Been There/Done That Tips for class of 13

<p>Questions of the day: Is it worth getting a small refrigerator for the tiny dorm rooms and should we plan to send a TV along too? Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>I know DS is going to WANT those things, but we’ll wait until he and whoever his roommate will be can get together and decide who brings what. If his roommate already has one or both, DS can contribute something else.</p>

<p>Yes get the small fridge and definetely send a tv. For our DS his roommate brought the fridge, we brought the tv. You want the fridge b/c the kids will bring back food from the dining hall and for sodas. If they don’t have the fridge and bring back food the room will stink to high heavens very quickly.</p>

<p>TIP FOR THE DAY:</p>

<p>Area rugs—don’t buy one if you aren’t doing the loft, there is not enough room for even a 5 x 8 or 4X6. They really have limited walking room around the beds and then how will they clean it? Many people want one so that the floor isn’t cold, but quickly realize that unless it is small like a bath mat it is more of a pain than anything else!</p>

<p>Centreville has linoleum floors, thus no carpeting</p>

<p>If I contact reslife will they be able to give me more specific info about specific dorms? D is ‘supposed to’ live in Wicomico but is thinking about Denton (bigger, more fun.) I think we need to decide asap, right? Before May 1? </p>

<p>Also, what about the location of those two dorms, pros & cons??</p>

<p>Can you tell us about the different sororities? Like what kinds of girls join each one and reputations?</p>

<p>agree on the fridge. However, D rarely watches the TV in their apartment. Any regular show she wants to watch, she does on her computer. For girls, a TV in the dorm can mean a gathering spot for a series show that lots of people watch (previous years…Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy), and of course if you send Wii, etc. it will be a hit. We’re bad parents…we just send our D to someone else’s room to do the TV/movie/video game entertainment!</p>

<p>Wow, Astrophysicsmom, I’ll bet you’re great parents…you can’t give a kid everything and it’s good for them to get out of their room. S is such an introvert, I’m worried he is never going to leave his room if I make him too comfortable, lol.</p>

<p>Is there cable in the dorms or do they need a digital converter or something?</p>

<p>Also, any idea when they will get their freshman room assignments and roommate names so they can make contact with each other? July perhaps?</p>

<p>Thanks again to the experienced parents posting here, you are so helpful and it really makes me feel like part of the Maryland community! If you’re going to be around on move-in weekend, I’ll buy you a beer or a coffee (depending on the time of day!)</p>

<p>There is cable hookup in every room, as well as a telephone land-line (which, in 2 years, I guarantee that D has NEVER used!). The freshman room assignments don’t usually come out until early August, unfortunately. Also, since D1 was in Denton, I sent her with 2 fans—the tall stand up kind and a little one for her desk. I think that between the 3 of them (in the triple) in Denton, they had at least 4 fans. (and the first 3 weeks were still really hot…a few nights of sleeping in the a/c lounge, I think).</p>

<p>There is cable in the dorms. It’s Comcast Capitol Heights standard (if you want to look up listings on yahoo TV).</p>

<p>I think I got my roommate assignment in August, but that was a looong time ago now.</p>

<p>jrnsmom, Wicomico differes from Denton in a lot of ways. Located on North Hill, it’s extremely close to the Mall and the Union and is pretty convenient, whereas Denton is closer to the gym, football stadium, and comcast center. Denton is the big freshman honors dorm, so people there meet a lot of people. Wicomico is a much smaller res hall (in terms of numbers), so the HH kids will make their own little community there. What I’ve heard is that the rooms are a bit smaller in Wicomico than in Denton. I don’t know when you would need to decided by, but I’m sure the earlier the better.</p>

<p>Centh - I agree - we need to meet up with pima & astrophysicsmom on move-in weekend. A beer or coffee and a big hug and thank you for answering all, and I mean ALL our questions! I do feel part of the community. Anyone going for the July 16-17 orientation? I’m staying at the Marriott by myself the first night, then with D on Friday, then we go home on Saturday. Dinner anyone on Thursday night after the parent orientation???</p>

<p>Dang, we are going for the July 13-14 orientation. That would have been great fun. S and I had a nice meal at Jasper’s which is on the other side of the interstate, if you are looking for a good place to eat.</p>

<p>DS got his roommate the first week of August.</p>

<p>I would love to meet up with you all, however, the problem will be that we will have different move-in dates. Maybe we should all make plans to attend the homecoming football game and tailgate together!</p>

<p>I’ve already booked air and hotel for Family weekend in October. Gotta think waaaayyy ahead when coming from the west coast! Got rt fare of $279 pp.</p>

<p>At DS’s B/K interview they told him that air conditioning was being installed in Denton before the fall semester begins.</p>

<p>Jewels…that would be AWESOME! Um, I’ll believe it when I see it however…seems like there’s always delays in that kind of thing, but that would be a whole dorm full of happy campers!!!</p>

<p>D got letter from Reslife today saying she’ll find out about room assignment and roommate on Aug 11…</p>

<p>Just thought of these 2…

  1. Dorm room posters. There is a poster sale that sets up in Stamp at the beginning of the school year, up on the 2nd floor. It’s been in the same room as the place where you pick up pre-ordered textbooks from the student bookstore (but see previous suggestions about saving $$ on textbooks.) Anyway, the selection is awesome, all shapes, sizes, and subjects (from typical college crude to Van Gogh and Picasso ),the posters won’t get beat up in the move from home, and the prices are decent, too. If there are posters that you really like, consider having them laminated…they are a lot easier to take off and stay looking good so you can reuse them in the next room. Get some of the tacky putty type glue–good for adhering paper to cinder block (or other surfaces).</p>

<ol>
<li>UMD shirts, etc…don’t go crazy buying too many UMD T-shirts, especially on campus when you go to Orientation or first get to school. First, at the beginning of the school year, the lines in the bookstore are insane, and there’s 10 billion people in there. Second, unless they have some drastic cost-cutting measures in place, you’ll get lots of free shirts throughout the school year. You can get a free t-shirt from the bookstore in downtown College Park, they’ll have t-shirt give-aways at the dorm, at some special events, at football and basketball games, etc. If you want to buy clothing, get sweatshirts, or sweatpants, or non-traditional t-shirts etc.<br></li>
</ol>

<p>Also, ebay has a ton of terrapin stuff–with D1, I got a house flag which is again proudly hanging on one of the astrofamily trees outside (H went out and hung it up the day D2 enrolled!!) There are things like Testudo rugs, stickers, pencils, laundry hampers switch-plate covers etc. (um, I saw 2 styles of switch plate covers…one is red and very school spiritish. The other is white, and let’s just say that Testudo gets VERY excited when the light is on, due to the strategic place for the toggle!!!) For most of the stuff (but not all), it will be cheaper online than at the campus bookstore…and some things we’ve never seen on campus or nearby. We got several silly things for D1 for graduation… probably will do the same for D2, although she already has a lot of her sister’s cast-offs. You can search on ebay for “Maryland Terrapins”, and also “University of Maryland” for all kinds of stuff…I’m thinking the astrofamily garden might need a UMD garden gnome…what do you think?</p>

<p>DS bought the garden gnome the other day at the Maryland Book Exchange. Inexplicably, he named him Jeffrey.</p>

<p>Is there a different process in requesting dorms if you are in the scholars program( I am in Science, Technology and Society)?</p>

<p>smajohurko, you will be in the dorm that houses the Science, Technology, and Society program (i.e. everyone on your floor will be in that program).</p>

<p>According to the FAQ on the College Park Scholars site, you’ll be in Chestertown.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.scholars.umd.edu/prospective/faq.cfm[/url]”>http://www.scholars.umd.edu/prospective/faq.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Can some explain how the Resident Dining Plan (Most popular plan, includes both Resident Points and Terp Bucks) works or where can I find the specifics of the plan because when I confirmed housing it didn’t say anything specific.</p>