William and Mary has always been my dream school. It is an ideal school for me academically and dance-wise. I am a Virginia resident and would love to live in Williamsburg. I also love how it isn’t too large. I’m not much of a partier, and I am not into athletics or Greek life. W&M sounds perfect. However, I have recently read reviews of William and Mary on Niche.com. Apparently the food and dorms are awful. Is this true for everyone? Are the food and dorms bad enough that I should consider a larger school like UVA or a less academically rigorous school like CNU? Thanks.
Hi @yaycollege256! These were all questions I wrestled with too when I decided to come here.
I just finished my freshmen year at W&M (so when the dorms are at their worst), and I would say that they are perfectly bearable and not at all something that you should worry about to the point of taking the school off your list. It’s true that they aren’t exactly luxury housing, but the rooms are actually a little bit larger than some other dorms we saw, the essentials like the bed and desk they provide are perfectly fine, and the time you will be spending in your room certainly can be as long or short as you choose to make it! I think the biggest hurdle would be air conditioning- a lot of the dorms don’t have it and you need a medical exemption to get it. On the other hand, people I knew who didn’t have it, just bought fans and managed- once you hit October it’s really not a problem. Upper class-men dorms are a lot better and have air conditioning.
Food is pretty good- I was pretty impressed, though I’m going to be brutally honest, after a whole semester, you do get a bit sick of it (but I imagine it’s like that at a lot of colleges, after eating three meals a day for 4 months). There’s three different dining halls, which provides variety and the food is generally of good quality and varied. Has stuff like a good salad bar, pizza options, Chinese or global food, ala carte items like burgers, vegetarian options, sandwiches, pasta bar, an entree, and usually a simpler serving like chicken, potatoes, and vegetables (I’m forgetting some stuff too!). You also have dining dollars that can be used for outside restaurants too, which is good for the variety! It’s not going to be like a fine dining restaurant, but even for the most selective of foodies, it’s certainly not bad enough that you shouldn’t consider the school!
Keep in mind, that these two things didn’t seem to negatively affect even the people who I knew that were unhappier about it than I was. They’re really not as big of factors in your experience as you think.
Anyway I hope that was mildly helpful- good luck with your college search. 
Thank you so much! That helps a lot. I will definitely keep William and Mary on the list.