Campus Life

There are two large dining halls to choose from: one in North campus and one in South campus. While the food here is above average and there is a large variety to choose from (including Kosher and Halal foods), UChicago dining seems to cycle through their dishes fairly often--almost weekly at times. That being said, you'll be well-fed, well-nourished, and pretty happy with the food here. All incoming freshman are also required to get an unlimited meal plan, meaning that you'll be able to eat often as you'd like.

For being situated so close to downtown, the options at the University of Chicago can be lacking. The dining halls are not great- last year they were shut down for health code violations and while they do offer lots of options, at times the facilities are not clean. The student center has many options which are better bets such as Papa Johns, Qdoba, Einstein Brothers Bagels, and Subway.

There are four or so dining halls on campus, all with a variety of options, including vegan, vegetarian, Kosher, Hallal, etc. The food is really quite good, and there's a wide variety. I believe one dining hall even has its own Mongolian Grill? Your meal plan also includes maroon dollars which can be used of buy things from some convenience shops on campus. There are also many cafes around campus, with names like Hallowed Grounds, and one shop sells milkshakes for $1 on Wednesdays! Dining halls close on Saturday evenings so that you're encouraged to go check out places in Chicago. I don't even need to elaborate on how amazing food is in the city -- it's Chicago! If you don't want to go far, there are some incredibly cool restaurants in Hyde Park, just a few minute walk from campus.

It just seems like the food should be better since UChicago isn't a huge public school. It's definitely edible though, and maybe about a week out of each quarter you have some really good specialty or cultural food that sparks things up.