College Preparation: Did I miss anything?

[Jester]

Create a spreadsheet with serial numbers, model, name, etc on it, and $$ price.
Record your laptop's sn on that spreadsheet. Along with radio and other stuff above $50.

Print it out and leave copy at home? Keep copy in filing cabinet in your dorm room. If some schmuck takes your lappy, you can file report with cops & RA asap.

One good place to keep it would be online. Maybe just a draft in your email account or a file stashed away on a website of yours. So that even if they steal your laptop or something untoward happens to it, you can still access your inventory without, say, waking your parents at 3 am to retrieve it.

Just at thought.

[Shpepper]

I just thought of one more thing and I'm not sure if someone else mentioned it or not so I will. A Sewing kit: needles, thread, buttons, safety pins, masking tape (for a quick hem that won't leave lots of sticky on your clothes), scissors and clear nail polish.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I just thought nof one more thing and I'm not sure if someone else mentioned it or not so I will. A Sewing kit: needles, thread, buttons, safety pins, masking tape (for a quick hem that won't leave lots of sticky on your clothes), scissors and clear nail polish.

Mine came in handy several times for sewing buttons back on my coat and my work pants.

When winter comes, a humidifier may really come in handy. It was damn dry in my apartment every winter.

[Shpepper]

Mine came in handy several times for sewing buttons back on my coat and my work pants.

When winter comes, a humidifier may really come in handy. It was damn dry in my apartment every winter.

If all you ever used it for was that, it was still worth it to have it. Another trick for temp replacement of a button is a twisty tie that comes with plastic bags. strip the paper off the wire and feed it through the button and your clothes.. works for a short time only but it's better than nothing sometimes.

[trailerparkmedic]

I want to second the duct tape and small tool kit. Also, a small medical kit (bandaids, neosporin, etc) and food that you can store at room temperature and cook in a microwave.

You also may want to consider one of those foldy camp chairs. Dorms never seem to have enough space to sit, and it will keep at least one person off the floor!

[Der Cute]

List:

1. First aid kit
2. Duct tape
3. Sewing kit (size of a deck of cards)
4. wd-40
5. Microwave
6. leatherman
7. flipflops
8. flashlight
9. alarm clock (besides the phone!)
10. surge protector
11. inventory
12. plate, knives, cup, fork, spoon


Good luck
cutenoob

[McGoddess09]

Thank you all for the advice. I have basically everything I need. As for the other stuff, I'm gonna wait to see if I truly need it. As Jester said, my dorm experience will be different. I was just seeing what everyone would say in common.

Again, I really appreciate the advice and support. In 22 days, I have to move in and it's gonna be a hard day. I have to be at the college by 8 am, so I can spend more time with my family before they kick them out so I can do orientation. My little sister has already began the crying. She didn't want to go school supply shopping with my mom and I because she said it reminds her that I will be leaving soon.

I will be coming home every third weekend of the month, except during the winter, which may be a bit more difficult. I told my sister that any weekend that mom lets her, she can come stay the night.

My schedule is crazy!

Mondays: Speech 8 am-9:52; English 12 pm-12:52; History lecture 2 pm-2:52; Psychology 3 pm-4:18

Tuesdays: Math 2:30 pm-3:52

Wednesdays: History discussion 11 am-11:52; English 12 pm-12:52; History lecture 2 pm- 2:52; Psychology 3 pm-4:18

Thursdays: Math 2:30 pm-3:52

Fridays : English 12 pm-12:52

14 credits! I am a full time student! W00t!

[BookstoreEscapee]

:52? :18? That's weird... My school's classes were always like 1:00 to 1:50, or 1:30-2:20, or if they were two days a week they were like 1:00-2:15 or 2:30-3:45.

[Bandit]

9. alarm clock (besides the phone!)

Couple of clock options - I know that's the hardest part of college/uni - getting up at different times every day.

Set this one for every day on it's own schedule.

And these are clocks that will always be correct when they are first set up correctly.

I know I sound like Doc Brown, but the first key to getting through college is to first be able to GET to class in the first place.

And yeah - Good Luck!

B

[Jester]

I told my sister that any weekend that mom lets her, she can come stay the night.

Make sure you check with the dorm on their rules about overnight guests. Not that I think you should abide by them if you say your sister can't stay, but so you know how to get around them if they say that!

Also, make sure you check with your roommate about such overnights. The worst person to piss off in college is the person who shares your living space!

My schedule is crazy!

A couple things about this.

First, make sure you know not only where your classes are, but also the best way to get from one to the other. I say this because you have many spots in your class schedule where you only have 8 minutes from the end of one class to the beginning of the next. I don't know how big your campus is, but even on a small campus, it can be time-consuming to get out of one building, across campus, and into another building...especially if the winters there are the way that has been described here. I had to deal with some short breaks at ASU, where we don't even deal with snow or ice, there is rarely rain, the campus is very bike-friendly, and the campus is self-contained, rather than being spread throughout town.

The second thing is a suggestion: night classes. Or I should say, night class. I found in my time at ASU that, when possible, making one of my classes each semester a night class was very beneficial. It cleared up a lot of time in the rest of my schedule and it was only one night a week. Of course, since it WAS only one night a week, we did a lot more per session, and the classes were each 3 hours long. So if you do go the night class route, I recommend that you do so with classes that are interesting to you, not something that could potentially put you to sleep.

And whatever else happens, remember the one absolute rule of dorm life: when you send the person who is of age or has a good fake ID to the store to buy booze for you and your friends, it is customary for y'all to purchase an additional six-pack or small bottle of whatever the buyer's preference is as their reward. Since, you know, they're not supposed to be buying alcohol for underaged people in the first place.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Heh, my college's class schedule allowed 10-15 minutes (assuming you had back-to-back classes) between classes (depending on whether it was M-W-F or Tu-Th); that was enough time for me to get all the way across campus if need be.

One semester my friend and I had two classes in a row, in the same room, with the same professor (Medieval Lit and History of the English Language - we also got to read Beowulf in both classes, though not at the same time. In two different translations, even, since HEL was a senior-level majors-only class, and Medieval Lit was available to non-majors as well). The first day of class, we were sitting in the front row right in front of the prof's table (he was my favorite prof); Medieval Lit ended and everyone got up to leave. The prof, my friend and I just stayed in our seats.

[AdminAssistant]

Also, make sure you check with your roommate about such overnights. The worst person to piss off in college is the person who shares your living space!

This, this, this

I had a roomie who would let her skank of a friend stay over all the time, without asking me. The one who said to my face that she thought anyone getting an arts related degree was "wasting their time and state money". And they'd stay up till 1 am on school nights talking and shit. gaahhhh!!! Happily, that roomie decided to get an apartment with skank friend around Spring Break, so I got to solo the rest of the year. Score!

Oh, and since Jester has already mentioned the booze thing, check with the rules on how and when the RA's inspect your room. Chances are you'll be inspected once or twice a semester, and they may or may not give you a warning depending on the college, the state, and how cool your RA is. At my university, during an inspection they couldn't open any drawers to rifle through your stuff. I kept my liquor in a lunch box, in my closet. Not that I would encourage such activities but be aware that they can and do check out rooms and bust you for what they find. Which, I think is ridiculous, since they allow booze at the frat parties but *grumble mumble grumble mumble*

[McGoddess09]

I can have my sister overnight and my roommate is cool with it, as she will be going home every weekend to work. She lives 45 min away from the college, so too far to commute, but can still go home every weekend.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Not that I would encourage such activities but be aware that they can and do check out rooms and bust you for what they find. Which, I think is ridiculous, since they allow booze at the frat parties but *grumble mumble grumble mumble*

Wow. We didn't get inspected; we were expected to act like adults and our rooms were our rooms. The only inspection was after moving out to check for damage. The rules on alcohol were that we could have it in our rooms as long as everyone in the room was over 21. As long as you didn't cause of trouble, they wouldn't say anything.

[Jester]

We were not supposed to have alcohol in our dorm rooms if we were underage, which most of us were, but as long as we didn't cause trouble or were really obvious about it, most of the RA's were pretty cool about the whole thing. The only room inspections I remember for my own room (I rarely caused trouble!) was end of the semester for damages and whatnot.

Heh, my college's class schedule allowed 10-15 minutes (assuming you had back-to-back classes) between classes (depending on whether it was M-W-F or Tu-Th); that was enough time for me to get all the way across campus if need be.

Different campuses are different. I often had only ten minutes between classes, but ASU's campus is not exactly small....and it was rather congested with pedestrians, bicyclists, and roller bladers. And there were areas where you were not supposed to ride your bike (not that that usually stopped most of us, of course). And that was in the late Eighties/early Nineties. The campus is bigger and even more congested now....I can only imagine how tough it is to have a class on one end of campus let out and then have ten minutes to get out of the building, get to your bike, unlock it, get rolling, get through traffic, get to the building of your next class, find a parking spot for your bike (no easy feat with all the bikes on campus!), lock the bike up, and get into your classroom on time.

McG, I hope your campus is a lot smaller and less congested than mine was....especially since I doubt a bike is an efficient mode of transit during the winter months up there!