MIT: Campus Life

MIT students have plenty of entertainment options available to them: Greek parties, lectures, clubs, on-campus performances and art shows, online gaming, and, of course, all that the city of Boston has to offer. The problem, however, "is that it's hard to enjoy yourself when you know that on Monday you have 54 hours of work that needs to be completed." Students do occasionally find time to close the books, though, and when they do, many head to the school's popular fraternities and sororities to unwind. Or they may undertake projects with the folks they live with. One student says, "Whether people live in the dorms, fraternities, sororities, or independent living groups, they almost always find an extremely close, tight-knit community there. Many MIT students end up managing budgets of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, in their living groups or other clubs. They build, fix, or maintain houses they live in or cabins in the woods. They plan shows and events that draw hundreds of people." Beyond campus are Cambridge and Boston. The latter "is an amazing city, although if you want to have time to take advantage of it more than once a month, go to Boston University. If you're not at a party Friday night, chances are you're in lab or studying in your dorm room," or shooting the breeze with a fellow student. "MIT is the only place where you will find yourself staying up until three in the morning debating the (hypothetical) chemical interactions of urine in a Brita filter based on various chemical models," explains one student.