<p>Don't bring more than a couple of pleasure reading books. You really won't have much time to read them.</p>
<p>Really? That's sad. Though, I guess, even if you did like to read a lot there's always the college library...</p>
<p>if you don't normally wear something at home, DON'T bring it to college. you won't wear it, trust me. everyone dresses much more casual and everyone understands you don't always have to go to class dressed in jeans and a nice shirt. PJ's are fine for early morning classes and breakfast and brunch. no joke. unnecessary clothes is just annoying after awhile.</p>
<p>i'd say extra reading. i didn't bring any, not that i had any b/c i'm not a "reader", but many of my friends did and haven't gotten anything done as far as extra reading goes. you have enough from classes.</p>
<p>something some people don't bring most of the time b/c they think its useless is sports stuff, like a basketball, frisbee, football, soccer ball. given, rec ceters have them sometimes, but its much more convenient to have one in you room. plus, you can meet a lot of people that way. </p>
<p>"hey who has a soccer ball?"
"oh, so and so has one."
"sweet, lets go see if they want to play."</p>
<p>next thing you know you're hot s**t....ok a little exagerration. but you'll never have to find anyone or borrow. that's if you like sports a lot, like muah.</p>
<p>hehe current student, it's spelled moi en francais. the first time I read your post I read it as Muah like a kiss hehe</p>
<p>ditto to equine, haha</p>
<p>I have 2 pairs of tennis shoes, and a pair of dress shoes at school. And shower shoes, that's all I really need.</p>
<p>There's free time in college. If you wish to spend some of your free time reading, you certainly can.</p>
<p>haha. i know, but its more fun to spell it like muah...as you can see.</p>
<p>So...how much of the stuff in the big Alphabetical List ( <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=82285%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=82285</a> ) do you think is actually necessary? </p>
<p>Obviously, the list is meant to be of everything one could possibly want at college, rather than one of what ONE student must bring (hammer, anyone?), but the question is--WHICH ones are useful and which ones are mostly dumb? </p>
<p>What about, say a sofa? Or a hot pot? Anyone find a water pitcher or George Forman Grill helpful? Good idea or useless clutter?</p>
<p>well, most electric stuff like a hot pot or toster etc isn't allowed at my school. no room for a sofa, but if there were it would be awesome. I would say you don't need that much cleaning stuff. paper towels are great, and fabreeze is a life saver, a hand vaccume would be awesome too.</p>
<p>I do have to say about the clothing thing, that I find my self wishing 'd brought some things that I left (like going out clothes). I didn't wear them at home cause there weren't frat parties to go to, but at school I wish I'd brought the sexier stuff which I didn't ever used to wear. Bring your fav. DVD's too--it's nice to have stuff to watch w/ friends.</p>
<p>I never use my CD's. since I have all of my music on my computer and ipod, I find that I never use my physical cd's.</p>
<p>I will also say that I have used my screwdriver/hammer (the top is a hammer, bottom unscrewes to be a screwdriver) hehe, so yeah. </p>
<p>Oh, I also brought like 5 reems of paper, and I've barely used one up.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, gotta agree about the CDs. I finally just took them home one weekend and left them.</p>
<p>if you have space in your room, a futon is a great thing to have for guests to sit while watching a movie or something. Most electric appliances aren't allowed in dorm rooms, but you can usually get away with it anyhow - I have a hot pot in my room and I've used it SO many times. So don't assume that if one person on this thread says you don't need it, nobody needs it. Everybody's got different needs.</p>
<p>Ket, there are libraries and bookstores if you need more light reading- but dorm rooms are small, and most of my friends who came with piles of books haven't touched the vast majority of them- there's just too much mandatory reading :).</p>
<p>Yeah, that makes sense. I hear that in college you have more time, but it makes sense that because you already spend so much of it reading REQUIRED stuff, when you take a break you really feel like doing something else. :P</p>
<p>i brought a little tool set, which is a great thing to have if you live in your own house, but useless if you live in a tiny dorm room that you're hardly ever in anyway. it had a hammer, a few screwdrivers, a tape measure, and a couple other things in it.</p>
<p>i disagree with all the comments about the shoes though, but it really depends on where you are.. i'm in manhattan and i brought 10 pairs of shoes, all of which i've worn multiple times.. because i go out in the city a lot. but i can see if you're in, well, not manhattan you might only wear sneakers and flip flops, or something.</p>
<p>you would be surprised how many people use a hammer. I have one in my tool kit at school. A couch is great if you have room, though freshmen year you probably won't.</p>
<p>the George Foreman Grill is very good if you are going to cook. If you are on a "enough meals for you per week" meal plan from the dinning hall, and you aren't cooking, them obviously you don't need one, but if you have 60 meals for the semester from the dining hall, you will have to get some of your meals by other means. I also have a water filter/pitcher.</p>
<p>I'll disagree about the desk lamp, I use mine all the time. My roommate and I sleep on different schedules, especially when I have a paper due that week. It's a lot more considerate to use a desk lamp if you're working in the room rather than using the overhead light. We both use desk lamps; they can be a life saver if one of you is working and one of you needs to sleep.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your answers, you guys! They're really useful to me (and, I'm guessing, other people who have the same questions). </p>
<p>Thats interesting--the different opinions about hammer and the grill and the lamp, I mean. I guess it really differs from college to college, etc... </p>
<p>Heh, I want to bring a ton of stuff--I'm the kind of person who WAY OVERPACKS--but dorms are just so TINY. I lived in this dorm once and there was no room for any kind of sofa or anything. D: And I want to bring a grill/hot pot but I'm afraid of it stinking up the room when I use it. :/</p>
<p>By the way, do most people have microwaves or are those usually found nearby somewhere?</p>
<p>Also--something else just occurred to me. I've had people tell me not to bring certain items--not because they're not useful or cool, but because they're expensive and likely to be stolen. For example, one of those stereo things you plug iPods into. They also tell me to bring something to LOCK my laptop into when I leave the room.</p>
<p>Good advice or paranoid? What are your guys' opinions on expensive stuff, theft, etc?</p>
<p>Microwave=good=hot water maker (tea, hot cocoa), poped corn, soup, TONS of stuff.</p>
<p>I would say talk to your roommate and find out if you guys agree on the whole locking the room thing. If you both care about locking the room like a maniac (like I do with my roomie), and if you trust your roomie, go ahead and bring whatever makes you happy--but if you either don't trust your roomie or they think the room should just be open, leave the stuff at home.</p>
<p>I always lock my laptop. Just seems safer. Sometimes my roommates leave the door unlocked while they take a shower, so I just feel more comfortable having it locked up. It won't stop someone who really wants it, but it will make it more difficult for them.</p>
<p>I disagree about the shoes. I brought like 20 pairs and have worn all of them. I usually have like 6 pairs by my bed because I wear different ones in the same day and don't put them back because I'm just going to change back later. I guess it depends on how much you like shoes, but I wish I had more with me. It was sad to leave so many behind.</p>
<p>valuable stuff, I brought alot of rather valuable things (eg, laptop,TV, PS2, digital cameras, Ipod and ipod stereo, some expensive clothes/shoes, my fancy shoes i've worn once so far to a semi-formal frat party, and other things) and I feel totally safe because my roommate and I agreed on a strict policy of always locking the door when no one is in the room. If you get someone who is as neurotic as you are about locking the door, then you shouldnt have to fear about having valuable things.</p>