Bad food can ruin an evening, and even though college students infamously eat anything and everything, bad food every meal, every day is still hard to stomach. Campus dining halls, where hard-working young people are supposed to nourish themselves, sometimes serve little more than pizza and caesar salad that the staff buys in bulk. With the standard held in generally low esteem, it’s really something to be the worst of them all.
Each year the Princeton Review publishes its “Is It Food?” list, ranking the top 20 universities with the worst food. The list is compiled with a student survey question: “How do you rate the food on campus?” Over the past six years, 41 schools have made the list, and only four were listed every year, making it seem like those must have a outstandingly bad food.
Just as many of the schools that appeared on the “Best Campus Food” list also appeared on the “Happiest Students” list, many of the schools here, including the US Merchant Marine Academy, US Military Academy, US Air Force Academy, and US Naval Academy, also appear on the “Least Happy Students” list.
Here are the schools with the worst campus food:
The ‘Is it food?’ Rankings From 2015 to 2010
2015 Rank & School | 2015 Rank | 2014 Rank | 2013 Rank | 2012 Rank | 2011 Rank | 2010 Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States Merchant Marine Academy | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
St. John’s College (NM) | 2 | 4 | 6 | NR | NR | NR |
New College of Florida | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 3 |
Juniata College | 4 | 7 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Drew University | 5 | 3 | 9 | 15 | NR | NR |
Bard College at Simon’s Rock | 6 | 9 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Fordham University | 7 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 13 |
Berea College | 8 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Catawba College | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 20 | 19 |
Catholic University of America | 10 | 13 | 17 | 16 | NR | NR |
Southwestern University | 11 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Hollins University | 12 | 17 | NR | 20 | 18 | 14 |
Ohio Northern University | 13 | 12 | 5 | NR | NR | NR |
Emerson College | 14 | 14 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Denison University | 15 | 16 | 19 | NR | NR | NR |
Randolph-Macon College | 16 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
The Evergreen State College | 17 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Xavier University of Louisiana | 18 | NR | NR | 18 | NR | NR |
Coe College | 19 | NR | 20 | NR | NR | NR |
Austin College | 20 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Wells College | NR | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
Alfred College | NR | 10 | 11 | 9 | NR | NR |
Hampden-Sydney College | NR | 11 | 4 | 12 | NR | NR |
United States Military Academy | NR | 15 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
State University of New York at Albany | NR | 18 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Flagler College | NR | 19 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 17 |
Haverford College | NR | 20 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Hampton College | NR | NR | 10 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
Amherst College | NR | NR | 12 | 11 | NR | NR |
Missouri University of Science and Technology | NR | NR | 15 | 13 | 13 | 20 |
Hiram College | NR | NR | 16 | 14 | NR | 12 |
Wesleyan College | NR | NR | 18 | 6 | 11 | 5 |
Fisk University | NR | NR | NR | 17 | 4 | 4 |
Bard College (NY) | NR | NR | NR | 19 | 12 | 15 |
Centenary College of Louisiana | NR | NR | NR | NR | 3 | 11 |
Eugene Lang College | NR | NR | NR | NR | 6 | 7 |
United States Air Force Academy | NR | NR | NR | NR | 8 | 9 |
Carnegie Mellon University | NR | NR | NR | NR | 9 | 10 |
Howard University | NR | NR | NR | NR | 14 | NR |
United States Navel Academy | NR | NR | NR | NR | 15 | 16 |
Whittier College | NR | NR | NR | NR | 17 | 18 |
Source: The Princeton Review