<p>While I do consider myself more of a math/science kind of guy and most people would consider me really intelligent, my first thought of "fun" is not building particle accelerators or programming robots. I mean, this might be fun-- I've never had the chance-- but I do like participating in such esoteric activities as "hanging out" "watching movies."
On any given day, what would one find the majority of MIT kids doing after finishing up with class and homework?</p>
<p>ha, there should be an “and” between the two quoted items</p>
<p>^I’m a parent, so I can only give you information about my daughter and her friends. Actually, the idea of programming robots or building particle accelerators (which she’s working on now) IS right up there on her “fun things to do list,” but she actually chose MIT over some other tech schools because she wanted to do a broad range of activities beyond science/math/engineering.</p>
<p>She and her friends like to go to movies (she’s already seen every movie I want to see by the time I bring up the subject). They play video games, and they like to hang out and talk. They like to play seriously complex strategy board and card games, and she has taught some of these to family members back home over the last couple of years.</p>
<p>She lives in a dorm with kitchens because she enjoys cooking, so often friends will get together and cook a meal; sometimes she cooks fabulous desserts and invites anyone on the floor to come eat. She has sent me more recipes for delicious meals than I’ve encountered in the previous 2 decades, so I’d say she has now definitely surpassed anyone else in our family in the culinary arts. She and her boyfriend enjoy cooking together. </p>
<p>She learned how to sail at MIT (the sailing pavilion is a 2-minute stroll from the dorm), and in good weather, she and her friends will sail on the Charles River. In the winter, they participate in “Snow Riders” and catch a shuttle up to the ski slopes for snowboarding and skiing. She has hiked in nearby areas. On weekends they occasionally ride the bus to NY City or out to other areas. There have been some warm-weather trips to Cape Cod with friends.</p>
<p>She and her friends have participated in every formal dinner and dance at MIT, I believe. I was surprised to learn that she needed several formal dresses; her boyfriend has (and uses) a tux.</p>
<p>I don’t think the activities I’ve described here are at all unusual for MIT students, but I’m sure you’ll hear some other perspectives.</p>
<p>
In my living group, you’d find us eating together, watching TV, and talking (or, frequently, happily arguing) with each other.</p>
<p>On the weekends, we liked to order takeout and watch movies in the lounge, or go into Boston for shopping and dinner.</p>
<p>Choosing between programming robots and watching movies? Who says you can’t do both?</p>
<p>Some of the most fun stuff I did at MIT have been something of a hybrid. Watching apocalypse movies with Really Bad Science with a room full of MIT students is incredibly fun, for example. =)</p>
<p>My floor did a lot of pretty chill “hanging out,” watching movies, going out to dinner, etc. We also had some pretty outdoorsy people around, so we went hiking and stuff like that a lot. MIT people are pretty normal people, we just maybe make math jokes more often than you’re used to, even if we’re just “hanging out.”</p>
<p>
If I wasn’t convinced enough that MIT is awesome, this just convinced me. I can practically picture the event 
I’m such a science/movie hybrid nerd. I actually plan on working in movies in one form or another someday, if my life course doesn’t change drastically. I love pointing out inconsistencies and stupidities in movies :D</p>
<p>One of the movies we watched was The Core. It was sort of epic. </p>
<p>Among other atrocious violations of science (to say nothing of common sense), lightning causes a concrete building to explode.</p>
<p>Have you seen the original Frankenstein? I watched it with a Science Fiction summer school/camp group. At one point Dr. Frankenstein says he is an expert in the field of “chemical galvanism”. At another point his hunchback assistant steals an “abnormal” brain rather than a “normal” brain (complete with large print labels on the outside of the jars) to use in the monster. Add that to the complete non sequitars the characters say about every other line and it’s a truly great movie.</p>
<p>^It sounds like you’re talking about Young Frankenstein :)</p>
<p>I bet Armageddon would be an interesting one. According to some survey I read a while back (can’t remember the source) it’s the movie with the most scientific inaccuracies - totaling over 160. You could have a marathon trying to list them all with several MIT students :)</p>
<p>I also watched Armageddon with MIT students once. It was pretty awful in general, in my opinion, to say nothing of the Bad Science. But sometimes those are the best kinds of movies. =)</p>
<p>@keellota - </p>
<p>A very small (though very public) percentage of our students build particle accelerators or [launch</a> cameras into outer space for $150](<a href=“http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget/]launch”>http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget/). Most MIT students are pretty normal smart people. </p>
<p>Here’s a list of formal MIT ECAs: </p>
<p>[MIT</a> Association of Student Activities (ASA) :: Student Group List](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/asa/resources/group-list.html]MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/asa/resources/group-list.html)</p>
<p>And yes, many other students simply hang out and watch movies.</p>
<p>@Piper: <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1931_film[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1931_film)</a></p>
<p>It’s worth it, trust me.</p>
<p>How can programming robots not be fun? D:</p>
<p>I’m bumping my post because I’m disturbed. When I first asked this, I assumed there was some sort of social life-- I was just wondering how “normal” it was. Now I’m not even sure if there is a social life at all! </p>
<p>One day this semester, my dual-enrollment comp sci teacher asked me where I was applying. When I mentioned MIT, he told me to come into his office. An hour later, he basically said if there’s anything you’ve learned from this conversation, it’s that you won’t go to MIT for undergrad.</p>
<p>Among other things, he showed me pages after pages of MIT alumni accounts of their time at the Institute. There seemed to be a consensus of “Do I respect MIT? Of course. Did I enjoy my time there? Does anyone enjoy drinking from a fire hose?”</p>
<p>I think before that moment I had been blinding myself to the undesirable details. To some of those details:</p>
<p>My interviewer. She was recruited to MIT for two different sports, class of '98. I asked her what she did for fun. She told me that for her sophomore spring semester, she actually quit her sports, her activities-- everything-- other than sleeping and studying. If anyone would be painting a good image of MIT and its social life, it would be the alumni interviewers! and the bloggers?</p>
<p>But even the bloggers seem on edge a bit. Elizabeth '13 said she still hasn’t gotten used to the MIT work flow. Stresssss… it’s like the greatest feeling at MIT is getting through a suicidal week of work.</p>
<p>I try not to believe the evil lies lies lies about MIT… but I also try to keep honest with myself.</p>
<p>In spite of all this, MIT is still one of my top couple choices. I would like some of this to be dispelled, though.</p>
<p>It’s a little bit tough to explain, because all of those things are true about MIT, but at the same time, not the whole story.</p>
<p>People definitely do work hard at MIT, and being overworked and stressed is seen as something of a virtue. It’s not that people don’t experience stress at other top colleges, but it’s not as normal to talk about how much work you have to do at schools other than MIT. In one sense, it’s fairly refreshing – there’s no pretending you’re sailing along when you really have too many irons in the fire and would frankly just like a nap. It’s all out there in the open. </p>
<p>It’s very common at MIT to “work hard and play hard”. That’s the institutional culture. When people are taking heavy courseloads, or doing double majors, or working themselves crazy, it is primarily because they choose to do so. It’s possible to get through MIT taking mostly easy classes – but most people don’t choose that route. </p>
<p>On a side note, I don’t think the bloggers and ECs have a mission to paint a good image of MIT social life. I think they are most interested in being honest – I know I was, when I was a blogger.</p>
<p>To be explicit, I am an alum (class of '06). I double-majored, did research, participated in my dorm government, and was captain of the cheerleading squad. Especially in certain terms, I was insanely busy. But I still found time to hang out with my friends, and to go on dates with my boyfriend (now husband), and to go to parties. I loved my time at MIT. If I could go back, I would not do a single thing differently.</p>
<p>If you are accepted, you should attend Campus Preview Weekend in the spring and see what MIT’s social and academic life is like with your own eyes.</p>
<p>Granted it was a long time ago that I attended MIT, but the “work hard, play hard” concept is real at MIT. I played varsity sports, liked to go to the White Mountains (New Hampshire) when I could, was active in my fraternity, etc. </p>
<p>One or two terms I just decided that it was too much and scaled it back a bit. Guess what, my grades dropped (I wasn’t budgeting my time since I thought I had much more spare time) and I really wasted my spare time on trivial stuff. I found that I really did work better under pressure and actually enjoyed the pressure. </p>
<p>I have found the same in my professional life. Give me a tough project with a tight deadline. Sure, I’ll complain about it, but I’d actually much rather be that way than an easy project with lots of time (and usually no challenge).</p>
<p>So, I believe that if you have worked and studied hard enough to get into MIT, you’ll probably thrive on the environment and love it.</p>
<p>If you’re admitted, be sure to attend Campus Preview Week. That will give you a fairly good idea about life at MIT, especially if you sit in on some classes and also see some of the students working on psets past midnight.</p>
<p>My daughter’s now a senior at MIT. When she was a freshman, I used to post occasionally on this board about how much she enjoyed it there. Occasionally, some poster would say something like, “Oh well, that’s the freshman year; it’s easier. Just wait until she gets to sophomore year; things will be much more intense.” But I can say that she still loves MIT, just as much as she did when she first set foot on the campus. She’s a physics major now in the throes of grad school applications. She completed Junior Lab in Course 8 last year, which is reputed to be one of the toughest courses there, so she has certainly experienced intense coursework. But she also found time to learn to sail, ice-skate, cook, enjoy photography and make good friends. She also met her boyfriend there. (They’re both arriving tonight to spend Christmas with us, and they should be here in about 20 minutes!)</p>
<p>I think you need to take people’s comments with a grain of salt. MIT is not for everyone, but for some people, it’s a great fit. For my daughter, it’s been a mountain-top experience.</p>
<p>yeah you have to come to CPW.</p>