Who is MIT's biggest rival?
The college rivalry between the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stems from the colleges' reputations as the top science and engineering schools in the United States.
At a glance, Caltech and MIT are quite similar. They both have a mere 4% acceptance rate, although admitted freshmen at Caltech have higher test scores and grades, albeit by a very slim margin. On the other hand, MIT has a higher school ranking and slightly more prestige.
MIT doesn't have a big football rival. It has a Cambridge rival, Harvard, and a technology rival, Caltech. MIT doesn't have sports rallies and fight chants. It pranks–or hacks–its rivals in the night, demonstrating ingenuity and pride at the same time.
Tuition Overview
Undergraduate tuition rates at MIT and Caltech for 2021-2022 are $55,510 and $56,364, respectively.
MIT and Harvard are equally prestigious universities based in Cambridge, a nearby city of Boston. While MIT focuses primarily on science, math, and technology, Harvard offers a broader variety of liberal arts and sciences programs.
Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering Institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions and pressing societal challenges.
| School | Location | Acceptance Rate (Class of 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| 2. Harvard | Cambridge, MA | 3.00% |
| 3. CalTech | Pasadena, CA | 3.00% |
| 4. Columbia | New York, NY | 3.99% |
| 5. Stanford | Stanford, CA | 3.99% |
The Harvard and Yale football rivalry, known as "The Game," is the second-oldest continuing rivalry in college football. The Crimson and Bulldogs are the two winningest teams in the FCS, have 26 national championships, two Heisman winners, and 32 Ivy League crowns.
Stanford, MIT, and Duke may not be part of the Ivy League due to the historical emphasis on athletics, but they are by no means inferior. These institutions stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ivy League colleges, offering top-tier educational standards and competitive employment opportunities.
Eventually, the MIT Corporation approved a formal agreement to merge with Harvard, over the vehement objections of MIT faculty, students, and alumni. However, a 1917 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court effectively put an end to the merger scheme.
Is Caltech or MIT harder?
As for standardized test scores, Caltech averages are slightly higher than those at MIT, despite MIT's higher rankings. At Caltech, the average SAT score is a1545 and the average ACT score is a perfect 36. At MIT, the average SAT score is 1545 and the average ACT score is 35.
The fundamental difference between these two places is that Mudd is a teaching school while Caltech is a research university. Average professors at Mudd spend much more time preparing lectures as oppose to their Caltech counterparts and the results are stark.
Global Ranking
MIT and UC Berkeley are ranked #1 and #3 for Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs respectively in the US News University ranking for 2023 and both are tied for #1 in the world for their Computer Science program.
| Rank | University | Number |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania | 29 |
| 2 | Harvard University | 28 |
| 2 | Stanford University | 28 |
| 4 | Yale University | 21 |
View the World University Rankings 2023 methodology
The University of Oxford tops the ranking for the seventh consecutive year. Harvard University remains in second place, but the University of Cambridge jumps from joint fifth last year to joint third.
Yale University is part of the Ivy League. MIT has indisputable global rankings according to various ranking agencies ranking higher than Yale. MIT ranks higher for engineering and technology programs while rankings of Yale University lead in art & humanities and law programs.
The hard truth is that hard work and passion are not enough alone; there's no denying that different people have different levels of intelligence and to get to that level, you need some raw talent. But no, you definitely do not to need to be a genius, for the reason that most people at Caltech and MIT are not geniuses.
Caltech is incorporated as a non-profit corporation and is governed by a privately appointed 46-member board of trustees who serve five-year terms of office and retire at the age of 72.
The most popular majors at California Institute of Technology include: Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services; Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians; Physical Sciences; Mathematics and Statistics; Biological and Biomedical Sciences; and Business, Management, Marketing, and Related ...
Niche, a ranking and review site, recently published its list of the “2023 Hardest Colleges to Get Into.” Using data from the U.S. Department of Education on various colleges' acceptance rates and SAT/ACT scores, they found, unsurprisingly, Harvard University to be the most difficult college to get into.
What GPA do you need for Caltech?
Caltech does not have a minimum GPA requirement. However, most successful applicants have a US GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and/or are in the top 5 to 10% of their class.
The Cornell–Dartmouth football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Cornell Big Red and Dartmouth Big Green. The two schools were both major football powers before the split between the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
The Princeton–Rutgers rivalry is a college rivalry in athletics between the Tigers of Princeton University and Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University – New Brunswick, both of which are located in New Jersey. The rivalry dates back to the first college football game in history in 1869.
It is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. Both institutions are located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
While not an Ivy League school, Vanderbilt is known as a “Southern Ivy” because of its highly selective admissions process and stellar academic reputation.
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