What sets MIT's East Campus apart from other dorms of the college type?
1. You can learn how to cook. What better way to learn how than to live in a place where you can have a big, awesome kitchen with personal cupboards for everyone?
2. Cats are allowed! Yay. Other critters have been known to make a home out of EC as well..
3. Residents live in doubles or singles. Does not count cats. No quads or triples here... unless you really want to. :)
4. We're not afraid to put our engineering skills to the test. With ourselves often playing the test subjects.
5. We don't post everything we do to YouTube. We're kinda too cool for that. But we also have a cute little gallery which you can visit by clicking here.
6. A hall has no kinks or turns. No wavy or winding paths here. Mostly this means you can look down the entire length of your hall and see EVERYTHING..
7. You'll share a bathroom. It's no big deal, they're always well maintained, and you can even knock first if you're so inclined.
8. You can leave your mark. With pens, markers, paint and such.
Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)
Posted by: cristen on July 31, 2009
Posted by: FuLanKe on July 31, 2009
Posted by: FuLanKe on July 31, 2009
Well, in the east parallel the whole hall (~35ish people give or take a bunch) shares 5 distinct bathrooms, the largest of which can accommodate 3 showerers and two potty-users all at once. ^_^
So you could say, for x length of hall the bathroom to resident ratio is about 1:7ish. The ones closer to the ends of the hall are not as high-traffic though.
It's a pretty comfortable situation.. I've never felt like it was too crowded, or that there weren't enough facilities to go around.
Posted by: cristen on July 31, 2009
BTW.. How does the self-cooking process work at the East campus(in terms of buying groceries/the costs)?
I am not well acquainted with dining system in MIT as a whole.. So may you please shed some light?
Posted by: FuLanKe on July 31, 2009
Posted by: JB '13 on July 31, 2009
Posted by: Tyler on July 31, 2009
Posted by: Olive on July 31, 2009
Posted by: VAL '14? on July 31, 2009
That kitchen is not the dorm's communal kitchen. Each hall has their own kitchen like that (and no, this is not true of every living group).
Posted by: Piper '12 on July 31, 2009
Come on class of '14...
Posted by: Tyler on July 31, 2009
Posted by: Vivian '12 on July 31, 2009
Posted by: Tyler on August 1, 2009
Posted by: James '13 on August 1, 2009
Can we call visitors?
Posted by: 0 on August 1, 2009
@Anon - Don't choose a dorm based on facilities.
Posted by: Piper '12 on August 1, 2009
Posted by: 14 - yr - old Girl on August 1, 2009
and even leaving marks..........
great
Posted by: navin on August 1, 2009
I lived in MacGregor my first 3 semesters. Granted, that was over a decade ago, so things may have changed, but here were my thoughts on that dorm.
MacGregor Pros:
* Mostly singles
* Huge windows in each dorm room
* Convenience store in the building (is that still around?)
* Awesome view of the Charles River and Boston, if you manage to get a dorm room on the Memorial Drive side.
* If you belch in the G-Entry stairwell, you can get some amazing resonance, such that the guy living in G-225 will come running, asking "what the hell was that?!"
* Chance to get to know other residents of your Entry fairly well.
MacGregor Cons:
* I personally found that there did not seem to be much social interaction between Entries.
* I found that, in some cases, there did not seem to be much interaction between Suites in the same Entry.
(MacGregor is divided into Entries, effectively physically sub-sections. Each of these Entries is then divided up even further into Suites of several rooms sharing a kitchen.)
I had some buddies in Next House, who I would sometimes visit. I found the contract between Next and MacGregor startling.
Next felt much more social and open. I could easily visit several friends at Next just by walking down a hall or 2.
To visit some friends at MacGregor, who lived in different Entries, it almost felt like I had to make trips to several different dorms, even though they all technically lived in the same dorm.
Now, I will say that my mom wanted me to live in MacGregor. She liked the privacy, and felt it would be great as a study environment. And I think she is right, if you want to study alone. But, I will also say that most of the study groups I was in, such as for 8.01, were held in Next House, either in freshman triples or quads, or in lounges outside of door rooms.
Personally, I think if I had to do it all over again, I would have spent my freshman year in a more social dorm, like EC or Next.
To be honest, I think MacGregor is a great dorm. You can get a lot of privacy, and the dorm rooms are nice. But, you sometimes get more privacy than you want.
I was pretty shy coming to MIT, but I wanted to socialize more, and while MacGregor does not prevent you from socializing, I think you have to put more effort into it if you live there.
If you are naturally very outgoing and can easily make friends and socialize, then I think MacGregor is great.
But, if you are shy (like I was... okay, okay, like I still am), then I think being in a more socially conducive dorm (like EC and Next) may be a better way to go.
At least, that is what my experience taught me.
My too bits!
Posted by: Too Much Power Little Guy '97 on August 1, 2009
I liked EC for its cultural uniqueness and creativity but I liked MacGregor since I tend to be a little more quiet but could maybe become more social with other nerds. I got temped in EC so I guess I'll see how much I like it very soon.
Posted by: 0 on August 1, 2009
Another interesting combination that's cropping up this year is Next/Random, anyone have thoughts on that?
I have a feeling that the definition of "nerd" differs between East and West Campus as well, but maybe that's just me..
Posted by: Vivian '12 on August 2, 2009
Posted by: Snively on August 2, 2009
I actually know someone who had the McCormick/Random combo. She was a perfect fit for random, but her parents forced her to rank McCormick first. She was just hoping she'd get into random and not McCormick. But yeah, a true McCormick/Random combo is kinda weird...
I find there are a lot of weird combos in the summer rankings, because a lot of people don't have a good sense for the dorms yet.
Posted by: Anon on August 2, 2009
Posted by: Tyler on August 2, 2009
Posted by: 0 on August 2, 2009
Posted by: Anon on August 2, 2009
Posted by: Anon on August 2, 2009
Most dorms have communal kitchens like that, yeah. You hope your floormates do their part to keep it clean... that picture looks abnormally tidy for an EC kitchen.
Posted by: 0 on August 2, 2009
Posted by: 0 on August 2, 2009
http://www.collegecoedsgonewildinthekitchen.com/
Its functionality varies, but when it's on it works great . . . if you like kitchens.
Posted by: Snively on August 2, 2009
Posted by: 0 on August 2, 2009
When I chain myself to EC after graduation and refuse to move out, you guys can just be all like, "yeah, we saw that coming."
w00t 3W :D
Posted by: mehl '13 on August 3, 2009
Posted by: Curious on August 4, 2009
Posted by: Sheila '13 on August 4, 2009
Posted by: Piper '12 on August 5, 2009
I was a Baker/Bexley/BC combo.
Posted by: 0 on August 9, 2009
Add a comment
Comments have been closed.