Kolek planning to go pro
My son did a summer camp at Ripon College and stayed in a dorm. That thing was one step above prison cell.MU is NOT in the bottom 10%.
I visited my siblings are their state schools and their halls were not better than anything MU had at the time. I've been in some halls at other schools that don't even have carpeting. MU's may not be great (other than the Commons) and we do lack in other areas (particularly dining) but overall we're right with most other schools.
Stayed at my cousin's dorm at Madison, and stayed in dorms at Xavier, West Point, Dominican, and Benedictine for lacrosse camps and service trips none of them had carpet either. UW-WW did though. Must be a thing about ease to clean?
It's interesting that in the past decade I have talked to many parents whose kids were considering Marquette, and I have heard many things that they thought Marquette had in the minus column. One I have never heard is "crappy dorms". You do hear some whining (and sometimes actual outrage) about the lack air conditioning in some of them) but that's about it. Most of Marquette's residence halls are old, but they are well maintained. I think it's a big plus that many of them are former hotels. From my limited experience, Marquette seems to have a much higher percentage of rooms that have their own bathroom. TBH, other than the pink bathrooms in O'Donnell, I am not sure what makes any of them "bad". Old <> Crap.
I work in higher education and have visited dozens of campuses and almost always check out the dorms when I'm there (I got my start working in reslife so I have a professional curiosity). Excluding the new Commons, MU is easily in the bottom 10% for dorm quality that I have seen. And I say that as someone who lived on campus for three years and loved it.
Honest question: have you heard them in the "plus column"? Because that was the point of my initial post: I don't think they'd be helpful in recruiting. I wouldn't put them in the bottom 10%, but as I said, I do think they're a bit below average. At the end of the day, not particularly remarkable or necessarily in the plus or minus column.
Can't comment on the last decade, but when I was there, MU's dorm food situation was abysmal. Sodexo? GTFO
The new dorm is definitely in the plus column. It would be interesting to know how many kids changed their mind about attending Marquette after the housing assignments came out and they didn't get in.Glow and I went to a recruiting event in a suburb of Chicago and one Mom asked which part of the Commons had the view of Lake Michigan so that she could ask for it on the housing application.It was truly a remarkable act of self-control for me to keep a straight face on that one.
The food in the dorms when I was there was horrendous, and combined with the complete lack of any options on and within walking distance of campus I can't imagine there are many college campuses with worse food selections to choose from. Seems to still be pretty bad from having talked to a couple of class of 2019 graduates last week.
Has there ever been a college campus where the kids loved the food? I can assure you it's a huge step up from when I was a student. Expectations are higher, too. Marquette has gone from serving the same two or three entrees at all the dining halls to having completely separate menus at each one. Straz, for example, is the "healthy" options one, including vegan and gluten free. Do you want to know what the parents complain about? "Why should my vegan kid have to walk all the way down to the east end of campus?"Just want a burger? "Who do I call at Marquette to discuss the fact that the ketchup dispenser is empty?" It's always something.
There are plenty of campuses with a plethora of food options. I’m sure the dining hall food is fairly standard compared to other college campuses. I am certain the non-dining hall food options are completely atrocious compared to what you can get on most campuses.
as my roommate in McCormick used to say about the food at MU: "I'm full but never satisfied."