Stuff She'll Need In the Dorm

Things that you don’t think about that she probably will need at some point:
Tape (don’t know why, but I could never find mine)
Scissors (Why didn’t I buy them? No clue.)
A vacuum cleaner, or access to one.
Over-the-door hooks (can make a little extra space for towels and such over the door when it’s at a premium)
Air popcorn popper, if it’s allowed. She’ll save so much money in the long run if she eats much popcorn (which she will as a college student)
I had a cool egg cooker made by Salton, where you put the eggs in, cover the bottom with water and it would “boil” (really steam) them for you.

Things that she may not need that you may think that she does
A blender. I thought that it’d be a really cool idea for smoothies, but unless she has a kitchen kind of place to do dishes, it’s basically useless.
A phone in her room, if she’s subsisting completely on cell phone.

That’s about it that I can think of.

Basic tools, like a hammer, screwdriver, pliers, etc. My dad gave me some when I moved into a dorm, and I still use them all the time.

A great-aunt put together a plastic hobby-kit thing full of thumbtacks, highlighters, pens, erasers, and a lot of other stuff. Still using it.

Flashlight

Some sort of portable shelving

Quarters, IIRC, are not as necessary in the UT dorms(but still useful and appreciated). My understanding (I finished grad school there and didn’t live in the dorms, but had friends who lived in the university apartments) was that laundry facilities are used with the VolCard - I know you can also use it in many of the soda machines on campus. It’s a debit card that funds are deposited into. During the summer after I graduated, this account began to be used for printing funds as well - so if she needs to print anything in campus computer lab, she’ll need to have money on it. It can also be used in the campus bookstore and the Starbucks in the library.

A flash drive that she can hook onto her keychain or something else that she won’t lose. These are great for working on papers in various campus labs if she has an hour between classes and doesn’t want to head back to the dorms.

A Power T and something that plays Rocky Top. :wink:

That’s a great service! I had no idea. Nothing like that was offered at my small town Canadian university.

I have to ask, what’s with the suggestions for umbrellas? I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used one in my entire life. It’s just rain - you won’t melt, right?

A cordless phone, plugs right into the phone jack and she’ll love you for it.

If she has a laptop, consider talking to the tech people about how to hook a wireless hub for her. Being able to sit on the bed or the floor, or the lounge down the hall and have access to her intranet will be nice.

Sticky stuff to hang pictures.

A sheet of labels with your address, her parents addresses, some friends and books of stamps.

A few sheets of labels with HER address to give to those same people to mail her things. Nothing will make her happier each day than getting mail.

Someone mentioned a fan, great idea. Those tower fans are popular and really move air.

Throw rug to cover that nasty tile floor.

Gift cards to local retstaurants. Dorm food=boredom.

The Bus Kid just finished her first year in June, these are things we learned in the last year.

Phone cards are good, we got the child into our cell plan that links all the family’s phones and we call each other for free.

Laundry detergent.

I was going to say condoms and/or a fake ID, so while Zoe is busy thumping you, I’ll be ducking and running.

:smiley:

You have my most sincere condolences.

One of those fold-up lightweight laundry bag/hamper things would be helpful. Laundry detergent, stain remover (Shout Gel is great), Oxy Clean, dryer sheets if she uses those.

A few cups or glasses – even if you use the cafeteria, you need these (well, unless you steal from the cafeteria). Plastic is best. Also, maybe some plates and silverware.

Blenders are awesome, but it will most likely be used for… well, not for smoothies.

Storage containers of the size that slide under a bed.

A small microwave is a blessing.

Fold-up camp chairs are handy, too, and comfortable.

The shower caddy is very important, as is a container to hold soap (unless she uses liquid soap). As has been mentioned, the bathrobe and shower shoes are a requirement.

Only with my older, bigger bong – if I could find it. (Grammy is an aging hippie who gave up weed to please Gramps twenty years ago.)

[quote]
chatelaine: Condoms

:eek:

[quote]
Lsura: A flash drive that she can hook onto her keychain or something else that she won’t lose. These are great for working on papers in various campus labs if she has an hour between classes and doesn’t want to head back to the dorms…A Power T

This time the emphasis is on aging hippie. What is a “flash drive” and where would I get it. Also, what is a Power T. Don’t tell me if either of these are sex toys.

So many great ideas from everyone!! There are lots of things that all of you have listed that I never would have thought about. I’m glad that I included the information about where she is going to school. The specific feedback about UT has helped.

And thanks for your good wishes!

Add more if you think of it. I will check back.

My daughter has attended the Destination Imagination World Finals at UT Knoxville four times now, and she’s stayed in a different dorm each time, so I have far more intimate knowledge about some of the dorms than I really ever wanted. Here’s a link to a PDF file with floor plans of the different dorm layouts.

They stayed in Clement Hall last year, and that wasn’t bad. The beds were movable, and there was a half-wall separating the desk area from the sleeping area. The desk area, unfortunately, is shared. They were doing renovations to the hall this year, though, so I imagine it’ll be much improved by fall. Humes Hall was much the same. Both featured bathrooms in between each suite, meaning that four people share one bath (I thought it was a huge improvement over the community bathrooms).

Hess Hall, where we stayed this year, was a stark, musty, fiberboard-smelling place that fairly screamed “Freshman Dorm”. The communal bathrooms were at the end of each hall, and if she’s in there, I’d strongly suggest good shower shoes. The beds were on solid wooden platforms, so there’s no space for under-the-bed boxes there, but the closets were fairly large and there’s additional (if somewhat inaccessible) storage space above the closets. Hess does have the advantage of providing each dorm dweller her own desk.

Um…and one of the times, come to think of it, they housed the New Mexico teams in the Downtown Hilton. I liked that one best, but I imagine it’s not actually an option for students. :slight_smile:

Wherever she stays, she’ll want her own pillow and as much of her own bedding as possible. The beds all seem to be the standard “twin long” provided in most dorms, and those linens are available in a lot of stores around August and September. The pillows supplied by the dorms provided my daughter and her friends with hours of amusement, since they were the “Chem-Soft” brand, their tags boasted of their softness and “breathability”, and they made an immensely satisfying “thunk” when slapped against each other. Think “plastic pillow” and you’ll have the idea. The blankets were none too clean (although it’s quite possible these bedding items were being replaced after our group left - we saw mattresses being carried to dumpsters the morning we checked out), and they were extremely thin, and the towels were also tiny and thin. If I were going to stay there for any amount of time, decent linens would be among my most prized possessions.

If she’d like a little privacy, a room divider might not be bad. Cost Plus and Target, among other places, sell screens that are not too expensive. I also second the suggestion of getting her a nice throw rug (or maybe two) to cover the depressing linoleum floor.

My sister lived in the dorms at her school her freshman year. One thing that nobody thought of immediately was a phone jack splitter. Her room only had one phone jack and both she and her roommate used the dial-up connection for internet access. For about the first two weeks they tried moving the cord from computer to phone to other computer, etc., on an as-needed basis. As soon as Sis bought the splitter, the only disconnect they had to do was from roomie’s comp to phone (which were right next to each other and easily accessible). Saved them a lot of hassle for the rest of the year.

Information on bedding and phones and all that will be provided by the university. You need only worry about amenities. I can’t believe I forgot the phone card. That thing was a vital part of my existence at UT. Extra cash and change are nice, but not necessary, as Lsura pointed out. Your granddaughter will have an ID card that she can swipe on coke machines and at campus snack counters that should have money on it (however, there are two kinds: Bonus Bucks which start at a certain amount and decrease and All Star, which you can add to with your own money. You can donate to her All Star account. Up to you to arrange that.).
The flash disk is a little device about the size of your thumb that acts like a miniature hard drive. I have a couple that have 16 mb of memory. It is definitely a helpful tool if she needs to use different computer labs around campus, but not necessarily vital. It plugs in to the USB port on the back of your computer. Easy to use.

Oh, and allergy medicine. I don’t care what her status is with allergies right now, Knoxville has the worst air in the country. Literally, it is rock bottom the worst. It’s in a valley and all kinds of bad air just sits in it. So, start looking at Claritin or Allegra or whatever works for her. If she’s asthmatic…good luck.

If she’s the hiking type, there are good books with tips on trails and times of year at which to try them. My folks gave me a terrific little book called Hiking Trails of the Smokies put out by the Great Smoky Mts Association. It’s a terrific guide.

A good idea to get around this is just to buy several flat sheets - you can use one for the top, one for the bottom.

An idea nobody has mentioned yet (I think) - plastic coat/clothes hangers. For one thing, she’ll need to hang her stuff in the closet. For another, if you need to hang-dry laundry it’s easier to do it on plastic. (No rust marks and less stretching if you forget it’s there for several days.)

Mugs.

When I was at Uni. having a few mugs, tea & coffee, being able to offer a drink and a biscuit to folk soon established our room as being a place to hang out or just drop in for a chat.

I don’t know the facilities she’ll have or how far from her room they will be but a small kettle or even just an element to heat a single mug of water would be a useful addition.

Oh and a corkscrew always helps you make friends and influence people :wink:

Power T (no, nothing to do with sex, I promise. At least not in the UT sense.)

Flash drive

VERY convenient for working on papers and projects when you have move from one computer to the other. Just don’t lose it, or you’ve lost your work.

A laptop would be very useful on the UT Knoxville campus - there is a wireless network on campus that enrolled students can link into. The campus computer help center can get a laptop set up with a wireless card of reasonable price (mine was around $14) if the student doesn’t already have one and get them hooked into the network. Again, convenient from moving place to place on campus, but definitely heavier than the flash drive! Dorms are NOT included in the wireless network. Information on the wireless network is here.

Not an exclusive dorm idea but a big bunch of those little individually wrapped kleenex packets would be mighty useful. Students never remember to bring tissues to class and durring cold season you hear a lot of sniffling a wiping of noses on sleeves. And a small, compact umbrella that’s easily stowable in a backpack for unexpected rain is great too.

A handheld personal massager?

This is a euphemism, right? Tell me it’s a euphemism.

If she doesn’t have one yet a cell phone is great both for everything. My cell phone broke sophomore year and I didn’t get it replaced until junior year. I was so out of the loop. By the same token a computer is essential. You can get by without one (as I did sophomore year, that wasn’t a good electronic year for me), but its’ very difficult.

Extension cords and throw rugs are vital in combination: extension cords so you can use the two electrical sockets in your room, which no doubt will be as inconvienantly located as humanly possible, and throw rugs to put over the extension cords, so you don’t trip and kill yourself.

Some of that no-slide matting stuff to put underneath the rugs.

Definitely second the gift-card idea to local stores. Cash does disappear very, very fast, and it’s great to have them. It’s also a nice surprise in the mail - even a $10 card to, say, Trader Joes showing up in my mailbox from my parents would make a day a lot better.