<p>How is housing decided? I heard the student decided for his/her self, if this is true, does the student ever preview the houses? Finally, how big is the party scene?</p>
<p>I know this isn’t helpful, but I would never ask something like this before decisions are released lol.</p>
<p>I’m just curious. I know the acceptance rate is <10% anyway.</p>
<p>Admitted students are invited to come to Campus Preview Weekend (CPW) where they spend 3 days living on campus with a student host in one of the dorms, fraternities, sororities, or independent living groups (which are kind of like co-ed fraternities not affiliated with any national chapters). During that time you are encouraged to explore anything and everything about MIT, including visiting all the different dorms, which will have all kinds of events planned to try to woo you.</p>
<p>Then over the summer you will be asked to fill out a form where you will rank all of the dorms in order of preference. They run a big lottery where they try to maximize happiness by placing as many people as they can into their highest possible preference. This is your “temp” dorm.</p>
<p>When you arrive for Orientation you will live in your temp room for only a few days. During Orientation you will be encouraged even more strongly to visit all the other dorms and their various parties and events (as well as, obviously, getting a feel for how well you like your temp dorm). After Orientation you must submit another form. You will either confirm that you would like to stay in the dorm you’re currently in (you are always guaranteed to stay in your temp dorm, at least- they won’t kick you out to one you like less) or you can select 1 or 2 or 3 other dorms that you like better, in order of preference. They run another big algorithm to maximize happiness, and you get assigned to your final dorm.</p>
<p>So, you do get a say as to which dorm you like but you’re not guaranteed your first choice. It all depends on how popular any given dorm is during your freshman year- and the dorms’ popularities vary pretty wildly from year to year.</p>
<p>After you get your final dorm assignment, each dorm has its own process for assigning students to particular rooms. Some even go through a whole second rush process to help you pick your floor/hall/entry/lounge (all have different names for similar concepts). In any case, you definitely won’t be staying in your temp room (even if you stay in the same dorm)- so don’t unpack! It is highly frowned upon.</p>
<p>Re: party scene. MIT is obviously not known as a party school, but parties are there to be found for those who are interested enough to look.</p>