Is there a dorm, floor, or suite on Dorm Row that is
highly nerdy (students work on puzzles together for fun)
conservative (no drinking or drugs)
social (outgoing and energetic)
Any leads are appreciated.
@hangooknative Random, and floorpi (EC), although neither are on dorm row. Some floors/houses in BC, MacGregor, New, and Next might also work.
If you don’t drink or do drugs (like the majority of MIT students), I’m pretty sure you can avoid doing so if you wish regardless of where you live, save for some rare hazing incidents in fraternities. The biggest party dorms IMO are probably Baker, EC, and Senior House, which will often have the most drinking.
You can also find a social environment pretty much wherever you live, although a few dorms are known for being more anti-social than others.
McCormick if you are a girl, is a calm place with all types of girls. WILG, in Central Square is quiet. Again, all girls.
Do you know much about Maseeh?
I toured a few dorms at CPW. Simmons - an extremely cool dorm architecturally -had a huge community puzzle.
Baker is considered the social dorm.
Maseeh was very nice, clean and modern, it was like a hotel and the dining hall was like a Las Vegas buffet with fewer choices. It had the most convenient location, walking distance to most everything.
However note that Maseeh is the most expensive to live in (freshmen are pretty much required to sign up for the full 19). In terms of dining halls, Maseeh dining never really impressed me, although Next was pretty good. However I was never on a meal plan at MIT.
Which has better food? Simmons or Next? Which has nerdier residents?
I don’t know the current situation about food, but Simmons had less cohesive identity, spirit and community a few years ago, compared to Baker or Connor Burton, according to current MIT students I talked with recently. I lived at Baker for three and a half years, and ate at McCormick pretty frequently in the days when dorms were not locked up! Baker tended to have foot fights back then…They started getting locked in the early 80s, but still could get in and eat at any dorm. I would expect that all the dorms use the same basic food suppliers, but maybe menus vary a little bit.
In senior year I moved to the MIT owned apartments on Magazine street. (to escape Baker House food fights etc ). I walked by there, in Feb 2017, and notice this place is still there! Its located just west of Central Square near the huge Greek church. Undergrads rarely live there, but its a very nice place to live, with shared kitchens and bathrooms, a six story apartment complex on Magazine St. It tends to be MIT grad students but you can sublet easily there if you get tired of dorm life, as I did.
At the tours everyone seemed to think the food in their dorm was the best.
The school is majority nerd. You will have to figure out which variety of nerd you like best. They set apart a few days called Rex just for this purpose.
I had dinner at Maseeh at CPW and although it had the feel of a LV buffet, I was not at all impressed with the food either. I see why so many MIT students cook. MIT has the lowest food ranking of all the HYPSM schools.
Maseeh Hall is known to be the worst of the 5 dining halls on campus.