<p>So, I've checked the MIT website and noted that only East Campus and MacGregor seem to allow freshmen to have singles. But, alas, they don't indicate how many are available. Can anyone out there give me an idea if freshman do, in fact, get singles if they want them. I'm aware of all the predicatable rationalizations about "doubles" being "so good" for freshmen, but I'm afraid I don't quite buy it. Don't get me wrong, I'm very social, it's just that I'd like my own space (especially for sleeping and studying!).</p>
<p>MacGregor is <em>all</em> singles, so all freshmen in MacGregor get singles. Period.</p>
<p>The general consensus around here seems to be that freshmen frequently get singles in EC, but that it's not a sure thing. (I believe there is a similar policy in Senior Haus?)</p>
<p>I have a friend at Senior Haus who got a single her freshman year. There's also another guy I know who got a single there freshman year too. So, yes... I think it's not that hard. </p>
<p>But yeah, if you REALLY want to get a single, go to MacGregor, because it's the only place where singles are guaranteed. ;)</p>
<p>Mollie is right. But there are so many things that are more important about your dorm than whether or not you get a single. If you base your housing decisions primarily on whether or not you get a single, the upperclassmen will laugh at you - and, if there are singles and doubles in the dorm and you're really being silly about it, you may be put in a non-single just to spite you. Nobody wants you to pick their dorm just so that you can have your own room.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if there's a really awesome dorm that you want to live in and you happen to get a single, so much the better for you. :)</p>
<p>There are a few doubles in MacGregor, but they are usually in high demand. I lived there my freshman year strictly because I wanted a single. I should have lived in Baker, though, because you get to meet so much more of the MIT community. (I lived in a frat on campus the next three years.)</p>
<p>I don't know, I think there's a difference between wanting a single idly and honestly needing a single room. </p>
<p>Yes, dorm culture should be your first concern, but there are genuinely people (like myself) who would have been completely miserable and nonfunctional freshman year, had they been forced to live with someone. Getting a single was my first priority freshman year, and I don't think that was a bad way to set priorities given the way I felt about sharing a room with someone.</p>
<p>It annoys me a lot when people choose MacGregor just for the single room and then don't contribute whatsoever to dorm culture, but I think that's a separate situation from using room occupancy numbers as a primary criterion in the dorm search.</p>
<p>Thanks, Mollie. Your reasons for desiring a single 4 years ago, appear to mirror mine right now. I'm involved in many of my school's extra curriculas (genuinely so, not just for p.r./college transcript reasons) and would very much want to be an integral part of the community of whatever dorm I may be assigned. Trust me, my instincts are almost too social for my own good. So, tell me your secret, please -- how did you do it? How did you get what you wanted?!</p>
<p>Well, the initial summer lottery gives about 75% of students their first choice, so you could rank MacGregor first in the dorm lottery.</p>
<p>If you don't get into the dorm via the lottery, you can explore during rush and enter the housing readjustment lottery if you're still psyched about MacGregor life. I think about 10% of freshmen initially assigned to MacGregor transfer out/in (at least those were the numbers the year I was rush chair).</p>
<p>Very generally speaking, if you want very much to be in a particular dorm, you can usually end up there. :)</p>
<p>EDIT: Just realized you're a prospective. Do you need more information than that about housing choice at MIT, or do you understand the process?</p>
<p>
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Yes, dorm culture should be your first concern, but there are genuinely people (like myself) who would have been completely miserable and nonfunctional freshman year, had they been forced to live with someone.
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<p>That's what I thought about myself when I first arrived. That's also what my freshman roommate thought. Then, as temp roommates on 1E, we discovered that we liked rooming with each other so much, that after we both decided to stay in EC, we did hall rush together and stapled our hall preference forms. Sometimes you just have to get the right person.</p>
<p>I don't really understand how someone who's not suffering from agoraphobia or social anxiety disorder can "need" a single all four years in order to be functional. Even an introverted person. It's not like you don't still get personal space in a double.</p>
<p>MacGregor, at least, tends to market itself as the sort of place that's a good fit for people for whom singles are a top priority. The only reason I can immediately think of that's a worse primary reason for wanting to live in EC than "I want a single" is "I want to live near Sloan." And yes, we get those.</p>
<p>jessiehl: Hmmm, I'm curious/puzzled, how can one have true "personal space" in a double? Personal space, to me, implies that one has space in which to do more or less anything (legal) one desires. I was under the, perhaps mistaken, impression that a double was just one room with two beds in it, and thus devoid of privacy. So, are you asserting that it's possible, in a double, to work all hours of the night, play music, watch tv., and/or have someone over for the night, WITHOUT disturbing the other person sharing the room?
You were undoubtedly very fortunate in having met a good match in your first roommate, proving that, yes, "sometimes you...get the right person." But, let's be honest, sometimes/oftentimes you don't.</p>
<p>well, EC is an exception. it's probably a lot easier to be miserable at EC than Macgregor if it doesn't suit your personality. But it's understandable that some people would just prefer a single. Heck, I recently de-doubled myself and I'm happier than ever. It has nothing to do with whether or not you like your roommate, it's about not having to ask permission if you want to open a window.</p>
<p>EDIT: that said! people often overestimate the claustrophobia. you'll be in and out, your roommate will be in and out, there will likely be fewer than 4 hours a day when you are both awake and in the room much less getting in each others' way. and you tend to have your own space WITHIN the room. like, my side - your side. my desk - your desk. my mess - your mess. (mostly my mess... sorry babes) :) and the stuff about sharing permission and sharing property. so it's irksome to think about but most of the time you don't. think, that is. it's just automatic, instinctive. like there's someone else in the room who has rights too and like reflex you respect that. and it's always nice to have someone to chat w/ just by swiveling your chair around.</p>
<p>Yeah, when I had a roommate, our room was quite large, and each of us had half of it as our own space. We also had bunk beds, and the bottom bunk counted as personal space for me...nice and closed off, and I could sit there and read a book. We each had our own desk and we had desk lights and stuff so that if one of us wanted to go to bed and the other wanted to work, we could do that with nobody being inconvenienced much. We both had headphones, so if someone didn't want music and the other did, the problem was easily solvalbe. Both of us are introverted people, so neither of us was intending to hold wild parties in the room anyway, and we had similar taste in music, so neither of us was bothered by that. When she started dating one of our hallmates, she went to his room if they were doing anything that required privacy, and other than that I didn't care.</p>
<p>All I cared about, really, was having space that psychologically felt like mine, and I had that.</p>
<p>I ended up with a compatible roommate because once we determined that we were staying in the same dorm and were interested in the same halls, we stapled our hall rush papers. If you're in a dorm where you're not likely to get a single, and you meet such a compatible person during rush, you might want to consider the same.</p>
<p>I wouldn't have wanted, say, a quad, but then, Baker is a dorm that attracts the sort of people who like living in a room with several other people. That's the thing...if you pick a dorm that fits your personality, the rooming situation will probably also be more to your taste.</p>
<p>I had a single my freshmen year in Burton-Connor, but this was when simmons first opened so there may have been more space than normal, so I can't say for sure that would be available now. Another problem with getting a single is that you get the last pic for rooms, so they will tend to be small, mine was extremely small. I would recommend a double, you get to meet more people, but if you really want a single, you can get it in McGregor, or take your chances someplace else.</p>
<p>BC gets some singles once in a while but it's not normal for frosh to be in them. You'd have to get first pick among the frosh to get the single if there was one availible and even then it depends on whether the suite ends up being single sex that year (if all the upperclassmen in a suite are of a single gender then that means only underclassmen of that same gender can take the other rooms).</p>