Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

ABOUT

“Mind and Hand” is the thought-provoking motto of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known also as MIT. This motto enigmatically encapsulates this famous institution’s mission to advance knowledge in science, technology and areas of scholarship that can help to make the world a better place.

At its founding in 1861, MIT was initially a small community of problem-solvers and science lovers eager to bring their knowledge to bear on the world. Today, MIT has evolved into an educational behemoth, with some 1,000 faculty members and more than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

MIT is now an independent, coeducational, privately endowed university organized into five schools (architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; science). Yet the principle of educational innovation remains at the core of MIT’s educational philosophy.

MIT researchers are at the forefront of developments in artificial intelligence, climate adaptation, HIV, cancer, and poverty alleviation, while in the past MIT research has fuelled scientific breakthroughs such as the development of radar, the invention of magnetic core memory and the concept of the expanding universe.

Science and technology are not the only strings to MIT’s bow, however. Approximately 20 percent of MIT undergraduates join a sports team, and with 33 varsity sports MIT boasts one of the broadest intercollegiate athletic programs in the world.

A vibrant arts culture also permeates college life. There are 12 museums and galleries on campus, with the MIT Museum drawing nearly 125,000 visitors each year. Students participate in more than 60 music, theatre, writing and dance groups, and faculty members of MIT even include Pulitzer Prize winners and Guggenheim fellows.

MIT is set in 168 acres of grounds that extend for more than a mile along the Cambridge side of the Charles River basin. The campus features stunning landmarks designed by the likes of architects Alvar Aalto, Frank Gehry, and Steven Hollin, as well as buildings in a range of architectural styles, from neoclassical to modernist and brutalist.

At its edges, the campus merges with various Cambridge neighborhoods, including Kendall Square which is one of the most innovative square miles on the planet. The close association of industry and research has helped MIT alumni go on to launch more than 30,000 active companies, creating 4.6 million jobs and generating roughly $1.9 trillion in annual revenue. No wonder then that a nation of MIT graduates would be equivalent to the 10th-largest economy in the world.

Johns Hopkins University

ABOUT

Johns Hopkins University is an American private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1876, and named after its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur, abolitionist, and philanthropist Johns Hopkins.

It blazed a trail among higher education institutions by being the first US research university, and today it puts more money into research than any other US academic institution. It’s also widely credited with revolutionizing higher education by being the first US institution to integrate teaching and research. To date, Johns Hopkins has spawned 27 Nobel laureates, including the former US president Woodrow Wilson.

Johns Hopkins is organized into 10 divisions on campuses in Maryland and Washington, DC with international centers in Italy, China, and Singapore. Johns Hopkins regularly ranks in the top 10 universities in the US, and is also competitive globally, especially for its undergraduate programs.

Johns Hopkins enrolls more than 24,000 full- and part-time students across its nine academic divisions with faculty members and students studying, teaching, and learning across more than 260 programs in the arts and music, the humanities, the social and natural sciences, engineering, international studies, education, business, and the health professions.

Applicants at undergraduate level are generally ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and over time applications and selectivity has risen. For the class graduating in 2020, the acceptance rate was 11.4 percent.

Most Johns Hopkins undergraduates study at Homewood, a 140-acre North Baltimore campus that is home to the schools of engineering and arts and sciences. It’s a traditional college setting in the heart of a big and blossoming city, with red-brick buildings, tree-lined pathways, an iconic clock tower, and expansive green quads.

Nearly all undergraduates based in the main campus live in residence halls during their first two years, where they make friends and take advantage of what has officially been named one of the best campus dining programs in the US.

There’s also easy access to top class arts and culture: the school’s conservatory, the Peabody Institute, regularly hosts musical extravaganzas, concerts and performances, while the Center for Visual Arts, located next to the Baltimore Museum of Art, provides plenty of sources for artistic inspiration.

Off-campus, students can venture into Baltimore itself, a city with a rich history as a working-class port that has blossomed into a hub of social, cultural, and economic activity – yet retains a small-town feel.

Stanford University

ABOUT

Located 35 miles south of San Francisco and 20 miles north of San Jose, Stanford University is in the heart of Northern California’s dynamic Silicon Valley, home to Yahoo, Google, Hewlett-Packard, and many other cutting-edge tech companies that were founded by and continue to be led by Stanford alumni and faculty. Nicknamed the “billionaire factory”, it is said that if Stanford graduates formed their own country it would boast one of the world’s largest ten economies.

Covering 8,180 acres, Stanford has one of the largest university campuses in the US, with 18 interdisciplinary research institutes and seven schools: the Graduate School of Business; School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences; Graduate School of Education; School of Engineering; School of Humanities and Sciences; Law School; and School of Medicine.

Stanford University was founded in 1885 by California senator Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, to “promote the public welfare by exercising an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization”. The couple’s only child had died of typhoid, and their decision to build a university on their farm was intended as a memorial. From the start the university was non-sectarian, co-educational and affordable, teaching both the traditional liberal arts and the technology and engineering that was shaping the new America at the time.

Fast forward more than a century, and Stanford counts 19 Nobel laureates within its community and is regularly ranked among the top three universities in the world. Nicknamed “The Farm” from the days when horses roamed there, Stanford’s campus is now a thriving community of more than 11,000 creative and accomplished people from around the world. Nearly all undergraduate and 60 per cent of graduate students live on campus, so it is hardly surprising that student life is rich and diverse, with over 625 organized student groups.

Sport is popular, with students, faculty and staff enjoying state-of-the-art recreational facilities and wellness programs. Stanford students compete in 36 varsity and 32 club sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and squash. Sports teams are referred to as the “Stanford Cardinal”.

Stanford also has a rich tradition of fostering creativity and the arts: there is a vibrant campus arts district and two world-class museums which host regular exhibitions. Eight dining halls, a teaching kitchen and organic gardens provide the campus community with healthy, sustainable meals. The close-knit communal nature of life on campus has even given rise to “Stanford speak”, a special language only spoken on campus.

University of Cambridge

ABOUT

Located in the center of the ancient city of Cambridge, 50 miles north of London, the University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research institution that serves more than 18,000 students from all corners of the globe.

The university consists of numerous listed buildings and is divided into 31 autonomous colleges, with many of the older ones situated on the famous river Cam. Applications are made directly to the individual colleges, rather than to the university overall. You can live and are often taught within your college, receiving small group teaching sessions known as college supervisions.

Six academic schools – Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Technology – are spread across the university’s colleges, housing roughly 150 faculties and other institutions.

Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge’s 800-year history makes it the fourth-oldest university in the world and the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. Cambridge students make up 20 percent of the town\’s population and most of the older colleges are situated near the city center. Its notable buildings give the city of Cambridge a unique character, and include King\’s College Chapel, the history faculty building designed by James Stirling and the Cripps Building at St John\’s College.

Cambridge is widely acknowledged as a vibrant place to be a student. On the academic side, the university is home to over 100 libraries, which hold more than 15 million books in total. There are also nine world-renowned arts, scientific and cultural museums such as Kettle’s Yard and the Fitzwilliam Museum, which are open to the public throughout the year, as well as a botanical garden.

Extracurricular activities give you the chance to get involved with anything from the university’s renowned student drama societies, which spawned the likes of comedy group Monty Python, to music, politics and hundreds of other clubs and societies. The sports scene at Cambridge is huge too, with state-of-the-art facilities and over 80 sports on offer with teams for novices and experts alike.

With its reputation for academic excellence and traditional scholarly values, the University of Cambridge often ranks among the very top universities in the world for teaching, research, and international outlook. The university has educated eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors and heads of state. Ninety-eight Nobel laureates and 15 British prime ministers have affiliations with Cambridge as students, faculty or alumni, including the scientists Francis Crick and Frederick Sanger.

University of Oxford

ABOUT

The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and is actually so ancient that its founding date is unknown – though it is thought that teaching took place there as early as the 11th century.

It’s located in and around the medieval city center of Oxford, dubbed “the dreaming city of spires” by the 19th century poet Matthew Arnold, and comprises 44 colleges and halls as well as the largest library system in the UK.

There are 22,000 students at Oxford in total, around half of whom are undergraduates, while 40 per cent are international students. A quarter of the city of Oxford’s residents are students, giving the city the youngest population in the UK.

The University of Oxford does not have a main campus, its buildings and facilities instead being scattered around the medieval city center. Its colleges each have a distinctive character and traditions often dating back centuries. Colleges are self-governing institutions to which students usually apply directly. There are four academic divisions within Oxford University: Humanities, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; and Social Sciences. The university’s particular strength is the sciences, and it is ranked number one in the world for medicine.

Oxford is a youthful and cosmopolitan city with plenty to see and do. There are dozens of historic and iconic buildings, including the Bodleian Libraries, Ashmolean Museum, Sheldonian Theatre, the cathedral, and the colleges themselves.

Students can choose to spend their time studying or avail themselves of the many extracurricular activities available. There’s a strong musical life at Oxford, with clubs and societies spanning all genres, from jazz, through to classical and folk. Oxford is also ranked highly for sport, with its top rowers taking part every year in the world-famous boat race with the University of Cambridge on the River Thames. Drama lovers are also well catered for, with one of the largest and most vibrant university drama scenes in the country.

Oxford has an alumni network of over 250,000 individuals, including more than 120 Olympic medalists, 26 Nobel Prize winners, seven poets laureate, and over 30 modern world leaders (including Bill Clinton, Aung San Suu Kyi, Indira Ghandi and 26 UK Prime Ministers).

It has a friendly rivalry with Cambridge for the title of best university in the UK and is regularly ranked as being one of the top three universities in the world. Notable Oxford thinkers and scientists include Tim Berners-Lee, Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins.

Harvard University

ABOUT

Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest higher education institution in the United States, and is widely regarded in terms of its influence, reputation, and academic pedigree as a leading university in not just the US but also the world.

Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, three miles north-west of Boston, Harvard’s 209-acre campus houses 10 degree-granting schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, two theaters, and five museums. It is also home to the largest academic library system in the world, with 18 million volumes, 180,000 serial titles, an estimated 400 million manuscript items and 10 million photographs.

Like most of the United States’ pre-Civil War colleges, Harvard was founded to train clergy, but Harvard’s curriculum and student body quickly secularized, and in the 20th century admissions policy was opened up to bring in a more diverse pool of applicants.

Now, a total of 21,000 students attend the university, each of whom at some point can be seen bustling past the famous statue of John Harvard, the university’s first benefactor and founder, which looks on benignly in the center of the campus. The bronze statue’s gleaming foot is due to almost incessant rubbing by tourists and students, who believe the act brings good luck.

Only the academic elite can claim a place at Harvard, and the nominal cost of attendance is high – though the university’s hefty endowment is such that it can offer generous financial aid packages, which around 60 per cent of students take advantage of.

As freshmen, students live in one of the dormitories in Harvard Yard, a prime location, and eat in the historic and picturesque Annenberg dining hall. Harvard students are active around and beyond campus, with over 400 official student societies including extracurricular, co-curricular and athletic opportunities. Whether playing on the field in Harvard Stadium, fostering entrepreneurial activities at the Harvard innovation lab or writing and editing at the daily newspaper the Harvard Crimson, student life is a rich and rewarding experience.

Harvard\’s alumni include eight US presidents, several foreign heads of state, 62 living billionaires, 359 Rhodes Scholars, and 242 Marshall Scholars. Whether it be Pulitzer Prizes, Nobel Prizes, or Academy Awards, Harvard graduates have won them. Students and alumni have also won 108 Olympic medals between them. The university is regularly ranked number one in the world, and the consistency of its chart-topping performances shows that success is yet to breed complacency.

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