<p>I've searched through MIT's threads, but I haven't found one about this topic. Although we can all agree that attending an undergraduate school is about getting an education, we also must remember we will be spending four years of our lives LIVING with other students.</p>
<p>I am not a party animial, and actually prefer working over goofing off (on a 1-10 scale of my social life right now, I'd give it a 3.5). But I'd also want to be able to hang out with students who would choose to do non-work related activities (ie argue about unimportant polarized subjects, go see a movie, etc) when all immediate scholarly responsibilities have been fulfilled. </p>
<p>Can someone please explain the social life experience at MIT?</p>
<p>There are lots of different kinds of kids at MIT. I personally don't know many who actually work all the time and never take time out for fun -- that's just asking for burnout. But there are a lot of different ways to have fun at MIT, from the stereotypically college (alcohol-soaked frat parties) to the stereotypically MIT, and pretty much everything in between. And for that matter, I've found that MIT students are generally more than happy to argue about unimportant polarized subjects, even when their work isn't done for the week.</p>
<p>Each course that you take at MIT is supposed to take 12 hours per week, and students typically take four courses per term. That adds up to 48 hours of school stuff (class, homework, studying) per week. There are a lot more hours than 48 in the standard week, and you get to pick how you want to spend those hours.</p>
<p>We work hard, yes. But we all have time to have lives outside of school.</p>
<p>I'll be watching this thread with interest, as I personally have to write the "Work/Play Balance" introduction on MyMIT, and I'd be interested to know what questions people have.</p>