<p>I was wondering if any of you that have experienced move-in at Balch Hall first hand could chime in here.</p>
<p>I read in something that was sent home that they will have volunteers there to help move the stuff to the dorm room. I am just wondering what exactly that means?</p>
<p>The reason I ask is because several of the trunks are a bit heavy and my D is on the 6th floor and I know there is no elevator to the 6th floor. So that means at some point, these heavy trunks will need to get carried up the stairs.</p>
<p>So, what is the process? My plan was that I would pull up, help unload all the stuff and leave my wife to stay with the stuff while I go find a parking spot. I hear it could take a while to get a parking spot. But that only works if the volunteers basically take care of getting the stuff to the room.</p>
<p>So, anyway if someone with personal experience could detail out what i should expect, that would be most helpful.</p>
<p>I volunteered last year. The move-in process is pretty quick and works just as you described. You’ll pull up to the building, unload quickly, and then volunteers will jump to carry the stuff to the dorm room. Most people didn’t wait more than a few minutes after unloading their cars before volunteers came to bring them inside.</p>
<p>It really depends what timeslot you have though. Early morning was definitely less busy versus the other timeslots so you’ll be in your room in no time. Either way, most parents I spoke to were impressed with the move-in process. The volunteers are organized and freshmen were lined-up first-come-first-serve if it’s backed up at all and once it’s your turn, a volunteer (or 2) will take the stuff. Parking is probably a problem, but hopefully isn’t too bad. Overall, the process works about as well as could be hoped considering over 3000+ people are moving into a small area in a matter of a few hours.</p>
<p>Thanks Mikey.</p>
<p>I was mostly just worried about how heavy her stuff is and getting it all the way to the 6th floor. Didn’t want to drop my wife off with it and have them say “Hey, can you grab the other handle” :-)</p>
<p>Somehow I have a feeling she will be sending back half of what she is bringing because I honestly don’t know where she will put it all.</p>
<p>Well, the volunteers will do what they can. Please realize they aren’t professional movers by any means and there is a good chance it will be a couple of girls or skinny guy helping to move your daughter in. If the trunks need to stay the way they are for packing purposes, then just be ready to make more trips up and down the stairs since you will probably want to suggest taking some of the stuff out of a trunk and carrying it separately when you unload.</p>
<p>Do you have to check in before you start unloading, or do you start unloading once you get there?</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, you unload once you get there. The student needs to go to the RA (resident adviser) for their floor where they get their keys (they’ll have a table set-up in the lobby of each building). I think this happens simultaneously as you move in. So volunteers and parents usually bring most of the stuff to the room, while the student gets their keys and it seems to work out timing-wise that the stuff arrives at the dorm door as the student gets their keys. </p>
<p>Then after that, students need to go to Bartels (or at least it was Bartels when I was a freshman) to get their student packet and ID card. When I was a freshman, I did this while my parents got started in setting-up my room.</p>
<p>^Thank you mikeyc765. That was very useful information :)</p>
<p>In my case, my D is on a pre-orientation trip, so she probably won’t be there yet when we get there. But the housing folks said to bring a note from her and ID and they would let us get her stuff into her room while we waited for her.</p>
<p>and yes, unpacking the stuff would be a pain. I mean,even her suitcase of clothes is probably at least 60lbs and it isn’t like we could just unpack that.</p>
<p>But I am sure I won’t be the only person there with heavy stuff so they must have some way of dealing with it.</p>
<p>So we can’t go into registration before the checkin?? I’m in the last slot, and I was planning on going earlier to registration then unloading…</p>