<p>I heard a rumor that MIT's classes (for undergrad at least) are simmilar to those of less well known colleges (Rice, Rutgers, etc.) in terms of rigor. That MIT is really good for recourse and that is why it is rated so high. Is there anything to this or isit a load of crap?</p>
<p>? Where did you hear that? Or maybe I’m misinterpreting the question. The undergrad classes at MIT are definitely a lot harder than those at Rutgers; I have several friends there, and I can say pretty certainly that the whole atmosphere and work ethic is very different.</p>
<p>Maybe there’s nothing to it, but I read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that MIT wasn’t nearly as good as everyone thinks it is, but is rated as high as it is because of research offered to grad students.</p>
<p>^^ OK, departmental rankings tend to center around what sorts of work is produced out of the school. That includes graduate students and professors, but the same environment, plenty of research opportunity, and courses are present for undergraduates. School ratings also take into account how much the undergraduates are cared for. </p>
<p>As was mentioned elsewhere, my own home school has many departments that are world class like MIT’s, and the classes can be exceptionally difficult, but it can also feel large and impersonal, and lacks any uniform student culture, all things that are surely less true about MIT. </p>
<p>From the standpoint of getting a very good undergraduate training, yes, you can do it many places in the U.S. and in the world, and ranking schools against each other is probably useless to a degree, and it is better for the student to consider personal needs.</p>
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The answer to that question is “no.” I have taken a significant number of undergrad classes at two top 10 universities, one of them Harvard, and there was no comparison in terms of the rigor and sheer amount of material or work. Caltech and Berkeley are the only ones that could be comparable to MIT, particularly in engineering.</p>
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That same research is also offered to undergraduates, and undergraduates at MIT take full advantage of the opportunity to do cutting-edge research in the great laboratories at MIT.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, in terms of classes, in many departments the upper-level undergraduate classes are graduate classes. The graduate students at MIT are taking the classes alongside the undergrads.</p>
<p>There aren’t really many (any) bars at MIT to taking the most rigorous curriculum possible. If a student wants to come to MIT and begin taking advanced graduate-level seminars in a particular department first semester, and start doing research immediately, no one will stop him.</p>
<p>Ok thanks for the information. That really cleared things up for me. I read this, and was then confronted by my parents (who want me to go somewhere closer to NC and cheaper) who said, “see? it’s the same as anywhere else, why pay all the extra money?” Thanks much.</p>