<p>So, I have had some questions in my mind for a while....they're always coming up. I will likely be going to a school that has communal bathrooms for its underclassmen......let's see how many I can come up with right now. Answer as many as you'd like.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Would a robe be helpful for walking to a bathroom/shower that's down the hall? Or do people just change in the stalls? (BTW I'm NOT changing in front of ANYONE!! haha)</p></li>
<li><p>Where do people clip their nails?</p></li>
<li><p>What kind of shower caddy would you suggest? A bag? A tote?</p></li>
<li><p>Large bottles of shampoo or small ones?</p></li>
<li><p>Do people ever change in the bathrooms?</p></li>
<li><p>At the school I may be going to, we can rent minifridges and microwaves.....comments?</p></li>
<li><p>The dorm that I hope to live in has 3 floors, and I don't want to look like that poor freshman with all of the Bed Bath and Beyond bags, lugging them up the stairs....how much stuff should I bring?</p></li>
<li><p>Do kids carry backpacks around? Laptops? Where do coats go in the winter (there will be snow) in classrooms?</p></li>
<li><p>Bikes? It's an LAC, but people still have them</p></li>
<li><p>Do people wear shoes in dorms?</p></li>
<li><p>Bunks or no bunks?</p></li>
<li><p>Laundry. There is a laundry room in the lower level, but how does it work? Not the machine, but the system. Idk how many machines there are...but the dorm houses about 50 people.....wait in line? Stand by the machine until they're done? Laundry once a week?</p></li>
<li><p>Utilizing the fitness center. I will not be playing any sports, so I'll need a way to avoid the famed freshman 15. Change into gym clothes in my own room/floor bathroom? Locker rooms? lol I haven't been in a locker room since freshman year in hs.</p></li>
<li><p>Dining. At my hs, all the kids sit at the same table with the same people every day. There is one dining hall on campus....is it anything like I mentioned above?</p></li>
<li><p>The school I may be going to gives a discount for Dell and Apple products....which is better lol? Also, printers.....a must-have?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I know that most of these questions are dumb....but I'm dying to know!!! I feel like such a freshman haha.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Robe would be nice, easier than changing in stalls</p></li>
<li><p>Anywhere they want really, it’s kinda gross</p></li>
<li><p>I have one of those tote bags, fits everything i need</p></li>
<li><p>Small cuz big won’t fit in the tote bag</p></li>
<li><p>Yes</p></li>
<li><p>Definitely need the mini fridge. Microwave would be nice too if the common area doesn’t have a shared one</p></li>
<li><p>However much u want, people don’t really care what you have to lug around</p></li>
<li><p>Yes to the backpacks, depends for the laptops (most do); either wear the coats or hang them on ur chair or sit on them</p></li>
<li><p>if you know how to ride</p></li>
<li><p>yes…</p></li>
<li><p>depends on how u & roomie plan it out</p></li>
<li><p>chances are not everybody is going to be doing laundry at once…</p></li>
<li><p>So… just go to the gym…</p></li>
<li><p>most of the time people aren’t around… why is there a 15 before 14?</p></li>
<li><p>no lots of tables, sit where u want, can even sit alone if wanna</p></li>
<li><p>depends, on preference. printers: not really, you dont print that much stuff</p></li>
</ol>
<p>For laundry, usually people wait until the weekends to do them. I prefer to do mine on weekdays because that’s when all the washers and dryers are free and I don’t have to wait for one to be available. But people aren’t going to be doing the laundry all at once (well, unless it’s the day before they have to go home. The day before winter break, my dorm suddenly had a bunch of students who needed to wash more than two weeks’ worth of clothing, while I only had my blanket and three towels to wash). </p>
<p>Dining–you sit wherever you want. This is not high school, and others do not share the same schedule as you. You may eat alone or eat with different people at each meal. There are a lot of tables available. </p>
<p>Gym–just go. If you really want to wear gym clothes, then just change into them in your room. Last time I went, I wasn’t even wearing gym clothes at all. And btw, please please please don’t think of wearing your old high school PE clothes as “gym clothes.” You’ll only look silly (I know you didn’t say it, but I just wanted to mention it). </p>
<p>Doesn’t matter what you want–if you prefer a PC, get a PC. If you prefer a Mac, get a Mac. My suitemates own a Mac, while my roommate and I own a PC. </p>
<p>Yes, people carry backpacks around. Not everyone brings their laptops, though. Just don’t be that one person who lugs their textbooks around–trust me, you don’t need to bring them to lecture. </p>
<p>Coats - considering there would likely be no coat racks, students either keep their coats on or drape them over the back of their chair.</p>
Yes. I have one…sometimes I wear it, sometimes I don’t. I don’t like changing in front of people either. Sometimes I just walk to the bathroom in my pajamas because people like to be stupid and pull fire alarms as pranks and I’m scared it could happen when I’m in the shower, so my pajamas are warmer to put on quickly than just a robe to go outside (because I refuse to go outside in a towel when it’s just a prank fire alarm because people are stupid sometimes) so then I like to take those with me to the bathroom.</p>
<p>
Wherever I guess…I never see people doing that so I would assume in your room. That’s what I do. Just be polite and clip them over the garbage so they don’t get on the floor for your roommate to deal with. It works out just fine…and this is coming from me, someone who has to clip their nails often. I’m a piano major and it bugs me soooo much if my nails are slightly longer than I can stand for piano, so I literally have to clip them a little bit every few days to keep them the exact length I like for piano…I’m possibly more concerned about that than most pianists, but it just bugs me a lot.</p>
<p>
I have like a plastic shower caddy from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We usually leave them on a bench in the shower area (no one seems to steal anything). My roommate has some bag for shampoos, etc. plus a regular tote bag that she puts her clothes and towels into to walk down to the bathroom. So far I’ve just carried my clothes and towels down with me, but next year, when the floors are co-ed, I might be bringing them in a tote bag also (and I’m not the only one who has said that).</p>
<p>
Personal preference…I have the regular large bottles, like the size you’d buy at Target, but you can put that into smaller bottles if you want. I just do that so that I don’t have to worry about getting to Target to get that as often. At home, Target is a mile away when I need stuff. At school, it’s a few more miles and I don’t have a car because I take a plane to get home anyways so I’d have to bug someone to drive me around town, and don’t want to have to do that a lot, so bigger bottles last longer.</p>
<p>
Yes. Do you mean changing openly in the bathrooms area anywhere, or in the bathroom stalls? Some people change in the shower stall (and some schools’ bathrooms have the shower stall plus a separate changing stall connected to it, but mine doesn’t, just a shower curtain) and that’s what I do. Some change openly around the shower area, some go back to their rooms in a towel and then change, and some walk with the towel through the bathroom to the stalls and then change. Personal preference, do whatever you want, no one cares or will make fun of you for your choice on that.</p>
<p>
We can rent mini fridges and microwaves at mine too (which may be the college you’re talking about from one of your previous threads I remember, but I know there’s others that do this too). I bought a fridge and my roommate brought a microwave her dad had at home (but now she is buying a new smaller one and we’ll have that for this next semester). I recommend buying your own because then you can get whatever type of fridge you want, have it every year that’s yours and not have to worry about if they’ll have enough to rent that year. Plus if it’s rented and it’s years old (idk how old some of those are?) it could be kind of gross, who knows, just pick out your own that you know is good, clean, and works well. We pulled mine out of the package at home before I left and tested it here for a few weeks to make sure it worked instead of waiting to find that out at school on move-in day and then scrambling to buy another fridge when they’re all out of them at that point. Definitely have a fridge in your dorm…and a microwave. We don’t use our microwave all that much (like I might use it once a week), but it’s still nice to have and can sit on top of the fridge and not take up extra floor space.</p>
<p>
As much stuff as you need and can fit in the dorm. I brought a lot of stuff and it all fits just fine. We had a Ford Escape full to the max plus a small trailer full and the carpet for my dorm tied down on top of the trailer. Plus I’ve dragged more stuff back there with me after Thanksgiving break and will be when I go back from Christmas break. It’s all about how you arrange the dorm as to how much stuff you can fit, and depends on the size of your dorm. Mine is on the small side (10x15 feet), but still managed to fit a lot of stuff.</p>
<p>
Backpacks- yes and no. Might depend on the college. You can bring a backpack or a tote bag or laptop bag…whatever you want. Laptops- yes and no. Some people take all notes by hand on paper, some do it all on their laptop. I take mine with me to lecture classes like history, but do written notes in classes like music theory. It just depends on personal preference and the types of classes. For a lecture class, laptops are great. For maybe like a science lab, I’ve heard not so much. Coats go on your chair…or the floor or in your backpack I guess. For backpacks though, in general, you don’t have to bring textbooks to class like you do in high school. I have to bring 2 of my books to my theory class, but that’s it (except for bringing books to piano, clarinet, and organ lessons, but that seems different to me since I’ve always had to do that and they don’t seem like ‘textbooks’ to me, plus they’re kept in my music locker and don’t have to tote them around the rest of campus). I’ve found that I carry less books in my backpack in college than in high school. I got a new backpack over break and am taking that back…and it’s actually smaller than the one that’s sitting at school now, which was still from high school and always packed to the max with books every day. I got the Vera Bradley laptop backpack now, if you want to know for size and how much stuff actually gets carried around. All I need is my laptop (which has it’s own special compartment where’s it’s strapped in and zipped in it’s own pocket, and don’t need my laptop sleeve in my backpack anymore and now that’s just for when the laptop goes in a tote bag), planner, pencil case, theory books, water bottle, and a few other small things…but not much as far as books. Sometimes I keep a book with me from a lecture class like history in case there’s some extra time in between to read and get some homework done when another class gets out early.</p>
<p>
Some do…I don’t but I’ve seen some people that do…probably depends on the college.</p>
<p>
Yes and no. Do you mean in the dorm, like hallways and bathrooms, or in your own room? Hallways and bathrooms- most people do, although I know plenty of people that walk in the hallway or bathroom barefoot…I don’t suggest it though. Walking barefoot around anywhere with lots of people is a good, easy way to spread foot fungus…don’t do it! In your room, that’s your own personal preference. I do sometimes, sometimes just socks, and I have slippers too. I actually have 2 pairs of slippers- one for walking down the hallway to the bathroom at night, and one pair that I only wear in my room. I decided to do that after the one pair I had that I wore in my room and through the hallway got dirty within a month of school and it was a pair I liked with music notes on them…and that reminds me I still haven’t ordered a replacement pair of those online somewhere! I need to do that…I just loved the music note ones so much.</p>
<p>
That’s something you decide with your roommate. Also depends on the size of your room…it may just not be an option to put both beds on the floor and still have adequate space to walk and have everything else. We bunked ours for the first semester, and now it’s been rearranged for second semester into an L-shaped loft, which we think we’ll like better because my roommate kept hitting her head on the bottom of my bed (which is the top one). The L-shaped loft is quite popular and nice, at my school at least. It can be done as just a partial loft so that the top bed isn’t all the way up to the ceiling.</p>
<p>
Depends when you do laundry. You may have to wait, may not have to. I think I’ve only had to wait for a machine once, maybe twice, and I use at least 3 machines at a time (separating colors, etc. and certain things that have to be washed by themselves) each week, and I usually just go there and no waiting. I do mine Saturday morning, fairly early before more people come down there. We have 8 washers and 8 dryers for a dorm of almost 200 people. Some people do laundry each week (me, even though I thought I wasn’t going to do that, just got used to that being the Saturday morning routine), some every 2 weeks, 3, depends on how many times you wear something and how much clothes you brought with you (my roommate never, ever wears anything twice, and has to do 4-6 loads of laundry every week…yeah).</p>
<p>
Whatever you want to do really. For PE class, I go over there in normal clothes and then change in the bathroom, because I don’t wear PE type clothes all day and will not do it. Really the freshman 15 isn’t that big of worry, because you’ll probably be doing more walking around campus than you did in high school.</p>
<p>
Some people do that, but people tend to move around to different tables and different people more in college. My high school was like that too. There tend to be more different sizes of tables in a college dining hall too than in high school.</p>
<p>
I have a Mac, so an Apple product. Get whatever you like and can afford, since a Mac is more pricey than a lot of PC laptop brands. I love my Mac and just switched to that for college (previously had only PCs and had never used a Mac). Macs tend to be more popular in college than PCs, at least from the people I know, but I’m also in music where they usually recommend Mac anyways, so that’s most of the people I see…but I’d suggest Mac regardless of major (although there are a few majors where profs recommend PCs) because of the longer battery life and less change of having a virus (we’ve had 1 full crash on a PC hard drive, and I think 3 mini-crashes on them in the past 3 years). Also, my Mac is just so much lighter and smaller sized than my last PC laptop- easier to tote around if you plan on taking it to class. I have the 13 inch MacBook Pro, which is the small one, but plenty big for taking around with you but still fits nicely into a lot of cases (I have a laptop sleeve, laptop carry bag/shoulder bag, and laptop backpack that it fits into- all Vera Bradley products).</p>
<p>Printers- can be nice to have in your dorm. I brought mine, because I already had a good one at home and my family still had another 3 here, so they didn’t need 4. If I hadn’t had one sitting here, I’m not sure if I would have bought one for college. Printing in the library is free and unlimited (as far as I know it’s unlimited…I think I printed over 500 pages there this semester and it never stopped me from printing on my account). I go to the library when I need to print big things, even though I have a printer in my room. My printer is just for when I’m finishing a paper at midnight and am not going to walk to the library to print it. When I need to print lots of stuff, I take it to the library since it’s free and I’m not going to waste my own paper and ink to print off 50 sheets of staff paper at a time or print off some piano pieces I’m looking at before I actually buy the music book and want to get an idea about it ahead of time (did that with a few concertos this semester when I was trying to choose one). Library is good for that. So…no, a printer in your room is not necessary at all. It’s just convenient for late at night printing, or last minute printing a couple hours before a paper is due…but not needed at all, like I said I brought mine because I had it already.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Robes are helpful; I’m not a huge fan of changing in the stall, because then my clothes are all nasty and wet.</p></li>
<li><p>Over a trashcan</p></li>
<li><p>I have a black canvas tote that’s served me for 2.5 years and should get me through the last 1.5.</p></li>
<li><p>Large. Then you won’t have to go and buy it as often</p></li>
<li><p>Sure. It’s usually not a big deal.</p></li>
<li><p>I rent a minifridge/microwave combo. It’s a lot better than hauling your own minifridge, which I’ve also done. Also, the one that I have has a freezer in it as well, which is better than the minifridge I bought.</p></li>
<li><p>Check out the A-Z packlist, keep in mind how long it’ll be before you can switch out clothes and such between seasons (I don’t do that at all because my school’s 10 hours away from home). Also, though there are exceptions, generally if it doesn’t all fit in the back of the car (I get everything for the year fit into a kinda tiny car, but some people need an SUV for all their stuff), it won’t fit in the dorm. Don’t buy stuff you don’t normally use at home.</p></li>
<li><p>Backpacks: Yes, especially if you have a lot of classes. Laptops: Yes. Coats go on the floor or on the back of your seat.</p></li>
<li><p>If you want to use one, fine.</p></li>
<li><p>I wear shoes in the bathroom and other common areas unless I’m just getting water from the fountain or something.</p></li>
<li><p>Depends on the size of the room. That’s a good thing to discuss with your roommate when that stuff is assigned over the summer.</p></li>
<li><p>Generally, dorm washers and dryers are coin operated. Try to do laundry on off-days or wake up early on weekends to make sure all your laundry gets done.</p></li>
<li><p>I just wear the clothes I’m going to exercise in, except I wear a different pair of shoes (my gym has a rule against wearing the shoes you wore in to exercise in).</p></li>
<li><p>My school has 2 dining halls. You just sit with whomever you want to, since the scheduling is a lot different from high school with regard to lunch.</p></li>
<li><p>Dells seem to be pretty okay; I’d rather have an Apple computer though, because the fans on the Dells (several different models that I’ve seen from friends) tend to fail a lot. Printers aren’t necessary, but handy; also, school printers tend to jam quite a bit, in my experience.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>At my college I have only met a single person wearing a robe to the shower. Everyone else walks down the hall wrapped in a bath towel.</p></li>
<li><p>In their rooms? Or at least I have never seen anyone clip their nails in the communal bathrooms.</p></li>
<li><p>Something stiff, not flexible plastic. The following two are the most popular models at my college: [simple</a> shower caddy](<a href=“http://static.ibncollege.com/wcsstore/ExtendedSitesCatalogAssetStore/923_92305_99_713666_NI/images/FULLIMAGE_442362.jpg]simple”>http://static.ibncollege.com/wcsstore/ExtendedSitesCatalogAssetStore/923_92305_99_713666_NI/images/FULLIMAGE_442362.jpg), [big</a> shower caddy with several compartments](<a href=“http://reelingintheyears.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/08/img_12261.jpg]big”>http://reelingintheyears.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/08/img_12261.jpg)</p></li>
<li><p>Regular-sized shampoo bottles seem the most popular. Plus sized bottles (2+ quarts) may be cheaper but don’t fit into a shower caddy.</p></li>
<li><p>Some people change in the stalls after their shower, but nobody ever changes publicly if that’s what you are concerned about.</p></li>
<li><p>If you want them, buy them. One year’s rent is usually almost as expensive as buying them new, so there’s really no point in renting. I would however encourage you wait until you see your room before you invest into bulky items; you may realize that you really don’t have space for a fridge and a microwave. (One of my friends had to keep her fridge in her closet, for example.) Many colleges have communal kitchens with a shared fridge and microwave. You may or may not be able to trust your hallmates not to steal your food from the fridge, but there’s most certainly no need to buy your own microwave if there’s a shared one just down the hall. </p></li>
<li><p>As much as you need?</p></li>
<li><p>Most students use bags of some sort: backpacks, messenger bags, oversized handbags, plastic bags… anything works, really. Coats usually hang on the back of your chair while you are in class. </p></li>
<li><p>At my LAC a some people had bikes but the majority did not. Most LACs are small enough that you won’t need one to get around campus, but it might help you get around the surrounding neighborhood. Find out if bike theft is a concern in the area, and invest into good set of front and rear lights if you are biking at night.</p></li>
<li><p>Most people wear shoes (or at least socks) in the common areas. Whether you wanna wear shoes in your own room is up to you.</p></li>
<li><p>Depends on the room setup and space constraints and whether the beds are bunk-able at all (not all are!). </p></li>
<li><p>You’ll find out when you get there. At my college the system is first-come-first-serve. People leave while the machine is running, but if they aren’t back when the load was done, someone else will take their laundry out and leave it on top of the machine (dry or wet). </p></li>
<li><p>Again school specific. I have seen college gyms without a locker room at all, so you may not even have a choice. (Though those are usually at larger universities with separate gyms for athletes and non-athletes, and it’s the non-athletes gyms that sometimes don’t have locker rooms.) At my liberal arts college the gym does have locker rooms, but most students change into their gym outfit at home. </p></li>
<li><p>You’ll eventually have a core group of friends who you will eat with quite frequently, but usually college student schedules are dissimilar enough that you won’t be eating every meal with the same people. Lunch in particular is crazy and many students end up eating by themselves; dinner is more likely to be high school-style cliquy. </p></li>
<li><p>My college gives us free printing, so almost no-one has a printer in their room. I personally think that Macs are prettier and more compact than most Dell machines, but Macs cost twice as much as PCs with the same technical specifications. If money is not an issue, which operating system do you prefer? And if money is an issue, you should be aware that some PC brands (e.g. Acer) are significantly cheaper than Dell (despite Dell’s educational discounts).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The answers to these questions are going to vary a LOT based on school, program, boy vs girl, etc and so forth, but I’ll answer the best I can based on my experience.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Robes are fine, especially for girls. Most people don’t wear them but they’re not uncommon or weird. Whatever makes you comfortable. I had one that I wore just to use the restroom or something at night for warmth, but I didn’t use it for the shower because it was too hard to keep it dry. I just threw my pjs in a canvas tote and hung it on a hook outside the shower, then pulled it into the stall after I shut the water off so I could towel off and change.</p></li>
<li><p>Over the trash.</p></li>
<li><p>I had a plastic tote. At my school there was nowhere to set your stuff down, so your shampoos and stuff sat on the grody shower floor-- maybe not so big of a deal for shampoo, but for stuff like razors I thought that was nasty. So I had a plastic tote with holes in it so it could sit on the shower floor without filling with water.</p></li>
<li><p>I had large ones. Getting to a store to buy shampoos wasn’t easy, unless I wanted to buy suave crap from the bookstore.</p></li>
<li><p>Not usually. I did after my shower but not otherwise, and I was already a bit unusual-- most girls went back to their dorms just wrapped in their towel. I didn’t do that because I wasn’t going to run outside naked if the fire alarm went off. It’s really a pain to change in the bathroom though, changing in a public bathroom stall is unpleasant-- there’s nowhere to set your stuff down and no room to move.</p></li>
<li><p>Buy your own if you’re allowed, I guess unless the rentable ones are satisfactory to you. Definitely get a fridge and microwave one way or the other. </p></li>
<li><p>As much as you want. Most people bring a lot of stuff, and everyone will be too busy unloading their own stuff to notice yours. No worries.</p></li>
<li><p>Backpacks, generally. Laptops it depends, a pretty even split here. Coats hang on the back of your chair.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you want one? Then get one. I didn’t bother because there was nowhere dry to keep it so it didn’t rust out in winter.</p></li>
<li><p>In the hallways and stuff, generally. You should, those floors are filthy. I wore slippers in the dorms generally and threw them out every year and got new ones because they were FILTHY by the end. </p></li>
<li><p>I don’t like bunks, but it depends on the size of your room and whatnot. I’ve done it both ways. The bunk was crappy when I was sick, and I had a harder time getting out of bed on time in the morning.</p></li>
<li><p>We had four washers in my dorm for 112 residents and I never once had to wait. Do your laundry on a weekday evening, or in the morning, and you’ll never have a problem. You probably won’t anyway. Some schools have a computer system to tell you online when washers are free-- mine did and I didn’t know that until my second year.</p></li>
<li><p>Whatever you want. My guess is that if you live in a climate with snow, you’ll want to change into gym clothes at the gym rather than walk through the snow in shorts and a t shirt.</p></li>
<li><p>Not generally, but it depends. I lived in a small community dorm my senior year that shared a special cafeteria, and people generally sat with their friends for every meal but were VERY open to letting other people sit with them, which was in stark contrast to how my high school worked. At my high school people were very territorial. But if we are talking a bigger school with bigger, perhaps multiple cafeterias, you are going to be eating with different people every day, quite often strangers, or even alone-- and this is okay. You and your friends will all be on different schedules and you’ll sit wherever there’s an open seat. Whether or not you make conversation with the people you’re sitting with is up to you.</p></li>
<li><p>Printer depends. For me it was a must have, I printed a TON (easily could use my 400 pages of free printing in a week) and finished a lot of papers in the wee hours of the morning-- I would not have liked trekking to the library alone at 3am to print something. Mac vs PC is a personal preference. I generally think only very specialized users really need a Mac, it’s too much machine for the average user’s needs, but if you can afford it and want it knock yourself out.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>I change in my room, so a robe is helpful, although some people change in the stalls. You could do either… but stalls aren’t very big.</p></li>
<li><p>I clip mine in my room and then throw them away…</p></li>
<li><p>I had one of the plastic caddies from Target. Very helpful, and many people seemed to have the same.</p></li>
<li><p>Large.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes.</p></li>
<li><p>Mine “microfridge” (microwave and fridge combo) came with the room. Both are, again, very helpful.</p></li>
<li><p>I bought a decent amount of stuff, but don’t overpack. If you have too much stuff, just take some of it home at fall break. No big deal.</p></li>
<li><p>Some kids have backpacks. Some have large canvas bags. We all have laptops at Wake, so those go everywhere but not all profs allow them in class. Coats go on the back of chairs or stay on your person. </p></li>
<li><p>People do ride them, yes.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, sometimes. </p></li>
<li><p>My roomie and I debunked.</p></li>
<li><p>You put in your washing powder/liquid and softener and then hit the button to start a certain cycle. Some days and times are busier than others, but people never fight/argue over them. Nobody waits in line either. I do laundry twice a week and that works for me.</p></li>
<li><p>No clue. I don’t use the fitness center and I lost 10 pounds, so…</p></li>
<li><p>Sometimes, yes. You kind of just eat with people you know, but you can sit wherever you like.</p></li>
<li><p>Dellllllll! Hahha, I hate Macs. And I have a printer and use it simply because I don’t want to pay by the page in the library at odd hours.</p></li>
</ol>
If you end up with a “normal” bed in a smallish dorm room, you might appreciate the extra storage space under your bed. However, many beds found on college campuses cannot (or should not) be raised: bunk beds or captain-style beds with under-bed drawers, for instance. Also some beds are already so high that you may not want to raise them any further. (Some bunkable beds, for example, are high enough that a person can sit underneath.)</p>
<p>I suggest that you want until you know your room setup before you invest into bed risers. (If bed risers are popular at your school, you can probably purchase them in the campus bookstore.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Would a robe be helpful for walking to a bathroom/shower that’s down the hall? Or do people just change in the stalls? (BTW I’m NOT changing in front of ANYONE!! haha)
Most people just take a towel and cover it around themselves to walk from their room to their bathroom.</p></li>
<li><p>Where do people clip their nails?
In their rooms?</p></li>
<li><p>What kind of shower caddy would you suggest? A bag? A tote?
Something plastic with lots of holes for water to drain and air to move through. You don’t want to get mold.</p></li>
<li><p>Large bottles of shampoo or small ones?
Whatever floats your boat. It doesn’t really matter other than maybe cost.</p></li>
<li><p>Do people ever change in the bathrooms?
Yes.</p></li>
<li><p>At the school I may be going to, we can rent minifridges and microwaves…comments?
Have a minifridge and microwave in your room. It’s super convenient for when you don’t really have time to eat or when the weather is bad and you just don’t feel like going to the dining hall.</p></li>
<li><p>The dorm that I hope to live in has 3 floors, and I don’t want to look like that poor freshman with all of the Bed Bath and Beyond bags, lugging them up the stairs…how much stuff should I bring?
As much as you want. You really should limit it. However, you really will not be the only one. Almost everyone overpacks.</p></li>
<li><p>Do kids carry backpacks around? Laptops? Where do coats go in the winter (there will be snow) in classrooms?
Yes. Some carry laptops. It really depends on their classes. I had a professor who said we couldn’t use laptops during his class. Coats can just go wherever you can find to put them. On your chair is usually a good place.</p></li>
<li><p>Bikes? It’s an LAC, but people still have them
Really not necessary. I go to a school with a pretty large campus and I never use mine. Schools that have a big enough campus to use them typically have a shuttle system.</p></li>
<li><p>Do people wear shoes in dorms?
Yes and no. Depends on the person. Sometimes you’ll want to.</p></li>
<li><p>Bunks or no bunks?
Depends on how your room is set up. Lofting is a popular alternative. Every room is different and you could end up with that one big room where you don’t need to do either. You could end up in that tiny room where you’re forced to bunk. It really just depends.</p></li>
<li><p>Laundry. There is a laundry room in the lower level, but how does it work? Not the machine, but the system. Idk how many machines there are…but the dorm houses about 50 people…wait in line? Stand by the machine until they’re done? Laundry once a week?
There’s seven days in a week and twenty four hours a day. You find a time when there’s an open washing machine in the Laundry Room. I know at my dorm, you really shouldn’t do laundry on Sunday because that’s when EVERYONE does it. I’ve found that Tuesday and Thursday afternoons work for me, but honestly it’ll vary from dorm to dorm.</p></li>
<li><p>Utilizing the fitness center. I will not be playing any sports, so I’ll need a way to avoid the famed freshman 15. Change into gym clothes in my own room/floor bathroom? Locker rooms? lol I haven’t been in a locker room since freshman year in hs.
You can do what you want. Me and my friends usually change in our dorm and then walk to the gym, but if you’re going to a school where it snows then it might be too cold to do that a lot, so changing in your school’s locker rooms might be a better solution.</p></li>
<li><p>Dining. At my hs, all the kids sit at the same table with the same people every day. There is one dining hall on campus…is it anything like I mentioned above?
No. It’s going to really really depends on your schedule and your friends’ schedules. You’ll probably find days where you eat alone and others where you’ll eat with one group of people one day but a completely different group another day.</p></li>
<li><p>The school I may be going to gives a discount for Dell and Apple products…which is better lol? Also, printers…a must-have?
Printers are very convenient. Not a must-have, but I’d definitely get one. Dell and Apple… Well it just depends on what you need.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Retainers: One of my best friends still has braces and she’s 19.</p>
<p>Bed-risers… Depends on your room configuration. Some rooms they’re necessary unless you end up bunking or lofting. Others it’s really not useful at all.</p>
Everyone in my dorm just puts on a towel, walks to the shower, showers, puts the towel back on, and walks back to their room.</p>
<p>
Over the trash, I presume. Though I suppose out in the grass would be fine, too.</p>
<p>
Mine’s a little plastic bin with holes in the bottom. Works just fine.</p>
<p>
Uh, whatever you prefer. And whatever fits in your shower caddy. Definitely not hotel-small, but whether you get a mid-sized or giant bottle is up to you.</p>
<p>
Not in my dorm, but some people change in bathrooms of other buildings if they don’t have time to run back to their dorm.</p>
<p>
Guess it depends on the cost vs. buying them with your roommate.</p>
<p>
For your dorm room? I don’t know, however much you need. You’ll have to make a list of everything.</p>
<p>
Backpacks and laptop bags are both very common. Coats can go on the back of the chair, the lap, the ground, wherever you find room.</p>
<p>
Depends on your campus. Mine’s a couple square miles so a lot of people have them, but I just see them as a hassle.</p>
<p>
Sometimes…</p>
<p>
Very school/dorm specific. My bed is lofted, as are most in my dorm, but a couple friends bunked theirs because it worked better for their room.</p>
<p>
Just do it at a time lots of people aren’t. You’ll find plenty of times with open machines.</p>
<p>
Whichever you prefer.</p>
<p>
People go to dining halls at different times depending on their schedules. I typically go with friends, depending on our schedules. Usually I eat lunch with different friends on MWF than on TR, since classes are different. All my dorm friends go to dinner together (though sometimes I eat later because of boxing practice). Everyone eats alone at some point, so don’t worry about that.</p>
<p>
Whichever you prefer/can afford. Both are fine brands. There will likely be a printer system. My roommate brought a printer and we haven’t used it once; then again, your school is different, so ask a current student.</p>
<p>I’ve only known of one person who wears a retainer. It’s not going to be a problem, and I doubt anybody’s going to care. </p>
<p>As for bed risers, I don’t know of anybody with bed risers. But my dorm has a lot of built-in drawers and storage space, much more than normal, so it’s not necessary. There’s at least a foot of space under my bed, but if you bunk it (most people did) it’s less. They might be helpful, but definitely not necessary.</p>
<p>Most people loft/bunk, having two beds down in a dorm room takes up too much space. Although, I don’t bunk/loft. I haven’t moved any furniture, neither has my roomate. Our room is big, though, and neither of us are in it enough to care. </p>
<p>A fair amount (maybe a quarter) of the guys have two fridges, the one that was provided and one from home. I prefer it, more space that way. And I have a microwave too, but its barely used. If you have a common one close by (that’s sort of clean), it’s not really necessary. My dorm is old, and there’s just one in the basement that looks old and dirty.</p>
And I have a printer and use it simply because I don’t want to pay by the page in the library at odd hours.</p></li>![http://static.ibncollege.com/wcsstore/ExtendedSitesCatalogAssetStore/923_92305_99_713666_NI/images/FULLIMAGE_442362.jpg]simple](http://static.ibncollege.com/wcsstore/ExtendedSitesCatalogAssetStore/923_92305_99_713666_NI/images/FULLIMAGE_442362.jpg%5Dsimple){kind=link}
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