The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) really takes the prize. A leading research institution, the school is typically granted more patents annually than any other university, and about 60 people associated with MIT are Nobel Prize recipients. Blending that science and engineering acumen with a top business program (including the Sloan School of Management), MIT graduates have started more than 4,000 companies -- Hewlett-Packard and Intel, for example. MIT has more than 10,000 students, about 60% of whom attend graduate school. The faculty of the nearly three dozen academic departments includes more than 1,000 professors. The school's student teacher ratio is 7:1. Founded in 1865, MIT is privately endowed.