Mar 23, 2010

Tour of MIT

After we went to the museum, we traveled to the admissions office of MIT to start our information session and tour. When we got to the information session, we learned about the history of MIT and got a lot of insight into the application and admissions processes of MIT. After that, we started our campus tour. A Mechanical Engineering major grad student took us on the tour. We started in the "hall of infinity," then worked our way towards the math building. On the way, the tour guide talked about how every once in a while, people in an underground club would do pranks that they call "hacks." These hacks are harmless but funny pranks that are commonly accepted across campus. One time in the 50's, these "hackers" took a car, painted it like a police car and put it on top of a huge dome on campus. Things like this happen all the time at MIT. Next, we went to the chemical engineering building, where the tour guide told us about the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). These are research projects available for all undergraduate students. They are hugely popular at MIT, and the research projects range from small things to important innovative technologies. After that, we went to the Stata Center, which housed a whole bunch of departments, labs, and academic spaces. The Stata center was designed by Frank Geary and was very funky looking. We then continued on to see the student center and all the programs, stores, and restaurants available to the students at MIT. After the tour, we stayed after with the guide to talk about her major and engineering at MIT in general. Overall, it was a very educational experience for us all.

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