<p>This is that thread that I promised in a couple of other threads. It's meant to explain the strange but wonderful system that is MIT housing. If you have questions that aren't answered here, by all means, ask.</p>
<p>There are several steps in housing selection:</p>
<p>1) Read through the provided materials: i3 videos and any other printed or online material that MIT sends you are not a good sole basis for your decision, but they're a good place to start. You can get a vague idea of dorm personalities that way. Also, go online and read up on the FSILGs.</p>
<p>2) CPW (optional but recommended): CPW is a great time to explore housing options! Take advantage of this time to visit lots of living groups in person. This is a stage where you want to be open-minded - you might have gotten vague impressions from the i3 videos or whatever, but in-person visits are much more significant. Talk to actual residents, both to find out their thoughts about their living group and to get a sense of what they are like and whether they are people you'd enjoy living with.</p>
<p>3) Rank temp housing preferences: Based on the info that you've gathered thus far, rank the dorms. MIT will use your choices to determine where you live during Orientation. Choose carefully, because depending on how heavily subscribed various dorms are, being able to switch out is not guaranteed. </p>
<p>WARNING: McCormick and some of the Cultural Houses have binding RBA, which means that if you get assigned to them in the summer, you will NOT be able to switch out. Next House has RBA, but it is (they finally changed it!) not binding, and you can still move.</p>
<p>4) REX (Dorm Rush to students): This is the period of Orientation where you actually choose your dorm. If you want to get the most out of your housing experience, it is very important that you take this seriously and try to find the best place for you! Don't be lazy and complacent! If you love your temp dorm, great, but you still need to make sure that there's not an even better place. I don't care what the latest admin propaganda says, just about any student (students being the people who, unlike most admins, actually know what it's like to live in the housing system) will tell you this. Students have fought for years to ensure that this time will still exist for you as it did for them...don't blow it off.</p>
<p>5) In-House Rush (for most frosh): Many of the dorms have subcultures based around halls (e.g. EC, B-C, Next), floors (e.g. Random, Senior Haus), entries (e.g. MacGregor) or other subsections (New). This is where you get to choose one. You'll still be living in your temp dorm, but by this time you'll have your permanent dorm assignment. All the dorms with In-House Rush (sometimes called Hall Rush, Floor Rush, etc) have it at the same time, and you go to your permanent one for whatever they have. Each dorm that has In-House Rush will have its own procedure. Some number of people from that dorm will spend all night assigning frosh to rooms, and the results are generally posted in a prespecified location in that dorm early the next morning.</p>
<p>6) Move-In: Don't worry if you are moving from, say, Next House to Senior Haus (which is nearly a mile walk). Or if you're moving from the first floor of your temp dorm to the fifth (I did this). A sizable corps of current students will be mobilized, starting early in the morning and going most of the day, to help you move your stuff. Traditionally, fraternity brothers (who like getting the face time with the frosh) run between-dorm moving. They will help you carry your stuff to a shuttle van, load it, drive it to your new home, and unload it for you. Current residents of your new dorm will help you carry your stuff from the unloading point to your new room. Many living groups will have welcome-the-frosh dinners/events/meetings.</p>
<p>7) FSILG Rush (optional, but recommended): A few days after you move in (generally starting the final weekend of Orientation), Rush starts for fraternities, sororities, and ILGs. Each of these FSILG systems has its own rush system. Fraternity Rush is generally a few days long, and rushees can go from house to house (there are a lot of fraternity houses) at will. They have a lot of rules about house behavior to make sure they don't step on each other's toes. Sorority Rush is also a few days long, but highly centralized...you have to sign up for it, and neutral guides will take you in groups from house to house, advise you on your choice, and conduct structured events. ILG Rush tends to be highly informal and highly decentralized. Each house does their own thing without much regard for what the other houses are doing. It tends to be lower-pressure and keeps going in the same low-key, informal way, off and on, for months (ET might be an exception to this - their procedures are sort of ILG/fraternity hybrid from what I understand, and they have a pledge program).</p>
<p>Keep in mind that participating in FSILG Rush is not binding. You can (and probably should) explore this other set of options, without feeling like it will force you to abandon your dorm living group. Even if you are sure you want to stay in a dorm, it will give you a better understanding of cultures around campus.</p>
<p>A couple of tips:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Don't bring your parents! Housing selection activities are geared toward students by themselves! There are numerous CPW and Orientation activities for parents, including dorm tours, and numerous opportunities during CPW and Orientation for parents and students to hang out together that are not during housing selection.</p></li>
<li><p>Relatedly, if you need something from the dorm deskworkers, talk to them yourself! Don't have (or let) your parents be the one to do it. I can think of few better ways to create a bad impression with your new dormmates, and it happens to a bunch of people every year.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't bring a bunch of stuff! I brought two suitcases initially - one of stuff that I would need right off the bat, and one full of camping stuff for my pre-Orientation program, which was a camping trip/geology expedition in Colorado for a week before Orientation. Everything else, my parents shipped to me after I had moved into my permanent room. This made moving much easier. I advise you to do something similar.</p></li>
<li><p>Even if you stay in the same living group, most dorms will not allow you to stay in the same room. This is because they don't want people to refrain from participating in REX or In-House Rush so that they don't have to move. They want you to realize that you will have to move anyway!</p></li>
<li><p>Be wary of stereotypes. Like any other stereotype, they range from completely true to completely false, with most falling in the "overgeneralization based on a grain of truth" category. Things that I have heard from outsiders about my own hall over the years, often from people who didn't know where I lived, include: We're all insane, we're all scary druggies, we're all hackers, we're all goths, we only go outside at night, we're satanists who conduct satanistic rituals, we never wear shoes, we have wild orgies all the time...you get the idea. Go check the place out for yourselves instead of relying on stereotypes!</p></li>
<li><p>The best way to learn about a living group is to talk to the residents.</p></li>
</ul>