<p>My son (incoming freshman) got his dorm and roommate assignment. It's getting more and more real for him. </p>
<p>We wondered about the option to loft the dorm bed -- can we skip renting from Collegiate Concepts in advance and wait to see the the dorm room and the options for arranging the furniture?</p>
<p>If it helps, he is in a corner room on the second floor of Main Hall.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I have a terrible memory, but I think we waited. Roomie brought a fridge and we offered to loft the beds, as I recall, but the boys wanted to wait. As it turned out, they had both been in lofted/bunk beds at home and wanted to be closer to the ground in college. It all works out. Welcome to Grinnell!</p>
<p>another dorm room question: do the desks have drawers that you can put file folders into?</p>
<p>I think all the dorms have the same desk, and yes there is a drawer for files.</p>
<p>All the desks have drawers. Not sure about East Campus right now, but the ones on North and South have two small and one larger drawer. Some of the desks on North and South randomly have a drawer thing for a computer-keyboard or laptop (Mine didn’t). </p>
<p>I generally wouldn’t loft the beds. If you have people over it’s hard to find something to sit on other than the floor. I am also not sure if you can decide to loft the beds at a later point but you can always raise the beds, which allows to store stuff underneath the bed while still using it for seating people.</p>
<p>Thanks all.
Silence – what would one use to raise the bed so that you could add storage under?</p>
<p>They are extensions for the bed-legs available from the floor’s SA, usually.
My first roommate and I found them leftover in her closet although we couldn’t figure out exactly how they work.</p>
<p>My daughter had a corner room in main and did not loft. but we did buy bed raisers. This gave her space to store stuff under the bed. My other daughter lofted her bed and U of Mich and hated it. There was no comfortable place to sit - they use the bed for eveything. I wouldn’t do anything until you see the room.</p>
<p>thanks last_kidsmom. It is sounding like he won’t want to loft the bed. His Student Advisor said that there would be metal extensions available if any of the kids want to raise the bed a bit. </p>
<p>We’ve just found out about Bed Bath and Beyond’s “Pack and Hold” program. Since we have to fly in, we’ll order in advance the dorm room stuff we don’t have room for, and swing by to pick it up as we drive in to Grinnell. Seems handy. I guess the dreaded Walmart is our back-up for items we forget.</p>
<p>Yes, the bed on the ground is a chair, couch, whatever. Lofted, it’s just for sleeping.</p>
<p>We also had to fly in from NY and used the bed bath and beyond pickup. We ordered everything in NY and there it was waiting for us at the store. If you decide that you don’t want all the items that you ordered you are not committed to taking them. Also don’t forget your coupons they will take as many as you have - the $5. and 20% off so call everyone you know and ask for the ones they are not using. It saved us a lot of money. If you decide that you want to buy a refrigerator you can order it at walmart and have it shipped directly to the school. We shipped all my daughters clothes etc to the school before we came. Just make sure you put his mailbox number on it - search the web pages and it will tell you the address. We then just moved everything into her dorm. It was the best money we spent. What I have found is that we didn’t forget anything - we had way too much. Also you can pick up shampoo etc on the way to the school from the airport. Lots of places to buy things. Where are you going to stay when you get into town??</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>last_kidsmom – thanks for your post. I just had a friend describe the BB&B shopping experience – they give you a scanner and off you go through the store picking out what you need. Love the idea of having it waiting for us in Iowa. We’re going to pick everything up at the Coralville store on Friday. Thanks for the reminder about the coupons. Next stop will be the Best Western Pioneer Inn in Grinnell. </p>
<p>My son and husband visited the school on one of the admitted students weekends. I am very much looking forward to getting to Grinnell and seeing it for myself!</p>
<p>We used the coralville store too. They were very helpful. Are you going to parents weekend this year?? I went last year but I am not planning on going this year. If you want to stay closer to the school next time call the carriage house bed and breakfast. You can see when they take reservations for graduation - this way you can just park the car and walk everyplace. I’ve stayed there a few times and for the money and location it is really nice.</p>
<p>Good luck. The school is beautiful!</p>
<p>We’re going to family weekend again this year. We skipped last year because our son was studying in Morocco and I really missed it. The campus is, indeed, beautiful and the school feels so welcoming. Even on our first visit, before my son had even decided to apply (though I think he decided that almost immediately) people on campus were so warm and friendly. The student center is one of my favorite places anywhere–a lovely community space.</p>
<p>Well, someone at Bed and Bath decided that Grinnell College was really Marshall College and changed our order so that it was waiting in Ohio and not Des Moines! Everything had to be gotten and packed up again. They didn’t have a few things we thought would be there, either.</p>
<p>Norris is the only dorm that doesn’t have desks w/ drawers.</p>
<p>That must have been very upsetting. I hope BBBeyond offered (or you asked) for the other items they didn’t have to be shipped directly to Grinnell for free. If there is something you really needed, perhaps I can pickup for your student and bring with us to Grinnell on Saturday. We will be moving in our daughter in this Saturday. We live in Eastern Iowa and there is a BBBeyond near us.</p>
<p>jdash, you are so kind! We are pretty set. I am going out myself for orientation. My H went out with S for one of the earlier pre-orientation programs. I am returning with another suitcase of stuff for him! </p>
<p>I have to say that i was not really impressed with BBB’s response. I told my H to make sure they gave us a discount to make up for this mistake, and he had to practically browbeat them into doing so. This is not smart customer relations. I am always impressed by a business that immediately does something to compensate a customer for its mistake, so the customer leaves feeling good about the business rather than annoyed.</p>
<p>SDonCC, I agree that BBB should have immediately offered either a discount or free shipping for anything else you needed. But it sounds like you are all set. A great idea to tag team so now you can bring out more STUFF. Safe Travels.</p>
<p>I’m finally going BBB dorm room shopping with my son tonight. Ordering for pickup in Coralville since we’re flying and coming from east of Grinnell. I can’t think of an alternative to BBB for the advance ordering (Target?). I’m sorry to hear of your hassle SDonCC. I will double-check that they get the correct store for our Friday pick-up.</p>