As someone who attended both an IIT (as an undergrad) and a top 10 US university (for my PhD) - think of IITs as very selective undergrad colleges in the USA, s

As someone who attended both an IIT (as an undergrad) and a top 10 US university (for my PhD) - think of IITs as very selective undergrad colleges in the USA, such as Swarthmore or Amherst. IITs are way more teaching focused than research focused, and are have a very light international student presence - two factors that enormously influence rankings.