<p>Hi everyone! Just got back from a two week vacation in Alaska, so I apologise if I have not been around to answer questions or PMs. </p>
<p>I did, however, want to share with y'all something interesting. We speak a lot about the value of an MIT education. And we define "value" fairly broadly. The extracurriculars are a value. The social experiences of a brilliant and diverse community are a value. The culture and pizzazz of Boston and Cambridge are values. </p>
<p>But, especially in these times of economic uncertainty, there are more cold-hard-cash sorts of value. So though I very rarely just play the shill here on CC, you might want to know that according</a> to Business Week: </p>
<p>
[quote]
Over the course of a working life, college graduates earn more than high school graduates. Over the past decade, research estimates have pegged that figure at $900,00, $1.2 million, and $1.6 million.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>The top of the list was dominated by elite private universities, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology taking the top spot. Its net 30-year ROI of nearly $1.7 million makes it the most valuable undergraduate degree in the nation. The large number of MIT students who enter such high-paying fields as engineering and computer science certainly helped, but the school's advantages go well beyond that, says Melanie Parker, executive director for global education and career development at MIT. "All the students at MIT, regardless of their major, take a strong core curriculum, which exposes them to more in-depth science and math than students at most other programs," Parker says. "Employers look for any major from MIT, because our students are prepared for almost anything."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>additionally, check out this</a> Kauffman Institute study: </p>
<p>
[quote]
According to the study, "Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT," which analyzes the economic effect of MIT alumni-founded companies and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, their revenues would make that nation at least the 17th-largest economy in the world. Within the U.S., these companies currently generate hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs to regional economies, particularly those in Massachusetts and California. *Globally, a less conservative estimate of their annual world sales would equal $2 trillion, producing the equivalent of the 11th-largest economy in the world.
*
"MIT's significant economic impact is of particular interest because it provides an important model for universities interested in helping their students become more effective entrepreneurs," said Lesa Mitchell, a vice president of the Kauffman Foundation.</p>
<p>...Highlights of the findings include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>An estimated 6,900 MIT alumni companies with worldwide sales of approximately $164 billion are located in Massachusetts alone and represent 26 percent of the sales of all Massachusetts companies.</p></li>
<li><p>4,100 MIT alumni-founded firms are based in California, and generate an estimated $134 billion in worldwide sales.</p></li>
<li><p>States currently benefiting most from jobs created by MIT alumni companies are Massachusetts (estimated at just under one million jobs worldwide), California (estimated at 526,000 jobs), New York (estimated at 231,000 jobs), Texas (estimated at 184,000) and Virginia (estimated at 136,000).
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</p></li>
</ul>
<p>(emphasis mine) </p>
<p>So obviously - and I mean this honestly - the economic component of a school is only part of the puzzle of value. But when you're looking at MIT and other schools in the future, and trying to weigh different options with different values in mind, these data might help you answer the eternal question of whether MIT is "worth it" when compared to its competitors.</p>