<p>I would agree mostly with the list, but I don’t know how I feel about NUS being 20. That has <em>some</em> prestige in South/East/Southeast Asia, but certainly not the rest of the world. I’ve been asked countless times if Singapore is in China, and was once asked which Canadian province it’s in.</p>
<p>I would certainly not put it above the University of Chicago, Cornell or Imperial.</p>
<p>But hey, that’s just me.</p>
<p>The acceptance rate at the IITs are meant to just look good…most of the 400,000 people who apply aren’t fit to clean the streets ( overpopulation and absymal quality of remaining institutions )…
Take it from someone who got a good rank without preparing for it at all…
I didn’t take it up because Tufts gave me $ 55,000 aid per year…</p>
<p>Besides…people who waste two years of their life only studying ( because the IITs sure don’t care about any of your other talents ) aren’t fit to be the employer…only the employee…
And student life has got to be a factor…the IITs don’t serve food fit for the dogs.</p>
<p>Alright- Agreed, IITs aren’t exactly the richest, most endowed schools in the world. Agreed, the campus itself isn’t to comfortable. Agreed- all you have there (in the dorms) is like a folding bed and a table.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t really mean that the IITs aren’t exactly good. Aren’t fit to clean the streets, eh brother? I’ll show you people who made it to Stanford and MIT and couldn’t crack the JEE. Not to say that they weren’t amazing applicants; MIT and Stanford obviously saw something amazing in them- that’s why they’re there. But then, they surely weren’t unfitter than “street cleaners”, you know- and they didn’t make it.</p>
<p>IITians do lag behind in terms of interpersonal skills and confidence (this is a generalization here), but hey- they’re AWESOME when it comes to knowing what they’re supposed to know, technical know-how et cetera. And if you care- the second largest number of people who get into MIT for grad-school, after MIT students are IITians. So there you go. Apparently, MIT sees something in them beyond “only studying” as you put it. And yup- if you claim to have been a distinguished achiever in “other talents” as you call them, isn’t IIT perfect for you?? Cuz you already have what they have- the “other talents”, the IIT “educational talents” would probably make you a power package, right?</p>
<p>Oh- and Tufts gave you 55K, eh? Well, the IITs would probably have been cheaper (considering living expenses and travel fares)- so stop using it as a lame excuse for not choosing the IITs. And about the food, well- Narayan Murthy went there- and he wanted to send his son there. And Narayan Murthy’s son’s dogs probably eat better food than you do. So that’s that.</p>
<p>You sound like someone who wants to undermine the reputation of the IITs just because you’re not going there. It’s natural, I agree. Ask me and I would say that UCLA is equiv to Berkeley- while that might not be necessarily what most people believe, but that’s what I think- cuz I’m going there. So it’s not wrong to do that. </p>
<p>But just claiming that IITians are stupid oafs who mugged their way in and will be living in crap for 4 years is just stupid. And for heavenssake, stop gloating about your extended merit list or 2000+ rank, cuz well, frankly, no one cares if you even made it to Textile Engineering in IIT Punjab or wtv.</p>
<p>Here’s my take on the IITs. While they definitely do not deserve high rankings on “quality of education” or “best colleges”, they definitely do- for the most prestigious colleges. The 3000-odd students who go there are among the smartest, most focused, most career-oriented and most passionate students in the country. There are IITians who were born with silver spoons in their mouths and there are IITians who barely afforded to buy 2nd hand prep books.</p>
<p>Ask an IITian and he’ll tell you how awesome IIT is- despite the crap food and crap living conditions. As for the “student life”, it doesn’t depend on how comfortably soft the beds are or whether or not they serve Gordon Ramsay fine dining food there- it’s what the students there make it. And let me tell you, my friend, the IITians have an amazing time- in their own happy, geeky ways!)</p>
<p>I myself am going to UCLA this fall- and had offers from CMU, uMich, Berkeley (spring), NUS, NTU and some other places in the US and UK. I can say this- that if I had gotten Computer Science at IIT Delhi/Kanpur, I probably wouldn’t have left it if Berkeley decided to take me in this fall with like a 100% scholarship! I wouldn’t. Period.</p>
<p>(I apologize if I sound rude, disoriented or whatever- I’m no crazy supporter of the IITs; I don’t approve of the JEE myself. But I hate it when Indians bring down IITs just for the sake of it. Wow- and 400,000? Haha! You surely are raring to get Americanized, aren’t you?- 11 years of Indian education and you switch from 4,00,000 to 400,000 <em>amazing- applauds</em>) O_o</p>
<p>Oh- and give your . key a li’l rest, yeah?
… :P</p>
<p>Jeez. So what if someone prefers to write 400,000 instead of 4,00,000? It’s just a preference. Less characters to type! I like to overuse … too! And I highly doubt Narayan Murthy’s dogs eat better food than other people - I personally prefer 45-rupee mutton biryani at Shere Punjab to Ramsay-esque food. :D</p>
<p>Awesome post, though, otherwise. I was going to go on a similar tirade after seeing Lightbearer’s IIT slur and I’m about the farthest thing from an IIT-er you can get in this country.</p>
<p>The rank was actually 2,568…
Firstly…I didn’t say that the people who got in were crap…I said the majority of the people who applied are crap…and that is perfectly correct !!!
Therefore it is quite absurd when people say that the acceptance rate of IITs is like 2% while those of HYPS is about 7%…about 95% of the applicants to HYPS are actually good while only about 5% of the IIT applicants are good…
And don’t give the great alumni speech…out of a billion people a handful are bound to do well even without the support of a good university education…</p>
<p>And what educational talents do the IITs give ?..Their professors are a bunch of underpaid government workers who can’t be fired for poor performance…and their visiting lecturers are a motley collection of individuals who don’t know how to speak in public…I KNOW TWO OF THEM…ONE WORKED IN IBM UNTIL HE LOST HIS JOB…he gave lectures at IIT Kharagpur thinking he could influence them to take his son in if he got a mediocre rank…</p>
<p>THE IITs ARE ONLY CONSIDERED GOOD BECAUSE THE 2% WHO GET IN ARE THE ONLY GOOD BRAINS IN THE COUNTRY AND OF THEM SOME ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD… THUS THEY ARE TAKEN UP DESPITE THE IRREPARABLE DAMAGE DONE BY THEIR SUB STANDARD PROFESSORS…
Oh by the way the Tufts offer was better…they gave me $ 4200 for personal expenses excluding health insurance, out of which I hope to save some up…so I’ll actually be earning about 1 lakh per year</p>
<p>Haha- so now you change your stand to say that the IITs are good- but a significant part of IIT aspirants are crap. Alright. I see an improvement there, Lightbearer- so that’s good! 
However, I’d still say that say- the top 25% of IIT aspirants are really good (I would go as far as to say they’re better than Harvard APPLICANTS- locals, I mean). So if ONLY they applied, the IITs would still have an acceptance of around 8%. So while the ooooh-we-have-an-acceptance-of-2%-we’re-so-cool isn’t exactly true, nor is that fact that most IIT aspirants are crap. But we agree here largely. So let’s leave it here.</p>
<p>About the great alumni “speech”, firstly- well, even in a country with billion people, a significant proportion is uneducated, a significant proportion decides to study commerce, arts, medicine or pure sciences. So the number of engineering students isn’t as HUGE as you make it sound. Also- well, a BILLION people don’t go to IIT- in fact there are more Harvard graduates in the world than IIT graduates (just for the comparison), so yeah- the “great alumni speech” holds true.</p>
<p>And as I said before- and you’re re-concretizing my point. IIT isn’t great cuz of the labs- or the “underpaid government employees” or the infrastructure. It is so because of the students it has. Singapore Management University (SMU) in Singapore might have excellent infrastructure, an excellent faculty (they’re “poaching” senior professors from Wharton, HBS, UCLA Anderson, Kellogg and many other top universities all around the world)- but why is Harvard better than SMU? Because the top students want to go there- because the best study there- and the best graduate from there. </p>
<p>About your guest-lecturer-friend at IIT Kharagpur, well- he must really be a doofus of his own league; Narayan Murthy couldn’t get the IITs to accept his son with his pioneering work in the Indian IT industry, or with guest lectures (and yeah… they’d give a LOT a LOT for a lecture by Murthy; anyone would), donations or whatever- so if your lame friend thinks that he could get his son in that way- bad news, it won’t. (Or maybe that was never his intention, but you make it sound that way just to force your point- if that’s the case, EPIC FAIL.)</p>
<p>An IIT graduation is like a certificate, a diploma of sorts- which SHOUTS OUT LOUD “THIS GUY’S SUPERGOOD- HIRE/ADMIT HIM” and well, I don’t mind that tag. True, there are failures at IITs, but then that’s true everywhere- from Wichita State to Harvard.</p>
<p>Congrats on your Tufts offer. Though I can still bet you’ll end up spending more at Tufts than at IIT (US is an expensive place, y’know). Tufts is a beautiful campus- and I hope you have fun there. But you should know that if you decide to turn down a place, doesn’t mean it sucks! I’m turning down CMU, Michigan Berkeley and NUS- a lot of people, a lot a lot would choose one of the four over UCLA. Why? Because they have different priorities. Maybe your priorities include the kind of mattress you sleep on and the kind of food you eat, the kind of parties you have and the kind of professors you have. The people who choose IITs (at better ranks) have different priorities. So, don’t go around putting down the IITs, yeah?</p>
<p>And 2500+? Hmm… I thought so.</p>
<p>Peace out now! LOL! Let’s end this… this… discussion here and now! :)</p>
<p>(You know that other girl from Delhi going to Tufts? S****m? Just curious- haha! We might have a mutual friend) (:</p>
<p>I’ll let you keep your last say…but all that you said…I agree with…the IITs are bad…their students are good…that is why I say that people who get into the IITs should know that they have done something great…but that they should now hone their skills at a place where they will get better…not worse like in the IITs…
Anyway…the girl from Delhi isn’t really my friend…we get along horrendously online and mutually agreed to never again speak online…</p>
<p>Lightbearer, I enjoyed the IIT debate with you, really. But I’ll request you to remove or at least *** the Delhi girl’s name from that post. These are public forums- and even though you didn’t really get along with someone, doesn’t mean you demean them here. Now let me “enlighten” you about some things.</p>
<p>1) She’s a good friend of mine- and of many others on this forum- so she doesn’t (and for that matter, neither do we) appreciate you putting her name up here- and that too in a horribly bad context.</p>
<p>2) Who uses the name SK (I won’t put in the full name for obvious reasons- and in the hope you’ll be editing your post)? Well, sir- a girl who’s parents decided to name her that uses that name. So if some random kid is called Mohammed Dick Subramaniam (yeah- and as everyone named Dick why they’re named Dick), he can’t really do anything about it. People don’t care who you are- they care about what you do- and S****** has really done a lot- ICG anyone?</p>
<p>3) I don’t really know what went wrong between the two of you- but you guys are gonna be together for like the next four years- so why the hatred? :)</p>
<p>Yup! That’s all :)</p>
<p>Oh- and for the record- I asked her about you yesterday. As in- She was the only one I knew heading to Tufts this year- and really- all she told me was that you guys didn’t really get along too much- and that’s that. She even refused to give your name or any other details. If she can give you that much respect in spite of the animosity, I was hoping you could too- alas, I was wrong. And now I really know why you couldn’t get along with her.</p>
<p>Just what I felt, man. (I hate the fact that I ramble on and on… Bleh) I hope we’re clear and don’t really have any issues here! (So please please please don’t go to a forum and say- what kind of dude uses the username 100%Tuna! Hahaha! Just Kidding!) :)</p>
<p>Anyways- have fun at Tufts! (:</p>
<p>(and I’m still hoping you’ll edit that post)</p>
<p>LOL! and I pity the original thread starter!! So much for finding the most prestigious schools, man! :)</p>
<p>Though I like your list for the most part (better than USNews, Shanjiao-whatever- cheena-rankings, THES and everything else), so thumbs up for that! (:</p>
<p>I loved the IIT debate Wish it could go on…</p>
<p>Is Sciences Po (Institut d’ Etudes Politiques de Paris) on the map ?
On the european map ?..</p>
<p>is Sciences Po (Institut d Etudes Politques de Paris) on the (european, at least) map ?..</p>
<p>@redox14 - no idea :</p>
<p>SamualUK,</p>
<p>If you think UCL should be in the list of the best schools, Warwick should be there too. Warwick is as good as UCL if not slightly even better.</p>
<p>@RML, I definitely agree with that. Warwick’s definitely a really good (and prestigious) school!</p>
<p>first, talking about prestige, i don’t think NUS is considered prestigious</p>
<p>second, I think there’s nothing wrong with this list being too US-centric or English-centric
As a matter of fact. America is the most developed country in terms of everything (techonology, education, economics…). Colleges in the US are great in terms of everything as well (great facilities, great teachers and professors, great enviroment…) And it’s notable that no countries have ever produced more Nobel-prize winners than America. It cannot be denied that US colleges are just great.
Also, globalisation makes English a world, universal language. No countries can stay out of the globalisation tide. therefore, you must accept the fact that English-speaking schools are very desirable. (obviously you dont want to waste your time learning French to go to a French school while the whole world is speaking english, rite?)
And you yourselves also. If you are given a choice to choose between University of HongKong and Dartmouth, which would you choose? I bet that 99/100 people asked would choose Dartmouth. Your preferences towards western schools actually make them more prestigious than Asian schools.</p>