<p>Ahh yes, a Brita water filter, mattress pad, and medicine, all mentioned above, very smart to have indeed!</p>
<p>Half of the top drawer in my dresser was purely medicine and the like. Tylenol, antihistamines, throat drops, cough drops, Visine, tussin, etc. And were they all needed? Oh yes. Very much so.</p>
<p>An extra Kleenex box, travel packs of Kleenex, and Clorox wipes. I wiped down all surfaces -top of the dresser, desk, printer, laptop, microwave, fridge, all handles like doorknobs, room key, phone, card- at least once a week. Oh, and hand sanitizer! Have a bottle in your room and a mini one for your backpack. I don’t do all this extra sanitizing stuff at home but it sure does help in college because you do NOT want to get sick. I was sick for a month late in the fall and it sucked.</p>
<p>I lived in a smaller back hallway of my dorm and we knew everyone in that hallway. We’d leave the door unlocked if at least one of us was in there or if we had to step out for a minute to go to the bathroom. If neither of us were around or when we were sleeping, we definitely locked it.</p>
<p>Some dorms have movable furniture so you can use bed risers which are great. Other dorms like Kins and some of Jester and Moore-Hill have both immovable and movable furniture depending on the room. Bring risers anyway and you’ll see if you can use them once you see your room. </p>
<p>It doesn’t matter too much about the alarm. Just try to make it loud enough so you can hear but not obnoxious to your roommate. And don’t slam the door or talk on the phone or play loud music while they’re asleep. Common courtesy stuff of course. But you both know an alarm is necessary so it’s understandable</p>