By the time we arrived at MIT, the frats were closing down. “Fratlantis,” a juvenile play on the words “Frat” and “Atlantis,” hosted by Phi Beta Epsilon (PBE) on Sept. 14, publicized a rather early start time of 10 p.m. In our attempt to be fashionably late, we completely missed the main function of the night. As our Uber rolled up to 400 Memorial Drive, we had to double-check that we had not signed up for a sorority philanthropy round. Cops arrived shortly after us at 11:35 p.m., and the predominantly female crowd was hastily herded off the frat house’s front lawn. While a red-in-the-face PBE brother yelled at the gathering of future frat girlfriends to hurry up and order their Ubers, we struck up a conversation with a group of inebriated girls wearing jeans-and-a-cute-top. The harsh blue lamplight washed over us all unflatteringly.
Much to our surprise, the girls weren’t from MIT—out of the thirty-something girls we spoke with that night, only four were actually MIT students. The rest hailed from Northeastern, Boston University, Boston College, Wellesley, and a handful of other Boston schools. For most, MIT frats were their go-to choice on a Friday or Saturday night. Intrigued, we made it our mission for the night to find out why MIT frats had been crowned the “most fun frats in Boston” by everyone we spoke to.
Boys
According to our conversation with four MIT sophomore girls, the best frats are those with the most attractive guys—Delta Tau Delta, Sigma Chi, and PBE. For context, there are 26 fraternities at MIT, five of which—per a brother of PBE—are “sporty.” Yet, every other group of girls that we asked said that the frat brothers were barely noticeable at the parties—allegedly due to both their short stature and demure personalities. One Northeastern freshman went so far as to claim that she has never spoken to an MIT guy outside of the brothers charged with guarding the doors. According to a Wentworth sophomore, “The only way to kiss an MIT guy, to be honest, [is for it] to be forgettable.” Harsh? Yes. True? Neither of us would know. What we do know is that on our walk across the river from PBE to the other half of MIT frat row, we overheard a man ask his friends if “MIT men have game?” The reply came quickly, and vehemently. “No. Fuck no.”
So if MIT boys are not a large presence at their parties, where are the men? The answer is that there aren’t any. MIT frats are notorious for only letting in guys who present a valid MIT ID because outsiders are “known to cause problems.” Zayid, for example, was not let into Sigma Chi despite the frat being at less than 50 percent capacity. A quick count of the attendees inside and the stream of party-goers leaving the houses suggested a staggering female-to-male ratio of around six to one. We barely saw, let alone spoke to, any guys other than the frat brothers. Despite our best efforts, they seemed unwilling to engage in jovial dialogue. The guys we did glimpse appeared to have no interest in sticking around after they had been told they would not be allowed into the parties.
Another explanation for the glaring absence of testosterone is that the boys were too busy bro-ing around with each other to make an appearance on the main house floors. Mia’s swift jaunt inside the Sigma Chi function at the peak of midnight led her to a hidden “game room” filled with ten or so stoic frat brothers enjoying a game of water-pong and nursing lukewarm Coronas. A word of advice to anyone searching for an MIT husband (or just a situationship)—you’ll have a better chance looking in the library than on the Sigma Chi dance floor.
Booze
For all the media coverage that fraternities get for being Miller Lite meccas, we noticed very few drinks flowing anywhere. Our analysis of over 60 attendees at Sigma Chi revealed zero drinks in hands—phones aplenty, however. Yet, based on the fawn-like gaits employed by people filing in and out of the frats, they were quite drunk (unlike these two sober authors). As Mia can confirm, the sweat-soaked walls and stench of body odor mixed with the sounds of babbling girls and outdated pop hits were hard to stomach without the sensory dampening that alcohol so kindly provides.
A conversation with a few freshmen girls from Northeastern revealed that the culture of pregaming was prevalent given that frats served only beers and the principle of avoiding drinking at frats. Even said beers were discussed with middling enthusiasm. The girls aggressively shook their heads “no” when asked whether they would feel comfortable drinking anything served at a frat. While Zayid was relegated to the curb at Sigma Chi, he noticed some brothers confiscating numerous deceptive Poland Springs and medium-sized Fireball handles from handbags and promptly lobbing them into a brim-full bin by the front door. Perhaps these provide some context for the other accounts shared of 2 a.m. nights at the frats, throwing up, and then somehow getting home. Regardless of what drives this drinking pattern—convenience, preference, or risk mitigation—it is clear that people are not going to these frats to drink.
Bonding
So if the appeal isn’t boys or booze, why are girls trekking from all around the city to show up before 10 p.m. on a Saturday for these frat functions? The answer, we have found, is female friendship and community. MIT frats have perfected a recipe for bonding with your girlfriends and meeting new people in a female-dominated space.
First, given the six-to-one female-to-male ratio, allowing only MIT men inside, and the apparent invisibility of said MIT men, women at MIT frats are infrequently accosted by male attention (as opposed to Northeastern frats that we were told have aggressive and “douchey” men). An MIT sophomore explained that while female friendships can bloom at parties, there is also always the danger of being “side-eyed” by a girl who seems like she is there “to bag a man.” At MIT, there are few men to bag. Second, as a go-to weekend night out for students at nearly every major Boston school, the MIT frats attract a crowd with multiple dimensions of diversity. In addition to mixing students from different schools, three Northeastern girls en route to Tufts found that MIT’s parties were the most ethnically diverse. Our anecdotal evidence viewing the crowd confirmed their characterization. Finally, by the time these partygoers step into the dank frat houses, they are already quite drunk, and as such, more than ready to mingle. Mia can attest: during the four minutes she spent in a frat bathroom, she learned about one girl’s ex-situationship, another girl’s painful experience kissing a bearded man, and two other girl’s insecurities about their hair and makeup.
All of these factors lead to an environment that makes forming friendships easy. Two separate girls we talked to asserted that they had met some of their best friends at an MIT frat party—one being an MIT-Boston College connection and the other being a Boston University-Northeastern connection. Neither of those friendships likely would have arisen in a place like a raunchy nightclub or a house party teeming with boys on the prowl.
Harvard, however, was noticeably absent from everyone’s friendly anecdotes. The girls we spoke to seemed shocked that we hailed from the other side of the Charles. Despite being familiar with the rumors that Harvard freshmen tend to spend their weekends at MIT, no such freshmen were spotted. When asked about encounters with Harvard students, it seemed that most of the partygoers had sparse, if any, interactions with our community. The girls we found who did know Harvard people could only name a few boys—a result of their MIT Alpha Chi Omega x Harvard Sigma Chi mixer earlier in the night. Indeed, it seems that Harvard girls are not taking advantage of the various networking opportunities that MIT frats can afford.
By the time we arrived back at Winthrop, we were satisfied with the success of our albeit short-lived night. While it had been debatably fun, it was indubitably enlightening. We learned about frat-hopping culture, how to spot a girl’s girl, who not to kiss, and what happens when MIT boys call the cops on their own parties. Our biggest takeaway, however, was more Harvard-oriented. MIT frats provide a unique opportunity for Harvard girls to step outside of our potentially claustrophobic bubble and form relationships with students from other Boston schools. Maybe this untapped resource is the next big frontier for girls of all class years to explore. So, if you decide to venture outside the Harvard bubble into the world of MIT frat parties, we advise you to do so with an open mind and open arms. And maybe say hi to our newfound friends when you inevitably see them guarding the door to PBE.
Mia Tavares ’27 (miatavares@college.harvard.edu) and Mir Zayid Alam ’25 (mirzayidalam@college.harvard.edu) were both accepted into MIT and chose to attend Harvard instead.