Essential Items:

       What to bring:

1.       A laptop or a desktop computer. To keep up with the work load you will most likely need one of these. 

2.       Wall décor. Like I said before, living in an empty room makes the move away from home difficult. Try to bring posters and plenty of pictures of your family.

3.       Totes to carry laundry and your bathroom essentials. College dorms have public restrooms and there often isn’t enough space for you to leave your stuff in the bathroom, so you need a tote bag or container to carry it around. Laundry, likewise, will require a possibly collapsible tote.

4.       Power strips and extension cords. You will need to plug in tons of appliances, from lamps and computers to cell phones and mp3 players. Having at least one power strip and an extension cord will allow you to plug these in, no matter where they are in your room.

What to buy:

1.       A desk chair. Most college dorms have desks, but few have desk chairs. You can often easily and inexpensively purchase an ergonomic desk chair from your local superstore.

2.       A mattress topper. Dorm room beds are usually springy and worn. Used by tens of students, the mattresses are usually hard and uncomfortable to sleep in.  A 3-5” padded mattress topper of either feather or foam composition usually makes sleep possible.

3.       A large rack or shelves. You will probably need a place to organize your books or papers, if not a place to store stuff.

4.       A bed-in-a-bag set. For obvious reasons, college dorms don’t come with mattress covers and comforters. Rather than buying the components individually (at a premium), I would buy one or two bed-in-a-bag sets.

What to ship to yourself:

1.       A love seat. If you prefer reading in your room or if you will be having friends over at your room, you will probably want a love seat.

        What to bring:

1.       A bicycle. Often our dorms are not close to campus. A lot of students choose to bike to campus and most colleges even have bike stands.

2.       An over-the-door shoe rack. This one probably applies more for women, who can have tons of shoes, than men, who usually have not more than a few. When crammed into a small room, possibly with a roommate, space is often an issue. Something that’s over your door doesn’t waste usable floor space.

3.       An iron. You can either borrow or purchase an iron, if you need one. Most times people don’t spend the time to iron their outfits, but if you dress up, it’s always nice to have wrinkle-free clothes.

What to buy:

1.       A large rug. The first few months away from home make college life especially difficult. Students who cope quickest usually make their rooms more homely by adding warm touches like rugs to cover the (usually) linoleum floors.

2.       A clothes rack. Unless you prefer to have your clothes in drawers, you will probably need to purchase a rack or a bar to fit in a corner of your room, because most colleges only have a drawer space. For my room, I purchased a wooden bar and various adhesive-mounting accessories from Home Depot to support the wooden bar in a corner of my room.

3.       Body pillows. These are usually good for sleeping and for lounging on your bed.

4.       A Bulletin board or a whiteboard. I have noticed that having a bulletin board or a whiteboard to keep track of your time commitments makes life a lot easier. If not to keep track of appointments, a whiteboard can be used for making sketches or solving problems.

5.       A small tool kit. Whether it is assembling a chair or putting up posters, a tool kit is always handy.

6.       A full length mirror. Depending on your lifestyle, you may want to consider having a full-length mirror in your room.

7.       A coffee maker. This may or not be available in your dorm’s common kitchen. It’s just good to have because, depending on how many people share your room, you may have to wait for coffee in the morning. That is of course assuming you don’t want to pay a premium at your local coffee house.

8.       A refrigerator. Though college dorms usually have refrigerators and microwaves, they are usually either full or far. Sometimes (depending on your dorm) you might even find your food missing. Having your own personal fridge and microwave can make life a lot easier.

What to ship to yourself:

1.    Lighting. Many college dorms are lit by fluorescent tubes, which are unpleasing to the eye. For extended work, especially at night, I would recommend buying desk lamps and standing lamps for your room.