Moving day for college can be a stressful time for both students and their parents. Hopefully our tips for moving into college will help alleviate a lot of that stress and make it a tear free experience for you both.
Here are some tips to make it go as smoothly as possible:
1. Pack and Prepare Early: Don’t wait the night before to start packing. This is a recipe for disaster. While you might want to wait before you load up the car with boxes and furniture, in most cases it is usually best to have everything ready to go well in advance. Our dorm essentials checklist will help you with packing and preparing everything you need. In general, you’ll want to have it all collected and packed up about one week in advance, which will give you ample time in case you forget anything and help reduce that last week stress.
2. Be Familiar With the Campus Rules & Process: Move-In Day for college can be one of the most hectic experiences you can imagine. There will be hundreds of cars parked outside the dorm buildings and equally a ton of other parents and students all with bewildered looks on their faces. If you know the process for moving in, any important campus rules, and where you will be going you can save yourself a lot of grief. If possible, ask an existing student who’s already gone through it to get some helpful tips on where to park and what you’ll need to do on your first day.
3. Coordinate With Your Room Mate: If you haven’t done so already, make sure you and your room mate will be there to set up the same time. You don’t want to spend hours arranging furniture or decorating for them to show up and not like it at all. You will be sharing the space together, so it is important that you both have some input on where shared items like the fridge or the microwave belong.
4. Get Everything In Your Room Before Unpacking: Before you start unpacking boxes, try and get everything in your room first. This way you won’t be sorting through school supplies while others are bringing in different things at the same time.
5. Keep Help Around as Long as You Can: You might feel the need to hurry up and get your family out of there if they are helping you move, but if they can stay and help you then you might as well take advantage of it. Enlist in family to assemble furniture, run errands, or do other tasks. You’ll be glad to have the help when the day is over.
6. Bring Snacks and Drinks: You might not have time right away to get food, and it’s possible that you won’t have your student ID card to get campus meals yet either. Packing a picnic lunch and having drinks and snacks available can help you stay on task while you are unpacking for school.
7. Practice Stress Management Techniques: There’s a good likelihood that you will be stressed out and feel overwhelmed. This could cause you to feel angry or upset at those helping you or others moving in who are also equally stressed out. While moving into school you’ll want to consider some simple relaxation techniques like counting to 10, taking a few minutes to rest or take a break, or washing your face with cool water.
University Moving Day for College doesn’t have to be a completely stressful and crazy hectic experience. If you follow these easy tips and suggestions from us who have “been there, done that” a few times both for ourselves and helping our friends, you’ll be able to make the transition to your new home away from home easily.
