<p>Any suggestions on what our soon to be Freshman should not leave home without?</p>
<p>Something to heat water for tea in. Tea. Power bars. Ramen. Hangers. An Ipod dock. My son’s first roommate was very into creature comforts – TV, fridge, etc. – but they don’t spend much time there, so I wouldn’t go nuts. </p>
<p>My S says he’s taking our electric piano to college. LOL. I love an electric teapot. Microwave is great, too… esp if they are coming in late after rehearsals and the cafeteria is closed. It all depends on the dorm style. My friend’s daughter’s room had a kitchenette with a fridge, sink and microwave. Some dorms have nearby lounges with kitchens. If there is not much drawer storage, under the bed boxes are good, too. </p>
<p>power strip, small tool kit, sewing kit. There are some pretty good lists when you google for the general list of what to take and I believe there is a thread on this maybe in the parents forum, I will try to look for it later tonight.</p>
<p>Humidifier! Those flat fuzzy hangers (take up less space). D asked for a Keurig for graduation and uses it every day.</p>
<p>Two things to watch out for:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Dorms often have restrictions on appliances. Be sure to check the policies.</p></li>
<li><p>Contact roommate(s) over the summer if possible. (Not all schools make this possible.) It’d be a big bummer for each roommate to show up with a microwave oven!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My daughter wants her own refrigerator. I thought roommates would usually share one. Any advice?</p>
<p>Our D got her own mini frig 2nd semester. The mini frig provided with the room didn’t hold a lot. And roommate often had it filled with lots of leftovers which she often forgot about. Each having their own eliminated any issues.</p>
<p>Keyboard with headphones very helpful to have for piano, aural skills and music theory. Got one of her own 2nd semester so it was available when she needed it.</p>
<p>A case of Emergen-Cs. (They will all get colds and sore throats at some point, and you won’t be able to do anything, so it’s more to make you feel better than anything else, but also it might work.)</p>
<p>I’ll put on my professor hat now. For those professors who still accept assignments on paper (as opposed to, say, PDF files) few things are more annoying than unstapled papers or (usually) papers fastened with a paper clip – especially those huge black clips designed to hold 50-100 pages. Also, unless a professor asks for one, plastic binders are annoying as heck.</p>
<p>Here’s why. On a cluttered desk or in a cluttered briefcase, pages get separated. Paperclips snag on other papers and “steal” pages. Big clips and binders don’t stack very well, leading to a cascade of papers onto the floor. And plastic binders are full of static that attracts lint and dust. (Icky!) You do not want to irritate your professor over trivial stuff. And if it seems like I’m nitpicking, imagine yourself organizing 100-200 5-page papers every week.</p>
<p>Spend $10-20 on a GOOD desk stapler. Not a cheap red one the size of your pinky. (They don’t fasten more than 4 pages papers very well.) Get the kind you’d find in an office. While you’re at it, buy a box of 5000 staples. And make a good investment. I still use the stapler I bought in 1982.</p>
<p>Yes, your computer center will have a stapler. How much you want to bet it will run out of staples the day your term paper is due? It’s practically a law of physics.</p>
<p>LOL @WasatchWriter. The D will be ALL over this! She has a love of office supplies and can’t wait to use some of her graduation gift money to buy some. I’ll be sure to tell her to buy a stapler, but it’s probably already on her list! 
</p>
<p>I have a heavy duty “Swinger” stapler that I love! I lock it up in my filing cabinet every day before I leave school to prevent it from being “borrowed”.</p>
<p>Wow! The stapler/staples is a GREAT idea. And paperclips. And rubberbands. And all the stuff that my kids steal from my junk drawer. </p>
<p>My oldest daughter leaves in August for her first year (my rising Senior is my MT kid) and she found her roommate online already … and they’ve decided that one will bring a microwave and the other a fridge. I don’t think they’ve figured out who brings exactly which one yet. </p>
<p>And my neuroscience major/pre-med track kiddo is bringing her electric piano too! lol! (And headphones!)</p>
<p>When D was doing precollege last summer we got her a product called a “belt box:”, which a singer uses to cover mouth and nose when practicing singing (so the general world can’t hear you). I think it will be great for impromptu rehearsal in the dorm room - while listening to iPod etch.</p>
<p>For years I’ve dreamed about packing up the car until you couldn’t see out the back and driving my son to his freshman dorm. (These are very exciting times in a kids AND parent’s life…for different reasons, of course.) Now my hopes are dashed… son is going to school abroad and we’ll have to buy most of his stuff there. Of course, we will pack as much as we can, within our airline luggage limits, and look into shipping stuff over (vs. paying for extra luggage), but it’s just not the same as that packed car! </p>
<p>@SU88BFA our truck was packed to the windows last year. It was quite an adventure! I had envisioned a well packed limited amount of stuff and instead I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies</p>
<p>Don’t take too much! That’s a real problem for freshmen and so many of them will be moving out of a dorm as soon as they can anyway. Dorm rooms are small and once you get a couple of bodies, beds,chests and desks in there the floor space is minimal. Think about what is really needed- the things your kid uses every day and put the money into a couple of great pillows, a cover that completely encases the mattress and a foam mattress topper. Without decent sleep, A room humidifier,if allowed, a nice bedside rug. Bed risers, if they aren’t bunks, can make room for extra storage under the bed since suitcases take up a lot of room. Spend $$ on a great pair of headphones and perhaps a lock for the laptop or one of those “dorm room safes” which can hold a laptop/headphones or whatever is of value. If there is a kitchenette on the floor or a kitchen on the first floor, do make sure that your kid has a fork, spoon, knife, bowl and plate- you can grab those at the dollar store. A sleep mask and trash too.
Remember that you can “buy at home and pick up there” with many stores- Bed,Bath and Beyond has really perfected that! You can always go out to pick up needed things while you’re there and UPS and the Post Office will become great friends of yours too- you can send those hats and mittens or anything needed later on and that gives you an excuse to include some cookies,brownies or Halloween candy which will be much appreciated.
My D was a VP major, so she had gowns in addition to her regular clothing but thankfully, was in a triple that had four closets so the performance clothes went in there. Wrinkle release spray, fabric refresher spray and a small hand steamer were life savers for her. She moved off campus into her own apt after the first year so remember that what you haul there, you’ll have to move again!</p>
<p>Join Amazon Prime. Whatever your kid says they don’t have and need, you can order and get it to them in 2 days. The annual fee is so worth it for free shipping. I’m embarrassed to say how much I used it. :-" </p>
<p>^ I love Amazon Prime!!</p>
<p>Once your student gets their .edu email address, they can get Amazon Prime free for a trial period…I think it was a year?</p>