<p>I was just wondering if you are allowed to choose your roommate at MIT. If someone could briefly explain the housing and whether you can choose your roommate or not, that'd be very helpful. </p>
<p>I do understand there is a lottery, and some other stuff, but I just need a little but more in the specifics. Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes, you're allowed to choose your roommate, although you don't have to choose one.</p>
<p>Once you're assigned a final dorm in the lottery process, you will go through some sort of "in-house" residence selection process -- you'll rank the floors/entries/sections of the dorm. At this point, you're allowed to "staple" -- write the name of another student whom you've selected to room with. If that student writes you also, you'll be assigned as roommates by the Room Assignment Chair.</p>
<p>Here's an overview of the room assignment process, for those who missed it --
Timeline: CPW -- Check out dorms, meet residents, eat free food.</p>
<p>Late May/early June -- receive a booklet with descriptions of each dorm written by residents, and a CD with resident-made videos. Rank each dorm and send in the form to be run in the housing lottery.</p>
<p>July -- Housing lottery runs. Freshmen are assigned a temporary room (almost always one of their top two choices, sometimes third choice).</p>
<p>August -- Arrive at MIT and put stuff in temporary room. Don't unpack. Run around and check out all the dorms and eat free food, decide if you want to enter the readjustment lottery to switch dorms. (You can stay in your temp dorm if you want.)</p>
<p>August, after that -- Readjustment lottery is run. Final dorm assignments go out.</p>
<p>August, even after that -- Each dorm does in-house rush, where students go around and meet people from all the floors/entries/whatever within the dorm and eat free food. Students rank floors and a lottery is run.</p>
<p>Now we're probably into September -- Final room assignments go out. Students (with help from upperclassman muscle) move into their final room assignments. Everybody gets psyched.
</p>
<p>EDIT: Haha, beatcha. :P</p>
<p>Read this thread about dorms, which includes in post #17 a description of the housing choice process.</p>
<p>We would have had to choose the same dorm though to room together, correct?</p>
<p>Thanks, this is very helpful :).</p>
<p>Correct, TooFast -- can't very well choose to room together if you've chosen different dorms! :) BUT, the dorm you choose over the summer is ONLY TEMPORARY: the actual housing lottery isn't until August after you're on campus (and you've had time to talk the buddy whom you want to room with into the dorm you want to live in ;) ).</p>
<p>Thanks alot. We'll definitely try to work it out. =) Very helpful. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Just to clarify what mootmom said about your original dorm assignment: it's not that it's "only temporary," but rather that it's "not necessarily permanent." If you get there in August and decide that you really like it, you can confirm your current assignment and stay there. You can, of course, also choose to move, but they can't possibly kick you out if you want to stay. =)</p>
<p>Thanks for clarifying, Laura! My understanding is that you are not (officially) allowed to stay in the exact <em>room</em> you are temped in, however: you are required to move to another room, although it may be on the same floor in the same dorm. If that's changed, it'd be cool to know: I know my kid was highly disgruntled to be forced to move ACROSS THE HALL after Orientation, leaving the room they'd been temped in <em>empty</em>. Just seemed like "the letter of the law" was a bit much in cases like that... ;)</p>
<p>It is <em>technically</em> often possible for students to stay in the same room in which they were temped, but the Room Assignment Chairs (who are students) generally don't allow it, because a) it sets a bad example, b) it's kind of unfair since so many people do have to go through the annoyance of moving, and c) one of the only questions freshmen ask is "so if I pick this living group as my final choice, do I get to stay in my temp room?" and it's completely obnoxious.</p>
<p>I understand the annoyance of moving a few rooms down -- my freshman year I had to move from the hallway to the corner. But I do see the utility of making sure that everybody moves. :)</p>