My DD is close to committing. We got a very good feeling about the school, but I’ve seen some on-line reviews alluding to tension between students and the administration, and complaints about food, housing, etc. I know it is probably a few dissatisfied students airing their grievances and that I’m likely overthinking this, but I’m just worried there is a mood of discontent. Can anyone with recent experience speak to this?
I would leave the decision up to your daughter.
It seems there are complaints about food and housing at most LACs. My D attends a different college and parents online are constantly bemoaning both, but my D is perfectly content. If your D has a good feeling about the school, I think that’s the most important thing. Congrats to her!
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Everything is relative, therefore, it depends to an extent on your daughter’s other choices.
According to another post, your daughter and spouse liked Dickinson College during accepted students’ day/weekend. Of course, most schools show their best at such times, but it seems as though your family members did not see any negatives.
I have no direct experiences (recently and my familiarity was with the law school, not the LAC), but I have read online posts by current students. Lots of free time. Academics are not demanding. Nice campus & very nice town.
It’s so hard to get a sense of that kind of thing reading online- most people go to gripe- at my son’s school there is tons of complaining in the parent Facebook page and in online forums but he and his friends are having a great experience and aren’t seeing the same kinds of negatives (I mean the food is mediocre but they’re surviving anyway 
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I am on three parent pages for different colleges and mostly what parents post is complaints about the food and dorms. My students have never complained. I think it’s because dorms and dining plans are so expensive (everywhere) that there is a tendency to think it should be amazing. Mostly, it isn’t.
A concern for some at Dickinson College is that there is just one dining hall. This tends to make a small school smaller.
^ ?
I don’t understand this.
At a time when college students are less likely to go out of their room to eat (with deleterious effects), the fact there’s one place so they’re sure to find someone they know to eat with, one dining hall for them to meet&socialize with friends or classmates rather than split into places where they may not want to go since they can’t be sure to find someone they can eat with… would seem like a very good thing. I understand that large schools can’t do this but fostering community by being able to gather everyone together is a positive linked to the college’s size, not a downside.
Afaik Dickinson has cafes for breaks or snacks and of course there’s the small town of Carlisle with many restaurants&shops for students to walk to.
This is what their website says about providers - most of what they serve is locally sourced.
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Many LACs have one dining hall and some smaller cafe-type dining areas. My D attended a different LAC with this setup and my S attended a mid-sized university with this setup and neither one brought it up as a negative. In fact, they were always able to find a friend when they went to eat as people were in one place. A central dining hall can offer a good quality and variety of food – although I have no first-hand information about Dickinson in particular.
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Has your D looked at Niche? It’s got an overall grade of A-, which is very good. I suggest she reads the student reviews there. Can’t link it.
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