Student Eligibility

Splash is open to all students in 7th through 12th grades. Students not attending a conventional high or middle school must be at least 11 years old. No exceptions will be made for younger students; even if you are too young this year, you will still have six years to attend Splash from 7th grade on.

Please keep in mind that we do expect you, the student, to take charge of your own experience at Splash. As a result, you’ll be responsible for walking between classes on your own, and for finding your own way around the MIT campus throughout the course of the day. We will have many signs and Security folks able to assist you as necessary, and we’ll be giving out campus maps to everyone. However, the MIT campus is quite large; the part of campus that we’ll be using contains over a dozen different buildings. If you do not feel comfortable on your own, please consider waiting a year; we’ll always be there next November!

Parents: You should also feel comfortable allowing your child to find their own way around campus. We do provide lots of help to students, but we won’t lead students from one class to the next. In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in parents walking younger children between classes. Unfortunately, many of our participants feel that this disrupts one of the most valuable parts of Splash: the sense of independence that it provides to, and demands of, students. So, while all of this is ultimately your choice, if you think your child is not yet old enough for Splash, we do ask that you wait until next year.

We’ve released a letter to parents in an attempt to explain and address these concerns.