<p>harvardguy is on fire, and modest MIT students do not argue with arrogant people like harvardguy.</p>
<p>harvardguy, if your purpose in starting this thread is as you stated
[quote]
I am trying to compare these high ranked universities (according to the Times, first and second ranked universities in the world) for an academic applying for a tenured faculty position.
[/quote]
it seems likely to me that an academic in such a position would know that both MIT and Harvard are excellent in most regards, having done the research before applying. Further, it's unlikely an academic would be basing a decision on the results of a poll taken on CollegeConfidential. :) So... what was your intention in starting this thread again? I'm just askin'...</p>
<p>I agree with MIT2010. MIT students are down-to-earth and we don't like to argue about trivial matters, such as comparing Harvard and MIT's reputation when they are both nearly equal.</p>
<p>if harvardguy actually knew any tenured academics he would be doubled over laughing at himself. ;-)</p>
<p>mootmom-- It is for research that I started this thread. I am sure that the acedemic would know the better university among the two, but I am trying to assess the opinion of the general population. There seems to be no better way to assess a qualitative property like reputation of a university than to conduct a general survey of general public in a general forum like College Confidential. Won't you agree?</p>
<p>tropicalisland-- It is not a vanity fair guys, I am asking for your actual opinions substantiated with solid data.</p>
<p>Students and alums (and parents :) ) frequenting the MIT and Harvard forums on CollegeConfidential are likely to be partial to their own choice and unlikely to offer you a slice of "the general public" which you seek. This is not a scientific sample, it is self-selected. So no, I would not agree. But have fun!</p>
<p>Ben Golub-- Don't assume anything about me or whom i know. You might be surprised to find the truth. The point is to give your honest opinion on the subject substantiated with solid proof or well ...</p>
<p>mootmom-- This thread is posted on both Harvard and MIT forums bye the way. So I get the opinions of both parties. As to their individual choices of any particular university, it is for them to decide not YOU. As for your generalization that they will prefer their own university, you may be wrong or right, but that is part of the survey.</p>
<p>Survey? Of students' reasons for their preferences? Oh no wait, you don't want their preferences, you want them to cite some factual studies of rankings that will justify their choices. Perhaps they didn't use such studies in making their choices?</p>
<p>And yes, I already noticed that you posted this query in the Harvard forum as well. I note that there also, you are being asked why you feel people need to present a source to justify their opinions and choices. If you want the opinion of the general public, asking people who post to the Harvard and MIT forums on collegeconfidential.com is not going to yield the answer you seek.</p>
<p>I think most readers of this thread would be interested in why you really want to know this. Either that or they've already gone out to enjoy the lovely spring weather, which is what I'm going to do now.</p>
<p>mootmom-- Good for you. Bye the way I think people base their preferences for something as important as admission to a college based on some solid reason. What I really want ot know is that reason. That might be the objective of my survey.
So, how's the weather?</p>
<p>mootmom-- So, how's the weather mootmom ???</p>
<p>Your question is ill-defined to begin with because there is no "one reputation" of any university. Some people think MIT is better for reasons which may be irrevelant to some who think Harvard is better.</p>
<p>Are you talking about reputation among the general public? The average student applying to college? The exceptional student applying to college? The academic? The businessperson? The journalist? ... Come on, there is no <em>single</em> reputation to compare!</p>
<p>Perplexitudinous-- Well there is one reputation. The one in the mind of general public. Everyone is part of general public. So ...</p>
<p>If you think that "general public" means "everybody," than I'm afraid that there is too much variation to say that there is ANY difference between MIT and Harvard as far as reputation is concerned.</p>
<p>Edit: Of course, nothing wrong particularly with defining "general public" as "everybody"...</p>
<p>Perplexitudinous-- How could you say that? At least the acedemics think in favour of Harvard.</p>
<ol>
<li>Times Higher Education Supplement Rankings</li>
<li>Academic Ranking of World Universities</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/%5B/url%5D">http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/</a>
<a href="http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm%5B/url%5D">http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm</a></p>
<p>So what? Not everyone is an academic.</p>
<p>I really see no point to argue about this. Rankings are really not that big of of a deal. harvardguy wrote: "Which university is more reputed OVERALL?" There is no answer to your question becaue both MIT and Harvard are great schools. As I said before, we modest MIT students DO NOT like to argue with arrogant people like you, harvardguy. Keep the thinking to yourself but don't show it to the public because you will offend many people.</p>
<p>MIT2010-- Point taken. But it is democracy. Everyone has a right to express his or her opinions. I am just asking for opinions. No offence meant of course. Why do people get offended? Just because I have Harvard in my name and I am in MIT forum. Come on.</p>
<p>harvardguy, you can, however, say that ALL schools in the top 10 or even 20 are exceptionally good--they all have great reputations but all in different fields. Your "OVERALL" reputation is a very very vague concept because smart people don't judge and choose university based on these marks.</p>