<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I'm just booking plane tickets etc at the moment, and might as well book a return ticket. I was therefore wondering about when I should look to return home..apparently the official date for the end of the year is 20th May or something - but do people tend to hang around for a few days after this? Realistically, when do most people go back home?</p>
<p>You appear to skip home christmas. If you do UROP in the summer, you may as well buy a one-way ticket.</p>
<p>If you intend on doing a UROP or something over the summer, I’d just buy a one-way ticket now, and buy tickets for short visits home. (ie, Christmas, maybe for two weeks during the summer, etc) It’s much easier to plan for short vacations home than plan flights months apart :)</p>
<p>lol yeah i’m aware that i’ve not included christmas in this, but that’s because i’m going elsewhere in december so will be booking separate tickets for that. i definitely won’t be staying at MIT for a summer UROP (my visa expires; i’m just coming as a one year exchange student). when do most other, non-UROP students tend to leave? it will be a lot cheaper if i book this return ticket now basically…</p>
<p>^Piper, mind if I ask what year you are at MIT?
And also, what’s UROP? Don’t most people take summer courses in order to complete the program in 4 years (engineering, specifically)? And, from the other thread, what’s a TA?
Huh, I need to research a bit more.</p>
<p>@MR_JR:
Our daughter will be a senior next year. Up 'till now, she has always given herself a full day after the end of spring semester to pack up her stuff, and she has flown home to California the day after that. She has always just visited for a week or two at home and then flown back east for a summer UROP. If you don’t plan to spend the summer in Boston, just plan to give yourself a day to pack up and store your stuff. </p>
<p>Next year will be the first time she’ll stay in Boston through the end of May, because graduation will occur on June 3rd, and there are many activities for seniors during the prior week or two.</p>
<p>@Jimmy,
UROP is MIT’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. Students can participate in research for pay or for credit. Just log onto the MIT website and enter “UROP” in the search box, and you can read all about it.</p>
<p>TA = Teaching Assistant.</p>
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<p>Heh. Well, I originally entered as a 2011, then took some time off and became a 2012. So I’ll be a junior this coming fall :)</p>
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<p>To expand on what CalAlum said, the UROP program provides funding so that you can work in research labs without the professors themselves putting money out to pay you. This is a great strength of MIT :D</p>
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<p>Nope. MIT doesn’t offer many summer courses anyway. Most people I know either intern/UROP or take summers off.</p>
<p>^And, to expand, most people still do finish in four years. Most MIT undergraduate degrees are specifically designed to be completed in eight semesters, completing all GIRs at MIT and taking four courses per semester.</p>
<p>Re: the original question in the thread, you’re usually required to move out of the dorms by the Saturday after the end of finals week, and people tend to leave rather quickly after their last finals are over.</p>
<p>^ Just to clarify a bit, the official policy is that students must move out by 12:00 noon on the day following the last day of final examinations:</p>
<p>Occupancy ends at 12 noon on the day following the last day of the scheduled spring term final examination period for all students except those graduating. Source: [Specific</a> Rules Pertaining To Undergraduate Residences | MIT Division of Student Life](<a href=“http://studentlife.mit.edu/mindandhandbook/policiesandprocedures/ug-housing#Occupancy]Specific”>http://studentlife.mit.edu/mindandhandbook/policiesandprocedures/ug-housing#Occupancy)</p>
<p>Since the last day of final examinations in spring 2011 is Friday, May 20, you should try to move out by noon on Saturday. However, the policy also states that it’s possible to stay a bit longer: "Students desiring to occupy rooms later than these dates may do so only by making prior arrangements with the Housing Office and additional costs may be incurred. If you have a final examination on Friday and need to take Saturday to pack up and store all of your stuff, you can request to do this. All I can say, is that my daughter has done this for three years without incurring any additional expenses.</p>
<p>The downside to purchasing an airline ticket this far in advance is that you don’t yet know the date of your last final examination.</p>
<p>It is also different if you are living in a fraternity/sorority/ILG, though that does not apply to incoming students. It also differs based on your visa status. If you are not an American citizen or permanent resident, you will almost certainly need to show that you have a return ticket upon arrival in the United States.</p>