Next House - Welcome Freshmen!

Welcome to Next House! We are one of the largest and friendliest dorms on campus. With almost 400 residents there is always someone around to hang out with, have fun with, or just talk with. We are a group of easy-going people who just like to hang out, have fun, and enjoy our time together here at MIT.

Situated right on the banks of the Charles River, Next offers stunning views of the riverfront, downtown Boston, Fenway, and the infamous CITGO sign. The first floor contains our Tastefully Furnished Lounge, perfect for those really big parties, and our dining hall - offering evening meals five nights a week. For those of you who like to keep in shape we also have a well-equipped weight room, for those who like music - a music room, and for those who like to launder - a laundry room. For the chefs among you we also have a really nice kitchen, great for cooking that perfect dinner. We also have two pool tables, a ping pong table, foosball, an ever-expanding collection of videos and DVD's, and for those who really cannot live without a daily shot of UNIX - an Athena cluster.

You should also know that Next House is a member of MIT's Residential Based Advising (RBA) program. RBA is now in its second year at MIT, and provides freshmen with the opportunity to build community between themselves, upperclassmen, and faculty members in their home away from home. RBA perfectly fits into the personality of Next House, and if you think you will like the program, Next House is the place for you.

We sincerely hope you will find Next House a great place to live and hope that you will choose to join us next year. The information on the following pages is provided to help give you an in-depth look at the community here at Next House (or at least as in-depth as you can get from a web page). If you have any questions, would like further information on Next House, or would like to speak to a resident, do not hesitate to email us at next-i3@mit.edu. We hope to see you in the fall!

Welcome from the President

Hi, my name is Vikram Maheshri, President of Next House, and I'd like to welcome you to the biggest and baddest dorm at MIT (and I mean baddest in the Michael Jackson sense. But without the whole child molestation thing.)

Next House is home to roughly three hundred fifty residents from all over the country and the world. We're regarded as one of the more social dorms on campus. Friendly folks that we are, you won't be able to walk down a hall without seeing doors wide open and people filling the lounges studying, eating or just hanging out. We also know how to have a lot of fun, and our dorm social calendar includes parties, ski trips, parties, apple picking trips, parties, amusement parks, and parties.

If you're a big sports fan like me, you'll want to play on one of our many intramural teams. We have a football team that makes even the mightiest opponents beg for mercy. We also have four different ice hockey teams competing at different levels, ranging from "I'm from sunny Florida, and I can't skate" to "I'm from Minnesota and I'm going to check your ass on the boards, gee golly, don'tcha know," several soccer teams at different levels, volleyball, softball and roller hockey as well. The best thing about it is if you want to play a sport that we don't currently participate in, you can just make your own team and enter. It's that easy.

In the Spring, we have a huge student-run production called Next Act, where we pick a musical and perform it on a nice stage. The show is directed by students, cast by students, choreographed by students, taught to sing by students, produced by students, and there is a student orchestra making the show run. Hands down, it's one of the best activities on campus, and it gives people like me whose talents are restricted to singing in the shower a chance to ham it up and sing and dance on stage in front of a crowd.

In my humble opinion, we have the finest facilities on campus, with lounges aplenty, all sorts of gaming equipment (pool tables, foosball, laundry, the usual), beautiful views of the Charles River and the Boston skyline and good clean bathrooms. Our courtyard is the biggest and best on campus, as is our kitchen. We are one of two dorms with a fully functional dining hall, and it's only going to get better because of a multimillion dollar renovation project that is going to transform it from a regular mess hall into a supercharged dining extravaganza. Just in time for you, baby. Just in time for you.

Did I mention that we were the closest dorm to Boston University and Wellesley?

I invite you to peruse some of the pages that we put together showcasing our home. If you have any questions, any at all, I want you to shoot me an email at vikm@mit.edu and I will do anything I can to answer it. Anything (wink, wink). Jokes aside, I truly think that Next House is the best place to live on campus, and I can't tell you how proud I am to call it my home. I hope in the coming years, you'll call it home too.

Happy Trails,
Vikram Maheshri
Next House President

Welcome from the Housemasters

Next House was designed by a world famous architect Jose Louis Sert. The house architecture's central themes were sun and community - after all, Señor Sert was from Barcelona. The dorm's colorful open spaces, solar rooms, bright dinning hall, beautiful courtyard together convey the architect's intention. Responding to it, our residents have built and sustained a supportive community that knows how to make the space alive and exciting. The dorm offers trilling social life and an environment with a great peer support. Next year we will be one of the two dorms in the system with Residence Based Advising program. This means that, among other advantages, freshmen here will enjoy well structured help from our upperclassmen.

A word about us. We have been the Housemasters of Next House since 1981, the year the dorm was opened. One of us, Bora, is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The other member of the team, Liba, is trained in Slavic languages; more interestingly, her hobby happenes to be gourmet cooking. We, together with our eight graduate residence tutors, are very much looking forward to welcoming those of you who decide to join us in the fall.

Bora and Liba Mikic
Housemasters of Next House

Welcome from the GRT's

Hello! We are the Next House Graduate Resident tutors. We're graduate students in various disciplines and stages of school who live in the dorm, two on each floor. Typically, we stay in the dorm for three or more years, so we have a great deal of experience at MIT (some of us are former MIT undergraduates as well).

One of our favorite things to do is throw studybreaks we usually do this every three weeks or so. At around 10PM (in the middle of prime study time) we bring out some food and everyone hangs out and takes a break. We also do dorm-wide study breaks once a month, in coordination with the student government. We're not police, monitors, or parents, but we are here to be a resource for you and an advocate with the administration as necessary. We're trained to help deal with personal issues, academic dilemmas, and how to help you find the person you need to talk to in the administration. Several of us are also trained in first aid and CPR, should the need arise. We try hard to make Next House a fun place to live!

Stacy, John, and Leigh
Next House GRT's

Please use the links below to find out more about Next House and the people who live here.