Massachusetts Institute of Technology Top Questions

Out of 1000 people in my class, I don't really socialize with half of them. They may seem like the stereotypical MIT students. However, the other 500 are incredibly cool people that are amazingly talented and extremely fun to be around.

no. there are those type of people here, but they are the exception, not the norm.

In some ways yes, and in some ways not. Basically everyone at MIT *is* smart and talented and deserves to be there. This does NOT mean that everyone is socially inpet, nerdy, or ugly. There is a huge variety of people at MIT, and some people do fall into these categories. But not nearly close to all of them do.

Not necessarily. We have our share of kids who play video games all day, but that's not the majority. Overall, MIT is special for the way everyone is passionate about something and has fun in their own way. For some people, that's dungeons and dragons, but for me, it's extracurriculars, hanging out with friends, exploring the city, and exercise.

To some extent, yes, very much. East Campus is known for building things, and we do, in fact, spend most of our rush budget on literally tons of wood to build roller coasters, log flumes, spinning see-saws, and the like. Of course, people are in a continuum of craziness. There are plenty of west campus residents who like to go hacking. On the other hand, the east side is not always doing crazy things; we also have to spend time doing out homework! Also, the overarching "geek" stereotype is accurate but oversimplified. Lots of people like to write their own computer games or spend their Friday nights building crazy electronic creations, but you'll see most of these same people drinking and dancing at parties. Many of us know how to have a good time. And the stereotype (perpetuated in the Engineers' Drinking Song) that MIT students never have sex is downright false; I know this because I sometimes hear people at it as I'm trying to fall asleep at night. I'm not sure why our walls are impermeable to cell phone reception but not sex noises, but whatever.

Most of us do work all the time, but it's because we need to get our work done. We call care about academics for the most part, so we're willing to put in the extra hours to get the work done. That doesn't mean that we sit around creating more work for ourselves or doing extra math problems for fun. Sure, some people do, but it's not everyone. Some people ARE really socially awkward, but it's part of the culture. Most people can engage you in conversation and are interesting. Some people aren't fantastic at picking up on social cues, but that doesn't mean they're not interesting and fun people. There ARE people who are so intensely awkward that you can't talk to them or just want to get away the minute you start talking to them, but let's face it, those people are everywhere. We are not all course 6, thankfully. We are not all amazing geniuses. Everyone at MIT is smart, but most of us also have to work incredibly hard to stay on top of things. Very few people coast by here and even fewer people fit the "genius" classification. If you're at MIT, you were probably the smartest person at your high school, and you will very likely spend the next 4 years feeling like a complete idiot. It's ok, though, because you get used to it, and ultimately it can be pretty motivating to finally be around people who are smarter than you.

Well, there are a lot of Asian students, and we do work a LOT. However, there are all kinds of people at MIT. Really social people, athletes, drama geeks, eccentric people, video gamers, and lots and lots of nerds. :)

Although it is true that there are some people that have troubles finding formulas for social interaction, there are plenty of people who are socially normal, but are just good that the math and science. We do have some uber-geniuses- academic Olympians, Putnum winners, people that have done significant research/ buisness during high school, but it is not as if we instantly know everything on sight.

Not particularly... people here are very intelligent and are generally passionate about their field of study, but there is a much wider range of people than one might imagine. Of course, there are the crazy-math, spaced-out head-cases, and personally I enjoy that aspect of the MIT culture, but there are also very normal people. Students typically participate in a wide-range of extracurriculars and are just as active in these pursuits as they are in their coursework. People play sports, people start bands, people dance, people network, people write poetry and go star-gazing. MIT students are not 2D engineers. The classmates are for the most part very down to earth; even those who come arrogant are quickly humbled. There is a bit of a masochistic streak in the culture, but mostly people just like to joke about it or are hardcore because it's fun. Sometimes people kill themselves, but it doesn't happen any more frequently than at other colleges. And just for the record, not all of us girls are hideous.

Not always.