REX: Choosing a Dorm

I’m finally back at MIT! I miss my parents but I’m very glad to see my friends again. Annelise and I have had a lot of fun planning our room and figuring out where to put our furniture (I ordered a rug, a little table, and a fridge before I came back, that’s how excited I was!). The past week has been very very busy, since it was Residential Exploration for the freshman. In order for me to come back to MIT early (school starts on September 6^th), I had to help out with REX. Gus is in charge of it along with his friend Nunu, so it really wasn’t a bad thing :-).

MIT is unique compared to other colleges because they give you a lot of control over where you live. Each dorm is very different, so you should look around thoroughly. Before arriving at MIT, the frosh receive information about all the different dorms and they rank all of them in order of preference. During part of orientation, they are put in a “temp” dorm (based on their preferences and a lottery that is held). REX started last Friday and ended this Wednesday. During orientation/REX, there are a lot of activities that each dorm puts on. This allows freshman to go around the dorms and decide where they would feel most comfortable. If they do not want to stay in their temp dorm, they have to enter a second lottery (the same as the first lottery) to determine their dormitory. Most people get one of their tops choices. Yesterday Simmons’ residents found out their permanent room assignments. Within Simmons, we also have another preference sheet so the freshman have as much control as possible over what room they get. On the preference sheet you have to rank in order of importance to you: curvy vs. straight walls, size of room, Cambridge side or Boston side, which floor, etc. You can also choose a roommate, but if you don’t have anyone to room with you can fill out a roommate preference sheet too.

Here are the activities we did last week for the freshman:

FRIDAY:
-In the morning, we greeted freshman at the entrance to Simmons, there were donuts!
- We took some frosh out to dinner. My group went to Royal East, a Chinese restaurant.

SATURDAY:
- In the morning, we greeted freshman at the entrance to Simmons
-We had a barbeque outside for lunch and there was a water slide (I got all wet because Gus threw me in it :-).
-There was a Star Wars movie marathon that lasted until about 4 in the morning. We started at 8:00 with episodes IV, V, and VI. Our plan was to watch Episodes I, II, and III after that but I guess people went to sleep after Episode I.

SUNDAY:
-The housemasters served brunch to freshman
-We tie-dyed boxers, thongs, and t-shirts in the afternoon
-We gave tours of Simmons to parents and freshman
-There was a water war between East and West Campus, but it was raining so I don’t think many people went.
-Fluorescent party (including a DJ and glow in the dark stuff!) and capture the flag in Simmons at night
-We served waffles at midnight along with ice cream and other goodies (mmmm soooo yummy!)

MONDAY:
-We went paint balling, it was awesome!

TUESDAY:
-We invited the freshman to do a 3.5 mile run along the river at 7:00 in the morning :-)

WEDNESDAY:
-Freshman know what dormitory they are staying in
-Simmons orientation, freshman met the different GRTs

THURSDAY:
-Simmons Mystery Hunt (puzzle solving competition!)

I had a lot of fun meeting the freshman and helping out with the events (I did almost all of them!). It was stressful at times but definitely worth it. We had a great REX this year thanks to all the Early Returns and Gus and Nunu!