2015 –2016 A GUIDE FOR PARENTS produced by in partnership with For more information, please contact MIT Parents Association 600 Memorial Drive W98-2nd FL Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 253-8183 [email protected] Photograph by Christoper Harting About this Guide UniversityParent has published this guide in contents Photograph by Christoper Brown partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the mission of helping you easily navigate your student’s university with the most timely and relevant information available. Top cover photograph by Christoper Harting. MIT Guide Bottom cover photo by Tom Gearty. | Comprehensive advice and information for student success Discover more articles, tips, and local business information by visiting the online guide at: 4 | Welcome to MIT www.universityparent.com/mit 6 | Mission and Origins The presence of university/college logos and 7 | Traditions and Hacks marks in this guide does not mean the school 11 | Navigating MIT endorses the products or services offered by advertisers in this guide. 13 | What to Do on Campus 16 | Academics 2995 Wilderness Place, Suite 205 Boulder, CO 80301 19 | 2014–2015 Enrollment www.universityparent.com 22 | Faculty and Staff Advertising Inquiries: 24 | Students after Graduation (866) 721-1357 Learning Communities [email protected] 26 | 28 | Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation 29 | Housing 31 | MIT Dining 32 | Health Care SARah Schupp PUBLISHER 34 | MIT Police and Campus Safety maRK hagER DESIGN 35 | MIT Parents Association 38 | Campus Map Connect: 40 | Boston Transit Map facebook.com/UniversityParent 42 | Subway Map 44 | Academic Calendar twitter.com/4collegeparents 46 | Contact Information Photograph by Nick Schietromo © 2015 UniversityParent 48 | MIT Area Resources 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3 www.universityparent.com/mit 3 MIT is coeducational and privately endowed. Its faculty of more than 1,000 is dedicated to helping more than 4,000 undergraduate and 6,000 graduate students pursue their degrees in one of five schools: to • Architecture and Planning • Engineering • Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences • Management • Science An MIT education combines rigorous academic study and the excitement of discovery with the support and intellectual stimulation of a diverse campus community. Students come from all 50 states and more than 100 foreign countries; our diversity is reflected in our long roster of ethnically- and culturally- oriented clubs and organizations. Underrepresented minority students will find a lively community here, as well as a range of support services. Likewise, MIT’s unmistakably international atmosphere is welcoming to students from around the globe. Overall, MIT is a community open to new approaches and ideas, deeply committed to collaboration and unimpressed with social credentials—a place where people take great pleasure in tackling hard problems together. The MIT community exudes a crackling energy—the passion, curiosity, playfulness, creativity, and drive of thousands of bright minds working MIT stands among the world’s preeminent MIT believes in the power of learning- Home to a vibrant together on the great problems of the research universities. Our formal mission by-doing, the value of working community of students, world. As your visit concludes, you may is to advance knowledge and educate collaboratively, and the importance of find that you, too, have been infused with faculty, staff, and alumni. students in science, technology, and continually reassessing the effectiveness the energy and inquisitiveness present in other areas of scholarship that will best of our own teaching strategies. Whenever our Institute. We hope you’ll enjoy your time, exploring serve the nation and the world in the possible, our courses include hands- the campus, learning about our new 21st century. We seek to develop in each on engagement with the subject, and We hope you enjoy your visit. initiatives (global, MITx, and otherwise), member of the MIT community the ability students tackle new material in teams. The and touring facilities known as much and passion to work wisely, creatively, latest and most effective techniques and Sincerely, for their architectural design as for their and effectively for the betterment of learning technologies are transforming cutting-edge laboratories inside. humankind. the way many subjects are taught at the The MIT Parents Association Institute. 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology www.universityparent.com/mit 5 Photograph by Christoper Harting Mission and Origins MISSION STATEMENT The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. The Institute is committed to generating, relevant to an increasingly industrialized Traditions and Hacks disseminating, and preserving knowledge, America. Rogers stressed the pragmatic and to working with others to bring and practicable. He believed that this knowledge to bear on the world’s professional competence is best fostered great challenges. MIT is dedicated to by coupling teaching with research and by Mascot: The Beaver But neither of these were American providing its students with an education focusing attention on real-world problems. In 1913, a group of MIT alumni came animals. We turned to Mr. Hornaday’s that combines rigorous academic study Toward this end, he pioneered the together to brainstorm ideas for a book on the Animals of North America and the excitement of discovery with the development of the teaching laboratory. sentimental mascot for the Institute. and instantly chose the beaver. As you will support and intellectual stimulation of On January 14, 1914, the group formally see the beaver not only typifies the Tech a diverse campus community. We seek Today MIT is a world-class educational presented the beaver mascot to MIT’s man but his habits are peculiarly our own. to develop in each member of the MIT institution. Teaching and research—with President, Richard Maclaurin. This is what Mr. Hornaday states, “Of all the animals community the ability and passion to work relevance to the practical world as a Lester Gardner 1897, chairman of the of the world, the beaver is noted for his wisely, creatively, and effectively for the guiding principle—continue to be its group, reported: engineering and mechanical skill and betterment of humankind. primary purpose. MIT’s five schools habits of industry. His habits are nocturnal; and one college encompass numerous We first thought of the kangaroo, he does his best work in the dark.” The Institute admitted its first students in academic departments, divisions, and which, like Tech, goes forward by leaps 1865, four years after the approval of its degree-granting programs, as well as and bounds and like you, comes from The beaver has since been named TIM. founding charter. The opening marked interdisciplinary centers, laboratories, Australia. Then we considered the TIM frequently will appear at important the culmination of an extended effort by and programs whose work cuts across elephant. He is wise, patient, strong, hard MIT events, posing for pictures and William Barton Rogers, a distinguished traditional departmental boundaries. working and like all men who graduate generally providing joy and mirth to all natural scientist, to establish a new kind from Tech [MIT], has a good tough hide. those who see him. of independent educational institution 6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology www.universityparent.com/mit 7 The Brass Rat The Brass Rat is also a part of MIT MIT’s famous class ring is known as the graduation tradition. At Commencement, Brass Rat. It was so named because it is MIT students wait not to move their made of gold and features a beaver on its tassels from one side to the other, but bezel. rather for the moment when they flip the ring around. While still an undergraduate, The students in each class year at MIT students wear the Brass Rat such that the formally gather three times. They gather MIT seal and motto and the Boston skyline at the start of their undergraduate careers is viewed, reminding you that you’re still for the freshman picture, at the end for a student. Upon graduation, the ring is graduation, and halfway through for the flipped around so that the graduating unveiling of the class ring. year along with the MIT skyline is seen, showing that you have entered the real Photograph by Emily Muldoon Kathan Every Brass Rat includes elements world and have the perspective to look standard to every ring: a beaver on the back at your time at MIT. bezel, the MIT seal on one shank, and the class year of graduation on the other Hacks In actuality, the police car was the shell shank. However, each class’s Brass Rat MIT has a long tradition of “hacks,” clever of a Chevrolet Cavalier attached to a is unique in its design. A student design and elegant pranks showcasing the playful multi-piece wooden frame, all carefully committee incorporates secret icons and and inventive spirit of MIT. Hacks are assembled on the roof over the course codes special to their class year. performed by hackers, MIT students who of one night. Perhaps as a nod to the MIT legend says safely and stealthily execute the pranks very limited parking around campus, the Since 1929, the Brass Rat has been according to an informal code of ethics. car had been issued a parking violation designed by a student committee. The that the ring is These ethics, loosely stated, assert that reading “no permit for this location.” design process begins in freshman year hacks must do no damage to property with the highly competitive process or any person, must be safe, and must The police car hack received television of choosing the ring committee, or one of the most provide joy or amusement to those who and newspaper coverage around the “RingComm,” of 12 class members. To experience the hack.