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Amusingly, my wife is a UConn graduate (although she did not play basketball) and did her undergraduate work and doctorate of pharmacy there. And a number of her friends (who have become our friends) went to UConn for mechanical engineering. And well. I went to that other school you asked about.So it really depends on “which state university.” There are a number of Tier-1 state universities which are absolutely excellent (Berkeley, UMich - especially Ann Arbor, UIUC which Daner Abdula went to, UWisc at Madison, etc.) — and their programs would have the rigor of MIT’s engineering programs.Engineering ProgramsFor starters, as compared to specifically UConn, MIT has a lot more engineering disciplines.UConn’s School of Engineering (found here 2016-17 Undergraduate Catalog) lists: Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer Science and Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics, Environmental, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mechanical.MIT (Majors & Minors | MIT Admissions) has: Civil Engineering (Course 1), Environmental Engineering (1E), Mechanical Engineering (2 or 2A), Mechanical and Ocean Engineering (2-OE), Materials Science and Engineering (3), Electrical Engineering (6–1), EE & CS (6–2), CS (6–3), and Computer Science and Molecular Biology (6–7), Chemical Engineering (10), Aerospace or Aeronautics and Astronautics (16, 16-ENG), Biological Engineering/Biomedical Engineering (20), and Nuclear Science and Engineering (22).And yes, MIT has both a Fusion Center (https://www.psfc.mit.edu/) and a Nuclear Fission Reactor (MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory):Contrasting Mechanical Engineering (UConn vs. MIT)So let’s say you picked UConn for Mechanical Engineering (2016-17 Undergraduate Catalog), and you contrasted this to MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Program (Mechanical Engineering (Course 2))As you can expect, MIT is going to get you take certain subjects earlier (e.g., Multivariable Calculus MATH 2110Q is a second-year subject at UConn, 18.02 is a first-year and mostly first semester calculus course at MIT — most MIT freshmen place out of Single-Variable Calculus; Elementary Differential Equations MATH 2410Q is a second-year course and a stripped-down version of 18.03, which most MIT freshmen do Spring semester). UConn’s CE2110/2120 Applied Mechanics I+II (second year classes) looks like MIT’s 8.01 (Physics I: Classical Mechanics) — which is first semester physics. Note here two semesters of second-year at UConn = 1 semester of first-year at MIT.Since the pace is faster for foundational subjects, MIT students cover more and earlier and get to their advanced subjects earlier (e.g., the UConn third year subjects like Mechanical Vibrations, Dynamics, Manufacturing, Heat Transfer, Mechanics of Materials, etc. are second year MIT subjects, Thermal-Fluids Engineering I/II, Dynamics and Control I/II, Mechanics and Materials I/II).Design projects: so UConn has one senior design project (ME 4972, 4973W) vs. really two majors design projects for MIT: 2.007, which you may have seen televised — or used to be. While it is called “Design and Manufacturing I”, there’s a major project of a design-and-build project. I think Battle Bots (the television show) was based on this. The second for MIT is 2.THU (Undergraduate Thesis).So MIT will have more advanced subjects, plus I believe a bit more electives (5 credit hours for UConn, which would roughly translate to 15 units at MIT, whereas MIT would have 24 units/2 classes of restricted Mechanical Engineering electives and 48 units of unrestricted electives).That I can there is no parallel in UConn: 2.009 (The Product Engineering Process), 2.086 (Numerical Computation for Mechanical Engineers), 2.670 (Mechanical Engineering Tools), 2.671 (Measurement and Instrumentation) and then all the Restricted Electives like Robotics, Chaos, Ocean Systems, Electromechanical Robotic Systems, Hydrodynamics, Nanoengineering, Biomechanics and Neural Control of Movement, Optics, Intro to Sustainable Engineering, Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biomechanics, etc.Contrasting Electrical Engineering (UConn vs. MIT 6–1)UConn: http://catalog.uconn.edu/school-of-engineering/electrical-engineering/MIT EECS: http://www.eecs.mit.edu/academics-admissions/undergraduate-programs/course-6-1-electrical-science-and-engineeringAgain, more math and earlier (as above). STAT 3345Q / MATH 3160 I guess is like MIT 6.041 (Probability and Statistics), I’m guessing.ECE 3101 (Signals and Systems, UConn third year class) is equal to 6.003 (second year MIT class). I think ECE 3201 is like the lab portion of 6.003. The rest of it is hard to compare. Over the foundations, MIT requires 3 EE Headers, 2 advanced undergraduate subjects, 1 or 2 Advanced projects. A lot of the classes listed in UConn’s requirements (ECE 2001, 3001, 3101, 311, 3201, 3211/3212/3231, 3221/4201 etc.) look like MIT’s foundations.(Besides, the “3x 1 hour lecture, 2 hour lab” — I assume per week — is about half of a 6.002/6.003/6.004/6.007 class.)So yes, you’re going to have a lot more advanced courses at MIT and options to take advanced courses, plus leading edge research, top researchers and professors, money/resources/buildings/labs, and top students from around the world.Now, if you’re asking about other state schools … well, again, that depends on the school.You can see my responses on other quora answers: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-an-engineering-program-at-the-University-of-Toledo-less-rigorous-than-the-same-program-at-Stanford-or-MIT/answer/Chris-Lee-235I also mention a bit of the dynamic in this answer: Chris Lee's answer to In what way is getting an engineering degree from MIT different from getting an engineering degree anywhere else?Oh. You may not be interested in merely engineering. So according to my 20-ish hours of research so far, no fewer than 400 individuals who participated in International STEM Olympiads like the International Mathematics Olympiad, International Physics Olympiad, International Chemistry Olympiad, International Biology Olympiad and International Olympiad on Informatics are either current students or are alumni. And a vast majority are medalists. These olympiad participants represent some of the top students in the world.I reported back to the MIT Admissions Office that there is a huge overlap between those who do well in the IMO and those who do well on the Putnam Mathematical Competition. (Did you notice that MIT has won the last three years?) If we did a sports metaphor, if UConn is like MLS soccer, then MIT is like the all-stars of English Premier League/German Bundesliga/Spanish Primera División/Italian Serie A/French Ligue 1 …Surprisingly, in terms of humanities, the Times Higher Ed in 2015 gave MIT the #3 spot behind Harvard and Stanford. Many subjects at MIT are taught with a strong mathematical background (e.g., one friend mentioned for instance that the biology requirement class, 7.012, taught by Eric Lander, who was a IMO silver medalist in his day, was “very mathy.”) I took economics courses where a ton of algebra and calculus were integrated.Now, a lot of the MIT experience is outside of classes: as an undergraduate, you can do research in the MIT's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) (Yes, even undergraduate can be paid to do research.) Sure, if you have less domain knowledge, you might be doing some grunt work (like building circuits or being a biology lab assistant).There are programs at MIT like Homepage | MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives) where you can study, research, and/or work abroad. There are exchange programs like the MIT Global Education & Career Development Cambridge-MIT Exchange (that’s the University of Cambridge in England).MIT has several cross-registration programs including with Harvard and Wellesley (and Brandeis, and MassArt and SMFA …) (So this means: if you are a MIT student and you want to add a Harvard course or two to your schedule — especially in subjects where MIT doesn’t offer courses, you can.)I have friends from my time that you would look at, and you wouldn’t think “big nerd” … but really, we do celebrate our nerdiness. I’m okay with the fact that I regularly feel outclassed by others at MIT. Pick any subject. Math, physics, chemistry, biology, mechanical engineering … there are going to be people light-years better than me in those subjects and they are willing to spend time to teach me and I am willing to learn from them.Students are very collaborative. I could turn to any nearby student in class and we might discuss how to start problems in problem sets. Or I might suggest to a few people “we should form a study group!” and we would.