Swarthmore College
- Campus Dining

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There is only one real dining hall on campus: Sharples. The problem with Sharples is that the food there is mediocre, or at least that’s what the general student population says. Students can also use their meal plan at Essie Mae’s Snack Bar, but sandwiches and curly fries can get really old really quick. So, for hungry Swatties, Sharples is the most frequent choice. There is an enormous salad bar, a vegetarian bar, a grill, a hot dinner bar, a specialty bar, and a sandwich bar. The dining services employees make a real effort to cater to student’s wishes. There is a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan options for the plant-eaters, as well as heaping portions of beef for carnivores.

There are three meal plans options at Swarthmore. The first is the 20 Meal Plan, which lets students get breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Sharples Monday through Saturday and two meals on Sundays. There are no meal points—credits on your meal card that serve as cash at the coffee bars and Essie Mae's—with this plan. There are also the 17- or 14-meal plans, who do give students credit on their meal cards. First-semester freshmen get the 17-meal plan as their default, but they can change it prior to coming to Swat. It’s suggested to use the first semester to observe your eating habits to determine the right plan for you for following semesters. Swarthmore also caters well to caffeine-dependent students. The College has three coffee bars, and with around 1,400 students, that’s a coffee bar for about every 450 students, which is not too shabby. The coffee and selection at the Kohlberg and Science Center coffee bars are excellent. Even though the prices can be steep in the coffee bars, you can use your meal points as cash. Take that, Starbucks!

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Campus Dining at Swarthmore College

kelsey115

Psychology '13

1.5

D+

Repetitive, Gross

The main dining hall has very little selection. What it has is not normally very tasty, and it closes very early. There is a snack bar with sandwiches open later into the night, but eating there gets very repetitive. By the time you are a sophomore, you will thoroughly hate the food.

Mar 15, 2012

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Campus Dining at Swarthmore College

studentt

English '14

3.8

B+

Dining Monopoly

There's only one dining hall on campus: Sharples. The food varies. Sometimes it is good and sometimes bad. Perhaps a little competition would provide Sharples with incentive to be a bit more consistent, but for the most part, the food is fine. If you do get tired of Sharples, there is a snack bar where you can use meals at certain times of day. Points can be used at the coffee bars in the Science Center and Kohlberg. Overall, the food is decent, so I really have nothing to complain about except for that it gets a bit bland and boring after a while.

Dec 09, 2010

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Campus Dining at Swarthmore College

DJKaye

Economics '14

3.5

B

Good Ideas, Decent Execution

The menus are planned out well, but it seems like the cooks can't execute the food really well. There are some good days though, and the salad bar/deli is always a good go-to option.

Nov 03, 2010

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