<p>I've been accepted on a year long exchange programme with MIT and will be spending the next year there. But, I have to choose my accommodation this week basically. I have a vague idea of what "stereotypes" are associated with various dorms (though I'm really not too bothered by this). </p>
<p>However, I am curious about the bathroom situation at dorms, and there doesnt seem to be too much information on the dorm websites... Are there any dorms that offer ensuite? If not, which dorms will guarantee at least a sink in the room? And also (if ensuite is not possible), I would much rather have to use single occupancy bathroom than multiple occupancy (cubicles and stuff) so which dorms are best for this? </p>
<p>[Also I might as well mention, I'll be a third year so I would probably rather not be in a dorm with predominantly first years (if such a place exists).]</p>
<p>Are you going through CME? If so, there’s information on the CME website about housing specifically tailored to addressing differences between the Cambridge system and the MIT system.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m going through CME. Ive already been on the website etc. so I know what the differences are. I just want to know about bathrooms at different dorms (which will help me make a decision!).</p>
<p>Thanks for the Simmons info. So all the bathrooms are single occupancy? How many people will you be sharing this with? And do you get a sink in the room? Also, how do you rate Simmons generally? Would you apply there again if you had to? </p>
<p>Would appreciate it if someone could tell me about bathrooms at some of the other dorms- the main ones I’m actually considering are: Baker, Bexley, Burton-Conner and maybe East Campus or Senior.</p>
<p>Baker: 3 large coed bathrooms + 2 single occupancy/handicapped bathrooms per floor
Bex & Burton Conner: I believe it’s a single occupancy shared per suite?? someone can correct me on that
East Campus: 3 large coed bathrooms per floor
Simmons: Single occupancy shared by 2-3 people, can be attached to a double, shared by some singles or a double and a single.</p>
<p>Baker: has single sex public bathrooms shared with a relatively large number of people.</p>
<p>Burton-Conner: coed bathrooms shared with people in your suite (4-10 people), they sort of end up being single occupancy in the sense that most suites have rules which basically say, “if you’re in the bathroom and you want privacy, close the door. Anyone else who wants to use the bathroom can knock, and you can tell them to come in (for example, if you’re in the shower and don’t mind if they brush their teeth) or to wait (if you’re getting into the shower and not fully clothed or something).”</p>
<p>East Campus: coed public bathrooms shared with a relatively small number of people (I’m not sure the exact scale, but I’m pretty sure it’s a smaller number than Baker), and a sink in your room.</p>
<p>East Campus depends on the parallel - east parallel has 5 bathrooms (some single-occupancy depending on your hall, but all could theoretically be multiple-occupancy), west parallel has 3 larger multiple-occupancy bathrooms. Halls have ~40 residents so there’s about 4 residents to a toilet. You do, however, have a sink in your room.</p>
<p>Senior Haus has two multiple-occupancy bathrooms and two single-occupancy per floor, but all toilets / showers are in individual rooms off of the main sink room (it’s kind of hard to explain) so the doors lock and stuff. There are cubbies in the bathroom where you can keep your toothpaste and shampoo and stuff.</p>
I would encourage you to be a little more bothered by the culture of each dorm – dorms at MIT are more collections of people than they are collections of rooms, and whether you’re happy with the people living around you is likely to have more of an impact on your quality of life during your year at MIT than the number of people with whom you share a bathroom.</p>
<p>I don’t think LauraN’s representation of Baker is correct.</p>
<p>Every room has its own sink. Quads have 2 sinks, although it is unlikely you will end up in a quad as a CME student.</p>
<p>Each floor has 3 single-occupancy bathrooms, two of which are handicap accessible. Each floor also has 3 multiple-occupancy bathrooms with about 3 stalls and showers each. The bathrooms are generally designated co-ed, meaning there are no gender restrictions. Floors sometimes choose to designate bathrooms a certain gender, although that is rare. The basement has gender-designated multiple-occupancy bathrooms.</p>
<p>And as living in Baker in the past year, I never saw more than half of the showers in use ever, so crowding is not a concern.</p>
<p>I would also recommend that you consider each dorm’s culture a bit more before making a decision.</p>
<p>Apologies! I guess I was going off of one visit to a friend in Baker and using the multiple occupancy bathroom, which was shared by the whole floor (and therefore among a larger number of people than I was used to) making it more like a typical public dorm-style bathroom. I didn’t know about the single occupancy bathrooms, which make for a very different setup. So sorry, I really did think I knew what I was talking about, but it sounds like I was mistaken. =)</p>
<p>hmm okay thanks. so i’ve taken aboard the advice and been looking at the “dorm cultures” a bit; I’m basically torn between Baker for its social scene and Simmons for what seems to be better facilities. But there doesn’t seem to be much of a consensus on what Simmons culture is actually like? maybe metapod could shed some more light on this… also one last question on baker - how many people are actually on a floor? are the single occupancy bathrooms usually busy?</p>
<p>BC seems pretty good too, however, I’m not too keen on having to cook everyday… (apparently there is no dining hall) - or do people tend to just eat elsewhere (student centre perhaps)?</p>
<p>Baker House has 318 beds according to the MIT housing website. 318/6 floors works out to about 58 people per floor, however that number is probably a tad higher since the first floor is missing rooms that are present on the upper floors. I have never found one of the single occupancy bathrooms occupied when I wanted to use it (granted, this is infrequent).</p>