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It opened my freshman year (2002), if I recall correctly.</p>
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As I imagine you can gather from collegealum’s answers to you, there’s a difference between “the administration” as a nebulous force of not-good at MIT and “bureaucracy”. Things that have to do with your day-to-day life, like adding or dropping classes, or changing majors, or taking classes without taking the prereqs, are exceedingly easy – you’re free to do almost whatever you want regarding your academic life. There’s a lot of freedom about most aspects of MIT life, something students tend to prize very highly.</p>
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Again, there’s a lot of freedom regarding dining. As the system stands, you/your parents put money into your TechCash account, which is linked to your ID card. When you want to buy food on campus (or at many places off-campus), you swipe your card, and the cost of the food is debited from your account. There are a variety of options for how to purchase this food – you can buy whole food and cook it yourself (as many dorms have kitchens, and if cooking is important to you, you can pick a dorm with them), you can buy prepared food, or you can have a meal made for you at a dining hall or restaurant. As such, the food is what you choose to buy. If you don’t like the food from a particular restaurant or dining hall, you’re free not to eat there.</p>