<p>Thanks to everyone who responded about dining. </p>
<p>Baker
<p>EC
<p>I’ll post more ?'s if I think of them.</p>
<p>^ EC: Nah, you’ll be fine. Plenty of people here have allergies. Over orientation, take a look at the setup of EC. There are locked doors between every floor and the stairway, and the cats don’t end up on other halls.</p>
<p>We have plenty of people with cat allergies in EC, and if you say that you’re allergic to cats, you will definitely not be temped or end up living on a cat floor (unless you want to). That being said, depending on the severity of your allergies, you might find out that it’s not actually a problem - the cats don’t go in your room if your door’s closed, and even if it’s open, you can train them to keep out pretty easily.</p>
<p>
Fraternities, yes. (I mean, no, freshmen aren’t allowed to live in fraternities, blah blah blah.) This is an issue in any of the dorms where there are large numbers of fraternity-pledging males.</p>
<p>Sororities, no – the sororities tend to be social groups, and it’s much more normal for sorority members to live in a dorm and spend time both with their dorm living group and with the sorority. Freshmen girls don’t tend to disappear to their sororities for weeks on end.</p>
<p>^ It also depends on where you live - freshmen in EC / Random / Senior Haus typically pledge fraternities or sororities at a MUCH lower rate than freshmen in Baker / MacGregor.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s responses.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I thought that just applied first semester, and then all the freshmen guys can move to the frats (which they do). Or do the freshmen guys just spend a lot of time at the frats even if they aren’t allowed to live there?</p>
<p>Thank you PiperXP and k4r3n2 for your responses about EC! I have some more questions (I apologize! ><)</p>
<ul>
<li>How much floor-floor interaction is there within a parallel, and how much interaction is there between each parallel?</li>
<li>Does being so isolated from West Campus hurt you socially?</li>
<li>Do most people stay on their floor for all four years?</li>
</ul>
<p>Although freshmen can’t “officially” move out of the dorms during the first year, some do end up “moving” into their fraternity if they spend a ton of time there and there are open rooms. They will still be forced to have (and pay for) a room on campus even if they don’t use it. That said, I wouldn’t say that this situation applies to a majority of freshmen pledges.</p>
<p>In terms of impacting Baker’s dorm culture, it doesn’t really impact anything because that is just part of what normally happens here every year. However, I would say it contributes to the fact that Baker has more of an overall culture instead of having distinct floor cultures. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have more questions about Baker. :)</p>
<p>Baker = social dorm? does that social=partying? or ?</p>
<p>
It depends on the person - if you’re a social butterfly, you’ll probably have friends from all over EC (and neighboring dorms as well). In general, people go to parties all over the dorm, and everyone interacts during big dorm events (Rush, Bad Ideas, various other things). Certain halls also have traditionally been friends (5e and 3e, for example). But again, it really depends on you.
We don’t think so.
Generally, yes. There’s some moving after freshman year, but generally sophomores -> seniors stay on the same hall, if they don’t move out. Fewer people move to off-campus apartments from EC than from other dorms.</p>
<p>
Oh, I meant “in any of the dorms where there are large numbers…”, not “in any of the dorms, where there are large numbers…” 
I realize it was more unclear than I intended it to be – I meant that there are certain dorms where this is an issue, but it’s more than just Baker.</p>
<p>This was an issue that aggravated me a lot, living as I did in a “social” entry in MacGregor. We would spend a lot of time getting awesome guys whom we liked a lot and felt would fit well with our community to live in our entry, then they would pledge frats and disappear from our dorm and our lives. The freshmen on campus policy hurts dorm communities and FSILG communities alike.</p>
<p>^ Heh, that was my reading fail, sorry Mollie. But at least we’re on the same page :)</p>
<p>when do we get our @mit.edu email account?</p>
<p>You’ll get instructions on creating an Athena username in the Next Big Mailing, which, IIRC, goes out in mid- to late May.</p>
<p>does it mean we’ll have to wait till then to join the MIT network on facebook?</p>
<p>^ Yes, but it’s worth the wait.</p>
<p>BTW joining the MIT network was the first thing I did after I got my Athena account HAHA</p>
<p>[Athena</a> User Accounts: Account Information | IS&T](<a href=“http://ist.mit.edu/support/accounts/information]Athena”>http://ist.mit.edu/support/accounts/information)</p>
<p>"Starting with the class of 2014, freshman registration is available through the my.mit.edu admissions portal. Freshmen will receive an email from the admissions office once they are able to register for an account. They can then log in to the my.mit.edu portal and click the link to register for their Athena Account (“Kerberos ID”). "</p>
<p>I’m excited!</p>
<p>“Please check back to MyMIT on May 3 to view important information on orientation, housing, and much more.”</p>
<p>So maybe we’ll be able to get a username and join the Facebook network later today?! EEEEP!!! :D</p>
<p>I just tried. I got stuck in the six secret words that we’re supposed to find in the coupon. You can try using the MIT ID number we got in the fin aid package.</p>
<p>Did you try [MIT</a> IS&T - Athena Account Registration](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/register/]MIT”>Redirecting to Athena List Management) ? or something else?</p>