Anonymous wrote:The grass isn’t always greener, we just ate at the BC dining hall and the selections were really underwhelming compared to everywhere else we’ve toured.

BC grad here. I'm guessing you were at Lower? That's for upper classmen, so it's not as big as McElroy or Newton, where the freshmen go. I loved McElroy back in the day. They had the best vegetarian station. I didn't even know what temph was, but I STILL think about how they made it.

My brother lived on Newton and sometimes I'd go up there for brunch. It was great.

Anonymous wrote:The grass isn’t always greener, we just ate at the BC dining hall and the selections were really underwhelming compared to everywhere else we’ve toured.

Yep, agree with you and whoever said the jesuits are blah.

Invest in food! Nevermind the health piece, it's so important to community building.

The grass isn’t always greener, we just ate at the BC dining hall and the selections were really underwhelming compared to everywhere else we’ve toured.

Interesting discussion. I am an early 90's grad and remember my freshman year when all the kids on my dorm floor walked together to the dining hall. It helped with college transition until friend groups had formed. Lately, I hear from so many parents that kids are lonely and have social difficulties, and feel lack of community connection freshman year...I wonder if the move away from central dining affects that??? (As a mom of a rising college freshman, I heard meal plans offer a mix of meal swipes and dining $)

It isn’t about all you can eat, it is about freshman having a sense of community and an opportunity to socialize every evening. Having a large dining room right by the dorms allows students to meet others in a way that having multiple eateries and markets to use your dining dollars does not.

So the colleges that do not even have one common dining hall that is all you can eat or where everyone gathers:

UCSD
Carnegie Melon
GW?

Any others?

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at a place with unlimited dining. I encouraged them to use this as a way to meet people, especially early in freshman year. Ate lunch before class, but started chatting with someone and they mentioned going to eat after the lecture? Go back with them and just have a cup of coffee or a yogurt. Also great for eating before/after practice.

I’m very glad they went there and not to their other top choice, which has a dining dollars/a la carte type of setup. The absence of social table groups was one of the things we both noticed there.

Can you please name the college?

The dining hall was a critical part of my undergrad social life on weekdays for dinner (and sometimes lunch) and brunch. I’m super introverted and being asked to join a group is how I met people. I don’t think I could feel good about sending my kiddo somewhere without that social hub.

Why would you want all you can eat this is like old country buffet gross

Yes, miss the main dining hall with the staff in tuxes, ah the good days. They are gone and schools are trying out a variety of options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Boston College in the 90s and it was all a points system. It was never an issue. So many people had points leftover at the end of the year that the dining hall (at least McElroy) put out big bags of candy and packs of soda for people to buy because the points don’t carry over. My brother loved getting giant bags of gummy bears from me.

These colleges gave been feeding students for decades. It’ll be fine.

Yuck !!!

Obviously a plot by local dentists and local diabetes specialists to drum up business.

Chill. You didn't have to buy anything if you didn't want to.

And i like candy.

I returned to my midsize Alma mater recently and the dining hall is not nearly as nice as it was when I attended. It’s still all you can eat and has some nice options, like omelettes made to order, but it doesn’t have the variety of choices that we had in the mid 90s. At least groups can still eat together.

This is more common now even with the traditional dining hall model. I am surprised by how many kids eat alone (looking at phones). And I hear from my own kid and friends’ kids that nobody keeps their door open on the dorm hall to meet hallmates.

My kid is at a place with unlimited dining. I encouraged them to use this as a way to meet people, especially early in freshman year. Ate lunch before class, but started chatting with someone and they mentioned going to eat after the lecture? Go back with them and just have a cup of coffee or a yogurt. Also great for eating before/after practice.

I’m very glad they went there and not to their other top choice, which has a dining dollars/a la carte type of setup. The absence of social table groups was one of the things we both noticed there.

On our campus tours, we always eat in a dining hall. I dont understand the idea of no choices - we've been to places like Hamilton and Williams and Bowdoin and Colby and they have dining halls offer pizza, burrito bar, burgers, sweet green style salads, Thai, vegan something, deli sandwiches, cold cereal, dessert bar, ice cream, etc at every single college.

I like to see if kids are eating around a table, lingering or are solo and have headphones on.

I dont think this is a common problem at LACs at all. The worst food so far was the Catholic/Jesuits (BC, Georgetown, Villanova) that felt like frozen industrial stufff, similar to my experience in the 90s. Which was fine, but colleges are doing better now.

GW seemed to have the food court around campus thing. Maybe we missed the big dining hall. All campuses now have a bit of that in addition to big dining halls. But getting rid of dining halls seems like getting rid of a major third space on campus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems more common now. Kids complained of no choice with one dining hall.

+1 Common problem at small LACs.

We visited one LAC that boasted of how their one dining hall led to increased community on campus because everyone gathered there.

Mine kids ended up at two different SLACs that each have two dining halls (which have slightly different offerings) as well as other places to get food (like the student center).