neuron

I know there's info on mit.edu (blogs) and mit 2011, but let's get some advice about housing options. How many dorms are Residence-Based Advising dorms? Can you pick your roommate (after the temp period)? Which are the best located for typical freshman classes? Any help is welcome!

molliebatmit

To my knowledge, McCormick (all-female) will be the only remaining RBA dorm, since Next has decided to drop RBA.

You can pick your roommate at any time during the temp period (or before). You'll generally be assigned a random roommate for Orientation, but once you pick a final dorm and go through their in-house room assignment process, you can choose to "staple" with one or more roommates (depending on the size of rooms available in the dorm), or you can choose to be assigned a roommate by the housing chairs of the dorm.

I don't mean to editorialize, but you probably don't want to pick your dorm based on location. It's worth a few minutes' walk to make sure you're genuinely happy with your living situation.

Olo

I believe Next still has RBA, but that it has pushed its schedule back so residents can still participate in REX.

jessiehl

Yeah, you really don't want to make location a big factor in choosing your dorm. It should be roughly at the level of "Okay, there are these two dorms that I can't decide between; maybe location will tip the balance in favor of one."

McCormick has RBA and students cannot move after dorm rush.
Two (?) of the Cultural Houses in New House (Chocolate City and Spanish House?) have RBA and students cannot move after dorm rush.
Next has RBA and students can move after dorm rush (finally).