<p>True, that IIT students are less social than the ones who go to MIT. But its also true that IIT graduates are as good as the ones from MIT. Also they have contributed a lot to the development of India. More than MIT has done for USA.</p>
<p>I went to Duke for biomedical engineering and MIT for mechanical engineering.
My dad went to IIT for mechanical engineering and IIS (the typical IITer who stays in India go here for grad school) for computer science.</p>
<p>He’s smarter/better than me in his field of job. But I’m a lot more street smarter than he is 
I know how to treat the ladies, which my mom really scolds my dad for lacking this…“art.” My dad’s a genius, but he sucks in his social skills! Pretty much goes for his entire batch of friends from IIT! 
But that doesn’t mean anything.
Some are just really super awesome to talk to. Unbelievable. One of my dad’s friends from IIT is like superman! CTO of Intel and a lady-charmer he is.</p>
<p>Also, since my dad went to IIT, I can tell easily that at least 50% of what’s been discussed in this thread is false false false.
Carry on anyways. Its very amusing to see people write like this:
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<p>@ thesaiyans666, no one said that IIT students weren’t smarter. And about being social, you admitted yourself that your dad lacks social skills (no offence).</p>
<p>Its more of a recurring joke. I make fun of my dad for it, but by no means should it be taken at all. He DID NOT study for JEE all his life, but for a few months like we do for the SAT.
Comparing IIT and MIT is like comparing apples and cats starting from the admissions process. </p>
<p>I don’t get whats the deal even if its established that MIT is harder to get into than IIT. So what? Am I superior to my dad now?
This thread has become pointless.</p>
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<p>Wait… MIT/Stanford/Berkeley are the three best according to USNews. For whatever reason, CalTech Engineering is ranked #7…</p>
<p>Is that reliable?</p>
<p>Firstly, I don’t think you can compare the two institutions. Most of the IIT students can’t even afford to pay for the SAT’s and the whole application jig let alone apply. For these students, coming from small towns and villages, IIT is a dream school. Yes there is a small overlap of applicants but this is restricted to the rich/those living in large cities.</p>
<p>That said, the technical skills of students graduating from IIT is on par if not better than those at MIT. Sure they might not be trained on the latest technology, but they sure do have the capability to do so. And companies often hire these guys and make them do so.</p>
<p>Also even though the IIT’s don’t use 2010 technology in 2010, they’re certainly not using 2005 technology either. Over the years, the “gap” between the real world and the technology in the IIT’s has significantly been reduced.</p>
<p>As for grad school, MIT is better.</p>
<p>And you know what else is crap? The THES World Rankings. MIT is in top 10 while IIT Madras, where my dad studied, is ranked around 200+.</p>
<p>I like the THES World Rankings. Michigan is ranked 19th in the world. We’re rapidly gaining on Duke at 14th and MIT at 9th. :-)</p>
<p>Before comparing acceptance rates etc. I think people who live abroad should get an insight into how admissions to IIT works. </p>
<p>See, there’s a test, if you clear it, you’re through if you don’t then you’re not. It’s a very hard test and qualifying marks are generally less then 40%. Here’s the thing, EVERY moron sits the test. The thing to understand is that out of the 350,000 applicants for 10,000 spots, probably no more than 30,000 should have been sitting the test anyways. Over 100 people from my school sat the test, 5 had any sort ‘chance’ (4 got in). Compare this to top schools in the US which say that most (I’m guessing euphemism for like 70%+) applicant’s are qualified to attend. Most IIT applicant’s are NOT qualified to attend so no point being impressed by the selection rate.</p>
<p>Second, of the people who do get in, an overwhelming majority have spent 2-3 years in a coaching center (basically school after school for 4 days a week). At my school, they never participated in any extra-curriculars, or even cared about school studies. All they were interested in was clearing the IITJEE. Most of them don’t even develop as people outside the classroom, until they actually go to college.</p>
<p>Which leads us to inside these colleges. Like everywhere else some profs are good, some are bad - but none will be as distinguished as your average Ivy League professor. Academic papers aren’t a priority. IIT does not teach anyone how to write. They learn to be engineers and probably pretty good ones (but not all of them). </p>
<p>33% of the student body comes through the quota system. They’re not the best… (for the lack of a better way to put it).</p>
<p>MIT will churn out smarter (choice of word) people than IIT any day. IIT is not one of the top 15 schools on the planet. By ANY stretch of imagination. It is good by indian standards. Which are low when it comes to education.</p>
<p>“The thing to understand is that out of the 350,000 applicants for 10,000 spots, probably no more than 30,000 should have been sitting the test anyways.”</p>
<p>This is probably true, to a much lesser degree of course, to the very top elite schools in this country.</p>
<p>“See, there’s a test, if you clear it, you’re through if you don’t then you’re not. It’s a very hard test and qualifying marks are generally less then 40%. Here’s the thing, EVERY moron sits the test. The thing to understand is that out of the 350,000 applicants for 10,000 spots, probably no more than 30,000 should have been sitting the test anyways. Over 100 people from my school sat the test, 5 had any sort ‘chance’ (4 got in). Compare this to top schools in the US which say that most (I’m guessing euphemism for like 70%+) applicant’s are qualified to attend. Most IIT applicant’s are NOT qualified to attend so no point being impressed by the selection rate.”</p>
<p>Sometimes when I read these boards about IIT, it almost comes across as patriotic Indians trying to prove that their country is better than other people’s country, and pointing out the low acceptance rates as proof. But all these people who try to prove how great IIT take other systems out of context, and heck, even take their own system out of context when discussing the matter. The acceptance rate does not mean the schools are great, it only means that India is still poor and can’t open up and train more students. It is selective because there are not enough education institutions in India generally.</p>
<p>Let me introduce some of you to other systems around the world, and explain why the acceptance rate means very little.</p>
<p>In Australia, everybody writes a test when they graduate. The score you get is based on a percentile basis. If you want to enter the University of Sydney’s Law School, you apply for that program AFTER having already received your scores in the mail (much like the SAT). The average to get in is 99.6 on the ATAR. This means to get in, you have to be in the top 0.4% of the nation. If you have a score of 91, you are in the top 10% in the nation but have no **** luck to get into the law program, and you would never apply and waste your money. Afterall, your scores came in the mail 4 months ago, and you KNOW that you WILL be rejected. It is self-selective, because there is a test you write BEFORE you apply to specific schools at all. In India, the test and the application is the same thing. You write the test, and if you score high, you get in automatically. You don’t have to mull and try to calculate what your chances of getting in are after getting your scores. You don’t get the scores, and then apply afterwards, you simply write the test, and wait. This means there is no self-selection process, since people don’t know their scores. The dumbest kid in India would stll apply to IIT because they still feel like they have a chance. In Australia, you know you don’t have a chance 5 months before the University of Sydney’s deadline. If India was designed like in Australia, where you write the test, and then AFTER getting the results back, you decide whether to apply for admissions into a school AFTER getting the score, I bet ONLY those with realistic chances would apply, and the average would go down. The system is totally different, apples and oranges people have continually said on these boards. Apples and fricken oranges. </p>
<p>In Japan, the University of Tokyo is THE best school in the nation. People turn down Harvard to go to todai. But why isn’t the acceptance rate 2%? Because in Japan there is a 2 tier system. You write a national test, and then based on those scores, you decide which universities to apply to. You then apply to those universities, and then you write ANOTHER test given specifically by the schools. From what I’ve read, these schools won’t automatically let you sit these tests, they allow you to sit based on your scores on the national test. So once again, there is some sort of selection BEFORE you even sit the university specific exam. All the universities have exams at around the same time, so although some students may qualify, many on the lower end of the totem pole would decide to apply for other schools they have a better chance at. Otherwise they will fail and have to wait for the next round and wait a year. Because all the tests are held within the same couple months, you have to choose wisely and then apply, cause you can’t possibly write all of the entrance exams. So there is a weeding out process that takes place in stages. This does not exist with the JEE-IIT from what I’ve been reading. There is no self-selection process. The University of Tokyo has an acceptance rate of around 20% at the university specific exam stage, but this figure would be MUCH lower if you include the national exam stage. I reckon it would be MUCH lower than 5%, but we don’t know, because they don’t produce this data. Apple and Oranges anyone?</p>
<p>As such, the LOW acceptance scores DO NOT indicate that IIT is better than the University of Tokyo in Japan, or Tsinghua/Peking in China, or MIT in America. It is HARD as heck to compare all the differing systems. I accept that IIT is the best in India, and that it is highly likely that the top students are so ridiculously smart, it’s ridiculous. But I do not believe the acceptance rate people keep citing means it is THE best in the world. Maybe top 20 in terms of pure natural talent of the students, but there is no reason to believe that it is THE best, because it’s hard to compare, and pretending that there is any sort of evidence to compare is only arrogance on the part of IIT graduates, or ignornace on the part of others. </p>
<p>The statistics only show how hard it is for an Indian to gain access to higher education. This “difficulty” can be a result of… wait for it… the lack of post-secondary institutions in India. There are way more applicants than there are good schools to go around. The acceptance rate is not an indication of how good the schools are, but how FEW schools there are in comparison to the demand in education of the general populace. India is a developing country, it is NOT yet where it wants to be. The 2% acceptance rate is not an indication of how good Indian education is, but of how few seats there are. Those who do get in are top notch, maybe IQ-wise, and they probably can handle some difficult concepts, but the facilities etc… won’t be on par. The research produced won’t be on par either. The percentages for such countries mean little.</p>
<p>Holy the above is long (i just realized i wasted more time writing this than i thought), but I do think it was necessary.</p>
<p>After speaking to a Brazilian and a Frenchman, both were really into aerospace engineering, I have a couple more schools to make cases for. </p>
<p>The first is Brazilian: Instituto Tecnol</p>
<p>Why must we be so inward looking? Why are we comparing IIT to MIT???. Put IIT to the test and compare it to Institutes in China , Japan , Korea itself first.
Does MIT have cows grazing at the entrance to the Math Department? Is there cowdung in Princeton walkways? How much original work was done at IITs last year(Ok can ny iitian tell a single original Phd done by any IIT Proff.?) ok to make the matter worse search n u will find out :- about 85-95% of Phd are just the reviews or copy of PHds done at Institutes like MIT, UIUC, UCB , UM,Harward , Caltech , Georgia Tech. , Yale ,…</p>
<p>How many successful companies did IIT students have founded …to name there are very few % …ie .05 students have done so far (There are 7 IITs but only 48 companies founded by them survive in the market… however if companies founded by MIT graduates are allowed to make one nation …then that nation will we 17th world Economy.)
Give me an open courseware at any IIT and let’s see how good the lectures are compared to the ones on MIT’s site. I want to see what makes the IITs a premier institution, because after two years there, I’m still searching(Finally got Transfer to MIT).</p>
<p>Nd Proff. at MIT are the top researchers in there fields…who the hell dares to compare with them…</p>
<p>.My personal obseravtion is that M.Tech and the research people are far better than the <em>Fatkas</em>.Most of the PGs have troubled family background.They are not in the UG Programme of IIT, because they lacked the facilities to compete(Facilities only mean Coaching …that’s all you need to get into IIT).They have learnt the concepts by their own and took time to mature.As an IITian, any careless comment from me does not sound healthy. The strange thing one can easily notice about IIT UGs is their un-necessary superiority complex(there is exception). They think, cracking the exam (where our education system is read, re-read, and reproduce) entitles them to be a creative genius like Einstein or Schrodinger.A brand and continuos encouragement, and confidience gives them passport to a safe career,and they perform what we can expect from any average student.That is possibly Indians are not expecting from IIT.
However my family (My DAD , MOM , UNCLE , SISTER are all UG’s of IIT …however all have pursued there MS or Phd s from US …if any IITian gets an opportunity to do so …then please do comment if i have quoted any thing wrong)</p>
<p>IIT takes polished diamonds and turns out polished diamonds (after losing a few to high pressure combustion). What is so great about that? I’m lucky that I only had to spend two years there. Any more and I’d have quit. The place is not conducive to learning or exploring. If you are a parent: don’t get seduced by the IIT myth. Get your child to explore and learn instead of getting through the grinder.
Plz ny IItian …be rational and think How many times we are taught in a class with practical Experiments and demonstrations going side by side…???
UG Students in MIT …just after 1 year can make a Logic Gate and FETs(internal components of gate …i didnt meant logic circuits) but not a robot…but after 1or 2 more year MITians make there own Robots, Simulations , etc etc.
However IIT ians make robots just after 3 or 5 semesters …but even after Graduating they dont know …that the robot they made with the help of trillions of Gates and FETs , BJTs …how to make those gates and FETs (LEave Exceptions ,very few)…to summarize they lack Basic Concepts…and good \ Top Companies know this fact ,that is why 23 year old MIT Grad with 2 years of Exp. is asked by Infosys and Wipro to Head group of skilled Employees ,all of them From IIT or NIT or BITS and about 25-30 years of age and about 5-6 years of Exp.???
And at last, if an average Indian takes pride in the IIT, it would not be a bad idea to teach the people inside it to behave sensibly with high moral standrard. Education is a waste what gives ego, and arroagance to one for ones relatively safe position to other in the society. Now, please do not talk me about your excellence, talent etc.</p>
<p>I do agree that students in IIT are awesome …but they remain same even when they are graduated …</p>
<p>I recall a long time ago that I saw a 60 minutes that said IIT was better than Harvard and Princeton combined. I have also heard that MIT is a safety school for people who go to IIT. Yet I feel this is more of a joke akin to the “emory is my safety school” and “vandy is my safety school.”</p>
<p>Both are great and amazing schools. I think acceptance rate is stupid because saying 30 K people are qualified is kind of silly and arbitrary. Plus, these numbers are distorted by the number of applicants.</p>
<p>I also think you have to distinguish between the different kinds of IIT’s (it’s kind of like treating all the UC’s the same). I think IIT Bombay is the really good one—but i could be mistaken.</p>
<p>As for alumni, IIT has produced a LOT of stellar alumni and to ignore that is silly (sun microsystems or infosys ring a bell?).</p>
<p>Both are great schools. Both are the future engineering nerds of tomorrow. So why bother? This thread is lollersauce.</p>
<p>While higher education in India is top heavy, it cannot be compared to MIT or any other top American school. With the possible exception of top students in Japan, the UK, Germany, and Singapore, top students usually leave their country for the top American schools.</p>
<p>“Both are great schools. Both are the future engineering nerds of tomorrow. So why bother? This thread is lollersauce.”</p>
<p>You haven’t hung out with many MIT students, have you? Of the 5 MIT students I know (who went to UWC with me), 4 studied engineering, 2 are now in investment banking, 1 in consulting, 1 in hedge fund. I would hardly call them future engineering nerds; in fact, I would classify 3 of the 4 power net-workers, the other one is just a normal professional.</p>
<p>Actually I have. You are right, there are many that go into fields like investment banking, consulting, or something else. Yet they are still engineers. They are hired for these fields because of the type of thinking that is involved. The same goes with people at IIT. I know people from both places, actually. Yet they are still engineering nerds…what they do with that is up to them :)</p>
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<p>I once saw a big plastic cow from the Hilltop Steakhouse standing atop the great dome at MIT. Not sure about the orientation, but it might have been staring down at the Math department. Would that count?</p>
<p>PS. I loved my time at MIT - incredibly impressive people * from all over the world*.</p>
<p>Some of these posts are comical to say the least. Having been raised in Africa, I had never even heard of IIT, so I seriously doubt it attracts the world’s best. Whilst MIT is a top, top institution in the USA. I don’t even think IIT compares to any of the top 50 in America, when it comes to prestige.</p>
<p>No offense, but just because you haven’t heard of a school doesn’t mean that it doesn’t attract the world’s best. I think IIT is brilliant and the students have a culture of studying. But most of these individuals end up coming to the States afterwards. And they are also pretty successful!</p>