<p>Hey! I frequented this board to learn about different schools, so here I am back again. I was wondering if any of you have specific questions about life at MIT, admissions, CPW, dorms, or anything else. I got into a bunch of different schools and ended up making what was for me a hard decision between Caltech and MIT, so hopefully I can help you out if you're not sure where to go. I'm pretty impartial...I mean only come to MIT if you think it's the right place for you!! I love it, but where you go to college is a pretty important decision. Make it an informed one. </p>
<p>A bit about me... I'm a freshman, majoring in 6 and possibly 8 or 18 (eecs, physics, and math respectively), and live at East Campus on the third floor in the west parallel. I hail from the western side of the great parallelogram Tennessee! </p>
<p>Good luck to you all. I hope I'll see some of you at CPW... I'm going to try to leave my room open for show. (: I like computers... !</p>
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I got into a bunch of different schools and ended up making what was for me a hard decision between Caltech and MIT, so hopefully I can help you out if you're not sure where to go.
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Actually most everyone here is a diehard MIT wannabe :)</p>
<p>You'd probably be surprised at how many people are looking at other schools seriously in addition to MIT. Of course it would be awesome to get in to MIT and a hard offer to turn down, but some of us have to be more realistic.</p>
<p>So I have friends at many different dorms. From Random, to Baker, to Senior House, to Burton-Connor, to Next House, to grad residence halls like Tang...it's really easy to make friends at all dorms if you're friendly. </p>
<p>Do I like East Campus? I absolutely love it! But it's not the place for everyone. EC can best be described as accepting. Pretty much no matter what or who you are, people will accept you. EC also has great dynamics between halls...which are more dramatic than most dorms on any college campus. Some halls are quiet, some halls are into gaming, some halls are into smoking, some into drinking, some into partying, some into crufting. If you end up in this dorm, you'll go through hall rush which lets you select your top choice dorms. If you hate cats, no worries. If you think 4W is a bit wild for you, you can choose another hall...and you can still hang out on other halls as much as you'd like! It's great.</p>
<p>EC gets a reputation for being strange because you can do a lot of anything so yeah that results in some strange stuff...but I would call it more freedom. I mean where else is it going to be okay to paint your room whatever color you want (you can keep your color scheme from home so everything will match or you can paint your room all black) and knock a hole into the wall so you can install your new touchscreen monitor that controls your mp3 collection or even your new fishtank to "impress the chicks" (yeah one guy really did that...it's pretty awesome looking!).</p>
<p>EC does also happen to have a great location. It's a 10 second run from the building to the nearest academic building...once inside you can get anywhere (almost) academic without going outside. Sooo happy when there's snow! However, aside from that, we are very far away from every other dorm except Senior House... which is kind of sad because you're out of the social loop sometimes unless you're not lazy and don't mind the 10-20 minute walk to dorm row.</p>
<p>I really encourage all of you that are accepted and decide to visit to take a look at all the dorms. They all have their own personalities, and I can see reasons for living in all of them. If you take the time to get to know the dorms, it'll be obvious where you fit in. Just remember...don't be biased too much by rush activities. College is rarely like CPW will be. We do have an awesome time here though and love to show off all our cool stuff....it's just usually a bit less fast-paced. (: </p>
<p>If you <em>are</em> coming to CPW and want to stop by and say hi to me... east campus floor pi (third west). Just ask for Angela or look for my white board (or possibly door touchscreen if I have it up).</p>
<p>Hey! I can give you some pluses and negatives to living at Random. First off, again everyone there is really awesome and accepting. There are a lot of dorm politics, which can be a really bad thing at times but also really good because people really care about the dorm. A lot of dorms are hall-based, but Random is very collective. If you live there, you'll hang out all over the dorm because it's so small. It has an apartment feel to it, and it's smack on Mass Ave next to a bar but very close to the Central T stop and lots of good restaurants. It's a bit of a walk from main campus, which can be a pain but on the other hand Random is its own little world anyways and people love being there. It's a dorm a lot of people choose and a dorm a lot of people choose later after getting to know the people there. The rooms are pretty big unless you get the tiny singles (known as closets) though many don't come with real windows. If you're really into computers you'd love Random...there are all sorts of nifty things they've set up. Try bathroom.mit.edu.... you can see which bathrooms are in use!</p>
<p>"...ended up making what was for me a hard decision between Caltech and MIT..."</p>
<p>I am also having a very hard time choosing between Caltech and MIT (I was accepted EA to both.) I am also interested in physics, EE and math (although I will probably end up in CS.) Ladystentora, why did you end up choosing MIT over Caltech?</p>
<p>You were admitted EA to both Caltech and MIT? I was under the impression that under MIT's EA plan you couldn't apply early to any other school...</p>
<p>Oh yeah...about Random...they only accept 20 freshman per year. 10 guys, 10 girls. (: Competitive! (well not really...unless you count fighting the housing lottery a competition)</p>
<p>I don't know much about Bexley. They tend to keep to themselves, but I did meet one girl in one of my math classes that lives there and she is very nice. I guess there's not much I can say about the dorm, sorry! I do hear they have massive rooms. Oh yeah, they're anti-rush and they will pour water on you during CPW. (: Dont' take it personally!</p>
<p>Why I chose MIT over Caltech is a very complicated thing... I guess to hit the main points- I love Boston, I hated LA. Boston's more friendly...LA is scaryville. MIT is much closer to Boston than Caltech is to LA...at least as far as usefulness goes. The dorms seemed to both have really warm feels. Caltech seemed to have less cooperation (like group projects) and I feel like it's important to learn how to work together (this was just the impression I got...no hard evidence). Orange/tangerine tours are also amazing...and in general, I made a bunch of really great friends here. There are good things about Caltech too... if you're into aeroastro...great opportunities. Also the weather is perfection at worst and of course the people are brilliant. Less diversity but also less admitting people solely for the purpose of diversity. In my opinion, academically Caltech is harder to get into. Their admission is completely gender, race blind...they don't care if you're a girl or not! That being said, I think I would have been happy at either place. I'm at MIT...and love it! I wouldn't change a thing. </p>
<p>If you're thinking about both schools, please visit both if you get the chance. They're both great places and deserve at least a thought. (: You won't really know you want to be here or there until you visit. You'll know...even if it's not until May 1 as was the case for me. (:</p>
<p>The list of schools I got into is long...if you really care- MIT, Caltech, Uni of Tennessee, Illinois at UC, Dartmouth , Harvard, Duke, UNC, Olin...hmm I'm starting to forget them now...I did a prstat profile... you can look me up under 2004s as ladystentora or something if you care about that kind of thing. I did not get into Yale.</p>
<p>There are many math majors at Random...that's not to say there aren't many math majors elsewhere too. Math majors aren't especially lacking or anything. You could maybe stereotype and say math people are qwerky and qwerky people live at Random...but that's wrong. Maybe math people like other math people...so the cycle perpetuates. (: I think they just tend to know each other from math competitions really and want to live in the same dorm with people they know... Random has a good number of course 6ers too!</p>
<p>Thanks for your view Ladystentora. I don't know how you managed to decide at all with all those great schools. It is a tough decision and this crummy little thing is bothering me. Many (almost all I have talked to) students accepted to Caltech in EA told me that they were not accepted to MIT. Why was that?</p>
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The list of schools I got into is long...if you really care- MIT, Caltech, Uni of Tennessee, Illinois at UC, Dartmouth , Harvard, Duke, UNC, Olin...hmm I'm starting to forget them now