<p>I haven't gotten a chance to visit MIT yet, and I was hoping I could get a feel for it... Is the campus pretty concentrated...without streets running through it? Is it safe to walk around alone etc.? Do you feel like you are in the middle of a city? (The idea of a big city sort of freaks me out b/c I'm from smallruraltown USA)</p>
<p>The campus is sort of like a big scalene triangle. (See campus map here .) The yellow buildings with numbers on are all MIT buildings. As you see on the map, the campus hugs the Charles River (many of the dorms are on the left side there (west campus) along the River) and there is one main street that cuts through campus, Mass Ave, which leads to the bridge across the River. The main entrance (77 Mass Ave) is right on that street, and the student center, auditorium, etc. is across the street from it. I wouldn't say the campus is <em>concentrated</em>, per se, but it's not hard to get from one building to the other, especially since many of the buildings are connected internally. The architecture is, um... "varied" -- take a look at the evolving campus for some images of recent building projects and related plans. There is certainly a city nearby and around the campus, but while on campus you definitely do <em>not</em> feel as if you're in a big city.</p>
<p>Poke around the MIT website, there are lots of good views that are fairly representative of what it's like. And visit when you can!</p>
<p>I'll add that Boston, more than any other large city that I know, does not have a big city feel. People actually live in Boston and there are real neighborhoods. Boston, is a very walkable city and you can go anywhere on foot easily. Boston, at it's closest point to MIT is a short walk across the bridge.The "T" (Subway) is convenient and cheap. My bet is that you won't see much more of Cambridge then Mass Ave between MIT and that "school which shall not be named" down the street (Starts with H). Lots of ethnic restaurants, interesting shopping, and the place is just crawling with college students. The MIT Campus itself is perfectly described by ^mootmom^.</p>
<p>thank you for all your help!</p>