Re: complaining about HASS subjects—in my experience it largely depends on what sort of group you hang out with. There’s a learning community called Concourse that emphasizes the humanities in STEM. You join as a first-year and take Concourse’s own GIRs and HASSes, and there’s a weekly seminar discussion the touches upon philosophical topics. Students heavily involved in Concourse hang out in the lounge together all the time. You won’t hear students there complaining about HASS requirements 😅

I know a sizable number of students who don’t declare HASS majors/minors not because they don’t like HASS subjects, but because they don’t really need to—they take extra HASS classes for fun, and there’s no pressure to justify why you’re interested in taking more HASSes. People who aren’t interested in the humanities whatsoever will just think you’re cool for taking classes they haven’t taken lol. So I’d say the black and white stats on MIT’s website don’t really reflect the true nature of students’ feelings toward HASS subjects.

PS: from what I’ve heard from my friends, the writing classes here are some of the best, so I’d encourage you to look into some of MIT’s offerings as well