Following the footsteps of the Class of 2026 this CPW
Prefrosh get lost as they traverse east and west campus
After two years of virtual CP*, the Class of 2026 experiences the first on-campus CPW since 2019. From grilling and hairdyeing at East Campus and drinking from the firehose with ESG to enjoying liquid nitrogen outside Johnson and great British bake-offing at Next, prefrosh will spend the next few days exploring MIT’s campus — walking East to West, discovering academic and extracurricular opportunities, encountering creative older students and staff, and getting a sneak peek at the vivid and various cultures and traditions of residential communities and student groups. The Tech spoke with several prefrosh about their prospective areas of study, their first day of CPW, and the number of steps they’ve taken across campus so far.
Shreya Chaudhury is visiting us from Texas and is being hosted in Macgregor. She hopes to study Course 6 or 15. After some difficulties navigating the CPW app and campus itself and walking 24,959 steps, Shreya sat in a few classes, including Microcomputer Project Lab and Introduction to Modeling and Simulation, and tried out a few signature free food events such as Dîner à la Maison Française and Taco Thursday with the brothers of Pi Lambda Phi.
We met Caroline Ibanez, a prospective Course 7 from Puerto Rico, outside of the Stratton Student Center, the origin point of every year’s CPW visitors. Hosted at McCormick, Caroline didn’t have the chance to attend many events on her first day but walked a considerable 15,653 steps around campus, auguring well for her future adventures on MIT’s urban campus, which she is very excited for.
Mason Fang, Raymond Feng, and Alex Hu, a trio from California, spoke with us on the Kresge lawn; they’re hosted in East Campus, Pi Lambda Phi, and Baker House, respectively, and are each interested in some medley of Course 18, 8, 6-2, or 6-3. Alex walked 20,056 steps and is excited to meet and vibe with all the people on campus.
Hailing from Ohio, Michelle Park is interested in studying Course 8, particularly astrophysics. While, like Caroline, she hadn’t attended many events yet, she was astounded by the murals in Random Hall, where she is hosted, which she called “holy water for my eyes.” Michelle was also happy to see friends that she first met at virtual summer camps in person for the first time, remarking that she was surprised to see how their heights and voices differed from her virtual perceptions.
Olivia Tang of Florida hopes to study Course 18 and is hosted at the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. Olivia dined at the gourmet grills of East Campus and Macgregor, baked swiss roll cakes at Next House, and enjoyed the taste of classic prefrosh bait boba at New Vassar, the dorm that is also experiencing CPW for the first time. Naming MIT her dream school, Olivia is excited for the surrounding urban environment and hopes to participate in a UROP at the ’tvte. We’re happy to announce that Olivia achieved the greatest number of steps walked out of the adMITs we interviewed this CPW, taking a staggering 27,397 steps during her first day on campus. We wish her the best and can’t wait to see all the walking she’ll continue to do at MIT.