The federal College Scorecard data shows the average net price after aid at about $14,815 for MIT against $19,148 for Harvard, with cost of attendance around $85,960 and $89,279. Both schools meet a large share of demonstrated need, and both have generous need based aid, so the real number for your family comes from each net price calculator rather than from these averages. Our guide to Ivy League versus public universities is the check on whether the premium is worth it.
How do the two schools actually feel?
MIT is a school where students arrive with questions and leave with projects, where the culture is that the work itself is the point, where course loads are heavy and everyone has a lab key. The teaching is lecture plus recitation, and the independence is real, which is why MIT graduates talk about managing time the way other students talk about managing a social life.
Harvard is a school where seminars and writing carry more weight, where the Core curriculum asks every student to take courses outside their field, and where you can change your mind about what you want to study because the catalogue is wide. The social system is more visible and the football is better, and neither school would trade that openly. Students describe the same campus in completely different terms depending on which institution they are enrolled in, and that difference is larger than the location difference. Our guide to Harvard College versus Harvard University explains the structure behind the Harvard half, and our guide to the Harvard resume template covers what the career office expects.
Which one for computer science and engineering?
MIT for computer science, and it is not close on the technical depth or the density of research opportunities. For engineering generally, MIT is also stronger on the technical side. Harvard is stronger when you want a liberal arts foundation with engineering options, or when your interests sit outside engineering entirely, such as economics, government, or the humanities.
That difference is about structure rather than subject lists. MIT is built around a laboratory culture where an undergraduate can be in a working research group, and the course catalogue is narrow and deep. Harvard is built around a general education requirement, so an engineering student there also takes many courses outside engineering. Both are strong in computer science by any measure, and the deciding question is whether you want depth in one field from the start or a broad base that turns into depth later.
Both are excellent for computer science by any ranking, and our guide to the best computer science colleges in the US shows where the two sit against the rest of the field, including the public programs that deliver the same outcome for a fraction of the price. Our guide to whether a software engineering degree is worth it covers the return question for either choice.
How do you decide?
Visit both, on a weekday, and pay attention to the teaching. Sit in on a large lecture at one and a seminar at the other. Then do the honest version of the money question, which is what you would actually pay and what you would earn. If the two schools cost the same to you and the programs are equally strong, the choice is which student you want to be for four years, and that is easier to answer after a visit than from any ranking.
Fazlur Rahman
