<p>if you visit MIT after CPW, can you still visit all the dorms to get a feeling which dorms fit you?</p>
<p>Yes (and keep in mind, this is exactly what dorm rush/residence exploration, during Orientation, at which point you’re living in a temp room, is for). However, keep in mind that CPW and Orientation are the times that are set up to accommodate prefrosh, so it will be easier to explore the dorms during those times, because more doors are open and such.</p>
<p>so it would be a waste of time to visit MIT in April, I should just wait for Orientation (which is in August?) ?</p>
<p>Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a waste of time to visit in April, but it’s certainly more logistically straightforward to visit a large number of dorms during dorm rush. However, you might want to check out your top few picks before the summer housing lottery in June/July.</p>
<p>whats the summer housing lottery?</p>
<p>Over the summer - after reviewing some materials about dorms that MIT sends you - you rank your dorm preference and send them in. From this, they assign you a dorm in the summer housing lottery :D</p>
<p>That’s not a final decision, though. In the fall, you have a chance to visit all the dorms, and they all try to convince you to change because they’re more awesome ;). In the end, you can either try to lottery into other dorms, or you can stay in the one you were originally lotteried into. If you choose to stay, you definitely can (in the dorm, not the room or even part of the dorm) - if you sign up to lottery out, it’s not guaranteed.</p>