<p>So what dorms are you looking at living in? What are your favorites and why? It may help to look at the 2005</a> i3 videos, as the 2006 ones aren't out yet.
Current students, any helpful advice about choosing a dorm would be appreciated.</p>
<p>For a recent conversation here about dorms, you may want to look at this thread.</p>
<p>My advice is to look at all the dorms seriously, or at least to use the i3 videos to narrow it down to your top three or four choices, then visit all three or four of those dorms during rush. You can't get all the information you need from a video -- you can get it from talking to a wide variety of current dorm residents.</p>
<p>Second, I'd really encourage everybody not to fixate on one particular dorm. If you like dorm X, there are other dorms that resemble it in some way -- you don't want to not get lotteried into dorm X and set yourself up for being miserable. It's okay to have a first choice, but make sure you like a few other choices too.</p>
<p>Third, I'd encourage you to look at what's important in each dorm: the people. Some of the dorms at MIT are more aesthetically pleasing than others, but who cares? After a few weeks, the physical atmosphere will feel like home if you're with a group of people you care about. It's much better to be with great people in an older dorm than to be with people you don't like in a shiny new one. You can use amenities to guide your choice, but use people as your primary criterion.</p>
<p>I would be particularly wary about choosing a dorm based on its possession or lack of a dining hall. People who don't live in a dining hall dorm can still eat in dining halls every night, and some people who do live in dining hall dorms never touch dining hall food. You'll be in college. You'll get food somehow, I promise.</p>
<p>And never, under any circumstances, ask any upperclassman the following question: "I got lotteried into this dorm over the summer. If I choose to stay in this dorm, can I keep the same room?" The answer is no. Don't let laziness keep you from exploring other dorms. Would you rather be lazy for a week or happy for four years?</p>
<p>Over CPW, I decided that I really like EC's system of lounges in the middle of hallways; I always saw people hanging out and studying there instead of holed up in their rooms. In Baker or Simmons, the hallways were dead empty. I'm sticking to the East Side, methinks</p>
<p>I'm debating between EC and MacGregor. :P</p>
<p>EDIT: Factors I'm looking at include:
- People (obviously)
- Culture
- Liveliness
- Allergens</p>
<p>macgregor is certainly not the epitome of liveliness but it is certainly allergen-free.</p>
<p>That depends highly on which entry. Similar to how the culture of EC depends highly on which parallel and which floor. You're definitely right in that EC on average beats out MacGregor for liveliness though.</p>
<p>You're in 1E, correct? Can you post your opinions on your own dorm choice to help out us lost prefrosh? :)</p>
<p>when is the last date I can choose my dorm?</p>
<p>i already sent in my reply letter (confirming I will attend MIT this fall) last week, will MIT email me the other IMPORTANT stuffs as soon as possible or after May?</p>
<p>Top four choices are looking to be:</p>
<p>Baker
MacGregor
Next
Simmons</p>
<p>MIT2010, Matt McGann's latest blog entry says:
[quote]
1. If you send in your reply form to MIT telling us that you're coming (and if you have decided to come, please do send it in!), we will reply to you with a postcard letting you know we have received your reply, and to await the Next Big Mailing (NBM) in May.
[/quote]
Sounds as if you'll be getting more info in May. I recommend reading his blog and Ben Jones's for the most up-to-date info about the process. You won't be "choosing dorms" until the ranking process over the summer, which won't be until after you receive the i3 DVD and book. Patience is encouraged. You'll get plenty of reminders about everything long before the due dates. :)</p>
<p>Just for reference, the housing lottery is usually due around the third week of June, and results come out around the last week of July.</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>mollie, are you majoring in both biology and brain & cognitive science? do you maintain a almost-5.0 gpa? how do you do that?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm a double-major.</p>
<p>I have a (checks grade spreadsheet) 4.51 at the moment. My junior/senior GPA is a 4.75.</p>
<p>I guess I do it in a few ways:
1. To double-major, you have to take a lot of units outside the GIRs, so I've done my research job for credit a few times. If you do research for credit, you will almost always get an A. Free A's!
2. I work better when I'm busy -- my highest GPAs have been in the semesters when I took 72-75 units. ("Normal" = 48 units.)
3. I love what I'm doing.
4. I have a lot of self-discipline (or maybe I'm just a little OCD?), and I have really good time-management skills.</p>
<p>I wish there was some silly internet quiz.. "What dorm are you?". Or at least a magic hat.. too many interesting choices!</p>
<p>Can someone help place me? I'm thinking EC, but am not sure which hall.
My criterion:
1. Liveliness -- people going places, doing things
2. Cool projects, possibly hacks
3. Not too much of a party lifestyle -- maybe once/twice per week at most.
4. Close to campus
5. Hygeine -- the dorms and their bathcrooms should be clean
6. Free stuff :D -- I've heard some of the dorms give you free movie tickets, food, etc.</p>
<p>Get there and visit them all during rush and see which hall(s) fit most of your criteria. One person's clean/cool/lively/close is someone else's... opposite. You don't have to (and shouldn't!) decide until you're on campus!</p>
<p>My top choices right now are:
1. Random
2. Baker
3. Burton-Conner</p>
<p>I love Random and the only thing I don't like about Baker is that you're forced to buy into their discount meals plan.</p>
<p>Before CPW I also thought I might like East Campus, but when I went for a tour all I got to see was the Miss Ugly Pageant which was a little too raunchy for my taste. Miss Jizzalot and Betty Backdoor were definitely testing my comfort level. It was funny in a sick sort of way, but I don't think I'd want to live with people like that.</p>
<p>you dont have to worry bout what hall til you get here for orientation. anyways, I've never been a fan of the miss ugly competition. I think it's there to weed out the weak. Just be glad you didn't also run into the meat market then :P</p>
<p>Personally, I'm a fan of Baker and Burton-Connor. But I'm not gonna make an absolute choice until i get there in Autumn, cos I don't think I saw enough of BC at the CPW to make a good decision. Also at Baker the quads seem to be the cheapest decent rooms...and since I can barely afford MIT i'm looking for cheap everything, lol.</p>
<p>We have a committee to look at alternatives to the discount meal plan; the dining people claim that without it they wouldn't be able to stay in business at all (since it encourages eating at Baker D).</p>