<p>More housing stuff:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/discus/messages/8/63446.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/discus/messages/8/63446.html</a> </p>
<p>Now I can't find the 2003 Archives, but that's so far back it probably doesn't matter.</p>
<p>Well, I'm another 08 studying for finals now, and I have a few minutes after 2:00 that I can answer questions. I'll try and help as much as I can. You'll probably also get a slightly different opinion from me, since I am a hard core west campus resident. :D (Next House - am I the only west campus current MIT student here?!).</p>
<p>Currently, I absolutely love Next House, and will probably stay here all four years. We have an awesome dining hall, and while there are mixed opinions on the food, I personally love it. There is a definite divide between east campus and west campus, in both culture and locations. (I would say bexley cuts down the middle in location, but leans more EC in culture). While west campus probably is a little more high school cliquesh than EC, you can definitely find somewhere in any of the west campus dorms that will fit your tastes. However, that can't be said for EC. To be honest, My impressions are that things are louder, more chaotic, and less clean over in EC. (I was temped in EC during CPW, so I do know what I'm talking about :)) They are also much more liberal, politically and socially, which for me was not a good thing, being a rather conservative Southerner. (You might have seen some of my previous posts on other forums :))
Also don't forget about Random Hall. Its culture is a mix, being pretty clean, but more nerdy. (Which can be a good thing, don't get me wrong.) They have a very high concentration of the extremely smart MIT undergrads there. I would live in Random long before EC. :)</p>
<p>I'm afraid I don't know anything about residency here. I'm a proud Southerner and would rather die than transfer residency up here if I didn't have to.</p>
<p>JLfromMIT has covered all of the other questions well, and hopefully we'll be able to help you with any other questions y'all might have. Good luck, and congrats to all admits!</p>
<p>How's the sex life?</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>lol, you'd have to ask an EC person about that, I'm afraid I don't know, and don't really want to know.</p>
<p>EC does have the quiet halls too. The louder halls are just more visible. I mean we have a reputation of being the intellectuals too. We know how to play but we can settle down and work too. I like to think that EC is a group of people who aren't afraid of being themselves. Honestly, I chose EC because it's in the middle of campus. When it is freezing, snowing, windy, etc, I have less than 100 feet out in the cold. It is a 20 minute walk from Next.</p>
<p>There are negatives to EC though that you have mentioned. If you're against seeing roaches and mice, EC might not be the place for you. Furthermore, at EC, you have to do your own cooking. There's no cafeteria nearby that you can pay 6 bucks for a sandwich and not worry about food.</p>
<p>I tend to think of dorm row as a spectrum, the further west you go, the more clique high school, for example, Next with its extremely large percentage of freshmen, the further east you go, the odder you get, Senior and their pot smoking fun. On that note, if you can't live in that environment, don't put senior as one of your top 5 choices, you will get it and you wont get out. and Random is just not on the spectrum. Very nice people at Random, very very small freshman rooms and slightly in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>Sex life? EC has a rule of mind your own business, and we'll mind ours, and ignore the random noises. Would you want me asking you how your sex life is?</p>
<p>Here's another housing thread from 2003.</p>
<p>ok, not to put down JL's effort to answer all your questions, but I think that less than one semester of experience really isn't enough to be relied upon as an authority on the subject of life at MIT. I would like to see more upperclassmen in this thread answering some questions...</p>
<p>whatever. More opinions are better. I just know that last year the freshmen at the time were pretty helpful to me. </p>
<p>Besides, these people will enter MIT as freshman, and I'm as good of an authority as any on first semester freshman life.</p>
<p>There seems to be a rivalry between East and West campus. How involved is it?</p>
<p>my sex life sucks!</p>
<p>Thou, hopefully now I can dedicate more effort to improving it :D</p>
<p>Haha, I guess you are right with reference to questions about first semester freshman year, but believe it or not, it gets harder :P</p>
<p>harder than 3.091 on pass/nr? I don't believe it. </p>
<p>btw, speaking of 3.091, would sadoway fail me if I got a 51% in the class with a 0 on the final?</p>
<p>erebor, not much of a rivalry, we just don't mix too much. I have a number of friends in EC and Senior, it's just hard to get up the energy to go and see them all the way over there!</p>
<p>Honestly, pick a place based off of your personality. If you're a partier, live in baker, if you want quiet, go to mcgregor, if you like really really nice furniture, live in simmons. if you're scared of the cold, live in EC.</p>
<p>about housing: <a href="http://web.mit.edu/i3/%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/i3/</a></p>
<p>@JL: Even though the grade distributions have been looking more and more like those XRD whale curves, I don't think he can fail you with a 51%. Would I risk it? No.</p>
<p>hah, funny kids. I remember it was just a year ago I was applying to schools myself, disoriented and confused about the future. Now I'm up going nuts studying for finals, and I wonder where all my motivation was initially.. one year ago.
I must say, MIT is the most incredible place I've ever been to. Back when I was applying to schools, MIT was my LAST choice. I was more of the "harvard"/"stanford" type and got accepted there just fine. Nowadays I look back and think what a fatal error that would have been. Why? </p>
<p>It comes down to this, MIT is unusual. It is involved. It is intense. It is breathtaking, it is overwhelming, it makes you feel like you're drowning under hundreds of feet of water, gurgling to reach the surface, but the fight is endless, continuous, and so, oh so rewarding. </p>
<p>The amount of energy and dedication to learning and self-improvement here is so off the top that it can easily blow you away. It's easy to forget that out there.. people are normal, they can be satisified by simple pleasures, they don't need a firehose of information to make them feel like they've learned something. </p>
<p>But where else are you handed a wire on the first day of class and know how to build a computer a few months later? Some of the hardest classes here begin with basic addition and take you through the whole history of mathematics in this giant sweep. Where else do you find yourself discussing the structure of alcohol in a casual party? </p>
<p>I know I'm just procrastinating here, delaying the loads of work I have to do before finals week, and I'm feeling pretty bitter about it all. But I can't, even now, dislike this place. I am just so impressed with the amount of energy and creativity around here, the love of life and the desire to discover it. </p>
<p>But I have a mild warning for the applicant, MIT cannot be taken lightly, in the sense that even those who manage to slip into the English major will always be snickered at, isolated. Those who try to avoid work will find themselves among people who put work as their top priority. Those who try to escape, will find it impossible. You have to love to learn and love what you do. Those that thrive here know what they want and want to intensify their journey in getting it. </p>
<p>I don't mean to write this to scare you, but enlighten you. I was just overcome by images of fear and almost disgust about MIT before I really understood the passion here. I am wholly in love with the enviroment now, but I warn those who may be looking for something different. This is no easy path, but most MIT students can't leave.. alumni's stick around, they find this the most involved, challenging experience of their lives and thank MIT every day for it. </p>
<p>Good luck applicants, I hope you will land where your heart desires. I can almost promise you that you will, because I realized quickly how varied and unique the environment of every college is, and how agreeable they all are. </p>
<p>Don't be upset if you don't get into a top school.. this is the end of nothing, only a possible beginning. Not to mention some of the blandness I meet around here and esp. at Harvard makes me wonder how they were able to decieve their reader so cunningly. Some of you deserve to be in their shoes, but if you aren't, keep your head high. </p>
<p>Once again, best wishes.</p>
<p>Wow. That's pretty cool, mistermisery.</p>
<p>Oh no! The microeconomics final was incredibly hard. Making half the final cover material we never had a homework question on is pretty evil. :(</p>
<p>Ayayay, well... one step closer to home!!</p>
<p>Yay I can participate on this discussion thread now. MIT '09 :)</p>