(Source: MIT)Number eight on my list might also seem counterintuitive, as perhaps did my number nine (Princeton). Let's get to it.



#8: MITMIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has to be considered the world's premier technological university. Its programs in engineering, Aeronautics, computer science and physics are among the very best. Economics is also outstanding, as are political science and psychology. And throw in a top-five school of business (Sloan). Simply put, MIT is technology (though the folks at Caltech might argue a bit).

Yet, like Princeton, MIT doesn't offer enough breadth to compete with other elite universities. It has no law school, medical school, or education school, for instance. What's more, programs in arts, humanities and the "softer" disciplines don't command similar respect. When you think of technology and science, you think of MIT, and the institute continues to attract the best like-minded students and faculty. Nobel prizes are as commonplace as perfect SAT scores.

But that's not sufficient to crack the top five. MIT is the best at what it does, but it doesn't do enough, nor does it maintain the same level of excellence across all programs. That's why it ranks eighth.