MIT Wild Turkey Tour

03 Aug, 2026

If you want to tour the MIT campus in less than 30 minutes like a wild turkey, wandering everywhere like you have nowhere to go, but you actually have a plan, this is your detailed guide to do exactly so.

Wild turkeys are apparently everywhere in the Boston area. I saw one roaming the street while strolling down Massachusetts Avenue. The turkey was not afraid of anything. Cars stop for it, and pedestrians take pictures of the turkey like it's a supermodel.

Start at Harvard

Yes, this MIT tour starts at Harvard. You can easily get to Harvard via the MBTA Red Line. Turkeys think the Red Line is the best way to get there because you can go underneath all of the crazy traffic in Boston (though you will not see any actual turkeys down there, of course).

Once you are at Harvard, you can check out the Harvard campus. As an engineering student, I think the Harvard campus is kinda boring, so you can totally skip it. What I encourage you to do is to check out the Harvard bookstore and find the book: How to Teach Economics to Your Dog by Rebecca Campell and Anthony McGowan.

Once you find it, you can start walking down Massachusetts Avenue towards MIT. You can stop by antique stores along the way. It is considered extra good luck to find actual turkeys roaming Massachusetts Avenue.

1st Stop: 950 Massachusetts Dumpling House

Yes, the first stop is not the MIT campus, because we are turkeys. If you happen to start this tour on a rainy day like me, it is the perfect spot to warm up with steaming dumplings and hot tea. It was so good that I forgot to take pictures :)

2nd Stop: Alchemist by Jaume Plensa

From the dumpling house, walk towards the MIT campus. You will know that you are there once you see a stainless steel sculpture of numbers and symbols. That is the Alchemist by Jaume Plensa. It was commissioned and gifted to MIT on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of MIT.

3rd Stop: Lobby 7 and the Infinite Corridor

Across the street from the Alchemist is MIT Building 7. Please follow the crowd into the building. Once you are there, walk towards the Infinite Corridor and resist the temptation to walk down the corridor at all costs. Once you are out, it will be very difficult to get back in.

Please stop for the Infinite Corridor and admire the engineering students in their natural habitat. Please do not knock on the door because you might break their flow. You can also take a peek into the campus activities by reading the posters on the wall.

4th Stop: The Dome!

The most important spot on campus, the one and only picture that says "I was at MIT." Once you are at the Memorial Lobby, please exit to the right to the Killian Court. This is where you will behold the grand Great Dome!

You may just stand in the Killian Court just to admire the dome. Turkeys sometimes freeze and do nothing.

Once you are bored with the dome, come back to the lobby. Now, notice that you will not be able to open the door from the outside. This is when you wave and people inside and hope they see you and open the door for you.

5th Stop: The Periodic Table of the Department of Chemistry

Once people notice you and you get back to the Infinite Corridor, keep walking down the corridor to exit the building. Once you are outside in the Eastman Court, you will see a building that looks like the periodic table with squares everywhere. That is the Department of Chemistry.

6th Stop: Department of Chemical Engineering

Of course I am biased, but this is one of my must-visits. I need to see what else is in there, cause I think I was not supposed to enter the building. :)

7th Stop: Ray and Maria Stata Center

Once you are in the ChemE building, exit to the right through one of the corridor exits to Compton Court, towards the Ray and Maria Stata Center, to admire the contemporary-arts-style building. They look like they can tumble at any moment, but I am pretty sure they have been standing there for a long time.

This is where our wild turkey tour of MIT ends, but wild turkeys never stop wandering, looking for food. There are many more places worth exploring in Boston, such as the MIT Museum and Boston Public Library.

Things NOT to do as wild turkeys

• Walk into moving traffic

#Boston #MIT #whatever