Massachusetts Institute of Technology Top Questions

Most people's social lives revolve around where they live. This may be a dorm, an ILG or a fraternity or sorority. MIT is the place where the parties in Boston happen, but there are also people who have never been to a frat party. The campus is divided between East Campus and West Campus, with two very different cultures that attract very different types of people. West Campus is considered a more 'normal' college experience, while East Campus is very MIT.

My life was dominated by theater. I went to an incredible amount of parties, and remember being proud that in 1988, MIT was one of Playboy's top part schools. Don't ask me why that mattered, but ever since I graduated, people can only imagine a super dork. Things like hacking (ie - finding new ways to break and enter into parts of campus and perform nerdy pranks) and the sodium drop were very important on the east side.

Where most student groups table, advertise, etc.

Student art displayed.

I'm not certain what groups are more popular than others - people are into absolutely everything. I know people into musical theater, part of our movie screening club, medical lecture groups, etc. And as for the stereotype that we can't do sports, our pistol team has beat the army consistently over the past years. We're not physically unskilled (you're even required to take PE's here - I've taken pistol, archery, fencing, and sailing). Dorms have a lot of tradition, each unique to the dorm's personality. Some dorms drop pianos or monitors off roofs every year, others drop thousands of bouncy balls. We have "Bad Taste" every year, too, which is a show that is everything... in bad taste. People party often enough for me - my dorm usually has a party on one hall or another every weekend, and we're not the only ones. Frats and sororities are important to many people on campus, but you're not going to feel left out if you're not part of one.

Contrary to what most people think, MIT has a thriving social and activities scene. We have about 40 varsity sports team, which gives athletes of abilities and levels to participate. We also have numerous theater groups, dance groups, just about a group for any activity you can think of. In addition, MIT has a strong Greek system, although it's very different from the typical Greek system at any other college. We have 27 fraternities and 5 sororities. Fraternities hold events every weekend, including dry events. About 25{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the female student body belongs to a sorority. I've found that there is never a shortage of things to do. People are always around in the dorms, always ready to go out and have some fun.

Greek life is popular on campus, with so many students belonging to sororities and fraternities. Sports aren't big on campus, except maybe for notorious rowing, or Crew. Guest speakers are pretty common, although I find little time to go to events I feel I would thoroughly enjoy. Awake at 2am on a Tuesday can only be a sign of me working to complete a Problem Set or studying for an exam.

Fraternities are very important; things to go on a Saturday night (without drinking) include hanging out with friends, going into Boston, watching a movie at a theater, going to Boston Commons, eating at a number of restaurants close to MIT. People are commonly awake in the early morning, either working or hanging out after working on homework.

Last weekend I played a show in the Senior House basement with four other bands, all from MIT! Concerts like this are reasonably well attended and awesome. One thing that will amaze you here is how much talent your friends have, and what they can manage to create, even when they're so busy all the time.

There's a lot of them every day all day (from midnight to midnight). Each dorm has it's own culture so what happens and when depends on the dorm your in, but there's always something going on. MIT students are very social and will usually have their doors open while their studying so friends can pop their heads in and chat. We have student run group (LSC - Lecture Series Committee) that brings recent movies (two per weekend usually) and sneak peeks of up coming movies to MIT plus a lot of guest lectures. I assume athletic events are somewhat popular since I think we have sports teams, but I'm not really into that scene so I wouldn't know. This weekend me and my best friend are tsking the bus up to New York to see Wicked on Broadway. So yeah. Lots to do here.