Residence Assignments

Housing works a little differently at MIT. Because they need to be different in as many ways as possible, I suppose. In May, all incoming freshman received a thick, brightly colored mailer with details about the different dorms. Using the packet in conjunction with the DVD it included, we filled out an application online that asked for a paragraph about ourselves, whether or not we liked cats, and - critically - our residence preferences. After about a month, the results of the housing lottery appear online.

When you arrive on campus, you check into your dorm but do not unpack. The first couple nights, all the upperclassmen basically throw huge parties in each of their residences with hopes of luring as many unsuspecting freshman to stay there as possible. That's because you can put in a request to swap dorms if you're unhappy or just think you would like a different one more.

The dorm system sucks for kids like me who really liked the dorm they started at - because we can't unpack for a week - but it is definitly neccessary! Each dorm has a very unique culture and if an unsuspecting freshmen is assigned to a dorm with an attitude that doesn't match his own, he pretty much hates it. Several people I know are desperately trying to get out of east campus and into west. (The east campus dorms are very excentric and the west campus dorms are more normal).

The residence to which I was assigned is MacGregor - it was my first choice. It's divided in three levels. The biggest level is an entry, of which there are nine, labeled A through J. You might notice that the set A through J contains ten letters, because i is imaginary and you can't live in an imaginary entry. Those entries are composed of four of five suites each and a shared common area and kitchen. Finally, each suite is composed of four singles and a smaller living room. Just as each residence has its own personality, each entry has its own personality as well at MacGregor. You can read more about MacGregor on their wiki here and the video that they showed on the DVD is linked below.