A private eye's office from an L.A. Noir movie? No. That's the MIT Admissions Office. I keep waiting for Sam Spade to emerge.

 

 

The door alone says so much about the school, the culture, their values: "We're looking for beautiful MINDS, not beautiful BLINDS. Fancy admissions offices are for punks." That door is intense, but also funny: check out the emoticon.

You can learn a lot just from strolling around a campus, especially if you go off-tour. Here are some snapshots that tell you a lot.

 

Contra that door, they do care -- intensely -- about art and design:

 

 

 

 

They are entrepreneurial:

 

They are deeply intellectual, and not just about technology:

 

They are curious:

 

They have some funny hobbies:

 

 

And apparently they love to dance:

 

My favorite experience: someone piping in Journey's Don't Stop Believin' through disembodied speakers in the main entrance. Who? Why? I have no idea.

A strange and wonderful place... for a certain kind of person. And maybe someone else's idea of hell. Important lesson: There's nothing like seeing a school first-hand.