IIT vs. MIT - Page 4

madfreak · 12-22-2009, 02:45 PM

I know that one has to be outstandingly good to be in IIT. The admission test requires students to study very hard. But, it seems to me that the motivation for students to study is not being a master in the field of engineering, rathar it is to be successful in life in terms of money, position and power. The kind of preparation required to beat the competition for IIT-JEE, can't be accomplished if one only loves maths and physics, rathar I think it requires students to have a hunger to be something in life. Infact I've heard IIT students say "If you start loving maths or physics, you become whimsical. To crack IIT you need to study your heart out". Perhaps that's the reason why most of the IIT grads end up being CEO's, MD's etc of some multinational companies and not some top researcher or inventor. So in my opinion it is only hunger for money that drives students into IIT. Well, it is obvious that the hunger for money would be more among the students from the deprived classes of India, so as a result one can see the growing number of students in IIT who are from extremely poor families of India.
Whereas in MIT, students are generally from well-off families, so the reason for what they are there could be nothing apart from academic exellence. Moreover, I can't think of many CEO's or MD's from an engineering or science department of MIT.
I don't want to comment which is better. But I feel that if somebody wants make money and have high profile status IIT is the best place and if somebody wants to gain intellectual superiority and academic exellence MIT would be a better option.

Karottu · 01-25-2010, 12:53 PM

@thomaskurian89: I completely agree with you.
Those who go to IIT need not be necessarily the best; it may just be that they went to a better coaching centre.
Guys, the difference between IIT and MIT can be summarized so, in my opinion: IIT is the best in India, while MIT is the best in the world.

Karottu · 01-25-2010, 01:17 PM

@Dad_of_3:
Sir,
I must say that your argument is the most valid one of the lot.
But, I would like to point out that top US schools are now offering such excellent financial aid packages that the cost of studying at IIT at the undergraduate level is on par with the cost of doing undergrad at MIT.

kushalck · 01-25-2010, 01:59 PM

Students get into IIT completely based on JEE scores. If you got into IIT, it doesn't mean anything except for that you knew how to take the JEE.

I'm brought up in the US, and moved to India since 8th grade so I can compare both education systems. The American system is far far better, it gives one a real education. The Indian system just sees how well you can do on the exam, nothing more. Go ask exam toppers application and reasoning questions related to what they've studied for the exams, and they'll be blank. Also, much of the studying for exams is done by mugging and cramming a few months before the exams, there is no overall study throughout the year for most students, unlike in the US where you had to do homework, quizes, tests, projects, labs etc. all the time, and not reproduce just a whole bucket load for the last exams.

I can say the above because I'm not the typical person on this planet who's purpose in life is education for the sake of a job and good life. I learn truly for the sake of learning, its what intuitive and reasoning skills American education has given me. I love to find out how the world around works. Now I'm not saying that money is completely non-important, but engineering isn't the only way in life. Look at the amount of students who do BSc and Ph.Ds in pure sciences who have true interest, compared with the engineering bachelor's who do it for the sake of a job, its ridiculous. But I know what people will say now, there are many people that do engineering because they have to support their family, but the government should change that and those lazy people probably won't so that I accept is a genuine reason.

The usual person who gets into MIT has a true passion for what he does, whereas the usual person who gets into IIT usually doesn't (forgive me if I'm wrong).

michiganfall · 01-25-2010, 04:20 PM

It's hard to get into,but that doesn't mean IIT is better than MIT,not even close,and I believe many universities in china are more selective than MIT but are ranked no where in the world.

srkillsalot · 01-25-2010, 05:33 PM

Is IIT the one on television? cuz i applied there and i got in.

kushalck · 01-25-2010, 05:39 PM

@srkillsalot your not thinking of Illinois Institute of Tech are you :P

waitatshu · 01-25-2010, 05:49 PM

lol using Cornell as a safety
wow.

waitatshu · 01-25-2010, 05:50 PM

and im majoring in comp sci too....
lol tho im not indian

srkillsalot · 01-25-2010, 06:16 PM

its dont say illinois institute of technology. im training to be a mechanic. i know i got into IIT

kushalck · 01-25-2010, 08:42 PM

^If you didn't take JEE then you didn't :P

itsreallyme · 02-08-2010, 07:35 AM

income can't be a factor to compare.. and you don't have any idea..

what we consider here.. if we don get admission in IIT in opted major we choose MIT and harvard and get admission along with scholarship.. just talk to any recruitment person about chances of IIT undergrad or of those with huge backup resources..

itsreallyme · 02-08-2010, 07:43 AM

YouTube - Americans are NOT stupid - WITH SUBTITLES

itsreallyme · 02-08-2010, 07:46 AM

and this:

Videos Posted by Indian Institutes of Technology: IITs on CBS 60 Minutes | Facebook

warblersrule · 02-08-2010, 12:26 PM

I love how this thread always gets resurrected by those with an agenda.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevtrice

Does anyone know how the academic repuation at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) compares to that of MIT? Any opinions or actual rankings?

I've seen plenty of Indian students on CC aiming for Harvard and MIT. How many American students dream of attending IIT? (Regardless of the practicality of that dream.)

It's always kind of bewildered me why people like to brag about how selective IIT is. To me, that only shows the extreme competition for the one relatively good system of universities in India. If the poverty level in India was reduced enough to allow it to adequately compete with the US in higher education, undoubtedly the selectivity of IIT would drop.

The only suitable ranking that I know of is the AWRU ranking produced by Shanghai Jiao-Tong University. It has MIT at #1 in the world and the highest IIT in the #51-77 range.

ARWU FIELD 2009 Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences

Overall, AWRU has MIT at #5 in the world and the highest IIT at #402-501.

United States Universities in Top 500 - 2009
India Universities in Top 500 - 2009