<p>fogfog, did your son end up going to CPW?</p>
<p>On paper it can seem like athletics drain an unreasonable amount of your time, but when you look at the amount of free time you actually have in a day, two hours of athletics is doable. And as Piper said above, I found myself in a better mindset for work after a good practice.</p>
<p>Also, the athletic program definitely has an ‘academics first’ mindset, at least from what I’ve seen. Whenever I have a particularly daunting night of work ahead of me, my coach doesn’t hesitate to excuse me from practice.</p>
<p>Seems like we have a lot of pro-cooks on here… </p>
<p>I do the dining hall thing for dinner, so I just want to tell you parents how it works out for me.</p>
<p>I am a sophomore varsity athlete here at MIT. I am in the dining plan and eat at Baker dining hall ~6 days a week (go out to boston once/week for 2.50 burgers!). This is my usual schedule in season for after class:
class-4:30 chill, do work if needed, tour guide some days (my on-campus job)
4:30-7:30 PT, practice, shower
7:30-8/8:30 dinner
8/8:30 - 12/1am work</p>
<p>I get everything done, and get at least 7 hours of sleep, if not closer to 8. As you can see, eating in the dining halls keeps my meal time to like a half hour, and this includes some talk with friends after dinner. There are plenty of filling options and I don’t really get bored. Baker D, as an example of dining hall food, has stir-fry station (choice of chicken/beef/tofu/shrimp/scallops + choice of rice/pasta/rice noodles/more pasta + heaping bowl of veggies + choice from like 15 sauces), grill (burgers, chix sandwiches, quesadilla, wraps, chix fingers, steak sandwiches), panini station, then a vegetarian and meat homecooked option, pizza station, soup, salad bar (lots of people get a big salad + a grilled chicken or a grilled salmon on top), and lots of fresh fruit. On the house dining plan, I rarely spend over $5 on a big portioned dinner + a fruit.</p>
<p>It’s a really awesome option for athletes, who need food relatively soon after practice in order to replenish and recover and may not have time to cook or are not fast at cooking.</p>
<p>Hope that helps, fogfog.</p>
<p>^ and factor in the $300 per semester membership for 13x7 = 91 days, that’s an additional $3 per day, which factors to be closer to $7 per meal.</p>
<p>This is true, but it really is a matter of how often you think you will be eating there. The average meal costs between $8-10 sans House Dining, thus ~$7/meal is still saving you money if you eat at the dining hall regularly.</p>
<p>^^^ thanks EmpireAnts</p>
<p>our student needs lots of lean proteins, veggies, starches etc --to maintain weight/fitness–some 4k in calories easily
No way would pb & J, Subway and eating out all the time suffice…and a mini-fridge isn’t going to hold a weeks worth of fresh chicken/pork chops etc, produce etc…</p>
<p>Having not seen the inside of the dorms on a tour–its a mystery…</p>
<p>You could’ve taken individual dorm tours…</p>
<p>I personally thought eating in dining halls wasn’t worth the money for me, and since my dorm didn’t have a mandatory plan I was happy that I didn’t have to go through with it.</p>
<p>An average meal with House Dining for me costs $4 or $4.50, and I would probably only eat there 4 days a week, so 13x4 = 52. That’s almost an extra $6 when you take in the $300 lump fee, so meals would come out to be $10-11 in reality for me, which is unnecessary.</p>
<p>Despite all the griping that has been going on amidst internal MIT lists about dining, I personally think Dining Halls are great for students that 1) regularly work in their dorm and wants to be able to run downstairs to get quick food, 2) burn a lot of calories and need convenient, nutritious food (athletes), 3) live in dorms without a kitchen.</p>
<p>I qualify for neither of the three categories, so living without a dining plan hasn’t been too bad.</p>
<p>Maybe i am slow,but…did you say MIT does not have a 21 Meal Plan?Cooking is soo boring.i would rather spent that time working out.</p>
<p>wee bit off topic, but how accessible is coffee? like, in dorms with a kitchen, is there any kind of communal coffee pot? can one keep a coffee pot in one’s room?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Depends on your community. If there isn’t one already then someone would have to buy one. Our dorm is thinking of getting an industry-grade coffeemaker actually, haha.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the actual kosher rule is about keeping a coffee pot in the room, but I have a water boiler in my room. I don’t know whether that’s against the rule either. I think the big two rules are no microwaves and candles in rooms - haven’t heard one about coffee pots although someone should check if they want.</p>
<p>I have a small coffee pot in my room, I think the rule is technically “nothing with an open heating element” (so hotplates are also out), but the degree to which the rules are enforced vary by dorm. As long as you don’t start a fire, you should be fine.</p>
<p>You should really try to get off the coffee addiction before you come to college, though - you legitimately will sleep a lot better and be a lot more awake in the morning if you aren’t depending on your caffeine fix to wake you up :)</p>
<p>I know this has been touched on several times, but it is definitely possible to be an athlete and eat well without the dining halls. </p>
<p>I am a junior varsity athlete, and I generally shop for and cook all my own food. It does take some planning (about ~1 hour a week to go buy groceries), but then you have all the meal and snack food you want. It is cheaper, and isn’t a huge time drain. I have never had a problem between school, athletics and my other extracurriculars. It usually takes about 30 minutes for me to make dinner (a welcome break from studying). In my dorm, it was very social and cooking freshman year made me some of my best friends. Making a lunch to take with you can take 5-10 minutes, and you have food throughout the day. </p>
<p>It may mean that you have to make cooking a priority, but there are plenty of simple meals (and lots of cookbooks geared towards college students with 30 minute meals). You eat more healthfully, cheaper, and you can make sure you are meeting your calorie goals. There were a few days where I just didn’t have the extra 30 minutes to cook, but I usually kept a stash of good frozen meals (Amy’s etc.) or had made leftovers I could heat up. Otherwise, making some pasta is really quick and you can make it healthy with frozen vegetables, or fresh fruit.</p>
<p>Since the dorms are not on the tours–
can sone one touch on the kitchen spaces?
Are they cleaned? Are they full sized?
How many students share them? How big is the fridge?</p>
<p>How often does a student shop–is there room to freeze/store meats/poultry/produce for each student?</p>
<p>(Kiddo has the interview scheduled! Very exciting!!)</p>
<p>^ you get a kitchen in the dorm? Does that apply to freshmen as well? Also, are there separate bedrooms?</p>
<p>FWIW, most FSILG’s run a 18-meal plan. Many of them hire cooks and give them one day a week off (usually Sundays). At most FSILG’s the kitchens are tidied daily and scrubbed weekly. Again, there is huge variety in the kitchens and meal plans in the FSILG system. Dorms and ILG’s are tourable with advance planning. None of them are on the main tours, but again there is Dorm rush and FSILG rush separately freshman year, so you can find a space where you are happy and where the meal plan works for you.</p>
<p>
It varies by dorm.</p>
<p>In MacGregor, where I lived, the kitchens are shared among the residents of a suite (6-8 people), and include a full-sized freezer/fridge. Some people also keep mini-fridges in their rooms. The kitchen floors are cleaned by dorm cleaning staff daily, but students are responsible for cleaning the stove, dishes, sink, etc.</p>
<p>I think I went to the grocery store about once every other week or so. There are several grocery stores within walking distance or T distance of MIT dorms, as you can see on [this</a> map I made](<a href=“http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104051243356776178648.00045462c7400646fcc36&z=12]this”>Boston-area stores - Google My Maps).</p>
<p>FWIW, for students admitted to MIT, there are many opportunities to explore and tour different dorms and FSILGs during Campus Preview Weekend in the spring.</p>
<p>
There are no freshmen-only dorms at MIT, so any dorm that has kitchens has kitchens for freshmen and for upperclassmen to use. The dorms at MIT vary in many ways, including the number and size of kitchens and the number of students per bedroom.</p>
<p>^
^
Thanks to both of the last posts
Very helpful.
We were in the grocery store next to the Le Meridien last yr too…</p>
<p>Hey
I read on the MIT web site about the changes in the meal plan policies that will start next year…offering more dining options !
Good news! Options are good!</p>
<p>Yes they are, but I am not sure we needed to revive this thread lol.</p>