Years ago went to Rakesh Mathur’s (Junglee’s founder) house. There was a profesor from IIT there who had arrived from India. Since I generally didn’t attend the classes at IIT, he appeared to be a distinguished professor but I couldn’t say who he was.
I heard him say that in MIT they made you take 3 or 4 claseses per semester, but in IIT you have to take 5 or 6 courses per semester. He said that with the tone that IITs are superior and has superior students.
There was a guy, perhaps Rakesh’s brother-in-law, shaking his head vigorously in disagreement, behind him.
I had quit studying at IIT because I couldn’t manage those courses with most of my co-students, B.Sc. or Ph.D. I was a 16 year old kid among adults. Later on in America I was told by many that I was good that I regained my confidence. I took courses at my own pace.
At UC, Berkeley where I took many courses, once I asked a profesor should I take more courses that semester. He replied what for, your objective is to learn well or just take courses. And in another course offered by the head, saw him handing out all A grades to about 11 students. Asked him why no B or C. He said all are Ph.D. students, excellent in their areas, all deserve As.
MIT and Berkeley are so different from IITs. Virtually nobody learns at IIT. It is either IIM, another useless institution, or work later at places like Google, which requires technical excellence but no academic skill.