<p>The million dollar question, isn’t it??
But, don’t you think this is a little idealistic?? In India, any layman would know about the IITs, same goes the case in the US; HYPMSC are the pioneers of education there like IITs are in India. You really can’t compare them to the IITs. Lets take an example, there are 2 kids- X and Y. X lives in New York and Y in India. Now, what would the family members in the US of student X think when he gives the JEE; they would not be sure of what to make of it. Likewise for the Student Y. This is because they don’t really know what IITs are. And, I can assure you that the people who go to the IITs are geniuses of hard work. And when I say that, it means that they are really good at what they do. Even though, I don’t undermine the elite colleges on the US, they do have better sense of education in some ways.
This is what I am trying to convey here, You really CAN’T compare IITs and the Ivies. They are completely different.</p>
I don’t quite understand what you are trying to say with this. That people in India care about IIT and only in the US care about HYPSM? If so, then you are wrong. Everyone in other parts of the world such as Europe and East Asia knows HYPSM. Just look at the Fortune 500 Companies and see how many of them have sprung from these universities. Look the faculty and nobel prize winners. Look at people who made a difference in the world and where they went to university. </p>
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No doubt about that, I never said otherwise. Still, that doesn’t make a university prestigious. That alone doesn’t make people successful either. Today, pure knowledge is not as important as it was a long time ago. You can learn about and look up everything online. Apart from doing research universities are there to educate people in other ways, expand their perspectives, and make them into leaders. That’s what US universities do well, and most Indian or East Asian (also European) universities do not.</p>
<p>About the acceptance rate regarding the IITs: You’re forgetting that quite a few people just write the IITJEE just for the sake of it. If i, likewise, compared everyone who took the SAT to the number of people entering Harvard, the admission rate would 0.000-something. So, i don’t think the admission percentage should directly figure into the comparison.</p>
<p>However, if you have half a brain, and you are willing to put in some effort getting a rank below 5000 isn’t tough at all. But to get really good ranks, there is no alternative but to work your butt off.</p>
<p>^^ The reason the IITs don’t figure in the list of the “top Universities” is because IIT has a really great program only for engineering. It doesn’t have a good graduate program. It doesn’t have a good economics program. There isn’t too much research.</p>
<p>But for pure engineering or more science-based undergraduate degrees, I truly believe that the IITs will be up there along with CalTech and MIT.</p>
<p>Oh god. Take out the references to US institutions, and this is close to the sort of thing one would have heard uttered by some mid-level British Foreign Office apparatchik during the Raj.</p>
<p>Bu the way, have you noticed that the entire British auto industry is now owned by Tata Motors, which is Indian?</p>
Yes, that’s probably the reason and I don’t even doubt that the undergraduate education at IIT is just as rigorous (if not more) than at Caltech or MIT. However, that doesn’t make it prestigious. I can similarly argue that a random university in Germany is a lot “harder” than Harvard (which is true in my experience). That doesn’t make it more prestigious though. Let’s face it. IIT is a great school that’s incredibly difficult to get into and people who get in are very smart. But it’s not prestigious outside of India (and you mentioned some of the reasons for that).</p>
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No, I didn’t know and I’m not sure what you’re trying to say with this. Tata Motors is a Fortune 500 company and Indian (Though the founder was actually born and grew up in France, funny), great. Great company. Good for them, but what does it have to do with this thread?</p>
<p>My views regarding this IIT vs. HYP debate:
IIT is a LOT easier to get into than any Ivy school if you are a math/science person. For instance, AIME problems are far harder than any IIT math problems I’ve seen. And the physics questions that were on my Physics C class tests were harder than most IIT physics problems I’ve seen.
The reason why there’s so much hype for the IITs (on this thread and elsewhere) is that a lot of non-math/science people apply and have to study around 4 hours a day throughout high school in order to compete with those who are good at math and science. Now, if all you do is ace a few math/science contests and then apply to HYP, you’re in for a rejection letter.</p>
<p>I completely disagree with your post except the last line. Disregard the question part, that was me being rude. However, you can’t bash the JEE saying that it is very easy on your part. I won’t compare the APs to the JEE, that would be unfair. But, you can always try and solve the JEE paper.
Anyway, I don’t think this discussion can produce any productive results. So, I am out of this. :)</p>
<p>It’s not appropriate to compare the Advanced Placement tests with the IIT JEE, because while the former tests your understanding of concepts in various subjects the latter is meant to be a test of problem solving. </p>
<p>Regardless, I did not say that the JEE is easy, merely that it is somewhat harder than first-tier math competitions (AMC12, ARML Round 1, etc.) and easier than second-tier math competitions (AIME, HMMT & HMNT, Mandelbrot, etc.) and a joke compared to USAMO. If you’re saying that the JEE is harder than AIME, you obviously haven’t seen AIME questions. I mean, at least three questions on each IIT test are textbook problems.</p>
<p>As someone who who wrote the JEE and who made it into the rank list (just barely though), the JEE is probably one of the toughest exams out there. It requires not only a solid foundation in math/science, but excellent test taking skills. If you can’t write a 6 hour exam which decides your life without remaining absolutely calm, you’re finished.</p>
<p>Again, the system can be gamed. The smartest kids don’t necessarily go to IIT, just the most hard working. I know plenty of students with extreme determination and study habits who did better than much smarter kids. The aforementioned boarding or prep schools train their students for this exam for years. These students ignore school work and study for this test alone. It’s a test where being hard-working pays off more than being smart. Most students in the US lack the work ethic to write this kind of exam.</p>
<p>I did, it’s not too hard. Here’s another such question from the 2009 IIT:
Calculate f-inverse(1) given that f(x) = x^3+exp(x/2).
[This question is a direct application of the Derivative Rule for Inverses. And it’s really easy to see that f(0)=1).]</p>
<p>Contrast that with the following HMMT Calculus question (also from 2009):</p>
<p>A line in the plane is called strange if it passes through (a, 0) and (0, 10 - a) for some a in the interval [0, 10]. A point in the plane is called charming if it lies in the first quadrant and also lies below some strange line. What is the area of the set of all charming points?</p>
<p>This is by no means obvious. </p>
<p>I’ll admit that I looked for one of the easier questions on the JEE, but the fact that such questions are present clearly displays the calibur of the test. Anyway, I’m not saying that it’s easy, only that it is easy in comparison to some math tests in the US. I feel that what really makes the JEE stand out is the fact that half a million people compete for only around 10000 spots in the institution.</p>
