Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known as MIT or M.I.T., was established in 1861, as a privately-owned technical college focused on teaching and research; but the college has over the years evolved to international stardom as a scientific and technological training and research-oriented institution. The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students through research collaboratively, majorly to serve the nation and the world. This mission is executed by committing to generating, disseminating, preserving, and bringing the knowledge applicable in solving worldwide problems. At the heart of MIT is a commitment to rigorous study, and a diverse community of students, enabling them to be knowledgeable, creative, and highly effective for the 21st century.
MIT’s founder and first president by the name of William Barton Rogers have accomplished great strides to organize the institution. The college first started in Boston before its relocation to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1916. The college was pivotal during the Great Depression with the establishment of research centers, most notably analog computing and aeronautics, the strides of MIT continued into World War II, with a Radiation laboratory becoming the country’s leading center for radar development and research. Massachusetts Institute of Technology continues to support basic and applied research in computing, engineering, and aerospace to name a few.
About MIT | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT campus sits on 168 acres of land, situated between Central and Kendall Squares, with a view of Boston from the riverside; the campus comprises 26 acres of playing fields, more than 20 gardens and green spaces, 18 student residences, and around 50 publicly cited artworks. MIT has carved a name for itself as one of the best worldwide. This institution has produced several nobel laureates, national medal of science, medal of technology and innovation, MacArthur fellows, and A.M Turing Award winners. An institution dedicated to excellence and results.
MIT has 30 departments across 5 colleges in MIT ranging from Architecture and Planning; Engineering; Humanities, Arts, and Social sciences; Management; and Science, and MIT’s Schwarzman College of Computing. English is the language taught. The academic calendar of MIT is a 4-1-4 system with a four-week “Independent Activities Period” in January, during which undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni participate in forums, lecture series, recitals, and other special activities in these four weeks. The tuition is about $77,000 but most students don’t pay the full fees because MIT has financial aid that can be accessed.
Majors at MIT are called courses with numbers rather than names; while, their credits are called units and they’re counted differently than at most other universities. For example, Computer Science and Engineering is known as Course 6-3, Architecture as Course 4, Aerospace Engineering as Course 16, Humanities and Engineering as Course 21E and Computer Science and Engineering as Course 6-3.
These five colleges within MIT revolutionize new ways of scholarly wisdom on the campus. With a population of over 11,000 students, 60% of students are admitted for postgraduate studies and 40% of students for their undergraduate studies. Worthy of note is that international students make up over 3000 of the total students from over 100 countries. With more than 3,000+ faculty staff, alongside its undergraduate and postgraduate programs, the institute offers executive and professional programs both online and on-campus for entrepreneurs, executives, technical professionals, and managers. A peck for fresh year undergraduate students is that they can live on campus, even though other students further along in their studies choose to reside on campus as well. MIT has several centers for research and laboratories. The institution has a nuclear reactor, a computation center, geophysical and astrophysical observatories, and a linear accelerator facility. MIT’s library is extensive with the inclusion of specialized libraries. As a college that loves art, several museums are present.
Accolades
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has accomplished massive strides and this is reflected in the rankings given by organizations; the QS Global World University ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the first in the world for the year 2021, recent rankings from the Business, Engineering, and Computers Courses to list a few are highlighted below-
The US News & World Report 2021 for UG computer engineering and PG Mechanical Engineering ranked MIT as first,
Information Systems MBA by US News & World Report 2021, and Global Universities by the US News & World Report 2021 ranked MIT second,
from the major ranking publishers, MIT has an earned great reputation for providing excellence which has placed them on the top spots.
Student Environment | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT’s aura in the academic space transcends across the campus, an atmosphere charged for creative, committed, professional and inquisitive minds that desire to impact their world all-round, either on the stage, in the field, in art, play, or quiet, it is an inclusive community of diverse students that celebrates and relish cultures from around the globe.
The 168 acres riverside campus overflows with daring artists, talented athletes, and a club or group for just about anything. Students choose their extracurricular adventures from a spectacular array of activities to participate in, which includes music, dance, sports, campus residences activities, health and wellness, social justice program, cross-cultural engagement, religious, spiritual and ethical life groups, to list a few.
Finally, from a compendium of some students of the college, this is what they concluded about MIT; don’t enroll if you want an easy life. It might seem tough to get admission because the approval rate is 6.7%, but it is quite rewarding to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because you are certain of one thing, the college is committed to fulfilling its mission and would support you to aspire and be greatness.
References:
- Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia (1 October 2021). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Massachusetts-Institute-of-Technology [Accessed 4 December 2021.]
- https://www.mit.edu/resources/#prospective-students[Accessed: 04 December 2021]
- https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/massachusetts-institute-technology-mit
- https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/massachusetts-institute-of-technology-166683
- https://www.mit.edu/campus-life/
- https://www.mit.edu/research/
- https://mitadmissions.org/discover/the-mit-education/majors-minors/
- Meghana Vishwanath (28 April 2021) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, https://studyabroad.shiksha.com/usa/universities/massachusetts-institute-of-technology, and
- https://studyabroad.shiksha.com/usa/universities/massachusetts-institute-of-technology/ranking
