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Harvard and MIT
While Harvard is America's oldest university and MIT was founded in the 1800s, the schools share a friendly rivalry, and both offer a top-notch education to their students, with many famous graduates and even some notable dropouts.
Harvard History
Harvard University is the oldest institute of higher learning in America, established in 1636. It was also the first corporation chartered in the country's history. It is named after John Harvard, its first major funder and benefactor, and its original mission was to train Unitarian and Congregationalist clergy. Its students and programs moved into more secular territory during the 18th century. By the time the 19th century dawned, it had transformed into a school for Boston's cultural elite.
Harvard became a research university under the tutelage of Charles Eliot's 40-year tenure as president, from 1869 to 1909. The curriculum underwent changes during the Depression and the World War II era. James Bryant Conant, who led Harvard during that span, also liberalized its admissions policies at the war's conclusion.
Women were traditionally educated at Radcliffe College, which started as a sister school of Harvard in 1879. The schools merged when Harvard became coeducational in 1977.
Today Harvard is extremely well financed, with a multi-billion dollar endowment fund. In addition to its main campus, it has branches throughout Boston. It retains its stellar academic rating, and sports are also an important part of the school. Harvard's teams, known as the Harvard Crimson, participate in 41 intercollegiate sports, from basketball and wrestling to ice hockey and crew.
MIT History
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, commonly known as MIT, has its roots in America's industrial revolution. It was founded in 1861, using the European polytechnic university model, and it exposed students to laboratory work early in their education. Both undergraduates and graduates worked with applied technology, and MIT maintained close ties with local industry.
MIT was a coeducational institution from its start. Its first female graduate, Ellen Swallow Richards, got her degree in 1873 and went on to become the first female instructor at the school
MIT currently stands on a 168-acre campus that dates back to 1916. Although its original focus was engineering and the physical sciences, it now covers economics, political science, biology, management, and linguistics. It has one college, five schools, and 32 academic departments. The school's main emphasis is on science, technology, and research. It has an 8 billion dollar endowment and typically manages hundreds of millions of dollars in research expenditures annually.
MIT has several sports teams competing in sports such as swimming, gymnastics, fencing, and crew. The sports teams are known as the Engineers, with a beaver mascot in honor of the animal's distinction as Nature's engineer.
Harvard and MIT
The close proximity of Harvard and MIT makes them crosstown rivals, resulting in a friendly sense of competition between students at the two universities. However, the two schools work cooperatively on many endeavors. For example, they have research collaborations like the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Both Harvard and MIT allow their students to cross-register for classes that count toward their degree at their home school.
Harvard has awarded honorary degrees to many notables, starting with General George Washington in 1776. MIT never awards honorary degrees. Neither MIT nor Harvard award athletic scholarships to any students.
Famous Alumni
Both Harvard and MIT have long lists of prestigious alumni. For example, eight United States presidents are Harvard graduates. The University also boasts many other political figures, Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners among its former students. Celebrity graduates include John Lithgow, Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, B. J. Novak, Conan O'Brien, and Natalie Portman. Harvard also has some well-known dropouts who went on to great success, such as Robert Frost, William Randolph Hearst, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Matt Damon.
MIT has its share of Nobel Prize winner graduates and many students who went on to great success in business, politics, engineering, and other fields. The school's emphasis on entrepreneurial spirit inspires many of its students to make great achievements in the business world. If you put together revenues from all of the companies founded by former MIT students, they would rank as the world's 11th-largest economy. It also counts astronauts like Buzz Aldrin and celebrities like James Woods among its graduates.
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