Massachusetts Institute Of Technology

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a medium-sized city.

Overview

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT is considered one of the premier research and teaching universities in the world. It has been regularly ranked by several publications as among the top universities globally. The institute places a strong focus on its scientific and technological research. Its endowment and research budgets rank among the highest of all US universities. The count of Nobel prize winners that have or are affiliated with MIT exceeds 70 and for MacArthur Fellows the count is over 30.

The school was founded in 1861 by William Barton Rogers. It is a private, land-grant university, and is also a sea-grant and space-grant university. The campus is spread across an area of more than 165 acres and is located directly across the Charles River from Boston's Beacon Hill and Back Bay neighborhoods.

The student body is diverse – over 2700 of its students are from over 100 different countries, which represents over 25% of enrollments. All of the US states are represented among MIT's students. Admissions are competitive – recently just over 10% of all applicants were accepted by the school.

MIT offers a wide variety of degrees and programs through the following academic divisions:

• School of Architecture and Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts
• School of Science
• Sloan School of Management
• Social Sciences
• Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology

MIT has a long list of highly successful alumni in science, public service, education, and business. A few notable alumni include: Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin; Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman; former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; Pritzker prize winning architect I.M. Pei; and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke.

MIT has one of the largest varsity sports programs in the US. The teams are named the Engineers with the mascot being a beaver, otherwise described as “nature's engineer.” Sports for which the school has fielded competitive teams at the national championship level include pistol, taekwondo, track and field, swimming and diving, cross country, crew, fencing, and water polo.

There are several fraternities and sororities on campus. They are governed by The Interfraternity Council (IFC), the Panhellenic Association (Panhel), and Living Group Council (LGC). There is also an international club on campus to assist foreign students.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• Many students concentrating in mathematics, engineering, architecture and planning, science, medicine, and computer science and engineering.
• High faculty salary.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).
• Selective admissions.
• High percentage of students are from out-of-state.
• Good faculty-to-student ratio.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• Large number of students.
• High male/female ratio.
• Number of dorm rooms for students.
• High yield: the portion of accepted students who enroll.
• Racially diverse student body.

School characteristics:

• The school is private, not-for-profit.
• Academic calender: 4-1-4 plan.
• Carnegie classification: Doctoral/Research Universities, Extensive.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students may study abroad.
• Distance learning is available.
• Part-time classes are available.
• ROTC.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to MIT:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 10,299 in 2009-2010 (10,173 full-time equivalent).

About 55% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 45% of the class.

Undergrads are 39% of enrolled students and graduate students are 61%.

Students under 25 years old represent 59% of the student body. About 1% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

MIT provides on-campus housing for 5,525 of its 10,173 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010). The school requires freshmen to live on campus.

Athletics

School sports include football (New England Football Conference), basketball (New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference), baseball (New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference), and track (New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference).

Graduate School Focus

MIT offers graduate (post-Bachelor) studies. The highest degree offered is the Doctorate (Research/Scholarship).

The school's Graduate School Carnegie Classification is Comprehensive Doctoral (No Medical/Veterinary).

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING (203 awarded)

• Architecture (BArch, BA/BS, MArch, MA/MS, PhD)
• City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (592 awarded)

• Business, Management, Marketing & Related Support Services
• Business/Commerce

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (341 awarded)

• Computer Science
• Computer and Information Sciences

ENGINEERING (1,309 awarded)

• Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Engineering
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Nuclear Engineering
• Operations Research
• Systems Engineering
• Transportation and Highway Engineering

LIBERAL ARTS (118 awarded)

• Anthropology
• Creative Writing
• Economics
• English Language and Literature
• Foreign Languages and Literatures
• History
• Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
• Linguistics
• Political Science and Government

MATHEMATICS (124 awarded)

• Mathematics and Computer Science
• Mathematics

MEDIA (52 awarded)

• Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia
• Journalism
• Mass Communication/Media Studies

MEDICINE (92 awarded)

• Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences
• Neuroscience

MUSIC (7 awarded)

• Music

REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT (4 awarded)

• Real Estate

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (8 awarded)

• Philosophy

SCIENCE (365 awarded)

• Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
• Bioinformatics
• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Chemistry
• Geology/Earth Science
• Geophysics and Seismology
• Meteorology
• Oceanography, Chemical and Physical
• Physics
• Planetary Astronomy and Science
• Science, Technology and Society

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (12 awarded)

• Cognitive Science