Hill vs. Quad; Dinning Dollars vs. Dinninghall Visits

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Hi everyone, just want your insight on two things.</p>

<p>Hill vs. Quad</p>

<p>I like the hill very much but the main thing that scares me is how far away it is from the Quad. I feel like I'll be very disjointed from the rest of the Penn community, especially from freshmen? And is the location tough because of where most of the buildings are? </p>

<p>And is the Quad overrated? initially I was gonna go all in on Quad but some people have told me their experience in it has been sub-par while others are saying they love the Hill. </p>

<p>Dinning Dollars vs. Dining Hall Visits </p>

<p>Why is everyone saying dining dollars are the way to go? I feel like 400 dining dollars (on the BFF plan) will zip by in a semester. I mean one meal at subway.. boom 10$. One snack at the community shop.. boom 5$ lol. So isn't the first meal plan with unlimited visits the better value? unless the food is really THAT bad... (or maybe that no one eats there so it's like deserted?) </p>

<p>I love food btw. and I eat a lot. </p>

<p>Also, when people like to have a social meal (i.e get meals with friends) is it always with dining dollars? Because my worry if I get the first meal plan with only 50 dining dollars will be that when people are like "yo let's go grab some food at 1920 commons" I'll have to be like "yo man... my dining dollars are all out... I'll go eat alone in the penn dining hall... with my unlimited visits..... foreveralone.jpg" </p>

<p>lol.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>EDIT: egregious spelling mistake in the title... meant dining* dollars and Dining hall* visits... my bad.</p>

2

<p>Definitely go for the quad…it’s the best freshmen experience! The hill is a fairly social dorm, kinda cramped. And for food, the restaurants are way better. Good luck in deciding.</p>

3

<p>Meal Plan breakdown:</p>

<ul>
<li>Visits can be used at Hill dining hall, Commons dining hall and King’s Court dining hall; visits + some extra dining dollars can be used at Hillel</li>
<li>Dining Dollars can be used at Houston Market, at the little market inside the Quad, at Mark’s Cafe in the library, in the retail establishments at Commons, at ABP in Huntsman and at a wide array of other places on and around campus (there used to be a pizza place on Spruce Street, unaffiliated with the university, that accepted dining dollars)</li>
</ul>

<p>Realistically, you will probably find yourself getting dinner in a dining hall and lunch at Houston or at a food cart, unless you’re very disciplined about eating in the dining halls all the time. This means that you will probably use 80-100 out of 125 meals each semester. At the end of the semester, your meals die, but your dining dollars carry over, so it makes sense to have fewer meals and more dining dollars.</p>

<p>Freshman year, I hardly went to the dining halls first semester; I was always eating at food trucks, retail places near campus and restaurants downtown (there are a TON of places college kids can afford!). At the end of the semester, I had used around 60 meals and only half of my dining dollars… it took a concerted effort to get anywhere CLOSE to using all of my second semester meals. I wound up using all of my dining dollars, even though I had the plan with the most dining dollars available.</p>

<p>Regarding housing…</p>

<p>The Quad is the place freshmen want to be, but here is my experience from Hill.</p>

<p>First off, it sucked. Straight up, the facilities were beyond terrible; we had two common rooms on our hall, one of which had no functioning lighting and the other of which had a sizable lake in the middle for two months before our pleas for help were answered. Showers didn’t work, had slow drains and occasionally decided to spew water in people’s faces from places that water should not spew. The ventilation system has probably never been cleaned, so regardless of how much effort I put into keeping my dorm clean, it was covered in dust within two days. </p>

<p>WITH ALL OF THAT SAID, our hatred for the facilities of Hill gave my hallmates and me something to bond over. Since our rooms were so tiny, we always hung out elsewhere (usually in the common room with the lake in the middle). Many of us have remained friends since we moved out of Hill in 2008; we all graduated last year and moved to different places arond the country (New York, California, the Midwest, Boston and Philly, to name just a few places), but we see each other relatively frequently, including some random occasions (i.e. not just university-sponsored alumni events).</p>

<p>In retrospect, I HATED living in Hill, but it had such a positive formative effect on me that, were I to do it again, I would have done everything the same way.</p>

4

<p>Super helpful. I actually visited today and found the hill rather distasteful but most of all… aloof. The quad is lined with food carts, a wawa a block away, shops… etc. The hill is around… a starbucks. and an aunti annie’s. and not much else lol. </p>

<p>That said, I still admire the “community” of the hill. Oh well.</p>

5

<p>^ You realize, of course, that it’s not really “the hill,” but “Hill,” as in Robert C. Hill after whom it was named. Also, it was designed by famous architect Eero Saarinen, the same guy who designed the St. Louis Arch, Kennedy Airport in NYC, and Dulles Airport outside of Washington, D.C., although most people who live there probably neither know nor care about that. ;)</p>

<p>[Hill</a> College House (originally Hill Hall Women’s Dormitories), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1957-60](<a href=“http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/krb2008000010/]Hill”>Hill College House (originally Hill Hall Women's Dormitories), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1957-60). Model)</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.campusdestinations.com/upenn/destination/677/Hill-College-House]Campus”&gt;http://www.campusdestinations.com/upenn/destination/677/Hill-College-House]Campus</a> Destinations: UPenn - Hill College House<a href=“scroll%20down%20to” title=“History”>/url</a></p>

6

<p>The BFF plan–most Dining Dollars–is DEFINITELY more popular, and, IMO, much more useful. I spend tons of time eating at Houston Market and Caf</p>

7

<p>Also, it’s important to note that your dorm really has little to do with your overall social experience freshman year. You will hang out with your hallmates the most during the first four weeks, but after that, you will make friends in the different student groups you do. From there, you will be friends with people from all over the place. With regard to stuff to do… student groups meet in the core of campus (performing arts groups meet at Platt, 37th and Spruce), and the vast majority of the parties happen between 40th and 42nd, Baltimore to Walnut; living in Hill doesn’t do anything to limit your experience. Plus, you’ll enjoy not having thousands of ragers going through your dorm during Fling! :)</p>

8

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<p>Hahaha nobody says “let’s grab food at Commons.” :stuck_out_tongue: But Commons takes meal swipes anyway, so don’t worry!</p>

<p>What school were you accepted to? As a Wharton student, chances are that one will want to get more dining dollars because one would be spending more time in Huntsman Hall and Steiny-D, which respectively have Au Bon Pain and Mark’s Cafe.</p>