<p>How would you rank the dorms in terms of nerdiness?</p>
<p>Here’s my attempted ranking.</p>
<li>EC</li>
<li>Random Hall</li>
<li>Senior Haus</li>
<li>Burton Conner</li>
<li>Baker= Next House= McCormick= Simmons= New House</li>
</ol>
<p>It’s kind of ridiculous to attempt to rank dorms in terms of ‘nerdiness’. Dorm culture isn’t something that can be quite so easily ranked. It also depends on how you define ‘nerdiness’ - I would definitely rank Random above EC on some things, and Senior Haus above both of them on other things. Did you have any specific questions on actual dorm culture that we could potentially answer?</p>
<p>Well, I’m trying to find a healthy balance between nerdy in the physics/math/engineering type (people building cool circuits, discussing Relativity, creating cool problems), and not too much wilderness (like EC… at least from what I gather from their videos).</p>
<p>The problem is I might not find the type of nerdy like me? I’m not much of a practical guy (but that might change once I go to MIT), but I really like the sciences, creating cool/challenging problems in physics/chemistry, and it could be nice having people around who enjoy discussing those problems with me.</p>
<p>Karen’s Guide to Choosing a Living Group:</p>
<ol>
<li>Watch the i3 videos.</li>
<li>Fill out the housing lottery <em>honestly</em></li>
<li>Explore all the dorms during REX anyway, because you totally could’ve been wrong.</li>
<li>Finalize your dorm assignment</li>
<li>Participate in in-house rooming to get your permanent room.</li>
</ol>
<p>Step 0 is come with an open mind and don’t overthink during the summer, because honestly, you have no clue what the dorms are like until you get here, and there is no possible way for people on the internet to give you an accurate, unbiased description of <em>any</em> of the dorms, because we are not you. REX is set up to help you find the place where you will fit in the best. Sit down with your housing booklet and your i3 video and submit your housing form on your own. Don’t let others tell you what to do, because this is the next four years of <em>your</em> life, not anyone else’s.</p>
<p>lol EC nerdiness is of a very different variety than random nerdiness. given that, random is still way nerdier, in my opinion.</p>
<p>I dare say you will find people to discuss “interesting problems with” anywhere at MIT.</p>
<p>I like the idea of EC being “wilderness”, though.</p>
<p>Which are the party dorms?
I know there have to be some people going to MIT who just want to do some boozin’.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Depends on what kind of parties you want.</p>
<p>
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<p>There are certainly people who want to do some boozin’, but they still have to make time to buckle down and do the actual work.</p>
<p>Different dorms are differently nerdy. Trying to rank them by nerdiness is pointless. It’s not a single axis.</p>
<p>k4r3n2 has the right idea. Rank the dorms honestly now, and realize that you aren’t making a final decision until Orientation, and that you should be making an effort to explore them. Really, you will find people to geek out with you no matter where you live.</p>
<p>I guess nerdiness is like rate of change for partial derivatives. You have to specify with respect to what. :D</p>
<p>But I guess the main point of going to MIT for me was to have lots of people who like interesting science/math problems, so I don’t think I’ll need to find that in particular for my dorm if it’s so rampant.</p>
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<p>Now you’ve got it. :D</p>
<p>Also, addressing one of your earlier comments, I came in like you, in the sense that I was a theoretical, not-very-hands-on, type. I came out substantially more “mixed”, having gotten to do things like perform neurosurgery on rats, design and build robots, design a microprocessor, repair shop tools, remove (inert) landmines from a field (gotta see what it’s like before you can design tools for other people to do it) and code up an animated movie for flies to watch so that I could measure their brain activity while they did. I think that MIT makes scientists more engineer-like, and engineers more scientist-like. Mind and hand, and all that.</p>
<p>Burton Conner! No seriously, I’m not saying that because I live there, but because it’s pretty widely considered something of a “middle ground” for people who sort of like the idea of EC but might find it to be a bit…much in practice. So it’s definitely something you should consider.</p>
<p>Then, for the love of God, DO REX. And follow all of the excellent advice others have given. But mostly, REX. =)</p>
<p>what is meant by “wilderness”? A mountain man nerd? =)</p>