pspicer

Not Terrible, but Limited and Over-Priced

The food available on campus isn't necessarily bad, per se, but the lack of variety gets old in a hurry. Especially if you're on any kind of restricted diet (vegetarian/vegan, gluten, kosher) you run out of options really fast.

In general Douglass Dining Hall is the classiest, with a pasta station, Mexican station, vegan station, and Kosher deli. They've also added a new salad bar and a wrap station, which was really nice. Major renovations are taking place this year, adding a Chinese food option to the Pit. In general, avoid the pit unless you want greasy pizza or burgers, or really poorly put together Blimpie's sandwiches. Danforth is what you'd expect of any cafeteria. A reasonable amount of choices, but generally mass produced and less than delicious. However, nothing beats a hungover Danforth brunch--all you can eat omlettes, waffles, pancakes, tater tots...mmmmm.

The price of the meal plan is exorbitant, and if you end up with unwanted food at the end, you just lose that money--it doesn't roll over. Try to get as much declining (flexible, dollar by dollar spending) as you can, and as few clubs (generally entree, beverage, and side). Anything you could club, you can decline, but you can't club all the things you might want to decline. Declining can also be used at the Corner Store, a ridiculously overpriced convenience store on campus ($7 for a box of cereal, what?).

Start With the Frat Quad Then Work Your Way Off Campus

Nightlife on campus is dominated by frat parties, especially as a freshman. As you get to know more people, you'll go to more parties in suites or off campus, but expect to spend a fair amount of your time in frat houses freshman year if you want to drink and dance and flirt on a weekend night. It's fun enough for a year--no problem getting in anywhere, regardless of Greek affiliation or age, never any cover or prices for drinks, and there's usually a mix of loud music in dark basements and more relaxed chilling upstairs.

However, going to the same five or six places does get old, and you'll need to develop your social circle if you want to have variety. House parties are pretty fun, and there are busses going downtown running until around 2am on the weekends if you're into the club scene. Certain clubs are harder than others on fake IDs--ask your upperclassmen friends first before trying yours out.