how important is to know how to drive at MIT?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>how important is to know how to drive at MIT?</p>

2

<p>Not important at all. I have several friends that don’t have permits or licenses yet. There’s a great public transportation system here and even the people who have cars use it. Boston traffic is not very pleasant…</p>

3

<p>Yeah, I don’t know anyone here who drives on a regular or even semi-regular basis. The only times I use my license (for driving) are when I’m home.</p>

<p>It is, however, nice to have some government-issued form of ID that isn’t my passport that I can take places where they need to see a government-issued ID. You might want to look into getting something like that… I think states have non-drivers license IDs they can give you.</p>

4

<p>You definately need a govenment issue ID (which can be gotten at the Registry of Motor Vechicles) but driving – in Boston – not for the new driver, out of practice driver - or for the faint of heart.</p>

<p>Parking at MIT is very very limited. A lot of grad students live in Alston or Somerville, and use cars to commute - but its not easy. Stick close to campus or close to the public transportation lines and you’ll be fine. And get an ID card from the Registry.</p>

5

<p>

On the other hand, isn’t this where Boston people learn to drive? (I don’t think Boston’s that scary a place to drive in. The roads are a little wackier, but there are less jerks here than in LA, in my experience.)
Anyway, yeah, I don’t know anyone who owns a car besides our GRT, who will take us on Costco runs every once in a while :smiley: The T and a little walking are your friends.</p>

6

<p>True story: I still don’t have my license.</p>

<p>My husband and I had a car his senior year, and it was nice to have, especially for things like Target trips. However, parking at MIT is $400 a semester, and parking in Boston is around $10 an hour (because you’re not going to be lucky enough to find a meter). For 95% of the things we did when we lived on campus, we had no need for a car.</p>

<p>Even though we live out in the suburbs now, we still commute to Boston every day on the subway. Boston is less ridiculously congested than other major cities, but it’s still not somewhere you drive unless you have a good reason.</p>

7

<p>You certainly don’t need to know how to drive at MIT, but if anyone reading this thread has a California driver’s license, be sure to keep it current. You may want to return to California for graduate study one day, and you’ll want to retain residency status if you ever apply to the University of California. The UC system looks at several things to determine residency: registration as a California voter; tax status as a dependent on the tax returns of a California resident; a current California driver’s license.</p>