<p>Ok so I go to a very good public HS in New York, and I am a really good student & strong applicant (top of class, high GPA, rigorous courses, good test scores, science research awards, etc.) so I'm not as ignorant as my question makes me sound, but...I don't actually know anyone who goes to MIT. So I don't really know much about MIT life, etc.</p>
<p>So here goes: In comparison to other top-ranked schools (Ivies, Duke, etc.), is it really significantly harder and more work? </p>
<p>From what I've heard, but not from anyone I personally know, it's like hell. While I imagine any top university will be like hell to certain students, I'm just wondering in general if it's significantly tougher than say HYP. What I read on the pre-med thread here is not encouraging either, because I want to be pre-med >_<</p>
<p>All thoughts, and answers to this very ignorant question are much appreciated! :)</p>
<p>It's definitely hard, and expectations are very high. But it's doable -- it's not hell, at least not all the time. (Some weeks...)</p>
<p>I've never taken undergraduate classes anywhere other than MIT, so I can't say for sure whether it's harder than other top schools. I know my first-year graduate school classes were easier than my upper division undergraduate classes, but that's probably true most places.</p>
<p>I loved it.<br>
Was MIT hard? Absolutely.<br>
Was it vast quantities of fun? Absolutely.<br>
Was it the best school for me? Definitely yes.<br>
Is it the best school for everybody? Almost certainly not.</p>
<p>My boys (one graduated in May, the other is a current student) found MIT to be much more difficult and time-consuming than high school, and maybe more than they expected. They both had to learn how to best approach learning at MIT, and spent a lot of time doing psets.
Having said that, they love(d) MIT. The challenge was what they wanted. They've both talked about how great it was to conquer very difficult material, no matter how long it took.
One plays a lot of intramural sports, the other was involved in campus activities, so it wasn't all studying. Time-management is your friend.</p>
<p>I mean, I work my butt off right now - I go to a pretty good public HS in the NYC area, but I'm having a hard time picturing just how rigorous this is, and if I'd be happy there >_<</p>
<p>Then come visit! It's hard to get a sense for how much work people do over the internet (although this</a> blog entry I wrote at about five o'clock in the morning might give you a hint of the freshman experience :D), but I found that talking to "real, live" students was hugely helpful.</p>
<p>MIT is really truly about balance. In 1987, MIT simultaneously ranked as the #1 school in the USA by workload by the NY Times, and as the #25 party school in the USA as ranked by Playboy magazine. MIT students at the time were proud to have achieved both ratings in the same year.</p>
<p>Since that time, the party scene has toned down a little bit, but MIT students are not purely academic nerds. Frankly, MIT admissions are selective enough that these students usually do not get in. </p>
<p>MIT fields 41 Intercollegiate NCAA teams, has 30 club sports teams, and an intramural program in 19 sports with over 1000 teams and a 75% student participation rate.</p>
<p>There are over 430 student organizations, including 32 athletic groups; 8 media organizations; 65 ethnic, language, or international student associations; 50 musical, theater, and dance groups; 29 religious organizations; 34 service groups; 21 activism groups; 70 academic societies; and 14 student government groups. </p>
<p>Do not underestimate the workload, it is significant. But when you are not in the classroom, whatever it is you consider to be fun, from photography, to gliding, to lacrosse, to forging swords, you can find a like minded group of students who are doing that thing, often in very well-equipped facilities. </p>
<p>I too would not have traded my years at MIT for the world.</p>
<p>Don't be discouraged by what people in these forums are saying. At one point I was a little bit scared of going to MIT for premed, but now I'm really excited. You have to enjoy working hard to go to a place like this, but if you come and put in the due diligence, you will succeed. Keep in mind that 90% of undergrad premeds get into med school from MIT. This is just as good as the ivies. I think if you can get around the fact that you will have to work hard, study on weekends, and give up some pleasures, then you can really see MIT for what it is: a science-loving group of collaborative students. </p>
<p>In the end, I'd suggest choosing the school not based on difficulty, but on atmosphere, your affinity toward its campus, and what you hope to achieve. If you can visit, say you really enjoyed the students, the "work hard, play hard" mentality, and the zany campus, then this will be the place for you. If you are desiring a top notch engineering education then this is undoubtedly a "can't go wrong" choice. If not too much into engineering, then keep your mind open. Visit Harvard, MIT, and the other ivies. Take not of what you like, don't like. I'll tell you now Harvard is certainly easier than MIT because of grade inflation, but if you want to work hard and learn through your own severe perspiration, then consider MIT a serious option.</p>
<p>thanks for the additional responses! I unfortunatley visited during the summer so I didn't get a serious feel for the atmosphere, I'll try to go again in the fall :P The campus was very nice though!</p>
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In 1987, MIT simultaneously ranked as the #1 school in the USA by workload by the NY Times, and as the #25 party school in the USA as ranked by Playboy magazine.
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<p>I'd always heard that this was because Playboy or whoever was doing the evaluations happened to show up on Steer Roast weekend and thought that it was how things normally were...MIT has some good parties, but I would hardly call that representative. :D</p>
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I would not have traded my four years at MIT for anything else in the world.
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<p>I agree, and I had a harder, bumpier time of it than Mollie.</p>
<p>The blogs are a good source if you want to get some idea of what MIT is like from the student perspective. Not perfect, but good.</p>
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I'd always heard that this was because Playboy or whoever was doing the evaluations happened to show up on Steer Roast weekend and thought that it was how things normally were.
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<p>That's not actually true, it is more due to the factually inaccurate "Technodarlings" article by Craig Vetter in the September 1983 issue of Playboy, but Vetter did dwell on the excesses of Steer Roast. Steer roast is a weekend long party thrown by Senior House, arguably the most counter-cultural of the dorms. It has been run each year since 1964. Apart from a gigantic barbecue (they do not call it Steer Roast for nothing). It usually features live music, mud-wrestling, and a variety of other entertainment. </p>
<p>Although some very, very big bands have been booked to play Steer Roast, particularly in the late 70's, at the time the Playboy article came out, Steer Roast was being held at roughly the same time as Spring Weekend. But still the bands leading up to the Playboy award were:
1983 Cheap Trick
1984 The Tubes
1985 REM
1986 Ministry
1987 Squeeze
So a pretty good run for a party school.</p>
<p>I find it curious that many of the things that led to that award were already banned by 1987. The long-standing tradition of screening Registration Day Pornography was banned in 1986. The open bar of recreational pharmaceuticals which was a Senior House tradition in the early 80's vanished by the mid-80's as well. MIT, to a large degree, cleaned up its act, at least as far as health and safety goes.</p>
<p>I have taken undergrad classes at a couple of its peer schools. It is significantly harder than every place except Caltech (which I would guess is equal despite being more theory-driven.) This is assuming you don't major in management or something like that. Also, the curve is a lot harder at MIT except in most of the humanities classes.</p>