REX (Residence selection, formerly called dorm rush) is time set aside during orientation for freshmen to tour dorms, meet upperclassmen and ask them questions about their dorm and to get more information about how MIT's unique housing system works. You should spend this time deciding which dorms you think you would be happy living at. You may not think it matters now, but after a couple of months in a dorm, you may wish you had spent more time thinking about your decision to live there. People who put time into choosing a dorm that is right for them rarely regret it.

It's what the cool kids call REX (see above).

The second lottery gives freshmen the opportunity to choose their dormitory preferences after actually seeing the dorms and meeting the people. No matter how good an i3 video is, it can't replace actually spending time at a dorm. All freshmen will enter the second housing lottery by Tuesday, 8/28. You will be able to select dorms that you would prefer over the one you are living in temporarily, or to request to stay in your temporary dorm. Based on these requests, you will be placed in a dorm by Saturday afternoon.

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This is obviously different for different people, but in general people who choose a dorm because it has big rooms or nice facilities more often regret their decision than those that choose a dorm because they feel comfortable around the people already 3iving there. Spend time talking to upperclassmen during REX and you'll get a sense of who you want to live with.

After MIT assigns you to a dorm, it is up to the house government in your dorm to assign you to a room. At East Campus, we have an in-house rush Wednesday evening (8/29). If you're assigned to live here, you'll get to go around to every hall and get a feel for whether you'd like to live there. Every hall at EC has its own personality, so it's important that we give you a chance to choose which ones you like. Some other dorms have similar in house rushes, some have other systems of assigning rooms. This is a good question to ask your tour guide at each dorm. Also, keep in mind that at East Campus, even freshmen who live here during orientation and decide to stay will have to move to a new room after in house rush.

Odds are, you'll be moving in between your temp assignment and your final assignment. If you end up living at EC, you definitely will. We think that it's best if everyone picks the dorm that they feel they fit the best at, rather than the dorm they unpacked their collection of vintage Spiderman comics at.

Trusting freshman with the ability to select their own dorms produces a system in which very close-knit, diverse communities form. Living with a group of people you feel comfortable around can be invaluable, especially at a tough place like MIT. The system may be a bit inconvenient at first, but trust us, it pays dividends in the end. The same goes for roommates; the system is optimized for giving you someone you'll be happy living with for a year, not someone that you can phone in July.