Massachusetts Institute of Technology is launching soon — be first to know.

College Marketplace is the student-only buy and sell app for Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Every account is verified with a @mit.edu email address, so you're only ever trading with other Engineers — not strangers from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

MIT requires every first-year student to live on campus for the full year, and plenty of undergrads stay in the residence hall system long after that. The current lineup is Baker House, Burton-Conner House, East Campus, MacGregor House, Maseeh Hall, New House, New Vassar, Next House, Random Hall, and Simmons Hall — each one running its own in-house rooming process after the first-year building preference form and the FYRE lottery shake out. Because so much of undergraduate life happens inside those buildings, everything you need is already on campus. MIT students post mini fridges, futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes, and gently used textbooks every semester — usually for a fraction of retail.

Rooms arrive furnished with a twin XL bed, a desk and chair, a bureau, and bookshelves, so twin XL sheets are the first thing anyone buys and one of the most traded items here. Air conditioning is the real dividing line: East Campus, New House, and New Vassar have it, Burton-Conner House allows portable units, and Baker House, MacGregor House, Maseeh Hall, Next House, Random Hall, and Simmons Hall go without — which is why fans and portable units disappear fast in late August and again in May. Microwaves aren't permitted in student rooms (residence kitchens have them), and cooking devices are out entirely — hot plates, toasters, Keurigs, electric kettles, Instant Pots. That leaves a small refrigerator as the one appliance genuinely worth buying used. Lofting or bunking a bed has to be cleared with your House Operations Manager first because guidelines vary by building, and everything goes back to its original configuration before move-out — exactly why loft hardware and risers get resold instead of thrown away.

When it's time to hand something off, pick somewhere busy. The Stratton Student Center is the easy default, with Hayden Library, Lobby 7, and Killian Court all a short walk away, and the Stata Center or the Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center working well if you're already headed that direction. No shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

The marketplace runs hottest around arrivals: FPOP participants move in August 25, 2026, first-years on August 29, and returning students on September 4, with spring arrivals on January 30, 2027.

Popular categories at MIT: textbooks and course materials · dorm and apartment furniture · mini fridges and fans · bikes and scooters · MIT apparel and game day gear · electronics and monitors · event tickets · lofting kits and bed risers · storage bins and organizers