Architecturally speaking, this place is an endearing mishmash of the stately, the quirky, and the ugly. The campus is perpetually under construction and has several crazy-looking buildings that everyone should visit. Academically speaking, this place is a guillotine, or at least a giant whip. Come here for school if you like getting epically ass-whooped by exams and problem sets on a weekly basis. Each exam is an oak tree up the ass. Mediocrity is not tolerated, and only the brilliant/extraneously nerdy survive. If you’re a tourist, this is a great place to observe students who bark at buildings for fun, work for 60 hours at a time, and make binary clocks in their natural habitat.

I went to MIT and all I got was a lousy t-shirt.  The Harvard Bookstore had far better clothing.  

Unquestionably a great institution, and it seems to be one of the few no-nonsense American schools left.

The Caltech of the East Coast.

If you are into math and other geek stuff, this is your home.

No need to berate us ivy leaguers. Some of us believe in attending beautiful campuses, having social interaction (ie making friends for life), and becoming better overall people, which doesn't just come through multivariable calculus, abstract algebra or regressions.

I think that the people on here knocking the school are only upset because they probably couldn't get accepted. The personality of the school is second to none, and the students are, by far, the smartest kids in the country. I was talking about this with some of my fellow MIT friends - We could easily do well in any Ivy humanities class, but try sticking a Harvard Poli Sci major in an MIT physics course... no grade inflation here!

Excellent science and technology, but this is a comparison of UNIVERISITYS, Not just technical schools. College is about many things. If I wanted to study Cello or Education I would not go here. Being exposed to bright people in every field is what makes Yale Yale and Stanford Stanford.

My brother and I visited last year (He is at Princeton and I am hoping for Wellesley) Every house was a mess, the students were one dimensional and life was dull. What is the point. Noone was friendly. We are from California and if we want this we can get more fun at CalTech and a better education.

Everyone is so friendly and willing to help each other out! The competitive nature is not with each other, but with oneself. The hacking is great fun also.

I have a great respect for the students who were able to get into MIT. The campus is hideous though. Very futuristic and sci-fi.

One of the most materialistic student bodies.. what are they all competing for and wasting their youth on?

Some of the most brilliant, most eclectic, people on the face of the earth. Everybody is miserable due to hyper-competitive nature of the school.

Bunch of loners who basically sleep with their books! heck, did you folks know that they have showers in the library at MIT?!!! Basically the libraries on campus are the students' dormitory.

Undergrads are much more normal than all these "kingdom of the geeks" comments suggest. Perhaps some humanities courses are weaker than at Ivies, but it is an ENGINEERING school! Definitely attracts some of the world's brightest, and significantly adds to all students' knowledge.

No where else is the student body so ambitious yet willing to help their fellow peers in the process. MIT is second to none, and the athletic facilities are becoming more and more appealing.

The smart and brightest in the world. Really nice kids here. If you are pretentious or a cocky bastard, don't come here or you'll get a physical beat-down by me or someone else.

Here's the facts: #1 Engineering/Science in the country. #1 Economics AND Management for Undergrads. 54 Nobel Laureates. Every undergrad class taught by professors who try to kick your ass. 30 fraternities with multi-million mansions, and all are self-governed. MIT is hard as hell and only special types of people can survive it. You WILL learn a lot, and if you do well, you can truly change the world. MIT alums start large companies, invent things, run the United Nations (Kofi Annan). Up the river at Harvard for undergrad, there is grade inflation and lots of cheating, which I imagine will help you get a good first job but that's it. The two schools are completely different - know what type of person you are.

Overrated.

Not good for undergrad, miserable students.

Most students that go to MIT end up smoking crack.

SIMPLY THE BEST!!!

Terrific reputation for kids who couldn't make the grade at an Ivy or Ivy equivalent school.

Whoa, what an uptight bunch of yankees! weird students, strange coed bathrooms and greek system. You have to be the total MIT type - geeky, into math, and date-desperate, to end up here.

I've always dreamed to go to the MIT... and I will, some day. Even if all I must to do there is clean the bathrooms!!! @=D

An institution with co-ed bathrooms - ringer humanities classes and students...great science and engineering...what more could you ask for

The technological courses are phenomenal.

M.I.T. has got to be the hardest undergraduate school.