<p>Hey everyone. I just got back from SOC and realized that although I may have eaten a few meals at Wellesley, I forgot to inquire as to the specifics of any kind of "meal plan." Can anyone expound on how that works (number of meals, points, options, etc.). Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Right now the meal plan at Wellesley is really really amazing – and actually part of the reason I came to Wellesley (yes, really, I took the meal plan into account when choosing schools). At Wellesley, you don’t have to buy a 10 meal/wk plan or anything like that. Everyone is required to be on the meal plan so that means you can go into any dining hall anywhere on campus and get food. This year the dining halls are open during the week from 7:30am to 7pm, with breakfast being from 7:30 to about 10am, lunch from 11:30 to 2-ish, and dinner from 5-7pm. On the weekends there is a continental breakfast, brunch, and dinner, with the dining halls opening at 8:30am. In the times where there aren’t specific meals served, you can still go into the dining hall and get cereal, fruit, ice cream, bread, etc. You do not have to swipe in the dining halls, except for one-- the campus center 4th floor eating area. The campus center uses it as a count of how many people go through there. Also, Bates dining hall is slighty different than the other dining halls (it was just changed this year). For lunch and dinner, Bates is more restaurant-style where there’s a menu of options you can choose from. There is also Kosher/vegetarian dining in Pomeroy and Nuts-free dining in Stone-Davis (beginning the '09-'10 academic year; this is switched from Cazenove).</p>
<p>You are also given 50 “points” per semester to spend at the campus center convenience center, the Claflin bake shop, and the Collins Cafe (near the Davis Museum). Each “point” represents $1. These points roll over from fall to spring, so you have to use them all up by the end of the spring semester. You can add extra points if you run out – the extra points that you purchase are called “flex points”. These roll-over from year to year. *</p>
<p>*Wellesley College is currently in the process of switching dining hall providers. We currently use Sodexho, but they are in the process of ending their contract with the college. We are looking at bids from new providers on Friday, and from those bids a new provider will be chosen. Whether or not changes to the dining hall plan will occur is still yet to be seen, but the school has said that the hours of operation will remain the same and there won’t be a meal plan where you have to purchase a number of meals for the week/semester since everyone is required to be on the meal plan.</p>
<p>Ah, the meal plan is amazing. I hope it doesn’t change. 
At my dorm, I can get food on a whim downstairs until 10 at night.</p>
<p>The Wellesley meal plan works like this: you give Wellesley a ton of money, you get food to eat during certain times each day in certain dorms. You have no choice. The amount is more than you would spend on groceries by a bit, but just ignore that fact. It’s all you can eat, rather unregulated, one price, and the quality is in the eye of the beholder (I was happy, but a lot of picky eaters I know were not. I consider myself to be a reformed picky eater based on college experiences). The meal plan is not particularly friendly to people who forget to eat, are up at weird hours or have dietary restrictions, but the campus center helps, as $50 is enough to hoard a few things. If you never wanted to spend any money on food outside the meal plan you could.</p>
<p>Can you take snack food out of the dining halls for free? Is coffee available at night or in the dorms?</p>
<p>Open until 7 pm? Where do you eat dinner?</p>
<p>thelaughmachine, you can take out snack foods from the dining halls (and yes, for free… well, it’s really all part of your room and board fee…). You can take out desserts, fruit, etc… things that are easily portable. And coffee is available in the dining halls so you have access to that when it’s open (until 7pm on the weekdays and 6:30pm on the weekends). The coffee shop in the campus center is open until midnight tuesday through thursdays and 8pm the other nights.</p>
<p>sorghum, if you eat dinner later than 7pm, you can go to the campus center to eat. That is open until 10pm.</p>