<p>I see a lot of talk from previous years about getting the smaller meal plans, since you will never use all of the meals or BRBs from the big ones. Still, I would prefer that my son is able to eat whatever he wants without worrying about how many swipes he has. He is vegetarian and lactose-intolerant, so his options can be quite limited in many places. The dining halls should have options for him. We found very little for him when we ate on campus during our tour (some small cafe next to a library). We will check out some more dining locations during Cornell Days.</p>
<p>Is it crazy to buy the unlimited plan and make eating easy for him? He turns 16 in June, he is very slim, might still be growing. He will have plenty to adjust to when he leaves home. I don’t want eating to be a concern for him. He is planning to live in Risley, so that dining hall will be very convenient for him.</p>
<p>Any thoughts? The $500 difference between unlimited and traditional might be worth it for peace of mind. Of will I be better off shipping him cases of Lara bars and chocolate Silk from Amazon Prime for breakfast and getting him Bear Traditional?</p>
<p>I do not think you should take the cafe next to a library as representative of the campus dining hall situation. you probably went to Libe Cafe, which has a very small selection of foods relative to most places. I’m a vegetarian myself (though I can do dairy) and I typically don’t eat much more than a small snack there.
the dining halls are generally great, though. I like both Appel and RPCC on North Campus, and they’re easily accessed from Risley. they both have well-stocked salad bars with extensive choices in terms of fruits and vegetables. there are also nice side dishes (especially in Appel) of things like cous cous or quinoa. there is always at least one vegetarian soup. in Appel you can make your own sandwiches from a large selection of items. I also really like the veggie burgers and pasta station in RPCC. there is a lot of freedom in both dining halls to customize your meal so it’s suited to your requirements and preferences.
also everything is very clearly labeled if it is vegetarian, vegan, or if it contains dairy (or other allergens.)
so in conclusion, I would expect your son to find enough to eat at every dining hall meal that he is satisfied. he should definitely be set with Bear Traditional with the soy milk and snack bars. if he seriously isn’t there is always the option of buying the more extensive meal plan later, but there <em>isn’t</em> always the option of stepping down to a less extensive plan…the window of opportunity for that is a only the first few weeks of the semester.</p>
<p>I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you visit for Cornell Days. when I have visited friends at other universities I am always unimpressed by their dining hall options and I am eager to get back to Cornell.</p>
<p>Libe cafe is hardly a place for meals. There is specifically milk for the lactose intolerant in all of the meal-plan dining halls, along with vegetarian, vegan, and Kosher selections.</p>
<p>When we visited campus, it was the day prior to freshman move-in. Many dining spots were closed; we took what we could get. The moldy packaged grapes were not a good sign (I hope that was just an issue of few purchases that week at the cafe). We are excited to try different options during Cornell Days. The veg/vegan food choices were a significant factor in choosing Cornell (oh, the impressive math department was also influential).</p>
<p>Do not get the unlimited plan. I’ve never known anyone who has it who has used it. The most common thing I see is people dropping down to the 7 meals-per-week plan. At most get the 14 meals, and even 10 should suffice. He’s probably going to dine with friends usually so having more meals than them won’t help. As for the vegetarian issue, I think most of the non-dining hall eateries have a fair selection of vegetarian cuisine as well. Libe Cafe is a terrible representation, and is meant mostly as a place to provide snacks to studiers. </p>
<p>Plus with the dining halls, it’s not like they’re 24/7. Unless your son isn’t taking many classes, I doubt he’d ever have time for more than 2 meals a day, and depending on his class schedule, many days he may only get there once. Oakenshields for example is terrible during “lunch time” and if you don’t have ample room in your schedule, the line is simply too long, yet it’s your only option on central campus (ie. near classes). </p>
<p>Plus, especially as the year goes on, dining halls get boring/old. Sure, Cornell’s are top rated and that’s awesome for the first few months, but the food only repeats itself…I bet your son will initially tell you how awesome they are and you’ll be tempted to upgrade him to the unlimited plan; resist! as by the end of the year, I’m guessing he’ll be bored with the food. And on that note, I think you have a month or so to decide whether or not to upgrade your meal plan (or downgrade). It might even be the case that you can upgrade whenever you want, and only downgrading has a limited time frame. </p>
<p>I myself didn’t do the math, but a friend of mine had calculated how much of a rip-off the meal plan is (if your son is a math major, have him go through the exercise of figuring it out). If your son runs out of swipes one week, he can still buy meals with BRBs, and you can always add to the BRB amount, should that be an issue. I forget the payout matrix, but with the unlimited plan, I think you’d have to eat something like 3-4 times a day at a dining hall every single day for the plan to really payoff. I’m too lazy to do the math right now, but whatever it is, I’m pretty sure the cost-per-meal with a meal plan isn’t all that much lower than if you buy them with cash/BRBs (and I think with some meals plans or underutilized plans, meal plan per-meal costs are more than cash).</p>
<p>Thanks, Mikey! We will have to discuss this some more. Both L and his father said unlimited would mean no worries, so we selected it. I don’t think we can make a change right now, because he is still using his applicant ID. When the NetID arrives, we should be able to get back into it. Got two pieces of mail today from Cornell, neither has financial aid or Net ID. Soon, I am sure. He was ED, but they are still sending very nice welcoming mail. It is sweet, but we are ready for the important stuff.</p>
<p>We just want less to worry about. 16 and away at college is not all that unusual, but he is not so independent at this point. We have no concerns about his academic success, but managing in daily living is different. We figured that in Risley, he could run down to breakfast before classes and certainly have dinner there (or some other dining hall). Lunch is the hard one. Consensus seems pretty clear about getting no more than 14 meals. L seems less clear about it.</p>
<p>If it helps, I started freshman year with 14 meals per week and dropped down to 10. Still, in the first semester, I only felt the limitation of 10 per week a few times (this semester I have tried to get all my money out of it), so I probably could’ve done alright with 7. And what mikey says about the dining halls getting old is very true to me right now… Also, it might help to know that people see the only <em>dis</em>-advantage of living on West campus the second year is that you have to buy the unlimited meal plan.</p>
<p>I am a bit confused here. My D was accepted ED, we received a communication from Cornell about the acceptance and deposit deadline, and move in dates, but nothing else.</p>
<p>We did make arrangements for move in day (booked the hotel and started planning), but it is not clear to me what else is to be done and when.</p>
<p>Is there a deadline for picking a meal plan?</p>
<p>Is there anything else that should be done prior to move in? And when?</p>
<p>I’ve got some excellent advice here about moving in logistics (thanks a lot to everyone who shared their experience :)).</p>
<p>We are not familiar with the whole college process, and would appreciate any advice.</p>
<p>Almost everyone I know downgraded their meal plan after a semester. Flexibility is probably more important than all-you-can-eat. For most college kids with irregular schedules, I think the 10 meals/week plan with a lot of BRB’s will probably work. For those that eat at more regular times, 14 meals/week might be optimal.</p>
<p>Thanks, norcalguy. I think we will switch to 14 once we get his NetID. </p>
<p>Newstudentmom, you can begin the process of making dorm requests and dining plan choices. You log in with the applicant ID unless you have received a NetID (we have not yet). My son was ED, so we have been waiting to begin this process. We have already committed and sent a deposit back in January. You should check out the to do list.</p>
<p>This is exactly what I was looking for. My D filled out the housing request already, so now we can move on to the next steps. Thanks once again!</p>