<p>My D will be in South Tower. I thought that was the soroity dorm, so I was surprised when she was assigned there. It works out fine though since she will be pledging in the fall.</p>
<p>My D heard from a few people that they will actually let you move in on 8/17. Anyone else hear that?</p>
<p>I was just making a list of some of the more unusual things that we need to bring. We are coming from the Chicago area, so it will be important to be particularly organized. Please feel free to add on.</p>
<p>Rug
Ethernet cable
Coaxial cable for the TV</p>
<p>km
if you are helping your daughter move in, you might think about buying the rug locally,unless you are driving from Chicago.All the big box stores(Target,Wal Mart,Bed Bath and Beyond,etc) are in the area and last year were fully stocked.We had preordered from Bed Bath but realized there was no need, the stores and all others had everything we needed.
S bought a TV and mini fridge.We ordered the carpet from the flyer the University sent so it was already placed in the room.He shipped a bicycle but not everyone uses them. Its great to have a tool kit,heavy duty scissors,duct tape,etc for the move in (Target sells a tool kit with all the essentials for about 15$).We found the power strips with the "squid" outlets to be particularly useful.Make sure to have lots of ethernet cable and coaxial cable in case you need to stretch your connections.
And just to provide you with a laugh, of 4 boys sharing a bath (suite style) only my son had brought a bathroom rug.</p>
<p>Not all floors are Greek as I recall, especially as new sorority houses are being built and filled.</p>
<p>Long ethernet and coax cables to give you max flexibility.The 3M wall and picture hangers that don't tear off paint are a must. The local Columbia stores all ran out so bringing more than you think you will need is a good thing. They are called "Command " Strips and come in a variety of sizes and styles. </p>
<p>You can always pick up a rug locally. Bed bath and Beyond has a program where you can select at local Chicago store and pick up in Columbia which also saves time and space. You might also check with the hotel you are staying at. We shipped four boxes to our hotel to hold for us until we arrived. It allowed us to fly and rent an SUV in Columbia.</p>
<p>The Container Store also has a college night coming up at all stores across the US. You might call your local store to get the date since they vary from store to store. The offer nice savings on top selling items and very reasonable shipping...which was what the four boxes sent to the hotel were.</p>
<p>You can contact housing and request an early move-in date. They will generally allow it for OOS students coming a long way. We did so last year and moved in the bulk of things on Friday. This made life much easier since we were dealing with Capstone and a 16th floor room which had terrible elevator waits on the official move-in day.</p>
<p>How long does it take to move into Capstone with those elevator waits? Do people come at the suggested times, or is it more of a big crunch with everyone trying to get in at once?</p>
<p>It did not seem like people used the suggested times - more like a big crunch. If you use the carts they provide you can pile most of your stuff up and then wait in line fewer times for the elevator. Like eadad said , our girls were on the 16th floor, so taking the stairs up wasn't really an option ( although we did take them down when empty handed). I would say the elevator wait was less than a half hour the one time I had to wait during the rush. I actually met some really nice parents and students while in line and one of them became pretty good friends with my d - I am not sure they even would have met otherwise so that was a plus!
I would suggest you go as early as possible - parking can also be an issue. There are metered spots beside the building if the lot is full - that worked out pretty well for me. It really is organized pretty well considering the size of the dorm and the number of people trying to move in at once. They have a good number of volunteers trying to organize and manage the move and everyone was extremely respectful and polite. It was very warm last year so I would suggest you wear very comfortable clothes.
Another nice touch was that there were students in golf carts riding around handing out bottled water to people that wanted it.</p>
<p>I surely appreciate that info. S has now decided that we'll pack the cars the night before, leave early - maybe 6 AM, and try to be there around 8 AM. I think we'll put a small cooler in the car with some sodas, too. He is anxious for his roommate info to post on VIP!</p>
<p>Question - does anybody know whether USC allows microwaves and refrigerators in the rooms? My friend said that at Emory they were not allowed to bring separate units, and that some schools require students to buy or rent through them. Thanks!</p>
<p>yes, microwaves and fridges are allowed,there are specifics on size/power that are published on the housing website. S got the max sized fridge allowed,it was big enough.Look for one with a seperate interior freezer door compartment.
A few dorms have microfridges already in the rooms (Bates is one I believe) the housing site will tell you that also.</p>
<p>We've been checking out the microwaves and it is hard to find one that is 700 watts or less. We did find one at a good price at Linens N Things.</p>
<p>The 700 watt max requirement for microwaves does limit choices but places like Target, WalMart and Best Buy in Columbia will have them on hand since that is what is allowed in the dorms. One word of advice, make sure whatever you get has a popcorn setting. I made that mistake last year and heard about it all year!</p>
<p>Best Buy and Sears will also reserve microwaves and mini fridges for you or you can buy online and pickup in Columbia. At BestBuy you only have 7 days after ordering online to pick up though. Found out later that you can cal the store, purchase and have them hold for pick up to get around the 7 day limit with bestbuy.com.</p>
<p>I just contacted housing and they said that they will be posting an application for an earlier move in date on their webpage and that it will be up the end of the month. All you have to do is fill it out and if approved can get an earlier date</p>
<p>It will be posted on the housing page.There are only a few categories listed on the early move in form,its used mostly for athletes,RA's,etc..Last year, we filled it out using the explanation of an out of state,coming by airplane move.They emailed us back almost immediately with a "yes".It gives you one day earlier to move in,no more,but it was handy .</p>
<p>I'm a little confused about parking on move-in day. I did find the "Move-In Map' online...but are we supposed to park in the light blue areas? What about the lot that says S4 - is that OK for move-in or are those reserved student spots? I just can't imagine what parking will be like with everyone trying to move into both Columbia and Capstone, and some families with more than 1 vehicle.</p>
<p>don't worry about something designated as student parking on the move in day..they'll be lots of security/volunteers stationed around the parking lots who will tell you where to go..over on the Horseshoe they give you an actual paper pass for the windshield.It all seems to work out though at the time it will seem insurmountable,chaotic,the hottest sweatiest day you've ever spent, and,after WalMart/Target runs , like it will never end! That's why I said good luck to you if at the end of that day you can muster up the effort to go "eat nice"!!!</p>
<p>I didn't have too much trouble finding spots around Capstone either Friday or Saturday. As I have said before, we did the bulk of the move in with an early move-in on Friday. On both days they were limiting parking to either 15 or 20 minutes in the Capstone lot. What everyone did was unload their cars onto the grass, have someone stay with their property while they found a parking spot nearby then began to send things up to the room in stages. It took several trips but wasn't as painful as it might have been.</p>
<p>As cathymee said, move-in day was not the day to eat nice. I think we broke for a late lunch at Carolina Ribs in Vista with her roommate and her family (PAmom) after we had everything in the room, the beds made and some things unpacked. After lunch we dropped the girls off to finish unpacking and went shopping for things we didn't bring. We came back to finish setting up the room and unpacking/dealing with boxes and trash etc then ended up with a couple of slices of pizza very late Friday night in Five Points while the girls were out making new friends and we were fighting exhaustion. </p>
<p>We had a nice dinner Saturday night in Vista with two other sets of parent's from my D's HS and enjoyed Garibaldi's on Sunday night with one of the two couples who was still in town while the girls went off to the first rush activity.</p>
<p>Hmmmm. Sounds like a long day.We're from Greenville (2 hours away), but we had thought we'd drive back home Saturday evening. Maybe we should plan on staying overnight?</p>
<p>We live two hours away as well and we drove home the same day. Move out day was the long and hard day for us. It appeared that some how or other things multiplied.....so much "stuff"......and with finals week just ending.... not much cleaning was done.....need I say more?</p>