3 ms·

Why do "we know" MIT is actually harder?

hga 13y ago
Everyone at MIT, no matter what the major, has to do a term of multivariable calculus beyond the AP BC material, plus a term each of calculus based mechanics and E&M (physics). There are also less intense biology, chemistry and lab requirements, and a very serious "Communications"/writing set of requirements. See http://web.mit.edu/catalog/overv.chap3-gir.html http://web.mit.edu/catalog/overv.chap3-gir.html for the gory details. Last time I checked, which was decades ago, Harvard required proof that you can do algebra. MIT is not, however, a flunk out school. It believes that every admit can do the work, and the pattern is that people who've chosen an appropriate major make As and Bs, unless they have personal problems, which of course are statistically inevitable. No legacy admits if they can't do the work (which means few in practice), every minority in the student body deserves to be there (at least in my personal experience).
- ethanbond 13y ago
  Oh, I thought you meant that we know MIT is harder than CMU. I'm hesitant to say that MIT is easier than Harvard, too, but for a different reason. I go to a CMU/MITish type school and I know lots of kids that can blow right through calc, diff eq, etc., but couldn't do an elementary analysis of, for example, a piece of legislation or historical account. Also, if the average person is making As and Bs, you have pretty bad grade inflation (but then again I'm coming from one of the least inflated systems in the country).
  - hga 13y ago
    I've looked closely at MIT's grading over the years and except for a bit in the '60s that I attribute to the draft, there's no sign I could see of grade inflation. What MIT does is grade on mastery of the subject, not on some curve that might be appropriate for a "flunk out" school but not for one like MIT that can admit the very best in the world. A bit of time with Google indicates Harvard also doesn't grade on the curve. Going further in what I said above, last time I got figures a few years ago, MIT thought about 3,000 of its applicants can do the work (back when there were 12-13,000 applicants/year). So once that bar has been passed, they can be fairly selective about who they admit for the class target of around 1,100, and in my experience in the '80s by and large those admits can "do an elementary analysis of, for example, a piece of legislation or historical account" (although very few seemed to know history ... then again that's a life long interest and study of mine). Harvard being Harvard I would expect the student body to be better at "do[ing] an elementary analysis of, for example, a piece of legislation or historical account" than MIT's student body, but Harvard, along with MIT (and CalTech, which has significantly stiffer general graduation requirements than MIT) are special cases.

hga 13y ago

Everyone at MIT, no matter what the major, has to do a term of multivariable calculus beyond the AP BC material, plus a term each of calculus based mechanics and E&M (physics). There are also less intense biology, chemistry and lab requirements, and a very serious "Communications"/writing set of requirements. See http://web.mit.edu/catalog/overv.chap3-gir.html http://web.mit.edu/catalog/overv.chap3-gir.html for the gory details. Last time I checked, which was decades ago, Harvard required proof that you can do algebra. MIT is not, however, a flunk out school. It believes that every admit can do the work, and the pattern is that people who've chosen an appropriate major make As and Bs, unless they have personal problems, which of course are statistically inevitable. No legacy admits if they can't do the work (which means few in practice), every minority in the student body deserves to be there (at least in my personal experience).

ethanbond 13y ago
Oh, I thought you meant that we know MIT is harder than CMU. I'm hesitant to say that MIT is easier than Harvard, too, but for a different reason. I go to a CMU/MITish type school and I know lots of kids that can blow right through calc, diff eq, etc., but couldn't do an elementary analysis of, for example, a piece of legislation or historical account. Also, if the average person is making As and Bs, you have pretty bad grade inflation (but then again I'm coming from one of the least inflated systems in the country).
- hga 13y ago
  I've looked closely at MIT's grading over the years and except for a bit in the '60s that I attribute to the draft, there's no sign I could see of grade inflation. What MIT does is grade on mastery of the subject, not on some curve that might be appropriate for a "flunk out" school but not for one like MIT that can admit the very best in the world. A bit of time with Google indicates Harvard also doesn't grade on the curve. Going further in what I said above, last time I got figures a few years ago, MIT thought about 3,000 of its applicants can do the work (back when there were 12-13,000 applicants/year). So once that bar has been passed, they can be fairly selective about who they admit for the class target of around 1,100, and in my experience in the '80s by and large those admits can "do an elementary analysis of, for example, a piece of legislation or historical account" (although very few seemed to know history ... then again that's a life long interest and study of mine). Harvard being Harvard I would expect the student body to be better at "do[ing] an elementary analysis of, for example, a piece of legislation or historical account" than MIT's student body, but Harvard, along with MIT (and CalTech, which has significantly stiffer general graduation requirements than MIT) are special cases.