<p>found it, copied into an e-mail from a couple of years ago.
Others might wish to post their variants.</p>
<p>One thing now irrelevant from original list: "obtain local cell phone"
Calling plans have changed such that calling lots of numbers outside of your native area code are now no big deal and people know that cell phones can be from anywhere.</p>
<p>surge protector
extension cord (aka power strip)
English dictionary
4 spiral-bound notebooks
four 1-inch 3-ring binders
looseleaf paper
computer paper
extra HP ink cartridge for printer
composition book
TI-84-Plus Silver Edition calculator
blank CD's
mechanical pencils
black ink pens
color ink pens
white out
graph paper (in spiral?)
scissors
mouse pad
batteries for clock</p>
<p>Blank CDs are also no longer a must-have for most. While the Smith computer store still stocks them, it’s much handier and easier to have a flash/zip/thumb drive. </p>
<p>The same goes for mouse pads. I know some people use external mice, but with the prevalence of laptops and the familiarity of most students with trackpads now, it’s kind of irrelevant for the majority.</p>
<p>Yes, you also don’t need a local cell phone any more, unless you’re coming from outside of the US, since most US plans have free local and long distance calling. But otherwise it’s a really great list (though, holy cow, that’s a lot of OTC meds Be prepared!)</p>
<p>S&P: OTC pain meds for the serious dancer (pain = a way of life), plus susceptibility to allergies.</p>
<p>Phanatic, yeah, flash drives have really dropped in price. A few blank CD’s are really good for archiving important stuff. You never know when a flash drive will be lost.</p>
<p>However, trackpads are mentioned in Leviticus as being “unclean.” Ack. Ptui. I loathe them.</p>
<p>I suppose this isn’t the time to mention that on one of D’s moves she spent more time & care loading up her iPod than on everything else combined. TheMom was <em>really</em> aggravated. I mostly rolled my eyes at the (misplaced) priority figuring that what had to be done would get accomplished one way or the other.</p>
<p>Actually, if you’re a science or Math major, I think you need the calculator. There are some things for which having your laptop to use Mathematica or whatever is overkill.</p>
<p>I think nixing the calculator is an awful suggestion. I’ve taken half of my classes in the math/science departments and not one of them has prohibited the use of a calculator. In each course, in fact, a calculator has been a lifesaver. They are expensive purchases, but if you treat them well, they will last many years and be well worth the investment.</p>
<p>Most exams I’ve taken in math/science have not allowed use of calculator. I lost my calculator first year and bought mathematica instead of replacing it; I haven’t regretted this decision once. If you ever really need a calculator, it is easy enough to borrow one from a friend (this has only happened to me once).</p>
<p>a fan (to cool off but mostly to create white noise on weekend nights)
LAMPS. I cannot stress this enough. Unless you are ungodly lucky and have a corner, you will only have natural light for part of the day. And the ceiling lights suck, plain and simple. My room first year had windows facing east, which meant that after 3 PM (2 in the winter) it was almost useless without my tiny, kind of awful desk lamp. Wait until you get there and see if your room is big enough for a standing lamp (mine wasn’t), but seriously.
Garbage bags to put in the wastebaskets. Do you want to clean dried strawberries off of your plastic wastebasket? Didn’t think so.
Not just meds but basic first aid stuff - bandages for twisted ankles, Neosporin, band-aids in general, etc. I’ve used my ankle wrap four times this year between me and my two best friends.</p>
<p>Things I’d nix -
Wastebasket. Your room comes with 1 wastebasket for each roommate and 1 recycling one for the two of you.
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th pair of any kind of shoe. Seriously. You don’t need more than, like, 7 pairs of shoes total - sandals/flip flops, sneakers/running shoes, flats, fall boots, winter boots, rainboots, dressy shoes. Done. And if you have to pass, pass on the dressy shoes. Wore mine exactly twice (Halloween and Winter Weekend) and took them off within half an hour both times because heels are silly and a social construct used to oppress women. Welcome to Smith!</p>
<p>I took calc II, physics, and calc I, among others. Calculators were useful and acceptable on every exam, and the professors fully supported the students using them. So, I don’t know what professors you had… but I guess it just goes to show professors’ individual styles vary widely.</p>
<p>Upstatemom: it depends on the house. Most houses have regular twin beds, but some have extra-long beds (like Baldwin, I believe). I recommend holding off any sheet purchases until your daughter gets her housing assignment.</p>
<p>I think nearly every house has regular twin beds, one of the benefits of going to a women’s college is that it’s rarely worth it for the school to get extra long sheets (not enough people over 5 foot 10). When I was there, even Baldwin had twin beds. That may have changed in the past three years (eek! has it really been three?), but regular twin sheets should serve you fine, that’s what is used in the houses.</p>
<p>My daughter never opened a local bank account. The college direct deposited her work study pay to her home bank. She used her bank card for purchases, and the atm at the student center when she needed cash. When the weather got cold, we did send an electric blanket. She said her room was cold and she used it almost until the end of school year. The fan was a good purchase, as well as a standing lamp, because the room was dark.</p>
<p>I double checked the Smith housing website for their perspective on sheets:</p>
<p>"What size are the beds? Do we need to bring our own sheets and linens?</p>
<p>The beds are regular twin mattresses; they do not require extra-long sized sheets (Please note: Haven, Morris and Baldwin recently received new mattresses which ARE extra long twin size mattresses - these two [phanatic: well, three] houses are an exception). You will need to bring sheets, blankets, pillows, linens, towels, etc."</p>
<p>So, odds are that you won’t need extra-long sheets, but I’d recommend holding off anyway until you know your daughter’s housing assignment.</p>
<p>I was actually wondering if the beds wouldn’t be extra-long because it’s a women’s college. Kind of a shame for me because I was going to use my brother’s set of linens from when he was in college and they’re extra-long. But I probably have regular twin sheets lying around from summer camp anyway.</p>
<p>Re: opening a local bank account. I think this is a really smart idea, even though Smith does direct deposit. Unless you have an account with one of the banks that’s in Northampton, or you have some kind of reciprocal agreement with your bank, you won’t be able to deposit checks at the local ATMs. For some kids that’s not a problem, I’m sure plenty are like, “What’s a check?” But honestly, I handled quite a few checks during my four years and the primary motivation behind getting a local bank account was to avoid having to mail deposits back to the West Coast. </p>
<p>Yes, your kid might not always need to deposit checks, but on the off chance, I think it’s smart to have the option.</p>
<p>The following re TI Calculators (or equivalent) sent by my D, for posting on CC, which itself causes me shock. The number of posts she’s made by proxy over the years can be counted on my fingers.</p>
<p>==========</p>
<p>Sure, you can bring one, and use it. But it’s not going to be particularly helpful for most of the math you’ll be doing in college math classes, because as you get more advanced you do more proof and less computation. Anything that needs more than a basic calculator is better to do on the computers in the math and science buildings (and I think some/most computer labs), which have Mathematica and MatLab, both of which are far superior to a handheld TI. </p>
<p>Bringing a TI for use in math classes might actually hurt you, since the familiarity can keep you from getting your feet wet with computer programs as quickly as you should. For example, you can get away with using your TI for the first 2-3 weeks of linear algebra. But after that you will quickly get to a point where it’s more trouble than it’s worth to do it on your TI, and you’ll have to get used to MatLab (or whatever your prof has picked) anyway. And you’ll be however many weeks less familiar with the program because you stuck to your trusty TI. Eventually your calculator-type math homework will require you to use MatLab or Mathematica, anyway. Or Stata or SAS or SPSS if it’s a stats class. Accept the inevitable and learn whichever programs you need as you need them, and reap the benefits by sticking them on your resume letting them help you in the job market or on grad school applications. Sometimes basic knowledge of the programs will turn out to be as important as the course material, either for later courses or after college.</p>
<p>I used my TI calculator more for economics classes than I did for math classes. But I don’t remember ever needing anything beyond a scientific calculator for those, either. Anything that can handle exponents and roots should be fine for econ. There’s no harm in bringing a TI with you as long as you don’t cling to it, but no reason to buy one if you don’t already own one.</p>
<p>As an aside: You probably don’t want to bother getting MatLab or Mathematica (or Stata, SAS, SPSS, etc.) for your laptop, if they’re listed as optional for a course. Programming work is much easier on a desktop, because of both the keypad and larger screen, so you’ll probably end up going to the computer lab anyway. It’s worth getting LaTex once you get past 220 or so in the math courses, but that’s free.</p>
Be prepared!)</p>