<p>Ok... we all know cornell dining rocks... but there is this one term which ive heard many a guy use, BUT JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS!!!! Whats a meal plan? what r its advantages?</p>
<p>if you want to eat on campus, the best way is via meal plan. </p>
<p>you basically pay $XXX up front and you get allocated a certain amount of 'meals'. There's 8 all you can eat dining halls on campus. every time you go to one, they swipe your card and you use "one meal." if you dont have a meal plan, prices vary from around $9.75 to $13 a visit. There's dozens of other dining centers around campus where you can buy just a burger or a sandwich with either cash or what's called "big red bucks." Brb's are like a debit balance for single items such as this. This past semester, i had 14 meals a week plus $500 in big red bucks, and this was more than enough. You pick a meal plan (say you only want 10 meals a week, or 5) when you get the housing packet.</p>
<p>I didn't use 14 meals a week and have moved down to 7 per week for 2nd semester. I use more BRBs, but it's more convenient because I can get food on the go, and more frequently. My schedule is more conducive to quick bites than sit down meals. Most students start at 14 and move to 10 or 7 by 2nd semester, as they figure out their schedule and realize that there's rarely time for 2 big sitdown meals a day. Also, somedays I'll have no sitdown meals, but it evens out because there are other days in the week where I'll want two. Even if you run out of meals, you can pay per meal at the dining halls if you end up going one or two over in the week, though if you consistently are going over, it's probably a good idea to upgrade to the next highest number of meals.</p>