Nearly 20 years ago I argued, in “Tuition-free MIT”, that MIT needed to reduce tuition so that the student body didn’t become “people who were rejected by Harvard”. Economist magazine now looks at colleges ranked by how much they can do for a young person’s earning potential. Harvard is #4 on the list, giving its students a boost from $74.5k to $87.2k. MIT provides a much smaller boost, from $83.4k to $91.6k, ranking in at #26. At least from a purely dollars-and-cents point of view, particularly in light of Harvard’s lower costs for middle class families (MIT tries to play catch-up, however), Harvard is better than MIT.
[Of course, as the Wall Street Journal notes, becoming a California state prison guard may lead to a higher income than attending either school. As noted in Real World Divorce, a one-night sexual encounter with a dentist or physician can yield more in tax-free child support than any of the above pre-tax incomes would be worth. Not working at all combined with a friendship with someone in a taxpayer-funded housing authority, e.g., Cambridge’s, could also result in a superior material lifestyle to working at any of the above-mentioned wages. Young people should keep in mind that there are many paths to the American Dream!]
You can’t attend college generically – you have to choose a major. It makes no sense to choose a college without knowing what major you are choosing – the quality of departments varies widely. If you want something like engineering, then Harvard is not even in the top 10 whereas MIT is #1. Note that in terms of highest earnings rather than earnings “boost” (a number with dubious methodology) MIT was ahead of Harvard, $91K vs $87k.
It depends on what you study like Izzie said. If it is Business or Law, go with Havard do well and you are set for life.
If it is Engineering., like myself, I major in Mechanical Engineering, so MIT is the best choice.