High School Class of 2016/College Class 2020

[punkin]

Is anyone not moving their child in person? Dd's good friend is flying in internationally (different college, different state). She will have no one to help. I need some suggestions for her. She will literally be flying in with two suitcases.

 

[indimom]

Not sure if I already posted some of her plans, if so, sorry for the repeat. lol.

DD met her roommate during orientation and it looks like they'll get along well. At this point anyway.
They are sharing a traditional dorm room. But, the bathroom situation is a bit nicer than what I had 20+ years ago. They have communal bathrooms; but, they include multiple "pods." And each pod has a toilet, sink and shower behind a locked door. So she gets the benefit of a small private bathroom, just has to walk up the hall to use it. lol. Added bonus, she doesn't have to clean it. I think in the long run she may prefer that to the suites where cleaning is left up to the students.

She did have a required summer reading assignment which she has gotten out of the way. No paper that I remember, but she's self-motivated so she may have just not talked about it. I only know about the reading because we had to pick up the book while we were there over orientation.
DD was happy to get into the living learning community she wanted, and the biology scholars program she was interested in.

She moves in on the 25th. It's a five hour drive for us and we're borrowing my dad's pickup which has a cap on the back, so we've got plenty room and don't have to worry about rain. We only have cars and I don't think we could fit all her things into one trunk, and I don't want to take two vehicles. I'll be interested to see how much of the truck she fills and how tight the room is after they both move in. lol. Could be interesting...

 

[ski_mom]

I'm one who posted about the uhaul trailer. The only reason we need that is because we have to pickup DD and her roommate's headboards and desk hutches. We do not have a truck or anything to put them in besides the back of my car if we laid all the seats down. If we did that there wouldn't be room for all the people let alone any of her other stuff. She really doesn't have any other big stuff she's taking.

Edited to add: I personally think it's rather odd that they are getting the headboards and hutches, but apparently at her school it is VERY common for the girls to do their rooms up in a certain way which includes these items. I know it's not necessary, but it's definitely very cute and I know she and her roommate will enjoy it throughout the year. Since they were able to purchase them from friends of theirs, they actually aren't ending up being too costly either which is a huge plus.

 

[WVMomof3]

I'm one who posted about the uhaul trailer. The only reason we need that is because we have to pickup DD and her roommate's headboards and desk hutches. We do not have a truck or anything to put them in besides the back of my car if we laid all the seats down. If we did that there wouldn't be room for all the people let alone any of her other stuff. She really doesn't have any other big stuff she's taking.

Edited to add: I personally think it's rather odd that they are getting the headboards and hutches, but apparently at her school it is VERY common for the girls to do their rooms up in a certain way which includes these items. I know it's not necessary, but it's definitely very cute and I know she and her roommate will enjoy it throughout the year. Since they were able to purchase them from friends of theirs, they actually aren't ending up being too costly either which is a huge plus.

Where you the one saying you were going to Oxford? Sorry, couldn't remember. Have you seen pics of rooms at Ole Miss? They look like pages off of interior decorating magazines. Lol. I only know because I graduated from Mississippi State and my mom was just showing pics of rooms at both schools. I am going to guess that nobody at my DDs school will do that. Definitely a southern thing, I think. I just asked my DD if they could paint their rooms and she looked at me like I was crazy. We were allowed to paint the rooms any color, the school provided the paint. So even way back when I went to school, we were doing up the rooms, roommates coordinated with matching everything. Though, I think it is way more extreme now.

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, maybe I'm listening too much to my husband's cousin. She gave me a whole rundown of a million things her daughter "needs." She also spent eight hours (nope, not a typo) unpacking her daughter last year. I'm fairly confident that, once we get the van emptied out, my son will be pushing us out the door.

I think that what's throwing me off is the image of those stackable drawers that she said she brought along. And a TV. And a micro.

I guess I'm overthinking this. My son is really pretty minimalist-- give him a few pair of shorts and some T shirts, and he's fine until it starts to snow. Add in a few pair of jeans and some hoodies, and he's good all winter.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Another one here having to rent a Uhaul trailer. DD needs to take her cello, a footlocker, couple under bed containers. We just have a small suv. The bad thing for the budget is we have to put a hitch on our suv which is about $400 yikes! But once its on then all 4 yrs of DD18 and 4 yrs of younger daughters college years making trips with dorm stuff will make it worth the investment. Plus then with a hitch we can get a bike rack too.

 

[mom2rtk]

OK, maybe I'm listening too much to my husband's cousin. She gave me a whole rundown of a million things her daughter "needs." She also spent eight hours (nope, not a typo) unpacking her daughter last year. I'm fairly confident that, once we get the van emptied out, my son will be pushing us out the door.

I think that what's throwing me off is the image of those stackable drawers that she said she brought along. And a TV. And a micro.

I guess I'm overthinking this. My son is really pretty minimalist-- give him a few pair of shorts and some T shirts, and he's fine until it starts to snow. Add in a few pair of jeans and some hoodies, and he's good all winter.

My son is a senior this year. I remember struggling that first summer leading up to his freshman year. I felt like he would need lots more than he was taking. But he's a minimalist as well and just didn't feel like he needed much stuff. He still doesn't need much stuff. We fit it all in the minivan and there's still seating for 4 and we can still see out the rear view mirror. If it wasn't for his video games, we could probably move him in a compact car.

I pretty sure we'll need a bigger van, and also a U-Haul when my daughter goes to school.

They're just all different.

 

[Kimberlyann11]

DDs problem is all the kitchen stuff. She also has the euphonium, a large fan, the tv and PS4, plus all the usual stuff. At least her roommate agreed to bring the microwave - for awhile i thought we'd have that too. We were planning to do a Meijer stop when we got there, but we have limited time for move-in, so I don't think we'll be able to. We will have that car stacked like a piece of art. We just have the one car and it's not huge.

I really think she's bringing too much

 

[Aliceacc]

What is an euphonium?

 

[DawnM]

.

 

[Aliceacc]

My son is a senior this year. I remember struggling that first summer leading up to his freshman year. I felt like he would need lots more than he was taking. But he's a minimalist as well and just didn't feel like he needed much stuff. He still doesn't need much stuff. We fit it all in the minivan and there's still seating for 4 and we can still see out the rear view mirror. If it wasn't for his video games, we could probably move him in a compact car.
.

OK, so maybe if we put the container on top, both my daughters will be able to come see him off-- is that a "thing?" I know they would love to do it; it would give them a sense of where he'll be living.

I think we need to complete the shopping so we can get a real idea of what we'll be bringing.

 

[Kimberlyann11]

What is an euphonium?

A low brass instrument. This is a concert euphonium but the one she has is designed for marching. At least she doesn't have to bring the trombone and the concert instrument.

 

[mom2rtk]

OK, so maybe if we put the container on top, both my daughters will be able to come see him off-- is that a "thing?" I know they would love to do it; it would give them a sense of where he'll be living.

I think we need to complete the shopping so we can get a real idea of what we'll be bringing.

I think you should do what's best for your family. That first year our daughter also came along to see him off. My son's roommate had siblings along on move-in day. I'm sure it varies a lot. I also thought it was good for our daughter to have some visual ideas of what college and dorms were like as she ages and gets closer to that time of life herself.

 

[Kimberlyann11]

Even though we are only 2.5 hours away I want to pack up and get down there the night before move in. She has scheduled move in at 9 am- afraid if we tried to pack night before and leave early am we'd forget stuff! This way we start packing a day early, easy drive and not rush in am to get on road.

We're doing the same thing and we're only 2 hrs 15 min from campus. DD has to be there at 8 for band camp registration and I know if we try to drive it in the morning we'll be too cranky and tired to have even a semi-pleasant send off.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Interesting hearing all your stories of moving into dorms! My two aren't interested in dorm living at this time, so they're commuting. They have four options: driving, public transportation, commuter rail, and carpooling. They've been exploring all of them this summer to figure out times, traffic patterns and costs, etc. Although they're going to the same school, their schedules are very different so they'll be going in separately on most days, probably.

For graduation, DD wanted a full size bed and to do her room over. She did most of it herself, purging most of her childhood things, and made a beautiful Zen-like space which she loves! I think she'll get a lot of work done there without a lot of stress. She'll keep the jobs she loves and with which makes good money. (Her goal is to buy a condo she has her eye on shortly after college graduation, which we wholeheartedly support!) We started a while ago making sure she isn't relying on us, so she's been taking care of business matters herself and doing her own laundry, cooking for herself, etc. She's already figured out where all her classes are and knows the campus well as she's been going there since she was in middle school. She's still getting involved in activities at school - she's attending a party before school starts and enrolled in the gym this summer, etc. She's happy. DS is still heavily involved in summer sports and working too, but he's chipping away at things, as well. Both are happy with their choices, but we'll continue to re-evaluate as time goes on. He'll be playing his sport in college so his days will be long, but he's up for the challenge.

Who else is commuting?

 

[gemini2727]

Interesting hearing all your stories of moving into dorms! My two aren't interested in dorm living at this time, so they're commuting. They have four options: driving, public transportation, commuter rail, and carpooling. They've been exploring all of them this summer to figure out times, traffic patterns and costs, etc. Although they're going to the same school, their schedules are very different so they'll be going in separately on most days, probably.

For graduation, DD wanted a full size bed and to do her room over. She did most of it herself, purging most of her childhood things, and made a beautiful Zen-like space which she loves! I think she'll get a lot of work done there without a lot of stress. She'll keep the jobs she loves and with which makes good money. (Her goal is to buy a condo she has her eye on shortly after college graduation, which we wholeheartedly support!) We started a while ago making sure she isn't relying on us, so she's been taking care of business matters herself and doing her own laundry, cooking for herself, etc. She's already figured out where all her classes are and knows the campus well as she's been going there since she was in middle school. She's still getting involved in activities at school - she's attending a party before school starts and enrolled in the gym this summer, etc. She's happy. DS is still heavily involved in summer sports and working too, but he's chipping away at things, as well. Both are happy with their choices, but we'll continue to re-evaluate as time goes on. He'll be playing his sport in college so his days will be long, but he's up for the challenge.

Who else is commuting?

We are close enough for my DD to commute, but with the usual traffic around here, it would be an hour + commute each way (and maybe more?) so she is going to dorm, at least as a freshman. I didn't want to add that stress during her first year. It kills me though, because room and board is way more expensive than our state tuition!

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Expect very long lines during move in weekend at the big box stores such as Walmart and Target if you are going to be at a large college campus. For my oldest daughter, the line at Target was literally wrapped around 2/3 of the store. It was quite comical. I wish I still had pictures. They did, however, have portable registers which increased the number of check-outs. It was quite possibly the craziest thing I have ever seen!

Be sure to save money by getting textbooks at an online discount supplier like Chegg. We have saved hundreds by not shopping at the traditional school bookstore.

 

[Kimberlyann11]

Anyone else's kids have "homework"? My DD has a required reading book. I believe it is for every Freshman to read, but since she is in the Honor's College, I think she also has to write a paper on it before 1st class. She also had to do an online Financial Seminar and an online Alcohol awareness Seminar. She has started packing, and I am so glad we live close! I feel for everyone that has a far drive or even a flight. Not sure how that is done. I think she is bringing way too much, we will see what actually fits in her room. She is bringing way too many clothes, but I think she doesn't want to leave stuff behind for her sister to wear. lol 1 week left till move in!

DD doesn't have any academic homework, but she has to memorize 9 pieces. They need to send videos of them playing the pieces in three-piece chunks - no cuts or editing. They have to have the camera at least six feet from them to avoid cheating. She got the music a little later than the other kids so she's really trying to hustle. Wednesday, she worked on the first video until she had it perfect, she went to review it and found that she forgot to turn on the microphone. Oops. She was able to get another take that was okay - but she's upset about the perfect one. I told her that they don't need it to be perfect, they just want to know where everybody's at before they start. The other six pieces are much easier so she should be able to get those done and out the door in time.

 

[zoemurr]

I think you should do what's best for your family. That first year our daughter also came along to see him off. My son's roommate had siblings along on move-in day. I'm sure it varies a lot. I also thought it was good for our daughter to have some visual ideas of what college and dorms were like as she ages and gets closer to that time of life herself.

We are bringing her teenaged brother.. but mostly so he can help carry stuff and loft the bed. She will only be about a 1/2 hour away though and we know we will have another trip up very soon as her laptop will not arrive before move in day. I'm sure she'll have another list of stuff for us to bring. She got new bedding but other than that really has no interest in decorating.

 

[mom2rtk]

We are bringing her teenaged brother.. but mostly so he can help carry stuff and loft the bed. She will only be about a 1/2 hour away though and we know we will have another trip up very soon as her laptop will not arrive before move in day. I'm sure she'll have another list of stuff for us to bring. She got new bedding but other than that really has no interest in decorating.

That all makes a difference. Our son's school is 3 1/2 hours away and he doesn't have a car. And not really walking distance to any big retailers. So we tried hard not to miss anything.