nano-cladding Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Just came back from the visiting weekend, which made my decision easy! I'm sending in my paperwork to commit to the PhD program in Nuclear Science and Engineering later this week. Anyone else heading to MIT this fall?!
Tairy Posted March 26, 2015 Posted March 26, 2015 I expect to be, I have one visit to another place arranged that I plan to attend before I commit, but if I'm honest I'd have to have my mind blown to not accept to MIT. I also recently visited and felt very good about everything, except that apparently the summers are miserably humid.
laulipop Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 I will be heading there for Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences!
nano-cladding Posted April 7, 2015 Author Posted April 7, 2015 Woo! Excited for all of us, haha. What are you all planning to do for housing?
Tairy Posted April 7, 2015 Posted April 7, 2015 I'm currently starting to stress about housing. I'm thinking about just applying for the on-campus graduate student housing, since the prices (unless you get a single-occupancy assignment where the cost isn't split between roommates) don't seem much higher than the general costs in the area, and because apparently you're basically guaranteed to get something as an incoming student. The downside is that you only get to put in your preferences and take what they give you, and pay $250 if you want to decline the assignment. Shopping around for good deals seems too hard to do without actually being in the area to meet people and look at places, though. Even if I get a crappy on-campus assignment for the first year it'll be easier to move out for the next year since I'll be there, I figure, and I expect that I won't be in the place much regardless, except to sleep.
Argon Posted April 8, 2015 Posted April 8, 2015 (edited) I'll be trying for on-campus housing. I live in an apartment about 15 minutes away from MIT right now, and I think it'd be nice to go back to an on-campus setting. I'm a bit worried about on-campus housing availability though since Sidney-Pacific (which is absolutely wonderful by the way -- I stayed there one summer) is undergoing renovations and won't be taking incoming students. Including utilities, off-campus housing in the Cambridge area will likely be relatively close to the price for on-campus housing unless you're aiming for an efficiency apartment or 1-bedroom. That being said, there are most definitely cheaper options for off-campus housing available, especially because the on-campus housing prices will only go up next year too. If you don't limit yourself to Cambridge, you'll find tons of places for cheaper prices too. On the topic of housing, can anyone access the housing allocation portal thing yet? I'm not able to. Edited April 8, 2015 by Argon
Tairy Posted April 8, 2015 Posted April 8, 2015 Anyone have a sense of which on-campus buildings are best? The gist of what I've read is that Tang is crappy (if cheap) but I haven't heard anything bad about the others. I can't look at the application yet because I haven't had an ID assigned (since I only just accepted) but unless I recall wrong, you select 3 options, do you not? In which case I need to decide whether to make my 3rd choice the crappy cheap Tang hall or the more expensive Warehouse.
nano-cladding Posted April 9, 2015 Author Posted April 9, 2015 Just letting you guys know, I finally have access to the housing application!
Tairy Posted April 9, 2015 Posted April 9, 2015 How long did it take you people to get your MIT ID and such? I only just accepted the offer earlier this week, apparently the process was started.
nano-cladding Posted April 9, 2015 Author Posted April 9, 2015 My MIT ID# was on my offer letter, but it took about 2 and a half weeks from the time I submitted my reply form to the time I got to create my Kerberos account. In re: to housing, I've also heard that Tang is fairly undesirable, if only because it is pretty far from the campus and grocery stores, but I also hear that it has great views of the Charles, if that is important to you haha. For the selection/ranking process, it allowed me to rank all of them, you're not restricted to your top 3 to rank. You can rank all of the housing options if you want. Grad students I talked to, though, cautioned against giving a ranking at all for places you would absolutely not want. I'm banking on getting into campus housing for the first year to avoid the hassle of finding a place off-campus, and then the second year may try to get a place off-campus or try to move into the Eastgate family housing with my SO.
Tairy Posted April 9, 2015 Posted April 9, 2015 Good to know, why did it take so long for you to get the kereberos thing? Was it some external issue, or something I can expect to have to deal with? And do you need that to do the housing application? I see that you at least need an MIT ID and MIT web certificates installed. Personally, my stipend is such that literally any of the options are fine for me, with one exception: The 1 bedroom apartments in Edgerton are simply too much, so I figure that I'll simply rank that building lowest and hope that I don't happen to get assigned the literally only option that I can't manage. I hear Tang is crusty but the walk looks fine to me and it's cheap, so whatever, I don't expect to spend much of my time at home.
nano-cladding Posted April 10, 2015 Author Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) Not a clue why the Kerberos took so long, I think it was more of a departmental thing? I sent in my reply form shortly after the visiting weekend, so maybe they waited to start the computer account setup process until more students had accepted. I was essentially just waiting for the department to send me my "keywords" that would allow me to create the account. To get the web certificates, you need the Kerberos account, so you do need it for the housing application. Ah, that's awesome. My stipend also makes most of the housing options manageable, but I'll be trying for the two-person places in Edgerton and Ashdown. I value not living with a ton of people and having the freedom to furnish my own place (like in Edgerton), plus the the student offices in my department are also on Albany Street, so it would be super close! Edited April 10, 2015 by nano-cladding
Tairy Posted April 10, 2015 Posted April 10, 2015 Ah, I'm glad you pointed out that Edgerton is unfurnished. That'd be annoying for me, so I can squarely place it lowest. I was looking stuff up today and saw that apparently last year 100% of incoming students were placed somewhere, so that's good, the question is how much more difficult it'll be this year since the one building is unavailable due to construction. Supposedly new students are prioritized, but I don't know what I'll do if I don't get something.
Tairy Posted April 16, 2015 Posted April 16, 2015 Urgh, I got my MIT email etc. working and supposedly I have the web certificates installed properly, but I still can't access the housing application website. I only got this stuff today, so maybe I should wait and see if it works itself out before getting too annoyed.
nano-cladding Posted April 18, 2015 Author Posted April 18, 2015 It took me a few business days until all of my computer accounts accepted my information and allowed me to access things, so no worries yet!
Tairy Posted April 19, 2015 Posted April 19, 2015 Mhm, everything is together and my housing application is in. In my nosing around I noticed that the building currently unavailable for moving in due to construction is the largest one of them all by like a hundred people. That's not good news for availability, but apparently pre-existing residents can choose to remain there, and I hope they do! I've been hearing that MIT has a good amount of free food events between its own events and companies having recruitment events, and some of the residences seem to have various intermittent events and meetings that involve food. I don't expect to be starving but food you didn't pay for is always the best.
Argon Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 I wouldn't worry too much about Sidney-Pacific not being open. It's the biggest apartment and (in my opinion) the best, but first-years always get preference. So, I think this housing change may affect us a little bit, but I think it will really majorly impact the continuing students more than us.
idiochromatic Posted April 27, 2015 Posted April 27, 2015 I'm in EAPS! Excited to meet you this fall! I went to undergrad in the area, so I was able to join an off-campus lease with some friends who are still in the area. I definitely prefer to live off campus but it's very tough to apartment hunt long distance. I'm sure you guys will have a much easier time of it once you're there, if you decide to move off campus.
nano-cladding Posted May 7, 2015 Author Posted May 7, 2015 Housing results are out! For those of you looking to be on campus, how'd it turn out? I'm super excited to have gotten my first pick in Edgerton
talkcherty2me Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 (edited) I got my first pick as well (The Warehouse)! When is everyone moving in who's doing on campus housing? It looks like we can move in any time during July/August. Edit: Sorry, didn't see the posts about people not getting things Edited May 8, 2015 by talkcherty2me
pepsico Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 Question for those who did not get housing: What were your preferences? @talkcherty2me My department told us when we should request housing in order to make it for our department's TA training. It's the weekend my contract at work ends so I'll be hustling. Kinda cool how it all flows together.
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