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<p>Well, I think the real question is, what’s the alternative? What are you comparing it to? I would point out that Harvard has a far higher grad-student:undergrad-student ratio than MIT does (about 2:1 vs. 1.5:1) </p>
<p>Look, if you never want to worry about grad students, then don’t go to MIT. And don’t go to any of the Ivies either, or to Stanford, or Caltech, and any of those other usual suspects. Instead, go to a LAC. </p>
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<p>Nah, this is almost certainly a red herring. Because of UROP, I would argue that MIT is actually one of the * premier * places to go for research opportunities, and in fact, is one of MIT’s main selling points. While I can’t quantify this, I will say that MIT almost certainly have more undergraduate research opportunities per capita than the vast vast majority of other schools out there. I think there is no comparison on this front between MIT and, say, any of the large public universities, simply because the sheer size of the undergraduate programs at the latter make it extremely difficult to service individual undergrads. </p>
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<p>Well, yes, but the same holds at other schools. There are TA’s at Harvard who are mediocre at best and who don’t care. There are TA’s at any of the large public universities who don’t care. Any university that uses TA’s will have some who don’t care. I am not aware of any evidence to indicate that MIT is any worse on this front. </p>
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<p>Look, there are definitely serious reasons not to choose MIT. But those reasons that your family members cited do not strike me as serious objections, as MIT is probably no worse than most comparable schools on those metrics you cited, and on one metric, regarding undergraduate research, is almost certainly better. </p>
<p>What I suspect is really happening is that your family members are actually trying to steer you towards a more prestigious school - i.e. Harvard - so they are coming up with quibbles regarding MIT despite the fact that Harvard is probably no better than MIT on any of those metrics they cited. But if that’s what they’re doing, then I think they should at least be honest enough to tell you that that’s what they’re doing.</p>