Housing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), students live in special buildings called dormitories. There are eleven places for students just starting and eight for students who have already finished school.

All students who are just starting must stay in one of these homes during their first year. These buildings often have groups of rooms called suites or floors. They also have older students called Graduate Resident Assistants who help with fun activities and keep things positive.

Each dormitory has a Head of House, usually a teacher from MIT, who lives in the building and helps everyone get along. Some bigger dorms have more than one Head of House, each looking after a different part of the building.

One dorm, McCormick Hall, is only for girls, while the others welcome everyone. Two special buildings, Westgate and the Graduate Tower, are for students who have families. The rest are for single students. Some older students also choose to live in groups called fraternities, sororities, or Independent Living Groups, which are close to campus in places like Cambridge, Boston, or Brookline, Massachusetts.

Overview

MIT has many places for students to live. First-year students must stay in a dormitory during their first year. These dorms have special traditions and activities.

Some dorms on the west side are more traditional. Dorms on the east side have students who share interests like art or music. New students get a temporary room and then choose where they want to live by joining events and activities in different dorms.

MIT plans its dorms to be friendly and comfortable. They have shared spaces for cooking, eating, and studying. Some dorms have special rooms for making things or playing games. The goal is to help students learn and grow together.

Undergraduate dormitories

Baker House

Baker House is a dormitory at MIT designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. It has a unique shape that lets most rooms see the Charles River. The building was updated in 1999 and celebrated its 75th year in 2024.

Burton-Conner House

Burton-Conner House is on the north bank of the Charles River. It was made from two parts of an old hotel and opened as a dormitory in 1950. The building was completely changed in 1970–1971 and was updated and reopened in 2022 after closing for a few years.

East Campus

East Campus is one of MIT's oldest dormitories. It has six houses named after MIT alumni. Students can paint and decorate their rooms and shared spaces. East Campus was closed for updates from 2023 to 2024 and reopened with new features.

MacGregor House

MacGregor House, designed by Pietro Belluschi, has a tall tower and a short section. It has 326 undergraduates living in groups of six to eight people. The building is famous for the strong winds around it.

Maseeh Hall

Maseeh Hall was updated and opened for undergraduates in 2011. It is MIT's largest undergraduate dormitory, with 490 beds. The lobby is known for its high ceilings and mosaic designs.

McCormick Hall

McCormick Hall is a dormitory only for women, housing 237 undergraduates. It has two towers and an extra building, and was built to support women in STEM fields.

New House

New House has 291 undergraduates living in connected buildings. It was updated from 2017 to 2018, improving accessibility and sustainability but affecting the student community.

New Vassar

New Vassar opened in 2021 and is the newest dormitory at MIT, with space for 450 students. It has a dining hall, courtyard, and makerspace, but some people have complained about how it was designed.

Next House

Next House is at 500 Memorial Drive and has about 350 people. It has a lounge, music practice rooms, a dining area, and workout rooms.

Random Hall

Random Hall is the oldest building at MIT and the smallest dormitory, with about 93 undergraduates. It was changed for undergraduate use in 1977 and is known for being one of the first to have online servers for bathrooms and laundry.

Simmons Hall

Simmons Hall, designed by architect Steven Holl, has 344 undergraduate students. The building is famous for its unique design with many windows and a large ball pit. Students have different opinions about how well the building works and how it looks.

Former undergraduate dormitories

Some well-known MIT undergraduate dorms have closed after many years. Bexley Hall was torn down because of worries about its safety. Senior House now houses only graduate students after some disagreements.

Bexley Hall

Bexley Hall was an MIT dorm at 46-52 Massachusetts Avenue. It was a big brick building with four stories around a central space. It was very close to MIT's Building 7. Bexley had full kitchens and bathrooms in its suites. The walls were often painted with murals and graffiti by students.

Bexley was known for its unique culture and was one of the first MIT dorms to allow both male and female students. Some residents had cats that roamed freely. In 1970, famous concerts by the Grateful Dead were held there.

In 2013, MIT decided to close Bexley Hall for up to three years because of water damage that made it unsafe. Later, it was decided to tear it down because it was too costly to fix. By 2015, the building was gone, and a small park was made in its place.

Notable alumni from Bexley Hall include U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, director of the Vatican Observatory Br. Guy Consolmagno, and co-inventor of the computerized spreadsheet, Dan Bricklin.

Senior House

Senior House is the oldest dorm at MIT and was the first self-governing college dorm in the United States. Built in 1916, it has served many roles over the years. The building has a tower with special columns that match the style of the original MIT Cambridge campus.

In 2016, MIT made changes to Senior House because of concerns about graduation rates. In 2017, it was announced that Senior House would no longer house undergraduates and would instead be used for graduate students. This change caused debate among students and staff.

Notable alumni from Senior House include co-founder of Stripe Patrick Collison, co-founder of Transatomic Power Leslie Dewan, and former president of Harvard University Lawrence Summers.

FSILGs

Further information: List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology fraternities and sororities

Fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups are special housing choices for MIT students, but not for first-year students. These groups are owned by companies mostly run by alumni and are managed by students who live there. MIT helps with rules and makes sure each group has a graduate tutor. How food is handled can vary — some groups have a chef, while others share cooking or provide food for everyone to cook.

Independent Living Groups

MIT's Independent Living Groups, or ILGs, join in some big events but keep many of their own traditions as cooperative homes. Some of these groups began as fraternities that left their national organizations in the early 1970s to support co-education, which did not match their national rules. MIT has five ILGs that work together through a Living Group Council (LGC). Each ILG property is owned by a corporation mostly or entirely made up of alumni and is then rented to students.

Here are MIT's ILGs.

Active:

• Student House, 1930, co-ed
• Fenway House, 1973, co-ed
• ΕΘ - Epsilon Theta, 1974, co-ed
• [Women's Independent Living Group], 1976, women's
• pika 1981, co-ed

Inactive:

• 5:15 Club, 1933–1986

Graduate dormitories

MIT has eight special homes for students who are studying after their school years. These are called graduate dormitories. Some of these homes have special names, like 70 Amherst Street, Ashdown House, and Sidney-Pacific.

MIT also works with a company to provide another home for graduate students called Graduate Junction. These homes give students a place to live while they study and learn new things.

Former graduate dormitories

Some buildings that once housed graduate students at MIT have changed over time. The building at 305 Memorial Drive used to be called "Ashdown House" but is now "Maseeh Hall" for undergraduate students. The name "Ashdown House" was then used for a graduate residence at 235 Albany Street.

Other buildings like Eastgate Apartments were torn down around 2022 to make space for a new building in Kendall Square. Green Hall, located at 350 Memorial Drive, was renamed KAT House in 2008. It was a dormitory for women graduate students from the mid-1980s and had both double and single rooms.