a handicap of 1 in Golf and was captain of his school’s Soccer and MUN teams and the other is an accomplished concert pianist and captain of his school’s Basketball team.</p>