<p>I'm a 19 year old guy from Stavanger, Norway, and I will be applying to MIT this fall. As Boston is quite a distance from home, I havent been able to visit MIT. The MIT website (blogs etc.) and this forum have helped me to get an impression of MIT and its culture, but I am very interested in learning more. </p>
<p>Therefore, I encourage everyone who study (or work) at MIT to post their pictures, link to their blogs or websites, or just write about their experiences, in this thread.</p>
<p>I am a freshman at MIT right now. Since I am from Boston, I have always known MIT and held the view that MIT is nerdy. Now that I am actual student, I truly realize the coolness of MIT. It IS nerdy and that's what makes it cool. Kids here are from a wide range of backgrounds and are all very passionate about learning. I love the intellectual atmosphere and all the wonderful opportunities the institute has to offer despite the fact that I am hosed (MIT terminology for "overworked"). The pace of teaching here is very fast and work and study are intensive, but guess what, I LOVE it! I am learning so many things every day, meeting new people, doing so many activities and meanwhile, having a lot of fun. Since this is my first term here, I am on pass/no record, which I am taking advantage of by participating in various things MIT has to offer.</p>
<p>I give you so many props for saying this. I get really irritated when people play the "No, we're not geeks, we're just like everybody else, really!" game. Hey everybody, we're a bunch of geeks. We should be proud of that.</p>
<p>Could you guys please elaborate on what you mean by MIT being nerdy? I mean, on what basis is it nerdy? As much information as possible please=)</p>
<p>What do you get when you cross a mountain climber and a mosquito?</p>
<p>Nothing, everybody knows you can't cross a scalar and a vector!</p>
<p>. . . No? Okay, well, maybe that wasn't a great example. But we're still nerds. We build stuff (like Jesus: The Ride and Danger Zone, which were totally awesome), we laugh at nerdy jokes, we like to poke fun at how ridiculous Numbers (the TV show) and Stargate (the movie) are and how little sense they really make. Yes, I'm a little biased because I'm living at EC, which is generally an even nerdier part of campus.</p>
<p>We have disco floors, clone high marathons, bad ideas contests, and most people here can tell the difference between a TaunTaun and a Dewback. Plus, our amps go to eleven.</p>
<p>Yeah, pretty nerdy. That was a bit of a random list; maybe someone else can be a bit more specific or more helpful than I was.</p>
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I agree that "nerdy" isn't an epithet, but a sizable percentage of MIT students wouldn't describe themselves in that way.
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<p>"Geeky" is probably a better word, it has slightly different connotations. And I think the large majority of MIT is pretty geeky compared to the general population, whether they admit it or not.</p>
<p>Since i've gotten here, i've been pleasantly surprised with how not nerdy everyone is. You don't see the stereotypical "nerd" much at all... (probably cause they all live in random).</p>
<p>KIDDING!</p>
<p>Maybe the people who are like that don't leave their rooms? WHO KNOWS?!</p>
<p>Uck, I'm forever getting into arguments with people because I never distinguished "nerd" and "geek" before- I consider them badges of equal pride, personally. But some people are rather particular about it, and I think I've even heard theories that the conotations flip flop across the coasts.</p>
<p>The point is, things like this happen:
<em>Adelaide, Allison and I are working on dynamics problems for 2.003</em>
<em>somehow, large group of people accumulates to watch "White and Nerdy" (go search for it on youtube)</em>
<em>We find it hilarious</em>
<em>complex equation appears as the backdrop of one of the scenes</em>
Matt: Schrodinger's equation for a hydrogen atom!
Everyone: what?!?!
Me: <em>watches intently for the next time the equation pops up</em>
Me: Ah, Planck's constant, yes, I see it now!</p>
<p>Whatever you want to call it, that's what we are.</p>
<p>I just think there's a difference between the way MIT students tend to perceive ourselves as nerdy and the way other people tend to perceive the stereotypes.</p>
<p>People outside MIT tend to mean "nerdy" or whatever (I'm not up on the fine distinctions in lingo) as being so involved in intellectual pursuits that one is unable or unwilling to socially interact in a normal fashion. That's not what I see at MIT -- I see people who are happy to run around the halls screeching about organic chemistry or discuss molecular modeling while wrapped in towels in the bathroom, but who are completely capable of turning on "normal people mode" when they're outside MIT.</p>
<p>I just get a little bristly when people try to imply that there's only one culture at MIT, because that's not fair or accurate. Not all of us know what that Dewback thing is up in post #5...? My freshman year, I used to hang out a lot at tEp. That's a very different culture from, say, the culture of the girls on the cheerleading squad, with which I also spent a lot of time. And they're both MIT cultures.</p>
<p>I guess I feel like, for a collection of some of the smartest people in the world, MIT's a lot more normal than most people give it credit for.</p>
<p>That's been my observation as the parent of a student, too. Most of the students I've met have their moments of truly enjoying a conversation or activity that most of the rest of the world might think was "geeky", but they don't restrict themselves to those conversations or activities. They seem to be fully functional in both The Real World and The MIT World.</p>
<p>And for the record, "White & Nerdy" is totally brilliant. I'll even admit that I caught probably 95% of the references on first hearing, too. If that makes me geeky, well, so be it! (Look! It's DONNY OSMOND dancing in front of Schrodinger's equations!)</p>
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That's not what I see at MIT -- I see people who are happy to run around the halls screeching about organic chemistry or discuss molecular modeling while wrapped in towels in the bathroom
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<p>...and that makes us geeks. I don't care how socially functional we are or how capable we are of turning on normal people mode in the "real world", and I'm certainly not implying that there's only one MIT subculture, which would be ridiculous. And we have different things we're geeky about - for some it might be organic chemistry, for some, Linux systems, for some, theoretical math - but that still doesn't make us not-geeks.</p>
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People outside MIT tend to mean "nerdy" or whatever (I'm not up on the fine distinctions in lingo) as being so involved in intellectual pursuits that one is unable or unwilling to socially interact in a normal fashion.
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<p>Right, which is why I said the term "geeky" carries slightly different connotations, and is perhaps more accurate for what I'm trying to say. I don't really distinguish between the two, but when I hear people who do, the difference has to do with how able one is to function in the world.</p>
<p>I know I'm being kind of insistent and beating this topic, but one of my pet peeves is when people within MIT try to pitch the school as "We're really not geeks! We're totally normal!"</p>
<p>About the subcultures, I actually think that one of the most unfair stereotypes that a lot of East Campus people have of West Campus people is that West Campus people aren't geeks. Just because you play football or are a cheerleader or live in a quad in Baker doesn't mean that you can't be a geek. I certainly think Mollie is a bio geek, and I mean that in a thoroughly positive way. :)</p>
<p>And I totally agree with all of this. I just think non-MIT students tend to misinterpret the "nerdy" thing as "everybody at MIT has wild Einstein hair and wears highwaters and pocket protectors and thick black glasses*." People who listen to stereotypes don't tend to get too nuanced in their understanding of MIT culture.</p>
<p>I think it's totally accurate to say that we are a bunch of 4000 smart people who have a strong affinity for science/engineering/finding things out about the world. So I would say that I don't think we're totally normal relative to standards of society as a whole, but for what we are, we're pretty normal.</p>
<p>I also think that, relative to the groups of friends most MIT prospectives are in already, we're completely normal. My high school friends and my MIT friends were cut from the same cloth -- people who are psyched enough about science and engineering to come to MIT will find people here who are just like them, whether they're hardcore 1337 haxx0rs or the smart kid on the football team. Or both.</p>
<p>And for the record, when I see a parking sign (a P inside a circle), my first thought is "Phosphorylated?" I believe this makes me a geek, cheerleader or no. </p>
<p>*A lot of people at MIT do wear glasses -- there was this class of 2004 t-shirt that gave the exact number, and it was pretty high. But a) myopia has been genetically linked to high IQ, and b) lots of people wear contacts. :)</p>
<p>Do you mean one has to be nerdy/geeky/not average in order to fit in with the MIT culture? I understand that one of course must have science interests and talents in order to get to MIT, but I dont consider myself a "geek" despite this, I love partying, doing sports etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies btw, very interesting!</p>
<p>I will repeat my statement: I think anyone who's excited enough by the idea of a school like MIT to want to apply will be able to fit in and find a group of friends at MIT.</p>
<p>There are a lot of kids who like sports at MIT -- about 20% of undergrads play a varsity sport. The athletics dept. claims that 80% of students play IM sports, but I'm not sure how much I believe that number. There are also a lot of students who like to party -- on one hand, MIT has a large Greek community, and on the other hand, dorms are given money by the school to put on dorm-wide social events. I would say there's more variety in the types of parties you'll find at MIT than what you'll find just about anywhere else; there are beer-soaked bashes, but there are also a lot of fun, clever party themes.</p>
<p>Hope so, my son currently has wild Einstein hair, but he also doesn't like to shave so he looks much worse than Einstein! (Actually he looks just like kids did when I went to college so I think he looks cute, but I'm not sure his peers do.)</p>