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How much does attending the MIT Invitational cost in general? My team would like to participate next year, but it seems like a logistical nightmare to get all the funds and the organization in place.

A follow up question would be, how do teams pay for MIT?

Anyone have the email for the thermodynamics event supervisor. Have a few questions about the test I'd like to ask.

PM2017 wrote:How much does attending the MIT Invitational cost in general? My team would like to participate next year, but it seems like a logistical nightmare to get all the funds and the organization in place.

A follow up question would be, how do teams pay for MIT?

Which state are you in? The cost will vary a ton depending on your location.

Edit: in addition, our school holds fundraisers to offset some of the cost from students for invites.

Vrund wrote:Anyone have the email for the thermodynamics event supervisor. Have a few questions about the test I'd like to ask.

[email protected]

pikachu4919 wrote:

Vrund wrote:Anyone have the email for the thermodynamics event supervisor. Have a few questions about the test I'd like to ask.

[email protected]

Thank you!

Cost of MIT is pretty scary if you're not within driving distance (I know teams like Mason drove 14+ hours here, even right after awards ended around 9 PM). Flying wise get ready to pay for every seat and know that you risk a lot when flying with builds (TSA will probably call your mission possible a bomb). Hotels in the Cambridge area are pretty expensive (MIT gets discounts but ranges from 80-150). Out of state, I would estimate about 200-300 dollars a person? It really depends where you are relative to Cambridge but yes, be ready to pay a lot.

Raleway wrote:Cost of MIT is pretty scary if you're not within driving distance (I know teams like Mason drove 14+ hours here, even right after awards ended around 9 PM). Flying wise get ready to pay for every seat and know that you risk a lot when flying with builds (TSA will probably call your mission possible a bomb). Hotels in the Cambridge area are pretty expensive (MIT gets discounts but ranges from 80-150). Out of state, I would estimate about 200-300 dollars a person? It really depends where you are relative to Cambridge but yes, be ready to pay a lot.

We drove from Long Island on Friday via coach bus and stayed one night. The hotel and coach bus alone was $5000 for two teams and four chaperones. That doesn't include food and registration costs.

Raleway wrote:Cost of MIT is pretty scary if you're not within driving distance (I know teams like Mason drove 14+ hours here, even right after awards ended around 9 PM). Flying wise get ready to pay for every seat and know that you risk a lot when flying with builds (TSA will probably call your mission possible a bomb). Hotels in the Cambridge area are pretty expensive (MIT gets discounts but ranges from 80-150). Out of state, I would estimate about 200-300 dollars a person? It really depends where you are relative to Cambridge but yes, be ready to pay a lot.

We put most of our builds in checked luggage and prayed that they wouldn’t break. On the way back, one of the containers actually did get searched by TSA.
My friend actually wanted to take his mission possible in a carry on, but our coach didn’t allow that because it definitely looked like a bomb.

In terms of costs for MIT, coming from Kansas it was pretty expensive. We each had to pay $468 for a team of 15 and our 2 coaches. This included 2 team meals, airplane tickets, part of the tournament fee, and the hotel room (for 2 nights). We also each brought about $100 in spending money for other meals and souvenirs. We host a tournament every year (O-Town Throwdown), which gave us some money that we could use for tournaments like MIT. We also fundraised A LOT and then it was basically up to each team member to pay for the rest of their portion.

After MIT, our team bank account is basically empty, but MIT was fun and, in my opinion, totally worth it.

I'm apparently completely stupid, and forgot about GGSO, which is much cheaper (I'm in SoCal) Would have still liked to go to MIT though...

PM2017 wrote:I'm apparently completely stupid, and forgot about GGSO, which is much cheaper (I'm in SoCal) Would have still liked to go to MIT though...

From what I’ve seen, GGSO seems like a very competitive competition, almost on the same level as MIT. GGSO is probably a lot more feasible for you team to attend, but don’t totally discard the possibility of going to MIT. The tournament is expensive but I think it is worth it. My team competed against many teams that do amazingly well at nationals, while taking tests that were on par with, if not better than, nationals tests.