<p>I'm going to be a sophomore moving into Oakland Hall. So 2 questions: 1) the earliest move-in date for returning students is August 26, as per Department</a> of Resident Life: Fall 2012 Move-In - Residence Hall Check-in Dates and Times. New students get to move in on August 25. However, I can't imagine that all that many new students were able to get into Oakland. Am I explicitly barred from moving in on the 25th? 2) If I can't move in on the 25th, the website says that 2pm is the earliest for Oakland on the 26th. Same idea; can I move in earlier than 2?</p>
<p>I can tell you what happened to me. My daughter is a freshman that was assigned to Ellicot. We kept getting brochures that move in weekend was the 25-27 of August. I booked a hotel for the evenings of the 24th and 25th (non refundable). At parent orientation we were told that certain dorms and certain honors groups move in on the 25th and my daughter’s move in was officially on the 26th. This was no where on the fliers or brochures. I ran over to a supervisor at resident life and he told me it isn’t strictly enforced and she could move in either day, and it was more of an attempt not to have so many people move in at once. I say if Oakland is open, go when you want to.</p>
<p>Even if you can get there early, the people at the check-in desk may not give you your key for your room unless you’re there at your designated time. Even if you come early, if you can’t get your key for the room, then it is pointless. Also, your student ID card that you use to actually get inside the building, probably won’t be activated until 2pm on Aug 26th. Then again, maybe not. So you’ll have to keep these possibilities in mind if you want to move in earlier.</p>
<p>You should probably call the people at resident life and ask them about this directly. Maybe they can give you permission to move in early.</p>
<p>Based on our experiences with both daughters, they are not as strict as Japan Lover indicates. The student ID cards/swipes are opened up earlier (if it doesn’t work on Aug 25, it’s probably because there’s a problem with your card and that can be fixed). </p>
<p>Since we live in NC, we had a long drive up. We were able to move in the night before move-in date so that we did not have to have a car full of stuff overnight in the hotel parking lot. We had to explain this maybe once to the staff at the residence hall when we arrived; the other times we just arrived and there were no questions asked (and no crowds and it was MUCH cooler!!!). You’ll just need to make sure that you have someone to wait at the car with the stuff while 2 other people move the stuff in.</p>