<p>Does anyone have a list of must have items to bring for incoming freshman? I have heard you need a big fan and a mattress pad cause the mattresses are thin. Anything else we wouldn't think of?</p>
<p>Here are a couple of links to some lists you might find useful:</p>
<p><a href="http://laig.com/aq/lists/college.htm%5B/url%5D">http://laig.com/aq/lists/college.htm</a></p>
<p>And of course, think about getting a loft bed to create more space in the dorm room:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.collegebedlofts.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegebedlofts.com/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=12&catalogId=10103&langId=-1&topcategoryId=15558&parentCats=15558*15617*15619&categoryId=15619&cattype=sub%5B/url%5D">http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=12&catalogId=10103&langId=-1&topcategoryId=15558&parentCats=15558*15617*15619&categoryId=15619&cattype=sub</a>
<a href="http://www.patioandhomefurniture.com/bedroom-furniture/loft.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.patioandhomefurniture.com/bedroom-furniture/loft.php</a></p>
<p>Hope this helps,</p>
<p>JD</p>
<p>not sure on the need for a big fan, since the rooms have a/c.</p>
<p>Can one of the Miami moms answer this one? Are there irons/ironing boards in the laundry room or do the students bring their own? Not sure if mine will use it often, but I know she will want to know she can if she needs to.</p>
<p>JD - thanks for the great links. </p>
<p>As for the loft bed....can you raise the existing bed to make it a loft bed? If not, and you buy one, what do you do with the bed they give you? Is there a place near campus to buy one or do you have one shipped from one the places you recommended?</p>
<p>Yankeegirl - D reports that there are no ironing boards in the laundry room...she is one that wonders what an iron/ironing board is for:confused:
But seriously, she says you can borrow one when you need it, and she wouldn't haul it down here - there isn't much storage space.</p>
<p>I would guess you could build a loft bed frame for the existing bed, but that sounded like a LOTTTT of hassle in the limited time we will have dwn there. The University says you can call and arrange for pick up any furniture you don't want in the room, including the bed frames. You just keep the mattress for using in the loft bed you order. I think we are goig to buy the $189 loft bed in one of the links I posted (the wood loft bed), get a board to lay under the mattress for extra support, and go with that. The parents of the kid my S is going to room with (they are best friends at high school now and both decided to go to Miami (scholarship choises, LOL) and room together) are also going to get one of those loft beds as the boys want to put a futon coach under one bed and build an entertainment area under the other (TV, XBox360, stereo, etc.). The boys have this whole thing pretty well thought out, LOL.</p>
<p>I called the manufacturer of the loft beds and they will ship directly to the University (still need to get the exact shipping address info from miami) so its there when we get there to drop S off. Figure we can have them up in a couple of hours tops. The manufacturer said to order about 4 weeks in advance and give them the date we want it delivered.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info!
My daughter doesn't want a loft bed, but does want to raise the bed so there is storage space underneath. I believe you can buy blocks to do that. I'll have to look into it.
JDM...your son's room sounds like it's gonna be quite the space, make sure my daughter gets an invite to the housewarming...lol</p>
<p>If I know the boys and their gregarious outgoing natures, they will probably have met your D by the end of the first day. Hmmm, she's a she, so maybe by Noon of the first day........ :D</p>
<p>So, I'm sure that at some poit they will all cross paths....</p>
<p>yankeegirl, the blocks that riase up the beds are sold at Bed Bath and Beyond - about $10 I think. Check into registering for linens, mattress pads, blocks, etc. at home (or online), and then picking up at the Bed Bath and Beyond near UM. (It's in the same shopping area with Target and Best Buy - you'll spend a lot of time there the first few days!)</p>
<p>jdm-You may want to hold off on buying the lofts. The architecture students have fliers in the rooms and around campus when you arrive and will build lofts that are custom fit the existing beds on move-in weekend. The prices ranged from about $125-$200/ea assembled. S and RM did this and put a futon under one loft and their fridge, microwave and tv stuff under the other. The lofts were done the first day, very painless, and most of the kids that loft use them.</p>
<p>Mish..we do plan on doing that. However, since we have family in the Ft Lauderdale area we will be staying there. I am going to do the pick up there so we won't have to deal with the crowds at the stores by UM. We will be renting an SUV, and my family memebers have offered to help as well, so we will pick the stuff up in Ft Lauderdale and drive it down to Miami. Of course I am sure D will think of a million other things she needs/wants and I will end up in that shopping area you mentioned near the school anyway.</p>
<p>M3S's,</p>
<p>What a great idea about the loft beds. A couple of questions,
1. Do you know who we might contact to pre-arrange having the beds built or to find out more info?
2. The only thing I'm afraid of is that they will build them using nails or something which will make them somewhat inconvenient to break down, store, and then rebuild each summer. Do you know how they build them and how easy they are to break down and re-use?</p>
<p>Thanks for the idea, that would actually make it really easy.</p>
<p>Yankee,
We traded a timeshare week in the Lauderdale area and will be staying there from Friday the 18th through Saturday the 26th. We are going to use College Boxes I think to ship stuff down to Miami (we're in colorado) and take a bunch of stuff (carry on XBOX & smaller electronics) on the plane with us too. Renting a car/SUV/Big Rig Truck (LOL) to then get everything to dorm and enjoy the week in South florida for a little vacation.</p>
<p>JD</p>
<p>jdm-I think my S's were built with screws, a selling feature of the kids we used. I'll ask my S specifics when he calls. His 2 toughest finals are today and tomorrow, so I probably won't talk to him until the weekend. I'll get back to you then.</p>
<p>Last year we went down a week early and combined our family vacation with the dropoff. We were able to beat the shopping crowds and became so familiar with the area that by the time we left, I felt really comfortable leaving him 1500 miles from home. RM's parents did the same as you plan, vacationing the week after dropoff. They were able to stop by the school before they left for home and take the kids to WalMart for any stuff they found they still needed. It worked out perfectly except RM's parents then got stuck in Hurricane Katrina and had to spend an extra few days.:eek:</p>
<p>My older D at Brown has hard plastic bed risers that raise the bed up about 6 inches, enough to put a 15 inch high under the bed storage crate underneath. But I seem to remember from our tour of Hecht or Stanford that the beds were odd, with a built-in cushioned back to make it like a sofa, with hidden storage behind it. I don't know if the bed risers would work. Anybody else remember this from visiting? By the way, my D will be a Music Ed freshman at Miami. We are thrilled beyond belief!</p>
<p>You can always loft like my son and his suitemates did......Using concrete blocks that interlock.....bought very reasonably at Lowes....LOL</p>
<p>Spoke with S last night. He said he really appreciated having his own printer. Even though there is a computer lab in the bldg, he said it is a pain to go down and print your papers. It's much easier to make a last minute change if you don't have to run around the bldg to get to a printer. Other kids on the floor w/o printers come and use his. He also said he would have liked a comfortable desk chair and would prefer a laundry basket to a bag or hamper as it is much easier to fold clothes in the LR. All he had to do was ask :rolleyes:, but whatever, there's always next year. He also said, and I can't believe this is my S speaking, a stick vacuum would have been handy rather than having to go down and sign out a dorm vacuum (I guess this is the reason his room is barely habitable :eek: ).</p>
<p>His loft was built with screws, and he is not sure about taking them apart and reusing, but thinks you probably could. He is moving into the fraternity house and RM is moving off-campus so they are getting rid of theirs. He did say that if you stay in the same room, you can leave them up over the summer and he's not sure you would need to loft if you moved into the other dorms as the rooms are bigger. We didn't make any arrangements ahead. He just called the ph#s on the fliers when we moved him in. The arch and eng students do not work for UM, they are in business for themselves and have all the wood in the parking lots, ready to go. They have you come down with one of the carts, pick up your wood supply and bring it back to your room, and give you an approx time they will be up to assemble.</p>
<p>The beds are odd with that storage cabinet thingy, but they are not attached to it and kids do use those risers. It seems like more boys loft and more girls use the risers. We had visited UM twice, but I hadn't realized how 70's looking the furniture was until we walked into S's empty dorm room. The rooms look much better once they are "decorated". Also, the top drawer on the dressers have a lock for privacy.</p>
<p>Anyone having things shipped to UM should check their delivery acceptance policy. Last year, some people found out that UM does not accept some types of deliveries until after the student has moved in. I think they only accepted Collegeboxes.com and USPS beforehand. UPS, Fedex, etc had to be shipped to the UPS store on RT1. The specifics may have been listed in the move-in packet you will receive and you can probably check last year's move-in posts.</p>
<p>Have a great time shopping for your new rooms.</p>
<p>The plastic risers work fine with the beds in Stanford/Hecht. My daughter uses them and she has large plastic storage drawers under her bed that we purchased at Target near Dadeland Mall. Another thing that is helpful.....a rod which hooks onto the pole in the closet, making it two tiers. (She has a lot of clothes.) We purchsed it at BB&B or Linens & Things. She uses crates/boxes on the shelf in the closet to store linens.</p>
<p>If you are purchasing things in the Ft Laud area--I know Linens & Things and BB&B in northern Broward County and Southern Palm accept each other's coupons and will let you use more than one .... they also take expired coupons not too far beyond the expiration date.</p>
<p>M3S's,</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I wonder if your son might have a record of the number for the loft bed guys still hanging around (maybe buried under an old pile of unwashed clothes??) :eek: Being the planner sort, I would like to find out info before hand or even arrange things for the boys.</p>
<p>That stick vacuum idea is a great one. My S even knows how to steer a vacuum so it shouldn't be too painful a stretch to expect its use every 2 or 3 months!!!!! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>jdm-LOL, I'll check.</p>