<p>I'm interested in attending a social college with a fun greek life and campus social scene. MIT (because of a possibility of me playing baseball) is the only school of its kind on my list...UVA, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Duke. </p>
<p>Can anybody comment on how the MIT social life compares to that of one of the schools mentioned above?</p>
<p>Also, if your answer is anything like "Well MIT is in Boston...of course it is fun", could you please expand. I realize there are a quarter of a million college students in Boston but I have no idea what that is like. Thanks.</p>
<p>I've heard that MIT frat parties are amazing and people come from BU and other schools to go to them.</p>
<p>But I don't think that sports are gonna be as big as they would be at your other schools... I mean, there's probably not a lot of people that go watch the basketball games, or whatever.</p>
<p>These are just my impressions as a prefrosh, but no one had answered yet so I wanted to say <em>something</em>.</p>
<p>Greek life can be a big component of MIT life, if that's what you're interested in -- about 50% of freshman males pledge one of MIT's twenty-six fraternities. As you might imagine, there are many different kinds of frats.</p>
<p>dally is correct that sports aren't as big a part of MIT life as they are at big state schools. Still, 20% of students play a varsity sport (and about 80% participate in IM sports), so I guess you could say that we're a sports-playing rather than a sports-watching school. </p>
<p>Social life at MIT is not what the stereotypes would have you believe. Stereotypical MIT stuff goes on, for sure, but a significant percentage of students live a very typical college life.</p>
<p>I hear that MIT is actually has a rather social environment. With many of the class assignments and projects and research opportunities involving teamwork, it's hard to not strike up close relationships with other people.</p>
<p>Haha, class assignments and projects aren't social! :)</p>
<p>MIT has a social academic environment, because of the reasons violetmist mentioned, but also has a thriving non-academic social scene. Work hard, play hard.</p>
<p>So there's a quasi-rule at MIT that my math professor brought up that "thou shall not tool from sundown Friday till afternoon Sunday," and this seems to be pretty well followed. Also, the institute is extremely liberal in its social policies, so you won't get any official harassment. At the very least, Friday nights are sacred for loosening up. But also, don't be stupid. If you're just looking for a party school, MIT is NOT the place for you.</p>
<p>You can literally find any type of person at MIT. As a freshman with Pass/No Record I knew people who drank 5 nights a week, others that didn't drink at all and everyone in between. Frats are a big part of the campus, but I personally live in the dorms with people who have lived on the same floor for 4 years, and then there are of course people who skip from dorm to dorm every year, none of this effects their social life it seems.</p>
<p>Frat parties, dorm parties, etc. are all welcome, seriously, unless you're looking to find people who won't go to class and just get trashed all day (since those people will subsequently be asked to leave for academic reasons, actually I do know some people ...) the social scene is whatever you make of it.</p>
<p>Here's just my take on it: a school being considered a "party school" seems to suggest that there are parties going on all the time there (just from people I know, this is true for a place like Michigan). But for a place like MIT with a much smaller student population, parties all the time aren't realistic. Instead MIT will have multiple parties on Friday and Saturday most of which will be packed and fun, with many students from colleges around MIT. As for the rest of the week the parties usually happen with your core group of friends whether they involve alcohol or not. I definitely knew kids who would go out both Friday and Saturday and then drink multiple times during the week to celebrate even the most inane of accomplishments (yay, I finished a test/finished a pset/made it to another Wednesday without feeling like a piece of trash that doesn't belong at MIT).</p>
<p>Basically what I'm trying to say is that you make MIT what you want it to be. If you want it to be a party school and are prepared to put in the effort required to pass classes through raging hangovers then you can do it. Some of the drunkest people I knew were also the best students because they were so set on having the "classic college experience" that they worked their asses of every afternoon and many mornings in order to free up 4 or 5 nights a week to make there wildest dreams come true about a place that is designed to crush them. </p>
<p>That being said I would also say nothing about the other schools on your list, they are all very good schools and anyone would be lucky to get an education at them. You've just got to make the decision based on what you want out of a college experience. If you want to party all the time but aren't sure that you can put in the effort required to make that happen at MIT then maybe MIT isn't the place for you.</p>
<p>I wouldn't come to MIT to just play baseball if I were you. In general I dont think it's a good idea to go to any school for just a single aspect- since college experience is kind of a package deal. If you're not interested in MIT except to play baseball here you're pretty much going to be miserable, because what dominates here is academics and not sports, you'll be forced to do a lot of school work you're not interested in. (unless you are?)</p>
<p>Pebbles, I completely agree. I would only be using baseball as a way to maybe get into the school. I wouldn't be qualified as a normal applicant but I MIGHT be talented enough at baseball to gain admitance through it. (I have decent/good stats though)
And in response to a few other comments, I'm not at all looking for a "party" school. I've gained enough information to assure myself that if I did happen to consider MIT later, I wouldn't be depriving myself of a fun college experience.
Thanks for all the answers.</p>