<p>I read in one of the guides that the food quality at HWS has gone down. Something to do with budget cuts. Most of the schools that my son is looking at are around 45k, yet Hobart is more like 52k+. How is the food really?</p>
<p>Queenbee, my first-year son thinks it’s fine. It’s not gourmet, but it’s reasonable food attempting to please a sizable population. There are choices in what you eat and choices are always good to have. Obviously he can’t comment on whether the food has gone downhill because he’s only been there this year. I will talk to him more in length and get back to you.</p>
<p>CarolynB, Thanks for your response. While you are at it, would you mind asking him how the athletic facilities are? I notice on the HWS website there’s a capital campaign underway to fund some new athletic facilities. My son plays tennis and there doesn’t seem to be an indoor option, unless we’ve overlooked something. I know he’s there for the education but sometimes the extras can really make the experience.</p>
<p>Queenbee14, I talked with my son and got some details. About food: there are several places to eat, including Saga (the main dining hall), the Cafe and the Pub. For Saga, he said the food is OK with plenty of variety and of reasonable quality, although after a while the offerings seem repetitious. The Cafe is like a food court with mini-businesses offering different foods; that’s where you can use your snack money allotment. The Cafe varies from very good to mundane, depending on the timing and what you want. The Pub is really very good. I’m lead to believe there are other food places but we only focused on those three.</p>
<p>For tennis courts, he says there are indoor courts as well as outdoor ones. He is under the impression that if you are not on the team, you have to work around the team practice times, but I’m not really sure about that; you could call if you really want to know.</p>
<p>The Bristol Field House:
[Hobart</a> and William Smith Colleges - Robert A. Bristol '31 Field House](<a href=“http://www.hwsathletics.com/sports/2008/10/15/gen_1015082836.aspx?tab=bristolfieldhouse]Hobart”>http://www.hwsathletics.com/sports/2008/10/15/gen_1015082836.aspx?tab=bristolfieldhouse)</p>
<p>HWS main outdoor tennis facility:
[Hobart</a> and William Smith Colleges - HWS Tennis Center](<a href=“http://www.hwsathletics.com/sports/2008/7/7/ten_0707083640.aspx?tab=hwstenniscenter]Hobart”>http://www.hwsathletics.com/sports/2008/7/7/ten_0707083640.aspx?tab=hwstenniscenter)</p>
<p>The facilities that will receive funding from the Campaign for the Colleges, the ongoing capital campaign, are as follows:</p>
<p>[HWS</a> Capital Campaign :: Campaign Objectives : Capital Projects](<a href=“404”>404)</p>
<p>I encourage you to visit HWS during the open house in April and if it’s possible, to also come back to the campus on a regular school day. That will give you the most realistic picture of the school.</p>
<p>My son is willing to chat with you if you like and he knows some other students who are involved in admissions (they must be tour guides, but I’m not sure). If you’d like to chat with him, please PM me and I will give you his phone number.</p>
<p>CarolynB,
Thanks for taking the time to post your thorough response. I appreciate you posting the links too. This is all quite helpful. Please thank your son also! We are looking forward to the accepted students day on April 17. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will have an opportunity to revisit after that though.</p>
<p>Since you are also from MASS, I presume your son travels by car to HWS? Has he ever flown home? If you’d rather PM me that’s fine. FYI - we live in the Boston area, so I figure we’re looking at a 6.5 hour drive to Geneva. I guess they come home over Thanksgiving, Xmas & Spring break – anymore often than that? Right now, the distance from home is looming large!</p>
<p>Queenbee14, we live about an hour outside of Boston and 6.5 hours is about how long it takes to drive! 
Our son has gotten rides back and forth for Columbus Day weekend, Thanksgiving, winter break and spring break and it hasn’t been too big an issue. For Columbus Day weekend, he asked around and found a ride within an hour or so and he’s pretty much been all set since. He currently gets rides from kids going to New Hampshire or Maine; we pick him up in the Mass Pike/495 area before they head north. There are kids from the Boston area so setting up a ride shouldn’t be a problem; your son just needs to arrange it early enough. </p>
<p>Is the distance from home looming large for you or for him or both? Has your son been away from home before? Using Skype and iChat with some regularity has kept us connected. In actuality, I’d say our relationship with our son has been even better since he went off to college. Frankly, once they’re off at college and having their own experiences, it really doesn’t matter whether they’re two hours away or six hours away because you can Skype with them. If our son came home more often, we believe it would start to take away from his college experience.</p>
<p>I hope you find the April 17 accepted students day to be illuminating and exciting. I’ll be interested in hearing what you think. Feel free to ask more questions anytime.</p>
<p>We’re used to him being away because he’s been at boarding school 2 hours away. I had sort of hoped college would be the same distance but that was not to be! It’s my concern and not his, so I guess that’s good. Friends of mine who have students in local colleges (in the Boston area) don’t see their kids more frequently because they’re close, only on the breaks you mentioned above. As you can see I’m getting used to the idea! Thanks for clarifying the ride situation.</p>
<p>Hi CarolynB,
My son is going to HWS and is excited about it! Now we are wading through the various forms that need to be filled out including choosing a meal plan. Any suggestions? And what about dorms (not that the choice is really up to my son!)</p>
<p>Queenbee14, congratulations on your son’s decision! How wonderful to have that behind you! I will talk to my son about the choices for meal plans as it is a bit complicated; I’ll get back to you. We chose the top meal plan for this year; I’m not sure whether we’ll do that again, as we need to figure what really worked for him first.</p>
<p>OK. This is the scoop on meals at HWS. I may not get all the details quite right, but here’s the gist of it. My son said it depends on when your son likes to eat. There are three levels: Gold, Silver, and Basic. There are three main locations to eat: the Saga dining room, the Cafe and the Pub.</p>
<p>Gold: You have complete freedom to eat whenever and wherever you want. You get a cake for your birthday.</p>
<p>Silver: You have complete freedom to eat wherever you want, but no breakfast at Saga (nothing before 11 AM). You can eat at the Cafe anytime.</p>
<p>Classic: You have 15 meals a week at Saga, so essentially two meals a day. Not as much snack $. Designed for people who go away on the weekends, but most people don’t go away.</p>
<p>Saga offers sit-down meals, the Cafe offers quick food (burgers, subs, tortillas) restaurant-style as well as take-out. The Pub has typical American food restaurant-style.</p>
<p>In the meal plans, you get choices: full meals at Saga, one-swipe meals and snack money for the Cafe and the Pub.</p>
<p>My son is under the Gold Plan this year. At this point, my son has used up all his one-swipe meals at the Cafe and the Pub, so he will need to eat unlimited meals at Saga (which closes at 7:30 PM) and use up the rest of his snack money for late-night studying.</p>
<p>My S spent a semester at HWS as a non-matriculated student- loved the food-very happy with the selections and quality. He had the gold plan, and didn’t even use all his snack credits.
We got the Gold plan because he eats breakfast daily, and he likes a hot breakfast.
Also, when parents visit they are “included” on the gold plan, and we live nearby, so one of us would meet him for lunch once a week-ish. I liked the food when I was there.</p>
<p>Queenbee, if you’re still undecided or confused about the food options, you are welcome to PM me.</p>
<p>CarolynB,
Thanks for posting the details about the meal plan, it helps a lot. My son likes to eat and eats breakfast, so we’ll probably go with the Gold Plan. I was thrown by the 8 or so free meal passes that comes with the Gold plan, which will probably get wasted because we don’t live close by. Makes me wish I did though!</p>
<p>We also live in Massachusetts, but we went out for the Family Weekend in October, and our son used some of the free meal passes for us then. I think we also used them when we dropped him off in August and perhaps I will as well when I pick him up Tuesday (I don’t know if he has any left at this point). Glad the meal plan information was helpful.</p>
<p>If it helps… I dropped down to the Basic plan after my first year. Gold seemed a bit much, but it really does depend on your personal eating preferences.</p>