<p>Hmm, the food? It's okay. "you won't die I guess" is the best way to put it. There is a VA school heirarchy of worst food (w&m) to best (VT, darn hokies) and UVa is just somewhere in between. </p>
<p>There are three "eat as much as you want with one swipe" dining halls, Newcomb, Runk and O-hill (which many of us refer to as OHell) -- Newcomb tends to be the best though many people think Runk might be better. Newcomb and Ohill are closest to Central Grounds; Runk is out by Hereford and is a bit of a hike for just a meal. New O-Hill is supposed to open soon (maybe after Spring Break? But they promised it would be open by Fall break back in 04... so we'll see if it makes it). A lot of first years eat at O-Hill just because it's close to dorms (Alderman esp, and not far from McCormick) and it's open on the weekends while Newcomb is closed. </p>
<p>The food itself is okay. I think it's about average quality food, not bad not great. It does get a little repetitive. The dining staff is really nice but is getting pretty ingenius at finding ways to re-heat and re-use food. For example... Day 1: Chicken Filets, Day 2: Chicken Filet Sandwiches, Day 3: "Chicken Parmesan" (Chicken Filets with stewed tomatos), Day 4: "Country Fried Chicken" (Chicken Filets with Gravy) mmm. doesn't that sound appetizing? Best advice? Just eat it, you'll be hungry and somehow once you are in college and living on a small fixed budget, eating in a dining hall on the meal plan sounds better than paying for food off grounds. When you come for a tour of the school you could always eat at one of the dining halls, it's a good way to try it out. There's always a decent amount of choice about what to eat and you'll never starve. Plus there's always "Ice Milk" for dessert ::Yum!! So GOOD!::</p>
<p>There are three places to use "plus dollars" which are more like fast food places. The Pav (Below Newcomb) has a pizza place, a deli place, a "home cooking" place, sushi, and Chick-fil-a. Treehouse (which I think they have plans to raze soon) has a Pizza-hut and grill along with a little convenience store in the bottom. The Castle is in the bottom of Bonnycastle dorm in McCormick road dorms and has a grill and a pizza place. You can also use plus dollars to order Domino's Pizza for delivery to your dorm. </p>
<p>And then when the on-grounds options bore you, there's always the corner. Plently of little restuarants to eat all, all pretty good. The White Spot is the home of the "Gus Burger", a hamburger served with a nice fried egg. Jaberwoke is a big favorite. Little Johns is great for a late night food run. And there are many more. Charlottesville has the most restuarants per capita of any other city in the US so you'll always find something to eat. </p>
<p>Overall the food is edible, and better than a lot of schools (A friend from Harvard who visited thought O-Hill was wonderful compared to their place)</p>
<p>The meal plan is mandatory for freshman - this year it was $1500 a semester but you had options on how many meals versus plus dollars you wanted. Nearly everyone with unlimited meals switched their plan second semester. I had 15 first semester and never used them all so I dropped back to 13 meals a week now and still don't use them all. They don't carry over from week to week although unused plus dollars carry over to the next semester but not the next year. </p>
<p>Ack! I've gotten long winded, so I'll come to an end. </p>
<p>There's a lot of great things about UVa so most of use just kinda overlook the food since it's not horrible. </p>
<p>Oh, and about first year dorms, I think I heard the rumor from the housing office that they are trying to "dispel" the "Greek life" McCormick versus the more "diverse" Alderman and that next year you won't have the option of which housing set you want to live in. You'll just choose that you want to live in "First Year Dorms"</p>
<p>And ED and RD students are given the same status. Everyone sends in for housing in June together.</p>