<p>My roommate last year brought about that many. It definitely took up a ton of her closet space and she could never find the ones she really wanted to wear, anyway. It seemed really excessive to me. You really need (for girls, anyway, guys I don’t know about and I would assume aren’t going to go overboard on shoes, anyway): one or two pairs of athletic/walking shoes; one or two pairs of flip flops, plus a pair of cheap rubber ones for shower shoes; a pair of nice heels for interviews/church/going out/whatever; slippers (optional); a pair of winter boots (if the climate requires). You don’t need thirteen pairs of ballet flats or ten pairs of heels. You won’t wear them, and they take up a ton of space.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would advise both hiding it and writing yourself a note saying how much is in your stash. Count it periodically and make sure it matches up with what’s on the note.</p>
<p>For girls:
You definitely don’t need to go overboard on jeans and shoes (about 5 pairs of nice jeans and for shoes: black pumps, black flats, flip flops, brown and black boots, wellies, uggs, and 1-2 cute pairs are all you’ll need for most schools)
but shirts dresses and skirts are another story! you want enough cute going out tops and tailgating dresses that you don’t really have to repeat much while in the same groups of people. you also want to have an array of nice skirts and blouses, or conservative dresses, because you never know when an impromptu job offer of career fair will come around.
i definitely did not have enough going out tops my first year and had to do major shopping fall break!
but i did bring too many jeans and too many t-shirts! also you can never have enough leggings or nike shorts, since you’ll wear them a lot and cant wear them more than once without washing.</p>
<p>as for the question about purses, etc… i always have my purse and phone on me. i only brought purses that cost under $500 and can be easily replaced (vintage chanel = a no no!!!) i dont mind leaving things in my room because my roommate and i are good about locking the door, and i trust her to respect my things. i bought a laptop lock and never used it because there was no need. when i was in the library, i just asked a friend to watch it while i used the restroom and it was safe in my room because we locked the door</p>
<p>I was thinking about mentioning this, as I rarely wore a lot of the t-shirts I brought. However, there was a time and place for every t-shirt I brought, so it would be hard for me to bring less. Same thing with shoes. There were times for decent waterproof sandals (beach), cheap waterproof sandals (shower), classy sandals, dress shoes, casual sneakers/shoes, running shoes, basketball shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, high-traction shoes (for ice), cheap shoes, party shoes (aka good looking shoes that you don’t mind getting them soaked in booze), and hiking boots. There are few overlaps here (maybe you could get away with running shoes doubling as gym or tennis or high traction shoes or cheap shoes overlapping with party shoes), so it’s really a problem. </p>
<p>I am still borderline about how many t-shirts and shoes I’m going to bring.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Don’t bring clothes you don’t already wear at home. Seriously. If it’s useless now, it will remain useless.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t buy a winter coat until you get there.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Some obvious ones:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Don’t bring toiletries, don’t bring those lotions you have but rarely use in your bathroom at home, etc. Buy them as you need them.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t bring uncomfortable shoes. Duh.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t bring more than a few books/DVDs/etc. from home, because time is short, space is tight, and your school has a library.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t bring a TV if your school provides internet TV access.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t bring decorations/rugs/curtains/etc. unless you know both the tastes of your roommate(s) and the precise measurements and policies of your dorm.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>@senior09-i had to get an adapter that allows headphones to fit to use my keyboard during a piano class. theyre really inexpensive(under $5), so if you are willing to use the space go to radio shack or like store for one.</p>
<ul>
<li>Too many shoes</li>
<li>Too many t-shirts</li>
</ul>
<p>I disagree with:</p>
<ul>
<li>a TV (some of us like watching things when they air and not a day later)</li>
<li>Many DVDs</li>
<li>Toiletries (it’s just as easy to bring them as it is to buy them, and you probably already own them)</li>
<li>Decorations etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Bluemerald, freshman year, I kept my wallet in a my room during the day and just carried around my key and ID. This was intended to keep myself from spending money on unnecessary things. I just left it in an unlocked drawer, and nothing bad ever happened. I trusted my roommate. Plus, our door locked automatically, and the bathroom was right next door, so no one could sneak in. And while I used my laptop lock for the first couple of months, I eventually stopped.</p>
<p>Now I carry my wallet with me throughout the day, and my iPod too, but that has nothing to do with the possibility of theft. It’s just that my days are busier, and I don’t like running back to my room all the time.</p>
<p>As for your question about buying paper, you’ll probably end up using the school printers a lot more often than you use your own, so you don’t need to stock up on computer paper.</p>
<p>Another thing not to bring (but will depend on the person): too much jewelry. I bought a special jewelry box just for school so I could bring the everyday pieces that I like wearing. But I hardly ever bothered to put anything on besides my ring, so that was kind of a waste of money. And definitely don’t bring nice/expensive jewelry. </p>
<p>Definitely make sure you know what comes with your dorm room. All rooms will have a desk, a chair, storage space, and a bed with a mattress. All my rooms have had mirrors, although I bought one before I moved in freshman year. It turned out to be unnecessary, and transporting it turned out to be quite a hassle. However, in my experience, not all rooms have trash bins. Before you go out and buy one, though, see if housing services will provide one for you.</p>
<p>I guess this is really a person to person thing. I don’t watch TV much, especially when i have to pay for cable, so that’s not an option. But I do watch a lot of DVDs, so that was a must for me. I hate packing toiletries, and I like to start fresh with new ones, so that’s something I buy there. I have a roommate that I want to plan the room with, so decorations will wait as well.</p>
<p>-check first with your school to see if you can bring those “octopus” lamps before you buy one and schlep it to school (the ones from target with the multiple lights coming out of the top). a lot of freshmen had to be turned away, as having those in the dorms were considered a fire hazard. </p>
<p>-a mirror. usually the dorm rooms have a full length mirror on one of the doors, but again, check with the school</p>
<p>-your samurai swords. my friend did since he is a national and international kung fu champ. he quickly took them home the first break that he could</p>
<p>i was one of those freshmen that brought absolutely every single article of clothing i owned (i lived in a single with 2 closets so thats how it worked out). bad mistake, especially when i had to pack it up to move out at the end of the year. i definitely paired down for sophomore year</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy who owned that many pairs of shoes.</p>
<p>As to the purses and cell phones and i-pods, I keep my i-pod in my room, and my purses too, though most of those came from Target and didn’t cost much anyways. The cell phone I keep on me with my license, school ID, credit/debit cards, and cash in an All-In-One Wristlet from Vera Bradley, though freshman year I just stuck these in a zippered compartment of my backpack.</p>
<p>I know someone said don’t bring a safe, but a lock box is a great investment. I keep extra cash (in case of emergencies aka losing your wallet, etc), passport, etc.</p>
<p>I’m a girl and the fact that someone would consider bringing a $500 purse to campus (or why someone of a college age would even have a purse that cost that much money) made me facepalm. </p>
<p>I think it’s difficult to make universal statements about what each person should bring to college. Some, of course, should obviously be left at home (like the weapons and the thirty pairs of shoes). Some are harder to generalize. For example, I read constantly and everywhere I can. Even when I was busy studying for classes in high school (which was a lot of time), I made time for personal reading. Leaving my books at home would be anathema to me. I certainly don’t plan to bring my entire library, but I know I won’t be satisfied with just one or two of my favorites.</p>
<p>If you have a single and are willing to forgo extra seating, you may be able to fit it. But in the same amount of space, you could instead have a foam flip couch to sleep guests, etc. So it depends on your priorities. My son brought an Oxygen and a pop-up keyboard stand, and then stored it when he wasn’t using it. Because the keys aren’t weighted, it is really only good for theory and composing the odd thing. The weight of the stage piano (yamaha) made it just too big when he was in a double room, because it would have been a pain in the but to collapse the permanent style stand to store under the bed each day.But I guess it really depends on your dorm dimensions.</p>