Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the best university
MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is considered the best university in the world, and offers students an unparalleled opportunity to push the boundaries of knowledge and become leaders and innovators in their field of expertise.
Admissions criteria:
MIT has a holistic approach to candidates and many students have said that they felt they were being looked at as individuals, and not merely processed in line with rigid academic criteria.
MIT looks for people who will serve, improve the world, show initiative and courage and have a passion they can use to inspire others to be creative and experiment. MIT wants leaders and believes its applicants have to be able to play hard, as well as work hard.
Group work is very important at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and cross-departmental projects are extremely common. This is because the university is , as Bill Clinton stated, a “living laboratory” for turning ideas into businesses, with hundreds of inventions being patented every year – including the spreadsheet and the disposable razor!
Bill Hewlett of HP and Drew Houston, the creator of Dropbox, are both former MIT students, while Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the world wide web, lectures at the university. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to take the world by storm, then MIT will provide you with the guidance, resources and help you need to join this elite company.
Academic admissions requirements are high. The average SAT scores for getting into MIT range between 1500 and 1570, and only 6 per cent of applications result in the offer of a place. However, if you do get an offer, remember that MIT is one of the five American universities which has a need-blind admissions policy, and your ability to pay its annual $73,000 dollar costs – which include tuition, accommodation and living expenses – will not affect their decision.
If you are accepted, MIT offers generous financial aid packages, which could effectively mean that you study at this astonishing university for free! Contact Elab if you would like us to run through the financing criteria and possibilities, scholarships and fees. We will be able to give you up to date information and answer any questions you may have about costs.
Which courses can I apply for at Massachusetts Institute of Technology?
As its name suggests, MIT is renowned all over the world for its research in the fields of physical sciences and engineering. Nevertheless, the university also runs extremely highly-rated courses in:
- Philosophy
- Architecture
- Economics
- Urban studies
- Political science
The university is divided into five Schools, one College and 34 departments and, according to many of its 4500 students, it is the Mecca of maths and science.
What facilities and resources will I find at MIT?
The campus:
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus sprawls over 168 acres on the north bank of the Charles River, opposite Boston. It has 30 or more parks and green spaces, 12 museums, houses the MIT Centre for Art, Science and Technology, the MIT List Visual Arts Centre, 18 halls of residence and state of the art laboratories, libraries etc. You will also find:
- Wind tunnels
- Robot and drone testing laboratories
- Nanotechnology and advanced imaging centres
- Wet labs, etc...
The entire campus is walkable, but it also contains bike-sharing stations at regular intervals and provides free shuttle services.
Accommodation
When it comes to accommodation, all first year students live in the university halls, and in their second year they can choose to stay or move out into the one of the Fraternity, Sorority, Independent Living Groups, 37 of which form part of the MIT housing community. There are six postgraduate houses, which can accommodate couples, available on campus.
Sports at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Since everything at MIT is on a large-scale, it will not surprise you to find out that it has 26 acres of playing fields, offers 33 sports , takes part in inter-varsity competitions and expects every student to meet the General Institute Requirements and get eight points for taking part in sports and wellness activities. These include:
- Golf
- Ice Skating
- Kayaking, Sailing
- Snowboarding
- Climbing
MIT alumni
The list is very long and includes recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, Guggenheim awards and Grammy awards. To name but a few, Kofi Anan, Buzz Aldrin and Benjamin Netanyahu , who climbed to the top of very different fields, all studied at MIT.
MIT traditions
MIT is known for its love of intelligent practical jokes, called hacking. For example, past students have placed a campus police cruiser on top of the university Great Dome, changed the poor dome into R2-D2 and, because of their rivalry with their neighbours at Harvard, spent weeks conditioning birds to come down when they heard a whistle, by placing birdseed on the Harvard field.
Thus, when the annual Harvard-Yale match started and the referee blew his whistle, the game had to be stopped immediately as thousands of birds descended, looking for their seed. Each new intake designs a class ring, known as the brass rat, which they wear.
MIT students who pass classes in archery, pistol shooting, sailing and fencing are awarded Pirate Certificates.
