Going off to college....

[VTPack919]

I am going to be living in a dorm, so my question to all you guys that have gone through this already, what do i need? I know all of the essential stuff but i want to be sure im not gonna forget anything.....

How was dorm life?

[mike01]

Re: Going off to college....

I'm in the last couple of weeks of my first and last year of dorm life at NC State.

Some things off the top of my head that might be easy to forget:
-All types of clothes, different types of shoes too
-Laundry detergent
-Good to have a handful of quarters for laundry and snacks
-Pens, pencils, paper
-CDs
-Laundry basket
-Bed lifters or whatever they are called so you can store stuff under your bed
-Mat thing that makes your mattress softer
-Phone charger
-Couple of sets of sheets and towels
-calculator, scissors, stapler, etc
-alarm clock

You probably already had all of this but nothing wrong with double checking. As you go through the year you'll find a need for stuff that you didn't think about before. Also you'll be able to use everyone in the rooms around you for stuff you don't have (I use everyone on my halls' microwave haha).

Lots of pros and cons to dorm life and it was a tough decision for me to live off campus my sophomore year. I love being close to my classes and able to walk there easily. I hate being cramped in a small room with a messy roommate. Good to be around a ton of people your freshmen year so its easy to make friends but I get tired of everyone coming in and out of my room all day.

If you have questions just let me know.

[VTPack919]

Re: Going off to college....

I'm in the last couple of weeks of my first and last year of dorm life at NC State.

Some things off the top of my head that might be easy to forget:
-All types of clothes, different types of shoes too
-Laundry detergent
-Good to have a handful of quarters for laundry and snacks
-Pens, pencils, paper
-CDs
-Laundry basket
-Bed lifters or whatever they are called so you can store stuff under your bed
-Mat thing that makes your mattress softer
-Phone charger
-Couple of sets of sheets and towels
-calculator, scissors, stapler, etc
-alarm clock

You probably already had all of this but nothing wrong with double checking. As you go through the year you'll find a need for stuff that you didn't think about before. Also you'll be able to use everyone in the rooms around you for stuff you don't have (I use everyone on my halls' microwave haha).

Lots of pros and cons to dorm life and it was a tough decision for me to live off campus my sophomore year. I love being close to my classes and able to walk there easily. I hate being cramped in a small room with a messy roommate. Good to be around a ton of people your freshmen year so its easy to make friends but I get tired of everyone coming in and out of my room all day.

If you have questions just let me know.

Thanks, that was what i was looking for! What visitation hours did you have in your dorm?

[mike01]

Re: Going off to college....

My dorm was kind of different but we had 24/7 visitation hours, no need to check in or anything. Guys, girls, didn't matter. I'm not too sure about the others but I'm pretty sure most of them had no real way to enforce anything like that. You should be able to check it out on the school website though, or at least by calling your future dorm. Some schools and individual dorms take it seriously. My friend at South Carolina can only have guys stay over on weekends, and they have to sign in/sign out and all that.

So if you haven't already decided what dorm you are staying in and visitation is important to you, you should probably check in to your options. Other things to think about would be obviously size of the rooms, bunk beds or no, how many people to a bathroom, coed halls, etc.

I see you're going to Va Tech, you traitor! I have some friends that go there though and they seem to really like it. Good school.

[VTPack919]

Re: Going off to college....

My dorm was kind of different but we had 24/7 visitation hours, no need to check in or anything. Guys, girls, didn't matter. I'm not too sure about the others but I'm pretty sure most of them had no real way to enforce anything like that. You should be able to check it out on the school website though, or at least by calling your future dorm. Some schools and individual dorms take it seriously. My friend at South Carolina can only have guys stay over on weekends, and they have to sign in/sign out and all that.

So if you haven't already decided what dorm you are staying in and visitation is important to you, you should probably check in to your options. Other things to think about would be obviously size of the rooms, bunk beds or no, how many people to a bathroom, coed halls, etc.

I see you're going to Va Tech, you traitor! I have some friends that go there though and they seem to really like it. Good school.

LOL, out of state tuition was too much....

[str8stuntin03]

Re: Going off to college....

LOL, out of state tuition was too much....

tell me about out of state tuition...i shoulda stayed in VA my dag on self but when i graduate next year that maryland degree will work wonders!!!

[stalsy2310]

Re: Going off to college....

drink alot of beer for me

[The GIGGAS]

Re: Going off to college....

I wish I was joining you next year at VT, man.

[ESPNdeportes]

Re: Going off to college....

Make sure to bring enough towels. You'll be showering at least once a day (hopefully) and maybe more if you go to gym or play b-ball or anything. I had some friends who had some nasty towels because they never washed em.......ugh

[HungryBologna]

Re: Going off to college....

Well to start it off you'll get stuck with a random person that you may or may not like. (We were able to pick who we wanted after our 1st year though) Ditto on the quarters and alarm clock, do your dirty *** laundry, bring/burn movies, mini-fridge is a must, Wal-Mart is your best friend, you can never have enough socks!, ramen noodles, easy mac, some kind of video game system, hangers, some posters, soap on a rope, video camera or digital... I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.

Like everyone else said.. it has its pros and cons. Living close to classes is KEY! Probably meet some good friends (I still keep in touch with most of my hall buddies after 4 years), not much privacy.. well you got anymore questions.. ask away.

[VTPack919]

Re: Going off to college....

Well to start it off you'll get stuck with a random person that you may or may not like. (We were able to pick who we wanted after our 1st year though) Ditto on the quarters and alarm clock, do your dirty *** laundry, bring/burn movies, mini-fridge is a must, Wal-Mart is your best friend, you can never have enough socks!, ramen noodles, easy mac, some kind of video game system, hangers, some posters, soap on a rope, video camera or digital... I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.

Like everyone else said.. it has its pros and cons. Living close to classes is KEY! Probably meet some good friends (I still keep in touch with most of my hall buddies after 4 years), not much privacy.. well you got anymore questions.. ask away.

Enlighten me....

What exactly is soap on a rope? Just soap on a rope?

Thanks for the input!

[Dallasin2K3]

Re: Going off to college....

Maybe it is just me, but I think dorm life on campus kicks ***. That said, I've spent three years in coed buildings and a fourth is on the way (although junior and senior year are on-campus apartments).. woooooohooooo!

Typical visitation hours for dorms are till 1 AM weekdays and 3 AM weekends.. but you can get away with that really easily.. at least I was able to.. Drinking in the dorms wasn't quite as easy but I never got written up. In the on-campus apartments, there are no rules, except no drug use and no smoking indoors.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Going off to college....

it definetly has its pros and cons.. i was stubborn enough to not leave my room to study some nights and just contiunally yell at my roommates to shut the hell up. it turned into a little war, which was fun, but studying was not acheived to its greatest potential.

lol, anyone remember what happaned to me... let me just say, you may have to knock some heads or scare some people so they dont take advantage of your stuff.. its tough sometimes, beucase its as trivial as a piece of chicken in the fridge.. do you fight about it constantly or bring it up later and have it go in their one ear and out the other.. its almost like a marriage. lol

[sportsdude]

Re: Going off to college....

probably don't want to forget the following (in addition to what's already been mentioned):

-nail clippers
-razor
-febreeze...just trust me
-some sort of string lights, like rope lights or christmas lights because the lighting in dorm rooms blow but if you put up these things your room looks a lot better
-mini fridge. don't even think about not having one.
-fan...especially if your dorm doesn't have AC.
-paper towels and all purpose cleaner...because, well, I mean you never know what nasty sh*t you might have to clean up and it's better to clean it right away than to wait until wal mart opens to get the cleaning supplies.
-extra everything: you got a couple deodorant sticks? get some more. got enough toothpaste? nope. you can never have enough of that crap, especially if mom and dad are willing to foot the bill. there's no worse feeling than going to wal-mart to stock on odds and ends and leaving the store minus $50 (especially razor blades, those things are ridiculously over priced). Because that's $50 that could be much more appropriately spent on beer. seriously.

hope that helps. oh yeah, enjoy college while you're there cause once it's gone, life will never be as much fun.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Going off to college....

I'd never live in a dorm, mainly because I dont think I could coexist with another person, and I dont think I could share a community bathroom.

That said, I have a bunch of friends who are living @ dorms and they dont seem to have any major problems.