By now I’m sure you’ve read one of the hundreds of packing lists on the internet, and you’ve hopefully read the policies for your residence hall or apartment (if you haven’t- go do that first). You’re either confident in your packing list or more confused than ever.
And that’s where this list comes in! Hopefully this will clarify some of the items you should and shouldn’t bring for a successful freshman year move-in.
10 Things You Definitely Need-
- Headphones- and back up headphones for when you lose the first pair
- Portable fan
- Collapsible drying rack- for the things you can’t dry/don’t want to shrink
- Handheld clothes steamer
- Portable charger for your backpack/bag
- Mini stapler/staple remover combo- this will be a life saver if you forget to staple your work before arriving to class
- A comfy mattress topper
- 6 foot (or longer) phone charger- you never know how close your bed will be to the outlets
- ALL the command strips- think you’ve got enough command strips? Buy more
- An extra set of bed sheets- go ahead and swap your sheets before you throw the dirty ones in the wash. There’s nothing worse than being ready for bed and your sheets are still in the washer
Honorable mentions: Spare car key, Ethernet cable, hanging shoe organizer (bonus points if it’s double sided- hang over the bathroom door for toiletries on one side and shoes on the other), insurance cards
10 Things You Definitely Don’t-
- Iron/Ironing Board- steaming clothes is easier anyways
- Your entire wardrobe- swap your clothes when the seasons change, you don’t need 15 sweaters in August
- Every pair of shoes you own- how many pairs of shoes do you actually wear?
- All of your high school t-shirts/hoodies- Free t-shirts are a huge perk in college. Student organizations, programming, giveaways- you’ll wind up with entirely too many t-shirts and not enough drawer space
- Lots of dorm decor and knickknacks- you won’t spend as much time at your desk as you might think and you’ll probably never use your dorm decor again once you move out
- Dress clothes- outside of sorority/fraternity recruitment and events or class presentations, you won’t really need these
- New hardback textbooks- if you can opt for a used paperback or even downloadable electronic version, it’ll save you money and weight in your backpack
- Duplicates of things provided by housing- chairs, desk, furniture
- A printer- there are plenty of places to print things on campus, save your money and your desk space by leaving the extra printer at home
- A tool kit- You won’t need a hammer and nails to decorate your space, and any other repairs likely need to be handled by campus maintenance anyways. If something needs fixing, contact your RA or the maintenance office
Honorable mentions: notebooks/binders- check your syllabus to see if your professor requires these since most things are digital nowadays
Of course, you should still read through those detailed packing lists and policies to know exactly what is allowed in your residence hall/apartment. This is not intended to be an all inclusive list, but after speaking with current and former students, these were the most common answers. I hope you find this helpful and we can’t wait to see you on campus soon!
