<p>Could someone describe the differences between the residence halls and which of them is best option, please? Also, what about meal plans? How many meals does an average student need per day / semester ? What meal plan would you take?
Thank you!</p>
<p>Haven’t read all the info on the meal plans but at most schools they will allow you to increase the number of meals per week (for the additional $$) but you can not decrease and save some money. My daughter is looking over the plan info to see if that’s the case and will probably sign up for the fewest meals and see how she like the food. If you are in the dorms (except for some of the specialty houses) it looks like you have to be on the meal plan.</p>
<p>In general, all the meal plans at WPI are overpriced. The 190 meal plan is usually the wisest choice since 190 meals per semester is more than enough and can save you a good deal of money over the year. The 190 meal plan comes to an average of about 2 meals a day (including weekends) and also, meals do not expire every week. </p>
<p>As for residence halls, the freshmen residence halls are Morgan Hall, Institute Hall, Sanford/Riley, and Stoddard. I don’t know which is the most expensive but I think that the costs are similar. Morgan Hall has newer furniture but had forced triples this year. The rooms are on the smaller side. Sanford/Riley seemed to have a lot of space and good furniture (and the beds are not bunked on top of the desks — can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit my head). Stoddard is a little disconnected and has triples which are smaller than Riley. </p>
<p>In my opinion, Sanford/Riley is overall the best freshman housing.</p>
<p>Daniels is also a freshman dorm.</p>
<p>Stoddard has no triples (mostly doubles, a few singles), and has new-ish furniture (2 yrs old).</p>
<p>Here is how the dorm selection process for freshman worked last year: The form asks you to rate the following choices:</p>
<p>Single-Sex floor, Co-Ed Floor, World House/International, Large Residence Hall, Small Residence Hall, Healthy Alternatives House, Math & Science Experience, No Preference.</p>
<p>You also answer some questions like: do you smoke, are you neat, etc.</p>
<p>You can also request a specific roommate.</p>
<p>So, you don’t choose a particular dorm. They assign you to one based on how you rated the choices.</p>
<p>You get assigned what you get assigned. S requested a small residence hall, got Morgan. It was fine,even with the forced triple. The rooms are quite large as doubles, so they didn’t seem very cramped as triples, especially with the bunk over desk arrangement. But you may want to think about how thick a mattress pad you want! By D term they were untripling, and one of the roommates (who was never there anyway) moved out.</p>
<p>^^fireflyscout, that’s because they werent actually forced triples. morgan hall was designed to have triples, but they only had the demand for doubles in previous years. when there was enough demand to cause the entire hall to become triples, they brought in all new furniture. </p>
<p>in response to OP’s question, I’m going to tell you exactly what was told to me when i was a prefrosh because it is true: the best freshman dorm is the one that you’re in. if you request a large dorm, i believe that you usually get it. in a large dorm you get to meet a lot more people than you might if you request a smaller dorm.
Morgan, Daniels and Riley are the biggest ones and everyone from there thinks that their dorm is the best. having spent a year in morgan, i KNOW its the best.
as far as the meal plan goes, GET THE 190. it is the cheapest, and it is the most flexible. you’re going to want to be able to swipe other people in, and most meal plans only let you do that twice per semester. you don’t lose your meals instantly, but you probably wont even come close to using it up anyway. especially in the beginning of the year, there are going to be a ton of cookouts on the quad. at any point during the first semester you can probably find free food on campus somewhere.</p>
<p>also if youre a guy, don’t worry about running out of meals at all with the 190 because you’ll probably use 5 meals during the entire month of rush. you can eat lunch and dinner for free at all of the fraternities and plus its a lot of fun, even if you dont think that youre going to go greek.</p>
<p>My son wanted to be in Morgan (convenient to the cafeteria - as is Daniels - new furniture, and he had stayed there on a visit so he felt familiar with it) so he answered questions such that he would likely end up there. He did end up there, but as Jack says, the best dorm is the one in which you end up. He would have been fine in any of the freshman dorms. But he too thinks Morgan is the best.</p>