<p>Mathmom, did your S1 go to the school with bad food?</p>
<p>My son never commented on quality of food (not surprising), but he did like that weekends one was on their own. The Houses often had barbecues on weekends. The rest of the time the kids went to many of the local restaurants.</p>
<p>Yes, he did. I always felt that the food at Carnegie Mellon was a big minus, not just the quality, but also the way it was organized. No central dining hall, too many tables for just one or two people. It seemed to me designed to make sure freshmen didn’t socialize over meals. Luckily my son found another place to hang out (the Linux cluster of computers). He was only on campus the first two years and did the minimal plan.</p>
<p>S2, has a full meal plan and has lived on campus except for his junior year abroad with a full meal plan. Even though the food is good, I think because of the lack of residential college or House system, they still miss out on that kind of socializing. </p>
<p>Haha, mathmom. The food situation was one of the things that turned my D off about Carnegie Mellon. Of course it also was 30, windy and snowing that day after glorious weather earlier in the week. It never had a chance. </p>
<p>@geo113 - UMASS Amherst Journalism?</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who went to a top school with lousy dorms, I think the quality of the dorms is important. You are going to be living there for four years.</p>
<p>DD3, clever child, took a different tact this spring when faced with some wonderful choices and no clear favorite for a while. She told me she does not want to go to graduate school right out of college, but wants to begin in her chosen profession. She did not judge the universities on quality of food, dorms, clubs, or anything on that order. Instead, she paid careful attention to the curriculum, internships, etc. that are a part of each program. She met with or talked to the department chairs, various professors, and students at the universities. Then she went to LinkedIn, looked up the profiles of individuals who had graduated with a BA/BFA from each university. She examined whether they had had internships in the field during college. Next she looked at their job placement and quality of placement. One university rose to the top as having the most aggressive and successful placement record and it happened to also be the one where she could see that the education she’ll receive in the next four years will be challenging and fun. Decision made. </p>
<p>@rumrunner - yep</p>
<p>geo1113 … cool</p>
<p>@mathmom, that’s funny :P. The food situation was a plus for me at Carnegie Mellon…Everyone complains about it, but it seems fine to me. Am I missing something? x) The three dining places I ate at (University Commons, Resnik, Shatz) seemed charming. :)</p>
<p>Anyways, I am making a decision like this too! (UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon). I felt most at home with Carnegie Mellon, but the decisions were so close that I was considering flipping a coin. Carnegie Mellon has given enough aid to make there only a small difference in cost so unless the financial situation changes, I’ll be enrolling there :)</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan of fast food which is what most of the choices seemed to be, and the pizza was really bad. It may have gotten better. I love the University Commons building. My son loved CMU and the alumni network was great for internships and jobs.</p>
<p>Purdue was one school on my D’s list that really emphasize how good their cafeteria food is during the visit. It was ranked #14 best food on campus in the nation and the #3 (or something like that) best restaurant in town was actually their cafeteria. However, my D gave it a neutral point on that. She likes the options and food quality, but also she worries she will gain too much weight because of that. At the end, she did not consider that factor at all. 
</p>
<p>My daughter was swayed by both nice dorms and good food - these comforts of home were important to her. I hear from friends whose kids hate their school food about how much money they waste with unused meals (that they are forced to buy) and then the expense of meals out instead. Two of my daughter’s friends hated their school food and both lost a lot of weight first semester (they were both thin to begin with so this was not healthy).</p>
<p>“The biggest difference was that one was a state school and we could get out of there with minimal debt.”</p>
<p>Well, if you’re torn because all of the schools were so impressive, thank your stars and pick the minimal-debt option. This should only be a crisis where there’s a clear winner on quality and it isn’t the most affordable choice. Where all the options are terrific, I say avoid the debt.</p>
<p>Some colleges serve their very best food during accepted student days. Don’t let that be a factor.</p>
<p>Even the best dining halls will get old after a while. If you don’t pick the most expensive college, there will be extra money to go out to eat occasionally.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind the vacation days that will be used up and the wear and tear on your car from driving to a college that is a “day long drive away.” The motel bills can also add up, as well as gas costs. In addition, a drive can take much longer if you need to make it during Thanksgiving week traffic. </p>
<p>I’d also keep in mind that some colleges have mediocre freshman dorms but plenty of great upper class housing (that describes my daughter’s college). Some colleges have no housing for upper class students, and off-campus housing is expensive or far away. Some colleges have one really great residence hall that they use on tours, while other residence halls are horrible. Some colleges have dorms that appear old and hot, but actually are a great deal of fun (that describes the freshman dorm I lived in).</p>
<p>Did you check out the career centers at each? What happens to most grads? Grad school? Jobs? Do they have paid summer internship opportunities? How involved are the alumni? What comes out of the four years can help as well. </p>
<p>I personally think the best dorms for freshmen are rooms along a hall with good lounge spaces on the floors - that way it’s easy to meet people other than your roommates. After that if you prefer suites, that’s fine, but I’m really a fan of hallway living. I don’t think most kids realize what a difference it makes, but I’ve experienced both and it’s huge.</p>
<p>I agree mathmom. UVa ended up tearing down their late 1960s dorms that had suites and replacing them with new residence halls with hallways that look more like their early 1950s dorms (which is where I lived). Now they are trying to find ways to air condition those 1950s dorms, which are still popular.</p>
<p>Beware of dorms that have the lounges converted into housing and that have double rooms converted into triples. A triple room is particularly difficult when there is no ability to escape to a lounge.</p>
<p>rumrunner- consider the program and which school you kid will feel most comfortable. The rest is crap.</p>
<p>rumrunner- consider the program and which school you kid will feel most comfortable. The rest is crap."</p>
<p>This. No one ever said to a recent grad on nan interview, “Tell me about the food and dorms at your school”</p>