I’ve been looking into CMU and a lot of people complain about the food. Why don’t people like it? Also, can someone explain the meal plan. (I just wanted to understand it) Thanks!
The food really isn’t that bad, but you get tired of eating at the same places over your first year. It’s average, but as long as you try different things you won’t get tired of it. I recommend switching off the meal plan after freshman year.
I also recommend going with Red 9 - this maximizes the amount of Dinex you get, and gives you enough blocks, while still being pretty cheap. The meal plans are usually way too much food, and you’ll struggle to get the most out of your money. Dinex is a kind of fake currency used at CMU, you can use it on an on-campus grocery store (which is kinda overpriced), or use it for additional sides/vending machines items (like fruit, desserts, breakfast items, coffee, ect). The downside to Dinex is it is voided after a semester, so you have to spend all of it per semester or you lose it.
Blocks are your dinners or lunches, it’s a full ‘meal’ (note - usually more food than you need for 3x a day) of food, and can be used on a lot of on-campus restaurants. This is usually a main entree, a side (fruit or chips), and a drink, it’s supposed to represent $12 of real money. While it might seem like you should have 3 blocks per day, you’ll usually probably only use dinex for breakfast, and blocks should probably only be used for dinner to give you the best bang for your buck. Often times you’ll only use 1-2 blocks per day, supplementing other meals with dinex.