Yes, I used the word 'Numerology'. As you would expect MIT has a very close (and obsessive) relationship with numbers. And it goes much further than you would expect. Here are four areas where numbers are ingrained into the campus culture that are probably never used anywhere else.
Buildings
Everywhere else buildings are commonly numbered with floor and room numbers. MIT goes a step further. The buildings themselves are numbered. Okay that's not that unusual but everyone refers to the buildings by their numbers and not by their names! In the core central campus all the building numbers are used and none of the names are spoken. The dorms and some other buildings here and there are referred to by their names. So you have building 10 and building 15 and building seven and so on. The rooms are basically the building number followed by the floor/room number. The famous lecture Halls include 10-250, 54-100 and 26-100 After enough time on campus you get to know the numbering scheme of the main buildings and you understand what people are talking about. Otherwise you have to use a map!
Courses and Classes
Whatever any other campus would call a department, MIT calls a 'Course'. And of course, the courses are numbered. When you are asked what major you are in, you always use the course number. The most common courses are ones which have school wide requirements such as 8 (physics) and 18 (math). My degree was 6-3 (Course 6 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The -3 is CS and -1 would be EE) The class number follows the course number and a decimal point. 18.01 is first term calculus and 8.01 is physics. You say them as 18 OH 1. Or 6 1 1 2 (for 6.112). You never say the decimal point as everyone knows it is there. You may use the name for people outside your course or the school but inside your course, everyone knows the class numbers in general
Units
Just about every other college uses a thing called credits to determine whether you have enough academic whatever to graduate. MIT uses a thing they call units which translates the credits pretty nicely with a three to one ratio. A typical MIT science/engineering class is 12 units and that's broken down at the three parts. The classroom/lecture part, the lab part and the homework part. The numbers are how many hours a week you are expected to put in for this class. so you'll see numbers like you 3-0-9 which is 3 hours of class and 9 hours of homework. A lab class could be 0-12-0 which is all lab, all the time! Humanities classes are usually 9 units. A typical MIT semester is three engineering or science classes of 12 units each and one Humanities class of 9 units for total of 45 units or about 15 credits in most other places.
Grades
I don't know why but MIT uses a 5.0 scale for grades where everywhere else uses 4.0. If you got a 4.0 (a B at MIT) we say it is a 4.0 elsewhere (which is is an A). We think that is accurate!
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