Which university has more intelligent students? Harvard or MIT?

[Mondo Freaks]

Arizona State

 

[clutchCAT420]

Harvard takes money from china and CAN bc celebrities. So f them

 

[gspieler]

Unless you have a loose definition of "intelligence", MIT hands-down, IMO.

The way some describe Harvard intelligence ITT, is more or less equivalent to street smarts, but with connections and wealth. Not on the same level as developing state of the art prosthetics, etc.

 

[Merlotte's]

Good schools but everyone sleeping on DeVry

 

[Candy Routure]

Good schools but everyone sleeping on DeVry

Is DeVry still around??

 

[Elzio Dennick]

Had a grandpa who was a great cook, mechanic, gardener ,could fix anything, played guitar and harmonica, he couldn't read or write.

I put common sense over intelligence.

 

[BoogerDawson]

Cal Tech

 

[Osculater]

Trump University >>>>every other university in the universe

 

[Tireur889]

Good schools but everyone sleeping on DeVry

Itt tech> devry

 

[mixmastermo]

Unless you have a loose definition of "intelligence", MIT hands-down, IMO.

The way some describe Harvard intelligence ITT, is more or less equivalent to street smarts, but with connections and wealth. Not on the same level as developing state of the art prosthetics, etc.

I find it slightly ironic that you're disputing posters like me and saying we are simply talking about "street smarts".. because you are actually using your street smarts to make your argument.

But it's all good. I'll admit I made some points but I wasn't overly specific. Look at the graphic below:

There are multiple kinds of intelligence. MIT heavily favors those who have strong spatial and logical-mathematical skills. Maybe strong in one or the other, maybe a bit of both.

The other kinds of intelligence I am talking about that would make one more "well-rounded" would be interpersonal, intrapersonal, and linguistic in addition to the 2 previously stated.

IMO a student (whether it's a Harvard or Penn State graduate) that is well above average in those 5 categories (but not necessarily an expert in any of them) is more intelligent overall and more likely to succeed than a student that is an expert at the logical-mathematical or spatial intelligences. Sure the logical mathematical genius who went to MIT may outclass the Penn State Business school grad in building machine learning algorithms.. but that MIT genius won't be running a multi-billion dollar corporation like Nike anytime soon.

 

[Osculater]

I find it slightly ironic that you're disputing posters like me and saying we are simply talking about "street smarts".. because you are actually using your street smarts to make your argument.

But it's all good. I'll admit I made some points but I wasn't overly specific. Look at the graphic below:

There are multiple kinds of intelligence. MIT heavily favors those who have strong spatial and logical-mathematical skills. Maybe strong in one or the other, maybe a bit of both.

The other kinds of intelligence I am talking about that would make one more "well-rounded" would be interpersonal, intrapersonal, and linguistic in addition to the 2 previously stated.

IMO a student (whether it's a Harvard or Penn State graduate) that is well above average in those 5 categories (but not necessarily an expert in any of them) is more intelligent overall and more likely to succeed than a student that is an expert at the logical-mathematical or spatial intelligences. Sure the logical mathematical genius who went to MIT may outclass the Penn State Business school grad in building machine learning algorithms.. but that MIT genius won't be running a multi-billion dollar corporation like Nike anytime soon.

 

[ChickenBrother]

MIT has the higher average SAT score (highly correlated with IQ) of 1535 vs. 1520 for Harvard. So we can say that MIT students are objectively "more intelligent" if we define intelligence as simple IQ.

https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/MIT-SAT-scores-GPA
https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/Harvard-SAT-scores-GPA

Of course it's more nuanced than that but if you graduate from either school, you're likely on your way to having a much better than average career.

Those saying Harvard is for kids with connections and wealth don't understand how college admissions work. There are some rich kids in every class but elite colleges want "diversity" so kids from privileged neighborhoods have a much tougher road to admission than "under-represented" i.e. poor kids.

My wife graduated from Harvard. She has the strongest work ethic of anyone I regularly deal with. HS valedictorian from a lower middle class public school and didn't come from money. 20+ years into both of our careers while I'm stuck at middle management and dicking around on Sherdog after the kids are asleep, she's sending out work emails at 11 pm and gunning for her next promotion. Has nothing to do with going to Harvard but it's just how she's wired.

 

[dc007]

I’ve always heard Harvard is very hard to get into but rather easy being there so probably MIT has smarter people

 

[Vil7]

Trump University >>>>every other university in the universe

This was proven by Space Force.

 

[Brampton_Boy]

MIT. Harvard loses by default by virtue of having a lot of joke programs, e.g. business administration, social studies, women studies, theatre, religious studies, etc. MIT has mostly hard sciences where you do need good cognitive skills to understand and manipulate the concepts at play.

"Intelligence" isn't a subjective concept; IQ is your general processing power (g-factor) - assessed by compounding your scores in multiple different facets (verbal, spatial, working memory, reasoning, etc). So when people inject concepts like "leadership" or "social skills" in a discussion about intelligence, they don't understand what intelligence is. You could say someone is intelligent BUT lacks x or y, but those random concepts don't fall under the banner of intelligence. Someone doesn't lose IQ points because they're unathletic or can't talk to girls - not how it works.

While I understand your point, I think the formal definition of intelligence is a poor predictor of success. In many ways, absolute intelligence is not particularly useful unless it can be applied.

Personally, if I had a choice between having a genius level IQ, versus high levels of social savvy and persuasiveness, I would choose the latter.

 

[Lubaolong]

Pretty sure IQ has a pretty moderate predictive value for career achievement / success.

Like @ChickenBrother said, MIT has slightly higher SAT/ACT averages. That's the only real objective data point you have.

The smartest people are kids who get the perfect SAT/ACT scores and take full scholarships to good state schools instead of going $300k into debt for an undergrad degree from Harvard/MIT.

 

[x9lonewolf]

MIT, Georgia Tech, Cal Tech, Stanford are my top picks for the brightest students.

You may get into these schools but graduating is a whole different ballgame.

 

[William Huggins]

TS asked about intelligence, not just IQ scores.

A combined score of IQ and EQ gives a better overall indicator of intelligence.

 

[HeroesNeverTap]

On average, I'd say MIT for two reasons. First, Harvard is more serious about athletics. Probably some student-athletes would not have been accepted if they weren't good athletes. Second, I don't think MIT considers legacy applicants. Meanwhile, a third of Harvard students could be legacy students. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/07/harvards-freshman-class-is-more-than-one-third-legacy.html. Just because someone is a legacy does not mean they are not smart, but I would have some doubts they were accepted solely on their academics.

 

[BayAreaGuy]

I’ve always heard Harvard is very hard to get into but rather easy being there so probably MIT has smarter people

I went to a State University, and the Professor (who taught at different places) said that top schools are unlikely to kick people out for grades because students pay so much money in tuition. Hence why it's not hardcore rigerous, as some would assume.

But I'm sure that standard doesn't apply to the legal program, because they don't want a bunch of students failing the Bar exam, which would make them look bad.