<p>Good point! I did know ahead of time that dd’s packages would be in the mailroom in her dorm. Easy!</p>
<p>If you have not already purchased items - consider purchasing on line from retailer with free delivery, and just travel with clothes and necessary small electronics. We drove S1 (12 hours) for mid summer orientation, and brought big items then - and put in local self-storage for the bulk of the summer. Then supplemented with online items delivered to dorm from Bed/Bath/Beyond, Target, etc. Amazon also generally has free shipping for orders over $100…which adds up fast.</p>
<p>Another possibility for over-the-door hooks is to hang at the foot of the bed, especially works well on lofted or semi-lofted beds. A great place to hang the backpack, purses, scarves, jacket of the day etc. And a great way to use this under=utilized area. D’s first dorm room was SO tiny, it was turned into a single the year after she and her roommate moved out, so every inch of space had to be used.</p>
<p>A freinf that moved in yesterday had a great tip from another friend- take a huge garbage can with wheels and wheel all the stuff in it- hers was a clean one from work- said it was great-they put most everything in big lawn bags and lableded them with masking tape- wouldn’t work if dorm doesn’t have an elevator though</p>
<p>^^don’t you have to make sure you have room for a huge garbage can w wheels in your car though??</p>
<p>Some more tips and warnings:<br>
SHIPPING: find out ahead of time (know it is tight re schedule for most by now) what the school delivery policy is. My D school does not allow to dorm delivery, and all large items go to pick up warehouse that was about a mile walk across campus. Smaller items and USP would go to regular mail room.
Small light items (coffee, tea, Tylenol refill,) etc. all make great little things to add to care packages, and much more fun to get mail, so if they don’t need it the first few weeks, consider sending later.
If going by plane, rolling duffles are great, but make sure student has one carry on size roller for going back and forth to home (easier than back pack to bring home right amount of stuff and weight of textbook). Try to make sure that all the extra suitcases etc can fit inside parents luggage if they are coming to limit number left at school, and not have to pay for extra luggage.
Remember that if they are coming home for Thanksgiving or before that not everything has to go to start. (will the winter coat, extra sweaters be needed before then for example) And encourage student to bring home unneeded stuff if they can at Thanksgiving (the summer clothes they won’t need again until after spring break). Push comes to shove, you can mail them (that party dress they really don’t need etc. Just make sure they give you enough notice for shipping. It’s still better than being the one with too much stuff (and taking up roommates “space”, heaven forbid.) </p>
<p>I also encourage parents to have that talk with their student to make sure they respect equal sharing of space before they leave. If they are the one with stuff, hopefully they will share with friends,and hall mates. One great RA I knew posted a list on her door at move in that said “I have: hammer, broom, vacuum, band-aids (etc. listing) stuff” she had to loan/help. What a great way to meet some of your hall mates too! (I met my husband of 30+ years when sophomore year he offered to scrounge spare bookcases for me and the girl across the hall!) </p>
<p>If you get there and the bed really needs a bedboard, most Home Depots etc will cut a piece of plywood to your dimensions for you when you buy it(and extra pieces cut to right size for whatever extra shelf if you figure that out before you go) Cheap and easy if you have a way to get it back to the dorm.</p>
<p>^^ yes rodney yes- I didn’t think about that-guess they had room</p>
<p>UC Berkeley Roommate Assignment Link is up and running now!</p>
<p>Bumping this up…</p>
<p>Parents- Leave your kids and return as soon as possible.</p>
<p>I thought it was: “leave your kids, and send money as soon as possible!”</p>
<p>I go with the quick departure tip. Worked well with oldest son. Although he was a drivable distance so we were able to leave whenever we were ready. I can’t seem to follow my own advice - youngest son about to start Freshman year, and his college has “Parent” Orientation from Thursday evening, after Wednesday move-in, through Saturday morning. What was I thinking booking a flight back home late Saturday afternoon? Way too much time, worried that it will make leaving very difficult. Thinking back fondly to sleepaway camp. They had a big waterfight for the campers at the end of Visiting Day so the kids would want their parents to leave, and parents would be happy to see them loving camp and so engaged and be happy to go. Maybe I should call the University and suggest it!!</p>
<p>It also helps if you don’t bring 500 totes and a futon. Also your child’s roommate would appreciate it as well.</p>
<p>Love the waterfight idea, itslfs :)</p>
<p>So many good ideas here. I have mounting move-in anxiety and every time I think I have it tamped down, some new development comes up. The latest is an invite from the coach to work out with the team the day we arrive, so instead of D being my GPS (she tells me when to turn right, etc.) I will drive solo to BB&B etc to pick up her stuff. Yes, I am the only person in the world who does not use a navigation system, and yes, I have no sense of direction (insert laugh track).</p>
<p>So IF I make it back to the hotel (instead of drving aimlessly around another state) I will pick up D from team dinner after the workout, get some sleep, get to the track by 6:45 am the next day for another workout, find her stuff that was shipped to her, move her in, put her on the bus to NC for XC camp, then drive to the airport. Unless it takes me three hours to assemble her rolling rack thingy that goes under the bed and I miss my flight. I was going to throw a hammer and screwdriver in my carry-on, then I realized TSA wouldn’t be too happy with that…</p>
<p>I know it will all work out but is it too late to consider home-schooling?</p>
<p>Based on my experience yesterday, GO EARLY. My daughter is a freshman at a state flagship. We arrived 15 minutes before official opening time and had no trouble finding a spot right near the door. The lots were jammed by late morning.</p>
<p>Some people in our hotel left at 6:45 in the morning for the 9:00 am move in time. I presume their children were staying in one of the high rise dorms, where moving in seemed to be much more complicated. I am so glad that my daughter was placed in one of the smaller dorms.</p>
<p>“GO EARLY”, per the above poster’s recommendation, is a good one.</p>
<p>For both D and S (two different colleges), we arrived about 20-30 minutes ahead of the time they were assigned. GREAT decision and done only because we’d read about that suggestion on CC!</p>
<p>In particular, it allowed us to find a much better parking spot. This became handy for lots of reasons, one in particular that in all cases it was nearly 90 degrees or higher with the heat index and all that moving, going to the stores, returning items to the car, etc would have been much more difficult, hot, time consuming. Even a mid size campus gets packed on move in day. </p>
<p>Beat the crowd–you won’t be sorry.</p>
<p>Interesting curiouser. I would have figured that with assigned move-in times, they wouldn’t let us anywhere near the place until the beginning of our time slot.</p>
<p>Question regarding going early. How early would you suggest? I’m trying to get my parents to go at least 15 minutes early. Since we are going up the day before. I have to stop at the personal office, and my work location. (They aren’t open on weekends) I figured we would move in during the morning (9am is the official start time), and when my roommate arrived she could move in while my family goes out for lunch, or something. Her parents aren’t spending the weekend like mine so I know that if needed my parents can come back. (not that I necessarily want them too) We have family, and friends in the area, and that is the main reason why they are staying. </p>
<p>Also how long would you suggest the room inspection takes? The sheet from housing says to allow 1 hour. My mom has done this before with my sister, but I remember taking her stuff in right away. The school I’m going to says you aren’t allowed to move anything in until you do the inspection, and meet the CA. (any suggestions to what a CA is?) So I’m assuming you have to park your car until you have the ok from the CA to move in, which is why I’m wondering how early should we arrive. There is a parking lot across from my dorm.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great tips!</p>
<p>^^fumafoo, you might want to post that on your school’s forum if there is one, because every school is so different. My kids’ school doesn’t require waiting to do a room inspection, and during freshman move-in parents are only allowed to pull up and drop off the belongings and then have to move the car and walk back. This way everyone gets their stuff close to the dorm. Your school will probably have their own way of doing things.</p>