Hi! I got assigned to Dickson for this coming year and am wondering what I should know about it/what is necessary for me to bring. I do know that I should bring a lamp due to lack of overhead lighting and a fan since there’s no air conditioning. I’m also wondering how much space is there in a single, and are string lights allowed? Thanks!
Both of my kids lived in Dickson. It is the largest dorm at Cornell, and probably the oldest. Not all rooms are alike, so some singles are bigger than others. My older daughter lived on the top floor with a slanted window and window seat. It was very cute, but also very cozy. My younger daughter lived in one of those handicapped singles, so it was a lot bigger. The room is big enough for a single bed, a desk, dresser, and you could get one or two bookshelves in there depending on the size.
The beds are very thin and uncomfortable. You may want to get as thick of a topper you could get. I think I got 6 in+ for my kids. I would rent the microwave/fridge unit from the school (unless you have one at home), because you would most likely not need it again after freshman year. By having a fridge you could keep breakfast food in your room instead of paying for additional meal plan.
Ithaca is a fairly large city, so B&B&B and Target are well stocked. If I were you, I would get to school first then have your parents run you over to those stores to buy what you need. We built multiple shelves for our kids and also double hung my older D’s closet. We didn’t have to do that for the younger one because she had a fairly large close. Both of them had a fan, air purifier (for allergy), and cappuccino makers in their room. Have flip flops for the shower because communal bathroom can get kind of disgusting.
I lived there last year. Agree with what a lot of the previous post said. However, there’s a lot of space under the beds for storage containers, so you don’t need the multiple shelves. You also don’t really need a microwave/fridge - each floor has 2 kitchens and as long as I labeled my food no one took it. Single sizes definitely vary, but the big ones are big (could fit 2-3 people on sleeping bags on my floor). String lights are allowed, but I think it was one of those things you had to take down during breaks for fire/safety reasons.
If you live on the higher floors get to know the many staircases. There’s one elevator in the whole building. Not too much climbing, though.
I lived there last year too - Dickson singles are pretty spacious. Don’t expect too much, but know that there will generally be enough room for one person to live there and bring enough to live comfortably. I highly recommend an air purifier if you have allergies; I did not bring one and I suffered during the warmer months due to the building’s lack of air-conditioning. If you can, I’d also recommend a personal vacuum cleaner as the communal ones are rather old and often lost/misplaced throughout the building.
Long hallways
Thought I’d add to this since I just moved my daughter in. There was no information to be found anywhere. Here is trhe info that I was glad to find out when I moved her in.
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the even number rooms are on the inside, facing the courtyard. Odd numbers are on the outside.
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X5XX is the wing closer to Balch. X6XX is away towards RPCC or Mary Donlon.
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Room numbering starts at the furthest point from the center door. ie: X692 is near the center of the building. X502 is at the end of the wing.
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there is only one lounge on each floor, in the center of the building.
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there are 4 bathrooms per floor. One female and one male on each wing.
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the kitchens are half way between the lounges and end of the building wing.
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There is one elevator.
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her room is a typical room. so main part of the room and not the hallway where the closet door is, the dimension are appro (because I didn’t bring a tape measure) 8-9’ (bed width 36", 36" walkway, 2" deep desk) x 12’ (length of bed, width of fridge/24", 30" shelving unit+ 2x 4" extra)
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when you enter the room, immediately, there is a closet door on one side and a wall with 18" deep space on the other.
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The closet was deep so about 4 ‘x 4.5’. There is only one rod. We double hung part of it. We put a 14" wire shelving unit along one side of the closet for t-shirts, shorts, pants, and boots. There are 2 shelves (16" deep?) running the width of the closet way high. The lower of the 2 shelves also runs along one of the side walls (8" deep tho). They are really high. I will have to buy a stool next time I am in Ithaca.
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the room door and the closet open really close to each other. We hung a shoe bag up on the closet door but the room door does not open all the way.
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there is an 18" depth space between the room door and the wall. We put low 15" deep shelving along that wall. 2 30" units fit in the hallway space.
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the dresser was 30" wide, app 30" high and 24: deep. we put a 30" low 12" deep bookshelf on top of the dresser. 3 drawers - bottom one was very deep maybe 11"? Other 2 were maybe 5" deep? Some of the other dressers were taller (more drawers).
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2 of the 2-outlet electrical outlet were only 2 prong. they were near the window, opposite each other.
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The other 2 outlets were 3 prong grounded, one outside the closet wall in the main part of the room and the other mid way along the long wall. These are the ones that you can reset if you pop the circuit. They are connected to the light switch next to the door - I think it is also the circuit breaker.
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there is NO central lighting so you will need to get 1-2 floor lamps.
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The desk has an architect style lamp clamped on the the desk shelf.
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The desk has 2 shelves with a pin board between the 2 shelves. 1 shallow drawer in the center (pencils only?) and 3 drawers on one side.
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All the windows have built in mosquito netting, running the entire width, length of the window.
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There is a maintenance office on the 1st floor near the elevator and you can use their screw driver (they’ll even help you!). We had to bring our shelving pieces down to have them help us.
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There was a wall mirror but not every room has this.
This is all I can think of right now. I’ll add more if I think of any.
IDK if I would wait to pick everything up at the stores in ithaca on move in weekend. Figure all internationals and CA frosh will be heading to these stores to get stuff. They will run out of certain things. The next room neighbor liked our floor lamp and was only able to get the last one at Target. She wanted 2. We had one near the door when you walk in and one near the bed at the other end of the room (over 12’ away). We ended up in the Walmart in Cortland (not the closest one to Cornell) and they had a few things that they ran out of.
We went to Target about 1:30 on move in day and they still had plenty things, including lamps. I was not expecting this - when we moved our daughter in to a different, more urban, school 3 years ago, Target was really picked over. Best Buy in Ithaca, on the other hand, was out of the super cheap laser printer.
Generally, I was impressed how quickly we were unloaded and up in my son’s room. Our time was 8-11, and we got there at 10. I had heard that people had to wait in line for an hour in their car. We drove right up, unloaded, and lots of people helped take everything up. It was really fast. It took longer to get to parking lot A afterwards, I think.
We were at Walmart Sunday 8/24 (move in day for my daughter is Saturday since she’s a sophomore and she lives in an apartment in West campus) and they have boxes and boxes of floor lamps.
Apparently, there is free (laser) printing at the 1st floor. was told this by D.
D has the typical single room (not dormered) (see post #6 above) . She saw one that was huge, 50% bigger but dormered.
I don’t think any printing is free at Cornell. It’s .09 cents a page through net.print.
Agreed. I have received some hefty printing bills.
^we bought D a b/w laser printer and two reams of paper. If she needs a color print, she can pay the .09!
We were going to buy a printer. But for $70 (cheapest printer at Best Buy on move-in day) you can print 777 pages. We are going to wait and see just how much printing our son does. If it looks like a lot, then we can get one later. He’s an engineering major, not an English major, so I’m not sure how much printing he’ll need.