jessiehl

Yes, a million times, yes!

I can't cook worth crap, I was without a dining hall/meal plan, and yet I managed to eat just fine (not takeout all the time). Nobody will be forced to live on Pop Tarts and Subway. The situation is what it is because MIT students value individual freedom (and not being forced to pay through their noses for overpriced dining hall food - people who do are doing it voluntarily).

IMO there is nothing that really needs to be "remedied". It would be nice if there were, *in addition to* (not replacing) all the current options, a centrally-located dining hall with quality food, but that is not really financially feasible.

If you really can't handle dealing with your own food, there are living groups that will allow outsiders to join their meal plans (e.g. pika's meal plan, French House's "social member" concept). In some cases, you don't even have to learn to cook to join these - at pika, for instance, you have to cook OR clean when it's your night, but not both.

Yes, these are pretty common. The dorms are people's homes. People get to use the bathrooms in their homes. I'm guessing that your home also has non-gender-segregated bathrooms.

It's not normally *more* than 50% of the men, but it's frequently close to that. And no, it is not an issue of dissatisfaction with the dorms. Most MIT people who live in dorms love their dorms! I think MIT has one of the best dorm systems in the country, possibly the best, and most people that I encountered agreed! The people who are living in the fraternities, live there because they like the community of that particular fraternity better than the communities of the various dorms (just as the people who live in a certain dorm generally live there because they like its community better than those of their other options).

I am probably coming off as frothing again in this thread, but it is always bizarre to me when I hear things that I and practically everyone I knew thought of as overwhelming positives, things that are all about flexibility and choice, characterized as negatives.

fogfog

Jessiehl

I am sorry my question offended you in some way--
We just wondered whether the lack of a swipe and go dining plan so popular in other schools was an issue.
I dont think students at MIT are any more independent that any other university because of the dining option "choice" but I suppose some hang there hat on it.
If you live in some dorms don't they have to dine there or be a memeber--something like that?
I am not clear on how it works--and only got one recent opinion from a parent of a freshman.
Thats the beauthy of asking here.

PiperXP

fogfog - For one, the dining plan here is much different from at other universities. Ours gets us half off the food, whereas other places have all-you-can-eat for a swipe. (Though that's not really the main issue. I'm just pointing it out.)

From my understanding, any MIT student can dine at any dining hall if they wish (though you only get 1/2 off if you're on the dining plan). Most just don't find it worth it, from a money or taste perspective.

k4r3n2

I would definitely say that I've gained a *lot* of maturity by having to learn to cook, watching what I eat, needing to plan ahead to buy groceries etc. etc. I know that you may not see it like this, but I think that most of my friends would agree that cooking for ourselves has helped us mature. When I meet up with my friends from high school, many of them are still mystified by recipes and can only really make chocolate chip cookies, and they're pretty impressed at my cooking prowess.

I really don't see the appeal of an AYCE system - I know that I would definitely just sit down with a plate of pasta and gorge myself on carbs or something and not actually think about what I'm putting in my mouth. I'm kind of confused about where this whole idea that college kids are entitled to eat as much dining hall food as they want came from - it certainly isn't present in most high schools, and I doubt most parents cook up a fresh buffet of assorted offerings for their offspring each day...

coolweather

fogfog - MIT seal is "mens et manus" which means 'mind and hand.' So they can cook. My son, a freshman has been cooking since September. He did not know to cook anything at home except microwave cup noodle. He learns cooking skills from people on the same dorm floor. Sincerely, I think you should not worry about this. I told him to buy some meals to save time but he said "Nop, it's too expensive".

molliebatmit

I would definitely not make the characterization just because of the choice of dining options, but MIT students as a whole are opinionated, independent, and incredibly stubborn. The dining and housing options available are available as a direct result of student stubbornness in response to administrative decisions, both in aggregate and because of the dedicated actions of a number of student representatives.

Yup. Anna's has breakfast burritos, Dunkin Donuts has breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and donuts, and LaVerde's has breakfast sandwiches, cereal, oatmeal, and pastries. There are more options, of course, but those are just the ones in the student center on the first floor.

MIT's meal plan is really pretty much like the real world -- the student/parents put money into an account that's linked to the student's ID, and the student pays for individual meals as if with a debit card. It can get expensive, but no more expensive than meals will be post-MIT. It also avoids wasting money on meals not eaten -- the Harvard undergrad who works with me in the lab often has to miss dinner, because he has class during the time his dining hall is open, and he says it's about $10-15 in wasted money (plus whatever he has to pay to eat something) each time he misses dinner. That is quite a bit more than most students at MIT pay for dinner each night.

The dormitory (residential) dining halls are only open for dinner. Other places around campus are open at various times -- many are commercial chain restaurants, and those are open during the times that their national chains are open.

neuron39

Fogfog:
I'm the parent of a sophomore, and also of a senior at the University of Florida; UF was our reference when our son started at MIT last year. At UF, there are all of the fast-food options at MIT and more, but also a variety of dining halls offering up to 21 meal a week; these halls are amazingly unique with ethnic foods, very healthy options, and incredible variety. We were quite disappointed with MIT's food situation, but talking about this creates lots of controversy with students, who fiercely defend the status quo - mainly because they don't want a required food plan forced on them (many have said that if there was a multiple-meal optional plan with more than five dinners a week available, they would consider it). This year, our son lives in a fraternity (with a chef) and we are happier about it.

la montagne

I definitely disagree with this. It's not just the dining option choice; it's the whole dogma of choice-in-general here, in dining, in housing, in activities, in advising. One example that I found particularly telling happened when I was trying to figure out which school to go to after I'd been accepted. I went to a bunch of those visit-the-campus-and-see-if-you-like-it things, and at all of them, we were given a sheet of paper that told us what the schedule was for the day. It was all administration-run activities that segregated you from the current students, for the most part, and were designed to give you a well-structured picture of the university. At MIT, however, I was given a 100+ page booklet with thousands of events, most of them student-organized and student-run, that I could go to over CPW. Not only does MIT trust its prefrosh to figure out whether they like MIT or not on their own, they also trust their students to present a good and accurate picture of MIT to the incoming students, which is definitely more than can be said for the other schools I visited.

That's just one example, but it illustrates an important aspect of MIT: we *are* independent. Or at least we're given the freedom to be, and from what I've seen people take advantage of it.

eisensteinprime

I agree with most of what has been said previously. One thing that I thought I should point out is that the cafes and student center places are, at least for me, much cheaper than dining halls. I've never been to a dining hall, but apparently a dinner there costs $8-$9? I don't think I've ever spent more than $6 on a meal, and usually spend more like $3-$4.

In any case, the only people I've personally talked to here who are really unhappy with their dining arrangements live in mandatory meal plan dorms.

fogfog

Thanks for all of your thoughts. This is helpful, as we had only heard from one student/family new to MIT

fogfog

Wanted to ETA but the site went down....

Having looked at several excellent schools with great meal options I hope MIT will find a healthy solution that's also financially feasible. It seems the discontent regarding required dorm dining participation is high, and the paid down membership for 50% off isn't worth it unless you eat all dinners in dining (which is still a la carte). Yet, while learning to cook is a happy outcome for some, the freedom to choose and opt into a better meal plan would be a nice addition. Many many schools have found a way to make this work.

Is the closest good supermarket the one on Sidney next to Le Meridien? We were there last week.

AKiss20

Many many schools also force their freshmen into some form of a dining plan and restrict their students' ability to cook for themselves to finance their larger, more encompassing and therefore more expensive dining plan. Dining is what it is at MIT, and learning to deal with it is a whole part of the experience. Students here like it; if you can't handle not having a AYCE buffet style meal plan, I suggest you reconsider what you think you need or perhaps reconsider what MIT has to offer.

And yes, the closest market is Shaws next to Le Meridien. There is a trader joe's on mem drive as well, about 10 minutes farther, but it is trader joe's hence it is totally worth the extra walk!

jessiehl

I do have to point out here that UF has a student base that is 5x the size of MIT's (I am including grad/professional students here, since they eat too). A school with more students is going to be able to support more dining halls. If MIT had the same number of dining halls as UF, the average number of people eating at each would be extremely low.

Fogfog, you didn't offend me, I just feel strongly about this issue - and I found, when I was a student rep on the Campus Dining Advisory Board, that many administrative pushes for dining changes that students didn't want (and believe me, I asked for feedback), were parent-instigated, and usually reflected a lack of understanding as to how students use the current system and what they like about it. I worry, when parents start knocking the dining system, that those are going to be the parents who push for changes that students then have to spend a whole bunch of time and effort fighting against.

The "closest good supermarket" depends somewhat on where you live. The MIT campus covers a lot of space. The closest good supermarket for a Random Hall resident is not the same place as the closest good supermarket for a Next House resident, for instance. Shaw's/Star, Whole Foods, Harvest Co-op, and Trader Joe's are all within easy walking distance of campus, as are a few smaller and specialty (e.g. East Asian, Indian) markets.

There's also the LaVerde's, which is actually ON campus and centrally located, but not everyone would consider that a "good" supermarket.

A misconception that I would like to correct - students arranging their own food does not mean that they are eating unhealthily. This misconception came up all the time on the Campus Dining Advisory Board, where it seemed like they assumed that "cooking" meant "ramen and easy mac", and it is so out of touch with what I actually witnessed as a student.

k4r3n2

The Harvest Co-op rocks! And by rocks, I mean it's super fun. I like stores that let me buy things in bulk out of bins and such.

I'd still really, really like someone to explain to me exactly *why* an all-you-can-eat option is 1. healthy or 2. cost-effective and why we should have it at MIT...unfortunately the vast majority of proposed changes to our dining system seem to be due to parents saying 'but this wasn't how it was back at *my* college, so clearly my kid will starve!'. Funny how no one really wants to change our housing system, even though it's arguably significantly stranger - at least our dining system mirrors the Real World.

LauraN

Would MIT students enjoy having great dining halls with high quality food, 21 meals a weak, healthy options and a large variety?

Of course.

But we can't have it without getting rid of the ability to choose how we get our food, so it's a sacrifice we're willing to make. If there's a way to have all that without getting rid of student kitchens, no one has figured it out yet.

I'll also echo what Jessie said, that student prepared food is not necessarily unhealthy. I actually ate far more healthily at MIT than at home. For one, I controlled what went into the shopping cart, and for another I acquired cooking skills that allowed me to make a greater variety of things (and therefore less likely to order pizza as often). I also shared kitchen space with a variety of vegetarians and vegans who were glad to share food and cooking ideas.