Meal Plan

<p>I was wondering if any current UVA student could give me advice on what meal plan I should get for next year. I'm thinking unlimited or Plus15 but I really don't know.
Thanks</p>

<p>plus 15. dining food sucks and you'll be sorry if you don't get any plus dollars that comes more with plus 15 vs unlimited.</p>

<p>Plus 15 or Plus 13 is the way to go, dining food isn't something to brag about. If you don't see yourself going to breakfast at all you'd be better off going with Plus 13.</p>

<p>Just look around the Web a little, you'll get the picture pretty quickly --</p>

<p>
[quote]
In the back of the book put out by Princeton Review there are some very funny quotes. Here are what eight students have to say about the food at their schools.
University of Virginia student: "When students first arrive, they call the Observatory Hill Dining Facility 'O-Hill.' They soon learn to call it 'O-Hell,' because the food here is beyond revolting."

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/2006/10/7_students_sound_off_on_the_fo/.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/2006/10/7_students_sound_off_on_the_fo/.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
Avoid the dining halls if possible, a company called ARAMARK is contracted to serve food in these places. The term food is interpreted VERY loosely.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/7R6.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/7R6.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>as someone who went to the old o-hill which that quote is referring to (which has since been torn down btw) i can tell you that i've never once heard the term o-hell until i read princeton review.</p>

<p>as a 3rd year who still has a meal plan ;-), i can say for sure those quotes either are ancient, or the people who made them are ultra picky.</p>

<p>albiet there are some things i wouldn't eat at the dining hall (anything off of the "home cookin'" menu), you generally can get a decent meal. worse comes to worse you get a sandwich made or you raid the nacho bar (its hard to mess up chop meat and melted cheese).</p>

<p>Not ancient, I don't know why he link did not work:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/2006/10/7_students_sound_off_on_the_fo.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/2006/10/7_students_sound_off_on_the_fo.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Also, if you want a sandwich, you will need lots of time on your hands -- the lines are long.</p>

<p>None of us can tell you what to get. It's a very personal choice. For me, the easy choice was to go with the smallest number of meals and the greatest number of plus dollars. This year, I'm not on a meal plan of any kind.</p>

<p>for first years, are the choices for meal plans very limited?</p>

<p>supernova,</p>

<p>that o-hell quote is in my 2002 edition of the 3xx best colleges. I would qualify that as ancient.</p>

<p>masticore,</p>

<p>you have to get a meal plan as a first year. your first semester youcan choose between 13, 15, 18, and unlimited meals with corresponding plus dollars, and your 2nd semester you can add a 10 meal a week plan.</p>

<p>i never ate breakfast so i had 13 meals my first semester, and 10 meals my 2nd semester. many days i would just eat once a day. i never used them all.</p>

<p>i have 80 meals a semester right now which is just about right - i used about 65 last semester.</p>

<p>Without a doubt, go with Plus 13. I use about 8 meals a week at the dining halls. The plus dollars are so good to have. The more, the better. There are so many places around campus where you can buy food with plus dollars like Chick-fil-a, sushi, Pizza Hut, Smoothie Shops, Sbarro, Coffee Shops, convenience stores, etc. </p>

<p>You will definitely want to enjoy a hot panini rather than have a meal at a dining hall.</p>

<p>And in college, there are VERY few people who go to breakfast at the dining halls (aside from the Saturday and Sunday brunches which last until 2pm - they're wonderful).</p>

<p>Yes, as a current first-year, living RIGHT NEXT TO NEWCOMB (yea Brown College), even I do not use up all of my 13 meals every week, and neither do any of the other first years in Brown. We are all downgrading to 10 next semester. The problem is not that the food is not good (rather, it is usually just the same every day, but still edible) - it is that the hours are ridiculous. They close at 8 for dinner and a lot of days I am doing stuff until past 8. Lunch ends at 2 and that is inconvienent a lot of times too, just because most classes that are good meet during when you would eat lunch. And on the weekends, you usually go out for dinner anyways.</p>

<p>Does Chipotle accept plus dollars?</p>

<p>With the PLUS 13, how many plus dollars do you get?</p>

<p>around $250 or $275 plus dollars for the plus 13 meal plan (i don't remember the exact amount). and no, chipotle does not accept plus dollars.</p>

<p>if you are dissatisfied with the meal plan you chose, you have the option to change it online - which takes an entire 30 seconds to do - during the first week or two of the semester.</p>

<p>I think it is fair to say that UVa has many outstanding qualities, however, the dining service is not an area in which the University excels. None of my acquaintances use anything close to the number of meals on their plan, no matter which plan they have. Also, while the University may have built a new dining facility, no one that I have talked to thinks the quality of the dining service has improved.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I think it is fair to say that UVa has many outstanding qualities, however, the dining service is not an area in which the University excels.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Send yr regards to Aramark, supernova. The University of Virginia, like most universities, does not manage its dining facilities. Most schools are under the umbrella of just a few providers (Aramark, Sodexho), so there are few appreciable differences between schools. That's been my experience, and I've dined at no fewer than ten different major US universities. The <em>only</em> school I've dined at that had <em>good</em> food was the U.S. Naval Academy, but the food there has to be good so you'll get your daily 4,000 calories.</p>

<p>quite frankly, its university food - what do you expect? when you break down the price its something like $7 a meal...which is the same price as a value meal at mcdonalds. don't expect brunch like you'd get at the waldorf astoria or dinner like you'd get at nobu. if one isn't really picky, there shouldn't be any problems (i'll eat almost anything). if you really think its disgusting just tough it out for year on the 10 meals a week, use your $400 plus dollars and then get off campus meal plan.</p>

<p>the food sucks i got only 50 meals this semester and still had about 12 left. that shd tell you something. advice yourself.</p>

<p>plus 13 definitely. trust me - you'll get a ton more plus dollars and you won't even use 13 meals</p>