<p>On our tour last weekend at JMU, we noticed that the campus had a shuttle bus that ran to Target (and maybe other places?). Also, there were numerous vegetarian options on the menus. These were little extras that the school provided that left us with a favorable impression. </p>
<p>What little things does your school provide that add to your enjoyment?</p>
<p>I don’t consider vegetarian options a “little extra.” I would expect every school to provide vegetarian options as a matter of course. It’s simply too widespread of an eating trend to be ignored.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, UC-San Diego and Wesleyan recently won top honors for best vegan colleges in the large school and small school categories, respectively:</p>
<p>[Wesleyan</a> University named most vegan-friendly small school in America by PETA2 - The Middletown Press : Serving Middletown, CT](<a href=“http://middletownpress.com/articles/2012/11/15/news/doc50a5b9faea470834002442.txt]Wesleyan”>http://middletownpress.com/articles/2012/11/15/news/doc50a5b9faea470834002442.txt)</p>
<p>On school on DD’s early list had a sushi bar–she liked that a lot–but in the end that school dropped off the list. That same school also had a shuttle to/from area. I really liked that :D.</p>
<p>American University in DC has a free shuttle to the Metro station…while it is a walkable distance, it’s really a nice perk, especially in bad weather…and especially when your student needs to wear professional dress for an internship, it’s nice not to walk the mile or so in the rain.</p>
<p>I like how the faculty and staff at my D’s school serve Thanksgiving dinner to the students. The dining hall is set with linens and centerpieces and the kids just take their seats. No waiting in lines. The profs bring the meal to the tables. </p>
<p>At my son’s school I like how the laundry machines are free. As are the laptops each student gets as a freshman and again as a junior. You know, “free” for $54,000. 
</p>
<p>All kidding aside, I think the IT departments at most colleges are great with their 24 hr help desks.</p>
<p>My school had pretty mediocre vegetarian options. Although there was food for me to eat, it wasn’t great food and there wasn’t a lot of variety, and I didn’t have good options that were healthy and let me eat the way I wanted to eat. I’m vegan now, and I think my dining options would have been really really limited if I had been then. I was thrilled to get an apartment and leave the meal plan and cook for myself.</p>
<p>Good vegetarian options that taste good and fill one’s nutritional needs perhaps shouldn’t need to do an extra, but not all schools do a good job with that. I have heard, though, that my school recently opened a new dining hall that really improved those options.</p>
<p>I can’t compete with the food served at my son’s school. That is either a sad comment about my cooking or it means they have pretty good food! (I think they do have better than average college food, and my cooking is worse than average.)</p>
<p>My son told me he gets free public transport anywhere in Rhode Island because he attends Brown.</p>
<p>This is a tiny thing… but many schools we toured had washers/dryers that could be set up to send alerts when done. Also students could check availability online, before toting the laundry there. I would have liked those features ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Having worked at a school that did something similar, I can tell you that this is NOT a good thing. It means it’s a school that asks way too much of its faculty and staff, of which this is only one small and visible example.</p>
<p>DougBetsy-I agree with the free laundry. The kids would laugh when they heard that but they have never had to scrounge for quarters to do laundry :D. </p>
<p>Sop14’s Mom–the college I attended also had a faculty served Thanksgiving meal and most of the faculty said it was one of their favorite days of the year. Some of DD’s friends are at that school and just posted photos from the Thanksgiving meal on Facebook. Many of the same profs I had are still serving turkey to the students. It’s a lovely tradition that everyone looks forward too.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So does the University of Maryland at College Park, which is about a mile from its Metro station.</p>
<p>I tend to mention the Metro accessibility of this school often on these boards because people from other parts of the country often assume that city subways don’t extend beyond the city. But the DC Metro extends well into the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have a coworker who used to live in DC and loves their Metro system (vs Boston where commuter rail is a separate line from the regular T and the pricing system makes less sense).</p>
<p>My son ordered a book from Amazon and it arrived too late for him to able to complete his first assignment. It turns out the library had 5 copies of the book, which could be checked out for up to 24 hours. That was a nice touch. My son had planned to go down to the bookstore and use his iPhone to take pictures of the pages with the homework problems.</p>
<p>Not what you asked, of course (I’m too far removed to have good answers) but I have two nieces graduating from JMU this year who look to have had fantastic educations and experiences there.</p>
<p>This is a little thing for freshmen, so often overlooked… but it becomes a critical thing in 4 years… on college tours, take a stop at the career placement office.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This reminded me of “Late Night Brunch” at my D’s school, on the Sunday night before finals week. Students who’ve been cramming all weekend can come to the dining hall to relax and partake in a protein-and-carb fest, served by faculty. </p>
<p>Another “extra” is the Equestrian Center, a student-run coop with a 25-stall barn, indoor and outdoor arenas, pastures, and trails. The cool thing is that students can bring their own horses to board at the Center during the school year.</p>