Hi-- I was just placed in an economy triple in south quad. The room dimensions are 11x17. Anyone have any experience in these rooms? The housing department refuses to share any information about important stuff like closet style and room layout, which makes dorm shopping very difficult.
So, not sure it’ll be the same room as yours, but I do have a pic on my phone, which shows three beds on one long wall, two of which are in a bunk bed configuration. There’s also one free standing desk/work area, which can be moved around. In the pic, it’s against the beds on the bed wall.
The other wall is essentially floor to ceiling closets and cabinets (at top), with three side-by-side sections (closet, then mirror, repeat). Mirror area have a flat area for cosmetics, lotions, junk or whatever.
At the far end there is a large window. On the closet/cabinet side, at the far end, near the window, there’s a built-in desk/work area (against the long cabinet wall). There should be another desk/work area on the door end of the closet/built cabinet side, but pic is not complete.
I’m not sure what’s on the front/entry door side, there could be another closet, but probably not. There may be multiple configurations, so use this information with the BIG caveat of “your results may vary.”
FWIW, there’s a Bed, Bath and Beyond not too far away. Upon move-in, we first looked at the room and then went shopping. BTW, congrats on getting South Quad. Great location!
This might help https://housing.umich.edu/residence-hall/south-quadrangle/
Also there are lots of student made you tube videos that give like a “tour” if South Quad. Check those out.
There’s no hard reason you need to know beforehand. These questions come up all the time. You have to be able to tolerate the uncertainty until move-in day. This week, go to your local Bed, Bath, & Beyond and open a pack and ship account. Pick out what you THINK you will need. You don’t pay for it until you get to the Ann Arbor store.
On move-in day, go to your dorm and assess the room and the storage space. Then go the BBB in Ann Arbor, on Washtenaw Avenue, and pick up your BBB packages. Before leaving the store, remove from the boxes the things you now see you won’t need, and add items you now realize you will need. Check out and pay. Set up room. Go back to BBB to return items you ended up not needing or to buy additional items. Rinse and repeat. The path from the university to BBB is well worn on those first few days.
Maybe it’s the same with all BBB stores, but that BBB store seemed small to me and the aisles are very narrow. And it will be REALLY crowded move-in week.
And remember, you will either have to store, ship or throw away a lot of that merchandise (kindly put) at the end of the year. I wish someone would have told me that before we went into the store last year. 
Meh. It’s very organized. Your pre-ordered stuff is all boxed and waiting for you at the A2 store. It never seemed unmanageably crowded. They do a great job of staffing up. Many of the staff there during move-in week come from other stores in the state. And it’s kind of fun to be there with all the other students and their families. My D used almost all of her stuff all four years. Obviously you have to find a place for it over the summer. YMMV.
Again, our experience is/was different.
During move out, and we moved out late, the dorm’s garbage closets/cans were overflowing into the hallway, everywhere, and on the street too, with “merchandise.” And storage fees over the summer are expensive. Maybe $250 +/- for us. For like 3-4 medium-sized boxes.
My kid is moving into a furnished apt near campus this year, so I’m kinda doubting any of that “merchandise” will be reusable. We’ll see. We’re going back to AA in late August.
Personally, I wouldn’t pre-order a thing. I’d wait, look at the room your assigned, discuss with your roommate, and then go buy.
BTW, my kid’s roommate purchased a BIGLY carpet. What a PITA that was to get underneath the beds. And then I helped her parents load that thing at the end of the year on top of their car to take it back to Chicago. Oy. Thank goodness that wasn’t my problem. I would have had a coronary. :lol:
Don’t buy a HUGE carpet.
The advantages of doing the pack-and-ship if you are flying distance is that a) a lot of the stuff you need/want may be out of stock in the A2 store, b) a lot of it you are going to need no matter what (sheets, pillow, mattress pad, towels, bathroom bucket, comforter, hangers, small rug, maybe mattress topper, desk lamp, surge protectors, batteries, fan, trash pail, et al.) – it would be a real pain to pack up and fly with all this stuff, c) it saves a lot of time in A2 to have all this ready to go, and d) you don’t have to pay a cent until you check out at the A2 store.
Just a different method of operation.
We’re from CA. I wouldn’t dare fly anything out there. I’d pick it up as you said. You can preorder and pick it up there or you just get there and buy stuff. The latter was fine for us. Towels, shower caddies, trash cans, sheets, etc. are not rare items.
School starts after Labor Day, we arrived the Wednesday or Thursday before. There’s plenty of time to get situated and purchase dorm items. I don’t see how they could run out of stock, since the place was packed to the gills. And even if they were out of stock, you can buy literally anything on Amazion Prime and get it delivered in 2 days for free.
There was nothing out of stock for us at least. They had oodles of everything we wanted. But if you just have to have something and want guarantees it’ll be there, then by all means pre-order ahead of time. Just not worth it in our case, we weren’t too picky. In and out in about hour +15, but I don’t like shopping. 
Do you have a son or a daughter?
D. I know what your thinking, but she’s a chip off the old block.
Ha! I was thinking you had a son.
You really don’t need to go crazy worrying about anything but what clothes you are taking. The rooms are small. Everyone takes too much crap with them initially. You can always just get there and if you need something order it off Amazon! Or Target. Whoever you shop with that has free shipping. I don’t know why everyone thinks BB&B is the only go to store for college room supplies. My daughter took a hanging closet shelf thingy. Besides the little fridge and microwave (she knew she had an out of state roommate and would need those things), she didn’t really need anything else but some school supplies. The drressers at MI have very generous sized drawers. Hanging space in closets is the only real space factor I could see. A desk lamp is helpful. Go in light and then figure out what you need.
Last year my daughter was in a double at Mosher Jordan. It was tiny, closet was about 2 ft wide. Today we moved her into a 2 bedroom suite at North Quad and WOW is it bigger and nicer. She has the larger bedroom of the two and it seems almost double the size of her MO JO room last year. The closet is still small, but maybe a smidge wider with no door. Her suitemate’s bedroom has a shared closet that may be 4 ft across at the most. The living space is huge. And their shared “Jack & Jill” bathroom is nice with a double sink vanity. Very nice upgrade from last year. It’s interesting how different the living spaces are at the school!