<p>I might be going to college very far from home (I live in NorCal). Most of the schools I applied to are in NY, IL, PA, and DC. Some of the other schools I applied to are not as far, but really far (SoCal) from where I live still. I was wondering if anyone could advice me on what to bring (a basic general list) and how to take it from one side of the country to another. Should I bring a lot or a few things? Should I ship packages or take with me in the plane/car ride? etc, etc...</p>
<p>My little brother went to school pretty far away, one of the stores near here (bed bath and beyond maybe?) had a program where you would shop at your local store, place an order, and it’d be waiting at school when you got there. So, if you can find something like that for things you’d be buying (especially bedding) that might make it a bit easier.</p>
<p>plane/car: You’re probably flying. If you’re going from Cal to east coast, that’s a really really really long drive and a whole lot of gas. Keeping a car on campus can also be expensive, some schools won’t let freshmen have cars at all. Assuming you fly… clothes and anything that’s not bulky/heavy (textbooks and bedding not recommended) I’d just take with, either as carry on or checked baggage. Some airlines let you have 2 carry on bags, or they’ll let you check one or two bags for free, which is kinda nice.</p>
<p>That said, if you do decide to drive there for whatever crazy reasons, forget about the rest of this post and cram it all in the back seat. 
My school is close to home (an hour drive) and packing stuff into a car and driving is by far the easiest. I wouldn’t suggest shipping a car full of stuff (paying a service instead of driving it), cause things can go “missing” then.</p>
<p>Textbooks: You probably don’t want to buy them until you know you’ll need them (first week of class). So I wouldn’t worry about trying to ship/bring those.</p>
<p>As for what to bring in general… well, all the basics that are on the rest of the lists around here. Some things’ll be really easy to get once you’re there, just go to the local/school store… it doesn’t make sense to drag notebooks and pens across the country. Other things (like bedding) are tricky/expensive, and it’s nice to have time to shop around and make sure you’re happy instead of buying last minute when you get to campus. Basically you should be deciding based on effort to ship it, cost/selection/sales, and how soon you’ll need it.</p>
<p>@failure622: thank you so much. the whole BB&B thing sound amazing. I made up my mind to only make sure to buy/take the severely essential items. Everything else I can pretty much attain in time. I said “plane/car” because if I go to school in SoCal then my parents would like to drive me to have, in a way, a family bonding before I leave 8-| . But if I go to school across the country, then only my mom and I will go. Would you mind also answering how the first day is like in college? The "move in-day"as they call it…? Thanks again!</p>
<p>If you fly, do the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Carry-on: your essential items (a few days’ worth of clothes and the like, as if you were traveling).</li>
<li>Checked baggage and shipped: other clothing and such.</li>
</ul>
<p>Bedding should not be that expensive, but can be bulky to bring with you. Perhaps just order some with your dorm as the delivery address, if they will hold shipments for you before you arrive.</p>
<p>However, anything you bring you will have to bring back or put in storage next summer.</p>
<p>My son went from NY top Miami.</p>
<p>We shipped boxes from our house by UPS (they picked it up at our house and we paid online.) YOu can ship to the dorm directly if they will accept packages before you arrive, or in our case, we shipped to the local UPS store and had them hold the package for pickup for $10 a box. (You need to rent a big care to transport from the store to the dorm though.) By the way,m we over shopped here and I would suggest you ship as little as possible. Read- clothes! Grandma bought son a laptop (OK) and printer (which we had to ship too) and I bought pillows and bedding here. (Don’t)</p>
<p>All Bed Bath and Beyonds have the program where you shop with a scanner and they have the items bagged and waiting for pickup at the local BB&B by your school. The good thing is, you can go through the bag, and add to it before checking out as you may not need everything you think you do once you see your dorm room. Also, BB & B’s have great drug store items now (or go to CVS etc by the school) so you can pick them up there. </p>
<p>For larger items, buy online the day before you leave home or anytime once arriving on campus. Amazon is great as you know along with Newegg, etc. We couldn’t find a TV at the local Best Buy so we ordered online and son got it in a couple of days. </p>
<p>Summer storage- son and friends shared an off site storage unit. His school also had a company that dropped off small pods (like lockers) and students filled them up and the company took them away from the school parking lot. </p>
<p>OH- BB&B- they accept expired coupons. Start saving them if you haven’t already. We went to campus with a huge stack and since S1, I have never thrown any away. I had so many for S2 that I gave them away in the store. You can use an unlimited number of them. Any Mom with college age kids probably has many to give you. Have you Mom ask her friends. </p>
<p>More questions, PM me. I’ve done this with 2 boys and 1 in grad school. It is a true learning experience. </p>