<p>First how is the food at tufts? is the food served at the dining halls good? and how do the meal plans work? is there an unlimited one? </p>
<p>and…</p>
<p>Hows the quality of the gym at tufts? </p>
<p>big/small? crowded/empty? 1 squat rack/more?? </p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Food’s OK. Better than most colleges, apparently: a couple years back Tufts’ food was named the 17th best college food in the nation by Princeton Review, but frankly I suspect this may say more about the awfulness of other schools’ food than the gourmet quality of our own. There are two dining halls (Carmichael and Dewick) which accept “meals”, and a number of other campus eateries which accept JumboCash. My favorite is Hodgdon - I think they have some of the best wings and pasta around. During your freshman year, you are obliged to go on the unlimited meal plan, which gives you infinite meals at Carmichael and Dewick, and a small number of JumboCash. You can buy as much additional JumboCash as you want (which saves you the sales tax) and this can be used to buy on-campus food, food from a number of off-campus restaurants which deliver, items from the bookstore, and a few other items. As a sophomore, you’re still obliged to purchase a meal plan, but you can choose between a few different versions with different balances of meals at Dewick or Carmichael and JumboCash. Afterwards, you’re free to choose whichever meal plan you want, or not to get one at all in the event that you live in an apartment with a kitchen and wish to cook for yourself.</p>
<p>The gym actually has quite decent equipment, and there’s usually an excess of free-weight equipment (though cardio and nautilus gets crowded). It gets extremely busy at certain times of day, but if you go at off-hours, especially early in the morning, it’s a ghost town. The biggest problem is just that it’s as far from residence halls as it is possible to be while still being technically on campus, which can be a problem during the winter when the winds are blowing and the sidewalk is icy. If you’re interested in cardio, there’s a cardio gym in the basement of one of the residence halls that’s a lot closer.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that Snarf didn’t mention this, but you can use meals at Hodgdon as well. Unlike Carm/Dewick, Hodgdon is not all you can eat, but for each meal period you can convert a meal into cash to spend at Hodgdon ($4.76 breakfast/$7.76 lunch/$9.36 dinner). You can even do this if you’re on the unlimited - [The</a> Hodgdon-Dewick Trick Turners | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook Public Group | Facebook”>Facebook Public Group | Facebook)
Also, since the switch from points to JumboCash, I’m pretty sure the unlimited meal plan does not include JumboCash. However, last summer they had a deal where if you bought JumboCash they would give you 15% more, so they’ll probably have that again.</p>
<p>Regarding the gym, I must admit that it’s not all that great compared to a lot of other colleges I’ve seen. There were plans to do a major renovation, but they’ve been put on hold due to the economy. The gym is still fully usable, though, and has everything you would need. There’s two main sections - one side has a treadmill and a bunch of weight equipment and is intended mainly for use by athletes. The other side has a large variety of cardio as well as a lot more weight equipment and is available to everyone. We also have a pool (Hamilton) that you can use at certain times of the day, but that’s fairly mediocre as well. Our indoor track facility (Gantcher), though, is the nicest of any D3 school in the area, and better than some D1 schools have. That’s open to the general public for walking/running/jogging/whatever else for most of the day, as well. There are also tennis courts that are open to the public on the track’s infield. In the track facility, which is just down the hall from the main gym, there are a bunch more stationary bikes and some other weight and cardio equipment that you can use as well.</p>
<p>Wow they haven’t fixed Hodgdon-Dewick trick turning yet? Why do I have a feeling that its a giant conspiracy to churn out fat freshmen?</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I forgot Hodgdon took meals. Been a while since I’ve been on the unlimited meal plan I guess, and for the other plans if you do the math each meal costs significantly more than $9.46 so it makes more sense to use points (err. . . JumboCash - I was abroad last semester so I’m still getting used to this JumboCash business) in Hodgdon than meals.</p>
<p>I know you didn’t mean to imply that the free-weight side couldn’t be used by non-athletes, but just to be clear for Accepted, non-athletes use that equipment all the time.</p>
<p>aright thanks so muchhh! </p>
<p>and is there only 1 squat rack? // are athletes/teams usually crowding the weight section of the gym?</p>
<p>There are multiples of all the equipment and there’s plenty of weight equipment in the “non-weight” side, too.</p>
<p>Couple of things about the gym and pool:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The pool is not very good at all. It’s well over 60 years old and was supposed to be completely replaced before this severe economic downturn stopped construction. There have been a lot of recent concerns about chlorine and ventilation. For anyone who is a regular swimmer, it’s not an ideal environment - plus the locker rooms are not great either. It’s still usable, I just wouldn’t swim in it that often. </p></li>
<li><p>The gym gets very crowded at times preventing use of the cardio equipment. The weights are generally fine, but getting old, as are the weight machines. Everything is usable, but the gym is getting to be too small and old at this point. Hopefully they will manage to get the final funding necessary to rebuild the entire complex (again a victim of the economy).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The gym is alright. It’s not spectacular, but it contains the all the necessary equipment.</p>
<p>The food is good. Although the menu can get quite repetitive, i haven’t really gotten tired of the food because there’s usually a good selection each meal (at least for Dewick).</p>
<p>oh, do you know anyone who takes like whey protein that needs a lot of milk? Is it easy to get milk? Would i have to buy it off campus? I suppose i could drink it with water but i dont really want to have to do that.</p>
<p>also is there a vitamin shoppe of some sort near campus that sells supplements and other things? Or do i have to bring it up from home.</p>
<p>thanks i really appreciate it.</p>
<p>
I mean, since you have the unlimited meal plan from hodgdon, you can get milk there by trick- turning (see this facebook group for more information on that [The</a> Hodgdon-Dewick Trick Turners | Facebook](<a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...) ). I’ve seen some people steal milk out of the dining hall in metal canteens also. You could also buy milk from Jumbo Express (campus convenience store) but it is expensive.
I don’t think there is a vitamin shop on campus, but there is a CVS located at Davis Square, which is a a ten minute walk. You can also take the “Joey,” a bus that departs from the campus center to Davis Square…</p>
<p>ah i see - i dont think davis square would have what im looking for, but i searched on vitaminshoppe’s website and there is a store in harvard square. is that accessible at all? by “joey”? or anything?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Harvard is two stops away from Davis on the T, so it’s fairly accessible. My advice, though, is that if you know the type of supplement you use then order it online. It’s significantly more convenient and probably a significantly cheaper, too.</p>
<p>ah i see. well i know wht i need, so if i ordered it online, it would be delivered to my dorm? or where (sorry this is probably a really stupid question).</p>
<p>When you get a package you go to mail services in Hill Hall to pick it up.</p>
<p>^^ thank you!</p>
<p>How do you know that it was delivered?</p>
<p>What if say my parents mail a surprise gift to me - does someone let me know that it was delivered to Hill?</p>
<p>Yeah, mail services sends you an email when it’s ready to be picked up. Otherwise you wouldn’t know when to go even if you WERE expecting it.</p>
<p>Ah, I see.</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>What building is the weight room and the cardio room in on campus? Is it in Cousens?</p>