Traditions and student activities at MIT
aspect of Massachusetts Institute of Technology culture
The traditions and student activities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology encompass hundreds of student activities, organizations, and athletics that contribute to MIT's distinct culture.
Traditions
MIT has relatively few formal traditions, compared to many other universities, but has a rich culture of informal traditions and jargon. There are a few "big events" such as Commencement (graduation), but many smaller, decentralized activities sponsored by departments, labs, living groups, student activities, and ad hoc groups of MIT community members united by common interests.
Brass Rat
"Brass Rat" refers to the MIT class ring, which prominently features the school mascot beaver on the top surface. The ring is traditionally made of gold, the beaver is the largest North American rodent, hence "gold beaver" has informally become "Brass Rat" in student lingo.
Course numbering
MIT students often refer to both their majors and classes using numbers alone. Majors are numbered in the approximate order of when the department was founded; for example, Civil and Environmental Engineering is pronounced "Course one" and is written "Course 1" or "Course I", while Nuclear Science & Engineering is "Course twenty-two". Students majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), the most popular department, collectively identify themselves as "Course six".
MIT students use a combination of the department's Course number and a number assigned to the class to identify their subjects; the course which many universities would designate as "Physics 101" is, at MIT, "8.01". For brevity, course number designations are pronounced without the decimal point and by replacing "oh" for zero (unless zero is the last number).
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