Pros
All the graduate students I’ve met are extremely smart, motivated, easy to get along with, and passionate about their work. The professors are excellent researchers at the top of their field. Getting funding in my research group is no problem due to my advisor’s great history of successful projects and numerous networks and connections.
Kontras
The graduate courses leave much to be desired and the administration is inefficient, bureaucratic, and reluctant to change. The PhD core curriculum is not taught well. Professors who clearly have their research as their priority deliver lectures that cover derivation and theory but do nothing to instruct how to apply any of the concepts. That work is left to stressed, over-burdened TA’s who are given the most actual teaching work but often have to focus on their research to the detriment of the students. This world-class research university does not hire prioritizing candidate’s communication skills or teaching ability, and it shows in the courses. I hoped that the courses would’ve been as incredible as MIT’s reputation initially led me to believe.